FAST, CHEAP, AND OUT OF CONTROL

FAST, CHEAP AND OUT OF CONTROL - 1997
Directed by: Errol Morris

Errol Morris is considered one of the best documentary filmmakers of all time. The only problem is that he doesn’t consider himself a documentary filmmaker. Most people think of films as falling into two major categories: documentaries (non-fiction) and movies (fiction). 99% of the films in theatres fall into the latter category, but the interesting thing is that although they are undeniably fictitious, they are stories masquerading as actual events. A movie only really works if it retains some sense of reality. The idea behind a documentary is to capture “reality” or “truth” and discard the fiction, and most people take this at face value – think of all those videos in history class. However, Morris argues that the camera doesn’t really capture “truth,” it just captures more stories, and that’s what he’s interested in: more stories. He once said, “My gripe isn't with cinema verite. It's the metaphysical claim -- the idea that style guarantees truthfulness -- which I find repellent." If anything, Errol Morris is a trafficker of human stories, and his intent is not so much to clarify the world around us but to reveal its complexity.

Fast, Cheap and Out of Control is a human story with a little bit of animal and a pinch of robot. Is it a documentary? It certainly documents the words and ideas of four individuals in an interview-like format, but Morris abandons the traditional approach of a documentary, melding these seemingly unconnected stories by crossing monologues (you never hear Morris ask a question until the end) with footage of an old B-grade adventure film, some imaginative landscaping, a circus, scrambling insect robots, lion taming, a naked mole-rat colony, and a traveling circus. The effect is that the individual stories seem to get lost, but what emerges is not quite clear since the film doesn’t give answers, it generates ideas. Some say Morris’s films are unclassifiable. This may be true. Fast-Cheap is undeniably quirky and fun, but for all its playfulness there is also an underlying sense of mortality. Morris commented, "I had a poem by William Butler Yeats in mind when I made it. The lines in 'Lapis Lazuli': 'All things fall and are built again/And those that build them again are gay.' It's the idea of the hopelessness of it all, but a surviving nobility notwithstanding." One of the underlying principles in Physics is that matter is neither created nor destroyed. But, Fast-Cheap seems to argue that everything that is created is destroyed….and, that’s ok.

As you watch the film, I want you to be mindful of the cinematography. Find at least two examples of scenes or sequences you feel are excellent or poor examples of cinematography (be sure to include detail – describe what you liked/disliked about it). Also, I would like you to comment on the inclusion of both the circus footage and the B-grade adventure film – what effect does it have on the overall narrative? Speaking of overall narrative, what did the film leave you thinking about? Were there any ideas created? Destroyed? And, describe a moment of beauty and a moment of sadness.