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July 12, 2007
Radiant City
09:46 PM
Radiant City is a very boring film.
This intentionally one-sided ‘documentary’ discussed all the pitfalls of suburban development, and features a number of suburban residents in the sprawling Calgary metro area.
This dicussed almost evething that is bad about the suburbs: inactive lifestyles and obesity, incomplete communities, dull urban design and architecture, environmental consequences, poor transit access— all of which we have been spoonfed to us in university.
All of this is fine, I suppose, but the biggest flaw about this movie is that the characters seriously do not properly express the views of the general suburban community. The fact is, most people who chose to live in the suburbs actually like suburbia! The children are the exception, since they had to live there by default. The ‘documentary’ subjects all seem to have a notion that they all bought into something they regret, which I think is a false claim.
Spoiler alert. I am going to steal Ram’s idea and black it out. The most absurd part of this movie was the end. We discover that the documentary wasn’t really a documentary at all, and that the film was scripted just to prove a point.
What the fuck? I feel ripped off! Then what is the value of this film? In retrospect though, I think I would’ve enjoyed the movie more had I known that it was fiction. I would’ve have taken it more lightly. But now I feel confused, since I’m not sure if the film now warrants my rage. Do you know what I feel like? I feel as if someone someone told me something very offensive, but at the end, s/he takes it all back by telling me it was all a joke.
The movie can be summed up with two words: what the…?
I think Calgary’s suburbs look even more sterile than those in the GTA. I think it’s the fact that there are no trees.
Radiant City official site - [radiantcitymovie.com]
Radiant City - [imdb.com]
Filed under Movies, published In Toronto
3 Comments
July 13, 2007 12:51 AM
I actually saw this movie at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. The ending raised a lot of questions, but the director explained it by comparing the ending to suburban life itself - that in the end, what you see isn't what you get. The American/Canadian dream of suburban living may not be all it seems. Btw, I actually liked the movie!
I disagree with your notion that "most people who chose to live in the suburbs actually like suburbia" - sure, there are many who like living in the suburbs - but there are also many people that can only afford to live in the suburbs because housing is cheaper (do not use Markham as an example here!). This is particularly true in the States too...
July 13, 2007 09:05 AM
The blacked out text doesn't show up in most feed readers. My friend Haran told me this a while ago, and I can confirm its the case with your site. Still, I think the spoiler alert coupled with the blacked out text works well enough. I liked Radiant City. The directors were there when Shima and I watched it, and they were laughing about how one-sided and ridiculous it was. They were well aware that the film really presents their view of how new suburbs suck.
July 13, 2007 09:29 PM
I feel like we had this conversation a while ago, where I went on to spoil the movie. (haha) I felt the exact same way about the ending. I wish that the real ending was an alternative ending that you could pick to watch on the dvd version..