EW reviews Errol Morris DVDs
Whether they're saving an innocent man from prison or giving small-town
turkey hunters a chance to wax poetic, Morris' investigations are often
more philosophical than factual. His subjects look right into the camera
and the camera looks into them, creating a unique form of documentary
focused on thought rather than action.
In the Errol Morris DVD Collection, the director finds the sage in everyone — the bereaved pet owners of
Gates of Heaven, the rural eccentrics of Vernon, Florida, the accused
cop killers of The Thin Blue Line — by simply letting them talk. At once
absurd and profound, Morris' deadpan technique leads inevitably to the
moment in Line when a chocolate milk shake provides key evidence that an
innocent man has been sentenced to die. Meanwhile, the 17 episodes of
First Person: The Complete Series are more down-to-earth, each focused on a single talking head. But
given that the subjects are as varied as a squid hunter, an autistic
slaughterhouse architect, and the Unabomber's pen pal, and are filtered
through Morris' multi-camera Interrotron, the results are as dazzling
and unsettling as ever. The dearth of EXTRAS, then, is a disappointment:
In the Collection, nothing but a First Person ep tacked on to Line.
Line, Gates: A
Vernon, Person: A-
