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Errol Morris' First Person - The Complete Series
Errol Morris' First Person - The Complete Series
Actors: Errol Morris, Michael Stone, Denny Fitch, Josh Harris, Chris Langan
Genres: Television
NR     2005     8hr 11min

Hailed by Roger Ebert as "one of America's strangest and most brilliant documentary filmmakers" (Chicago Sun-Times), Errol Morris (The Fog of War) brings his unrivalled talents to the small screen for a stylized series of ...  more »

     
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Movie Details

Actors: Errol Morris, Michael Stone, Denny Fitch, Josh Harris, Chris Langan
Creators: Errol Morris, Martin Albert, Robert Chappell, Chyld King, Doug Abel, Juliana Peroni, Alison Palmer Bourke, Caroline Kaplan, David Collins, Dorothy Aufiero, John Sloss, Jonathan Sehring, Michael Williams
Genres: Television
Sub-Genres: Television
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Format: DVD - Color,Widescreen,Letterboxed - Closed-captioned
DVD Release Date: 07/26/2005
Release Year: 2005
Run Time: 8hr 11min
Screens: Color,Widescreen,Letterboxed
Number of Discs: 3
SwapaDVD Credits: 3
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 4
Edition: Box set
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Languages: English

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Movie Reviews

A Great Television Series from an outstanding Documentarian
thornhillatthemovies.com | Venice, CA United States | 09/15/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Why haven't you seen an Errol Morris film? One of the beautiful things about film is that it can inform and educate, as well as entertain. Many documentaries accomplish the first two, but Errol Morris consistently does all three. Morris is the man behind some of the best documentaries ever made. These are not the boring talking head documentaries your parents used to see. Morris uses a combination of interviews, archival footage, footage his team creates to illustrate points and clips from old television and movies to tell compelling, unusual, informative stories. Morris' films are all the more compelling and watch able because of the subject matter; he finds strange people and gets them to reveal their interesting lives. Morris' films have rejuvenated the documentary much like Ken Burns' films have rejuvenated PBS. Get out there and start renting them.

In 2000, Bravo began airing "Errol Morris' First Person", a series of shorter documentaries very much like his films, just shorter. The entire series was recently released on DVD and is definitely worth watching.

Morris invented a device called the "Interrotron", which I believe he used later in his film "The Fog of War", about Robert McNamara. Basically, the subject can only see Morris by looking into a small monitor which is situated in the camera, in turn, recording the subject as they speak. This means that the subject is always looking directly at the camera, and the viewer. It is a bit unsettling at first, but it also provides a bizarre voyeuristic slant to the stories. Morris moves the camera a little, canting the frame. Brief shots of Morris on the monitor are inserted, to establish his presence, but he isn't even in the same room. Occasionally, he interjects a question.

The three disc set features all 17 episodes of the series, most of which are half hour interviews with some truly strange, interesting and bizarre people. A couple of the later episodes are a full hour.

There are too many to list in detail, but a few of the more memorable are:

"Leaving The Earth" features Denny Fitch, a Check Pilot for a large airline. A Check Pilot is the person who makes sure the regular pilots are up to snuff, know all of their instruments, learn of new developments and procedures and are still capable of flying huge jets with hundreds of passengers. One day, after leading a class in Denver, he had the choice of two planes for his trip back to Chicago. A Boeing 747 and a DC-10 Jet leaving 10 minutes later. For some reason, he took the later flight. During the flight, all of the plane's hydraulics broke down and an engine went out. Because this had never happened before, and no one believed it ever would, the pilots don't know what to do and struggle to keep the plane afloat. Denny offered to help the pilots. But he doesn't know what to do either.After some brainstorming, they come up with an idea. Denny helps the pilots as much as possible.

This episode is easily the most compelling because of the subject matter. Denny is a humble guy. He simply explains the situation and clearly notes all of the various problems he faced. As he tells the story and the situation becomes more and more dire, your attention will be riveted to the screen. The very fact that he is here, in front of the camera, to tell the story, should give you an indication of the outcome. But it doesn't reveal everything. And the last few minutes of his story are the most memorable and gut-wrenching.

One of the more `Errol Morris-like' subjects can be found in "Eyeball to Eyeball". This is the story of Clyde Roper, a Giant Squid hunter. Yes, you read it correctly. Clyde is obsessed with finding a Giant Squid and has devoted his life to the pursuit.

In "Smiling In A Jar", Morris lets Gretchen Worden, director of the Mutter Museum talk about her job and her museum's strange collection. The museum, started by Doctor Mutter, has collected samples of strange human conditions and displays them either in their preserved state or as a skeleton. The museum displays the skeleton of the first Siamese Twins to live in America, cojoined twins, many abnormalities preserved in jars and the like. Many of the subjects on display were approached when they were alive and they granted the museum their remains as a means of scientific education. She relates the story of how the tallest man ever recorded was approached by Mutter and many others. When he died, he was buried and concrete was poured over the casket to prevent grave robbers from stealing his skeleton.

"You're Soaking in It" tells the story of Joan Dougherty, a woman who felt a calling to open a Crime Scene Cleaning service. She talks about many of the crime scenes she has visited and how they dealt with the various problems associated with finding bodies many days after they died.

"The Stalker" is another example of how a person simply telling a story can really move you. In this case, Bill Kinsley relates the events of how he became the Postmaster of a large post office. He had dreams of becoming the Postmaster General and then one day, an employee by the name of Thomas McIlvane returned to the post office and began shooting many, many employees. Kinsley's management style came under scrutiny and he was partially blamed for the events. This is, I think, the first such event and certainly the most deadly, and would eventually become the fodder of many comedians. But Kinsley relates the events in a way that make them come to life.

In "One in a Million Trillion", the subject, Rick Rosner, a former contestant on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", tells the story of his childhood and his obsession with getting on the game show. What makes Rosner interesting is his strange life before appearing on the show. A man with a very high IQ, in his late teens and early twenties, he moved around on his own, doctored his high school records, and attended his Senior year, the entire year, of high school at more than one location because he felt he could do it better. Once he got on the show, he missed a question he deemed vague and explains why.

These interviews merely reinforce the power of storytelling. Each of the people sits in front of the camera and tells their story. In some cases, Morris interjects very little, allowing the story to unfold and the images to build in our mind. When the subject is a little less forthcoming, or to direct them a little, he asks more questions. Morris uses little additional material to fill out the stories. Again, some of the subjects need more, some less. The additional material is a blend of images shot specifically for the story, archival and news footage, and images from old movies and television.

"First Person" is a unique, interesting and highly watch able series of interviews with unique, interesting and sometimes strange people. It is definitely worth a rental.
"
Errol Morris - "First Person"
John S. | Rosamond, CA | 09/17/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am drawn to things that are out of the ordinary, and I have found that Errol Morris captures the unusual in his films. This DVD set has 17 episodes (each about 45 minutes long), where Mr. Morris interviews either very unusual people, or ordinary people with unusual jobs. For example, in "eyeball to eyeball" the guy who has been researching giant squid for most of his career doesn't seem too unusual (until he says that it would be cool to be eaten by one). The episode that I really like though is "the killer in me." This is about a woman who sees herself as being fairly objective and rational (a book writer), but she's attracted to serial killers (falls in love with one in fact). This series is both thought provoking as to the question "why do we do the things we do," but it also offers a mirror to the individuals who are interviewed. This set is so unusual, I'm sure that I'm doing a poor job of describing it, but if you are interested in unusual topics (lawyer for the mob rationalizing why it's okay to defend criminals) to the guy with the 180 IQ who's obsessed with getting back on a TV game show, then you'll find this DVD set a must have. I bought this on a lark (I had bought "the thin blue line"), but I think that this set is great.
"
Great for Errol Completists
irishkale | Arizona | 08/13/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

".
.
Great to finally see all the episodes in this series. Errol Morris is a God.

My only complaint is that the DVDs aren't 16x9 enhanced, despite the fact that the show is letterboxed all the way through. So on a normal TV you won't see any difference. But on a widescreen TV, you'll get a letterboxed image within a 4x3 frame. Those of you with HDTVs know what I'm talking about.
If you have a good HDTV or a DVD player with Zoom capability, it can be fixed by zooming in a notch. A minor annoyance, though, considering these aren't available in any other form. I don't have full "theic identity" so I'll take what I can get!

"
Fact is truly stranger than fiction.
Sasha | Raleigh, NC USA | 06/07/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Errol Morris' First Person is an unusual, yet effective, way to make over the the traditional interview. In the series, Morris finds people, truly everyday folks, with unusual perspectives on things and very interesting stories to tell. Out of the 17 interviews, I have my favorites, but there is definitely enough variation to appeal to every taste. Each person starts out with a completely 'normal' line of reasoning. However, you get to watch these people transform into characters that you usually only see actors portray. I have to say, the 'Killer In Me' segment, my favorite, is quite bazarre, but entertaining and unnerving at the same time. The fact that these people are not actors and their wierd stories are true is pretty fascinating. I was definitely not disappointed and I'm glad I've got the complete series in my video library."