Search - Eleven Minutes on DVD

Project Jay MaCarroll

Amos Lassen | Little Rock, Arkansas | 12/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Eleven Minutes"

Project Jay McCarroll

Amos Lassen

Here TV recently announced that it has acquired the rights to "Eleven Minutes", a documentary about Jay McCarroll the first winner of "Project Runway". The team of Michael Selditch and Rob Tate, co-producers and co-directors looks at his year's journey while getting ready for his first independent runway show during New York's fashion week and then we watch the selling of his line to stores. This is no gloss over show but rather an in-depth look and exploration of the creative processes as well as the balance between commerce and art, fame, talent and reality.
It is interesting to look at McCarroll away from the "Project Runway" frame. Instead we see what he goes through on a daily basis. It has been a while since McCarroll was named "the next great American designer" and the goal of this documentary was to look beyond the pretenses of reality TV and focus on McCarroll's work instead. We see the daily trials of mot only designing a line, putting a fashion show together and then selling the line to stores. Seeing this through McCarroll's eyes shows us the underbelly of the fashion industry and how McCarroll has a love/hate relationship with it. The view we get is down and dirty and lots of fun.
The three "P's"--personality, process and perception govern the film. The film is beautiful to watch as it follows eight months of hysteria and chaos. It is a fascinating look at the fashion industry and it exhilarates. McCarroll, himself, is self-aware, frank, incredibly charming and surprisedly well-balanced. He possesses both a nervous vulnerability and youthful arrogance.
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Not bad, not great

Sam Ramsey | Minneapolis, MN United States | 02/27/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I am a fan of Jay McCarroll after watching season 1 of Project Runway. Ever since I heard about Eleven Minutes I was checking every few months to see if it would come out on DVD. A couple years later, here it is.

It's basically a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to build a collection and get it into a major fashion show. There's a lot that goes into it that you don't really think about. Some of it is quite interesting and gave me a greater appreciation for what it really takes to put together a show and get clothes made.

The reality of the situation is that Jay is/was a new designer that was just released into the wild with huge expectations due to his win on Project Runway. He seems broke (can't pay his staff), and hasn't mastered all of the logistics around putting a show together and having clothes made. All of these things ball up together and create a lot of pressure for Jay. Anyone in that position would be pretty uncomfortable. That uncomfortable feeling is present throughout most of the documentary and makes it drag at times. It wasn't so much of Jay's clever and funny personality (which we do still see quite a bit) as it was the reality of how crappy his situation was.

It's worth seeing once, especially for those interested in the world of fashion and for fans of Jay, but I just didn't get the feeling like I'm going to want to watch it again. Jay is 5 stars, his collection shown on the documentary is 5 stars, but the documentary itself is just a solid 3 stars. Not bad, not great."

The Reality of Fashion

Samantha Kelley | USA | 04/15/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This documentary examines Jay McCarroll's attempt at runway fashion after his win of Project Runway season one.

The endeavor is stressful because it is filled with complications, from shoe designers who come through at the very last minute to disgruntled employees who expect payment for their services to the complexities of the business side of fashion. Jay swears his way through the film, trying to interject humor into heavy situations and trying to find his vision in the midst of what is expected of him as a newly emerged celebrity.

You will see the messy side of the industry. This is not a polished reality show. Instead, it is a realistic portrayal of the gears and guts of fashion and what it takes for a measley eleven minutes of glory.

If you love fashion, this documentary will be a real treat. If you simply like the formula of reality television, you will most likely find Eleven Minutes to be lacking."

Probably a very real look at ins/outs of the industry of fas

Cameron Huntsucker | Seattle WA | 04/01/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having been a Jay fan from day One, I spent weeks hunting down this DVD locally so I could see Jay in action. Turns out, Jay isn't the only fascinating thing about fashion - it's a hot mess! We on the outside have the illusion that the designer draws something, and 2 days later a skinny kid wears it on the catwalk - not so. The sheer number of hands, people, and egos that come into play are astounding, and it's now amazing to me that anything gets done at all.
I still love Jay, even if he is stubborn and immature."