Search - Fast, Cheap & Out of Control on DVD

How about a review of Luanne Brown's appaling review?

dutch oven | Tokyo, Japan | 02/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First off, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and find it bizarre that it merits an Amazon editorial review of such shabby professionalism. Who is Luanne Brown? Why is she reviewing a movie that she clearly doesn't comprehend, and how can she maintain a job in a field that requires fluency in the English language? Not only is this review a total hack job, she also repeats spurious assumptions in her review that have no basis in the film that I watched, entitled 'Fast, Cheap & Out of Control' by Errol Morris.

Does George Mendonca really follow his passion in topiary gardening 'because he can'? Is Dave Hoover really filled with 'hand-trembling fear' dealing with the animals to which he's dedicated his life's work? She manages to follow such ridiculous notions by dismissing Rodney Brooks as a 'real wacko', hardly deserving given the fact that he is a robotics expert at MIT and Luanne is a hack reviewer on the Internet.

Why would I bother wasting my time with this? Well Amazon is unfortunately where a lot of people will check for information about products before making a purchase, and in this respect, I believe an editorial review should be balanced and fair. Unfortunately, Luanne's review comes across as a film student/wannabe filmmaker crying foul because someone's breaking the rules she learned in editing class. Sorry, it is not 'out-of-control', Errol Morris happens to be completely 'in control' and more than a 'voyeurestic peek', this is a captivating work of art that merits repeated viewings. Yes, it's weird and obscure, but that's the point --- why the 'rich and famous' would be interesting is anyone's guess.

On a final note, I found Caleb Sampson's original soundtrack a fine piece of work and a perfect compliment to the images Morris presents us. It is not 'blaring', or even out of place. If you want blaring out of place soundtracks, check George Fenton's work with the BBC. Please, Amazon, if you're going to post editorial reviews, please do it responsibly."

The best and least expected meaning-of-life film I?ve seen.

dutch oven | 04/12/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It confuses me how a documentary can stroll in and bump La Dolce Vita, Barton Fink and Delicatessen down 1 notch on my top 10 list. In the first third of the film I reckoned the film to be just a gorgeous montage. A topiary gardener, a robot engineer, a mole-rat expert and a lion tamer... each doing their own bizarre thing. Visually great and certainly interesting. But at the midpoint the movie became alive for me. The passion the characters have for their respective activity forces the viewer to become a fifth character, a ghost eccentric facing the screen. Morris not only validates your passion, but makes you repent for not being more intense. Each day you've spent not doing what you love seems very wasted. And the remainder of your life becomes a resource that you ought not to squander. "Fast, Cheap and Out of Control" subtly and generously leads anyone in the audience equipped with a gut, a heart and a brain to wake up and feel alive. This film melds what makes David Salle a great painter with what makes Gerald Stern great poet. Morris will certainly become known as a master."

It's not about "weird," it's about "life"

Lisa A. Flaherty | Florida | 01/13/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I purchased this video expecting from the description to watch "weirdos" in hopeless, inconsequentual pursuits, only to find a film that makes a strong statement on "life."The juxtaposition of the rat moles going about their core, instinctive routines and the scientest attempting to find reason in them; the lion tamer, attempting to control the core, instinctive behaviors of his "actors,"; the topiary gardener, attempting to shape "life" from the instinctive and natural growth of his shrubs; and the robot engineer, attempting to recreate "instinctive" reflexes --life -- in his creations.The overwhelming question the viewer at the end of this film must ask is not "aren't they a bunch of weirdos," but is "why do I behave the way I do?" All the segments show humans controlling and analyzing life and behavior in their own way. Put it all together, and one must wonder if there's not someone controlling their actions. Or, if it's possible for man to understand the complex intricacies of what "life" really is.Don't buy this film if you want to see a freak show. These people are not freaks. They are all people attempting to grasp a little control and understanding of this thing we call life."

An exploration of humanity's place in the natural world

David Huebel | Berkeley, CA, USA | 02/26/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This film delves into the relationships between humanity and nature (which is the real fast, cheap, and out of control entity of the title, the source of the phrase notwithstanding). The four men interviewed by Morris interact with nature in four archetypal ways. The animal trainer deals with his charges much as people with each other, using empathy and concepts such as emotion, intelligence, and volition. The topiary gardener battles against nature-as-decay-and-chaos, waging an eternal war against wildness to fashion familiar images in an uncooperative medium. The mole-rat specialist is drawn to nature by a sense of wonder and curiosity that is deepened by his every discovery. Finally, the roboticist is inspired to the sincerest form of flattery; he borrows from the imagination of nature to solve his technical problems.The interleaving of the four interviews and the use of musical and visual effects to stress thematic unity is not a cheap device to appeal to the MTV generation, as has been claimed. On the contrary, it is essential to the communication of the film's thesis. These four ways of relating to nature (which might be called animistic, antagonistic, descriptive, and imitative) are often portrayed as stages in the progress of mankind, ordered in various ways according to one's ideology. Morris presents them as eternal and complementary aspects of humanity's relationship with (and place in) the physical universe. The lives of these four men illustrate that even in the present day, each philosophical approach has both shortcomings and a unique and irreplaceable utility. The interplay between a philosophical battle for supremacy and a utilitarian doctrine of complementarity is a familiar pattern. For years, scientists have struggled with the idea that biology is "really" chemistry and chemistry is "really" physics, an idea that succeeds and fails in fascinating ways. Morris generalizes this concept beautifully to the larger question of the relationship between humanity and the physical world."