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This Film Is Not Yet Rated
R1 - America - Genius Products Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (19th February 2007). |
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The Film
 "This Films Is Not Yet Rated" is filmmaker Kirby Dick's latest documentary film. In a career that has spanned 30 years Kirby Dick has produced some insightful and thought provoking films such as "Twist of Faith" (2004), which uncovers abuse among the Catholic Church and its effects on a youth traumatized by his past experiences. "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" follows the almost as offensive stance of the MPAA, the Motion Picture Association of America and their ratings policy. For years filmmakers have known the hypocrisy and secrecy that shrouds this organization and now the general public is given the chance to learn about this organization, what they stand for and the underhanded manner in which they treat certain content in film. For example, you'll be shocked to find that sexual behavior is considered more offensive than on-screen realistic violence. I'm sure many people will argue over what is right and what is wrong regarding this issue, however the basic right of any person to show what they want and say what they want is granted by the 1st amendment of the United States Constitution. The MPAA has taken the role more as a censor than a ratings board; that is a concept more offensive than anything a filmmaker can possibly show in a film. This film follows Kirby as he tries to uncover the practices and people behind this organization as well as attempt to learn what is considered offensive and what is not by the board as they rate films. He also looks at the influence that major studios have with the MPAA as compared to independents who seem to be largely and unfairly affected by the decisions made by the MPAA. Comparisons are made between independent films and those released by major studios to help shed light on the blatant one-sidedness towards the majors. Frustrated filmmakers share their thoughts on their films and the experience with the MPAA and in the meantime Kirby hires a private investigator to help find out who exactly the secret raters are. According to former head of the MPAA Jack Valenti they are ordinary American families, people with children between the ages of 5-17 who are selected the represent the average cinemagoer. But who is to say these people are an accurate representation of the American public? The MPAA of course, who appear to refuse to acknowledge the fact that the American public is as diverse and mixed as a bag of mixed vegetables. Kirby discovers that according to the MPAA their view of the average American is a religious republican with good moral standards, yet these are the same people openly giving R-ratings to films with intense violence yet slamming films with realistic depictions of sex with an NC-17 rating; films that especially seem to display gay relationships, threesomes and other "abnormal" depictions of sexual encounter. Is this wrong? Certainly some graphic sex should be considered offensive (rape?) but condemning a film that has a loving sexual relationship as part of the narrative, that doesn't sound right. The American constitution grants the people to freedom of expression and of speech, it's quite apparent that the MPAA feels that these basic rights do not transfer to filmmakers, or at least filmmakers that don't have a major studio backing them or otherwise known as: influence. One of my favorite quotes from this film comes from a Clergyman who is part of the appeals panel at the MPAA, he states "We want to give the artist the freedom to make the film they want to make, but we don't want to make it totally free." This statement sums up the MPAA in a nutshell. This documentary will challenge your thoughts on censorship and ratings, ultimately it should be the parent or person of age that makes the decision what films they want to see, and they should have these films available to them to see. The ratings board limits this, Valenti comments that ratings have nothing to do with the marketability of the film, this is not true, a rating severely limits the marketing, a PG-13 film can certainly attract a larger demographic of viewers than an R-rated film. This fact is as black and white as that concept allows. There is also the matter of theaters and how many a film will play in, a vast majority of theaters outright refuse to screen NC-17 rated films. Tell me then how ratings don't affect marketing? In a deeply cheeky move, Kirby submits this film to the MPAA for rating, not surprisingly the film receives an NC-17 rating. A final blow that hopefully will not impair this film's availability to the viewing public, "This Film is Not Yet Rated" is a scathing look at the MPAA that should not be missed.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 this transfer is sadly non-anamorphic, which came as quite a surprise considering I haven't seen a non-anamorphic new release in quite some time. The film is made up of newly shot DV footage as well as archival footage and photographs as well; this mixture of formats and styles basically means we have a mixed bag in terms of the quality of the footage. The digital footage looks like just that...digital, the image features some pixilation, some compression noise and artefacting can be seen. The overall image is soft at times and occasionally rigid at times, it really depends on how it was shot from scene to scene. The animate clips are nicely presented, with rich vivid colors and sharpness is displayed well throughout those segments. Although the transfer is generally a mish-mash I would have given it a more favorable rating had it been anamorphic and forgiven its overall quality simply because it is a low budget documentary. But the fact that this new release is not anamorphic is a real sore point.
Audio
The film includes a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, the film doesn't really need anything more than that. The 2.0 Stereo number suits the film quite well and presents the audio clearly however there is some distortion, mainly depending on where the interviews of sequences for this film were shot, as some external noise can affect the quality of the recording, otherwise it's a fine effort for a documentary film. This film unfortunately does not include any optional subtitles.
Extras
Genius Products have included an audio commentary, a Q&A session, some deleted scenes as well as some theatrical trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up is a feature-length audio commentary by director Kirby Dick, producer Eddie Schmidt, film critic Drew McWeeny who is also known as Moriarty on Ain't It Cool News, and private investigator Becky Altringer. Dick and producer Schmidt talk about how they approached the various filmmakers to appear in this film and the effort to keep it secret from the Hollywood system of agents and managers that could possibly dissuade them from participating. They comment on the reaction of the film from the MPAA as well as expand on issues and ideas presented in the film as Dick and Schmidt are engaged in a sort of Q&A by McWeeny. P.I. Altringer comments on the investigation, getting the job and the process of finding out who the MPAA really are and the various challenges faced as well as the surprises she encountered about their security. Overall it's a solid track that provides some additional background not only on the film itself but also on the MPAA and the influence it holds. Next up is a Q&A with director Kirby Dick at the 2006 SXSW Film Festival which runs for 9 minutes, in this clip Dick discusses the reaction by the MPAA and their NC-17 rating, how the MPAA made unauthorized copies of his film, the appeals process, the hypocrisy of the system as well as the unwillingness of major studios and some independents from appearing in the film simply because of how scared they are of the MPAA among other things. A series of 5 deleted scenes is included, which can be viewed with a 'play all' function or individually. These scenes include: - "The Funnymen of Censorship" which runs for 9 minutes 18 seconds, Kevin Smith, John Waters and Matt Stone talk about their experiences in dealing with the MPAA and the troubles they had passing some of the footage through the system. - "Michael Cuesta on L.I.E." runs for 2 minutes 23 seconds, Cuesta talks about what the MPAA found objectionable about his film and the hypocrisy of it all. - "Two much love and Basketball" runs for 2 minutes 41 seconds, this clip focuses on how the sex scene was the reason this film received an 'R' rating, and how that reflects on black sexuality in film versus white sexuality portrayed in films. - "Telephone call for Mr. Dick" runs for 2 minutes 33 seconds, Kirby receives a phone call from the MPAA as he questions them about whether they made an unauthorized copy of his film. - "The MPAA vs. New Technology" runs for 7 minutes 36 seconds, this clip takes a look at the influence the MPAA has in Washington specifically in regards to media and technology control, piracy, new technology, copyright and how the Disney Corporation is the biggest defender of copyright considering they borrow from the public domain more than any other studio. Also included is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 3 seconds. Rounding out the extras is a series of start-up bonus trailers, which can be skipped and include: - "Street Fight" which runs for 2 minutes 40 seconds. - "Cowboy Del Amor" which runs for 1 minute 32 seconds. - "Hopeless Pictures" which runs for 32 seconds. - "Heading South" which runs for 2 minutes 16 seconds.
Overall
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