The Marina Experiment (2009) User Reviews

If it wasn't for the subject...

[JamesKLambert · 6/10 · 10 April 2011]

This is an interest (sick, but interesting) subject. Unfortunately, the editing does little to utilize the wealth of material and adds nothing to it. A much more professional and interesting film could be made from this story.

The opening is particularly lacking, which sets the tone for the entire piece. While the narrator speaks of an abundance of films and photos, which her father took of her, we see the same photos of boxes over and over again. Couldn't they bother to show some of this material, or at least different photos of the items inside the boxes? The rest of the film feels very dull and haphazard, with very little of the films and photos actually utilized and very little information given. The filmmaker says that she organized all this material but it feels like she just rifled through it and grabbed the bear minimum of items to throw a short film together.

OK, so I realize that this review makes me sounds like an insensitive beast. It is not my intention to minimize the horror of what she went through, but I am not commenting on her plight, I am commenting on her film as a film, and it just doesn't work as well as it should. After seeing her talk about the story on the Documentary Channel I was really intrigued, but that interview was much better than the actual documentary.

Material

[kh1 · 31 May 2012]

I agree with James on editing. It seems as there are way too many unused footage, personal restrictions, and choices. It is a way too personal to tell a story from one perspective. Fear of being in front of the camera, could be a good start. It's always harder to tell a story from a personal view point. I found the close ups and the choice of repetitive frozen pedophilia images strongly uncomfortable, and at times very forced to offer pity. There are always dark sides to human nature. Unfortunately, the audience is way smarter, and selling on pity not needed is more annoying than the intention the filmmaker intended. Making movies is financially expensive, but some stories should be in a smaller settings, close family & friends, and some should blow up for everybody to share. Suggestion to this filmmaker; have another sound set of eyes, heart and ears. We heard you, but not content. Nobody should be forced to do anything they don't want to. Not even the smallest people in this world, because they are still part of our world. Wishing you progressive in storytelling.