National Gallery, Tabloid, The Incredibles 2

One great scene does not make a great movie: Jack-Jack versus Racoon in The Incredibles 2

I recently watched two documentaries by two of our most feted documentarians: Frederick Wiseman's National Gallery and Errol Morris' Tabloid. Both films have their moments, but I cotton to Morris' relative subjectivity compared to Wiseman's unrelenting objectivity. Since first seeing Wiseman's High School on public television sometime in the mid-seventies, I have found most of his films to be arid explorations of institutions and National Gallery is no exception. Wiseman seeks to portray how people function within institutional settings, but his camera drains the settings of any frisson or emotional undercurrents. Since this film captures some of the most glorious paintings in the history of Western art, along with fascinating scenes of art restoration, it has many marvelous moments, but Wiseman includes too many meetings with functionaries spouting bureaucratic jargon. This may be true to Wiseman's intent, but it causes the three hour National Gallery to be a bit of a slog. 

Morris' Tabloid, on the other hand, zips merrily along. The tale of a former beauty queen who was accused of kidnapping and raping a Mormon missionary in England in 1977, the film depicts the Fleet street frenzy that resulted. More akin to Fast, Cheap & Out of Control than to The Thin Blue Line, Tabloid is Morris at his most relaxed and droll. Unlike the impassive Wiseman, Morris cannot help but inject himself into the film as he interrupts and questions the whoppers that emit from the mouth of Joyce McKinney, his somewhat demented subject. What Tabloid lacks in objectivity, it makes up for in entertainment value.

In a different vein, Brad Bird's The Incredibles 2 is a pleasant and well made, if somewhat predictable sequel. Production design trumps the first one, but the story is rote. The climax at sea reminded me of the similarly nautical variation of Speed 2, a change of venue that reflects only the writer's desire for a spin on the original. Dash has little to do and the villain is not compelling. Edna Mode and Jack-Jack still rule, but The Incredibles 2 is a somewhat superfluous second helping. (6/29/18)