•
The Bridge (
2006) -- Powerful and unsettling, but necessary, 6/10.
SIGN UP for your free Netflix trial:
http://www.Netflix.com/Jogwheel
SAVE $10 on MoviePass: http://www.MoviePass.com/Jogwheel
TWEET a review with the #JPMN hashtag, and have it featured!
WATCH full episodes, every Friday night: http://bit.ly/JogJPMN
~~
Movie Night Reviews ~~
Incorporating viewer comments and tweets, your host and film critic
Jonathan Paula reviews everything from opening day releases, recent
DVDs, upcoming trailers, and classics from years past.
Along with your votes, each film is scored on the "Rate-O-Matic" for a 1-10 ranking. A "Five
Word Summary" quickly encapsulates each review while "
Factor Facts" highlight a film's best and worst features in ten key categories. Each "
Quick Review" is an excerpt from a full episode, which air on the JPizzle1122 channel every Friday, November through May.
Born in
February 1986, Jonathan Paula is a professional YouTuber and creator of the hit web series, "Is It A
Good Idea To Microwave This?". In
April 2006 he founded Jogwheel Productions, a new media production company that specializes in web video. He has been reviewing films since
2003, and professionally since 2009. Jon graduated from
Emerson College in 2008 with a degree in
Television Production /
Radio Broadcasting. He currently lives in
Rockingham, NH with his wife
Rebecca.
~~
Links ~~
Twitter --------------------- http://bit.ly/JonTW
Facebook ---------------- http://bit.ly/JonFBFan
Main Channel ----------- http://bit.ly/Jogwheel
2nd
Channel ------------ http://bit.ly/JonWorld
Movie Night
Show ----- http://bit.ly/JogJPMN
FAQ Video --------------- http://bit.ly/JogFAQv
T-Shirts ------------------- http://bit.ly/JogStore
~~ Technical ~~
Created by ------ Jonathan Paula
Camera ----------
Panasonic HMC-150
Microphone ----- Sennheiser ME 66
Software ---------
Adobe Premiere Pro CS5
Computer ------- http://bit.ly/JAV010
• Jogwheel Productions © 2013 •
~~ Review Script ~~
Released in April of 2006 at the
San Francisco film festival, this 94-minute documentary by
Eric Steels paints a very real, and haunting portrait of the planet's most famous suspension bridge. Specifically dealing with it's mysteriously romantic appeal to suicide jumpers, who often take their final breaths atop the brightly colored
Golden Gate Bridge overlooking the city by the bay. More people commit suicide at this beautiful landmark than at any other site in the world, leaping 245 feet to the icy water below. Although never graphic, the voyeuristic images of actual people, desperate individuals falling to their untimely death is extremely uncomfortable to watch, to say the very least. But to that end, suicide, and by extension, depression and mental illness are very real, and serious issues that can affect anyone: to ignore this afflictions merely because they're uncomfortable would be cowardly and irresponsible. And it's for this reason
Steel's film unfortunately falters: as he never truly provides an answer or reason to any of the questions raised during his captivating movie.
Having filmed almost 10,
000 hours of footage, this controversial R-rated documentary features 23 separate, real-life suicides, and shares the account of one guy lucky enough to have survived: who realized mid-free-fall he still wanted to live. That individual, Kevin
Hines, is thankfully interviewed for the picture, and shares some truly remarkable insight for such a young, troubled person. Although gripping, the interviews (mostly from the families of the deceased) compromise
100% of all spoken sound in the picture, and are filmed in drab, uninteresting locations with boring camera angles. A striking contrast to the majestic cinematography Steel uses to film the bridge itself
... towering and daunting from nearly any angle. Whether or not you've ever struggled with your own demons, this is a mesmerizing picture that adeptly forces a good deal of personal reflection.
For better or worse though, this unique internal discovery within us all in the only narration the picture offers: as there's no narrator, on-screen text, numbers, or facts to go along with emotional family interviews. Surprisingly well-paced and edited, even the melodic piano score from
Alex Heffes sets the mood perfectly. I visited this film's namesake once on
November 23, 2008, when I was in town for
YouTube Live: and when doing follow-up research for this picture, I was extremely discouraged to learn someone had fallen to their death that very same afternoon. The picture offers no lessons, morals, or grand conclusions: but somehow remains hopeful and optimistic: through brief glimpses and portraits of the troubled individuals who ended their life below the beautiful landmark. "The Bridge", "Powerful and unsettling, but necessary."
~
- published: 06 Apr 2013
- views: 6290