|
Reel Paradise
By John DeFore
AUSTIN -- Storied producer's rep John Pierson (who told his stories in his book "Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes") is a charismatic draw for a certain kind of moviegoer -- the indie-centric fan who marvels at the many filmmaking talents he has brought to light. Fortunately for the docu in which he stars, "Reel Paradise" has a broader appeal. As a portrait of a quirky American family and a study of competing cultural values, it's an engrossing and often very funny tale. It recently screened at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
The Pierson clan -- John, wife-partner Janet, 16-year-old Georgia and 13-year-old Wyatt -- spent a year on the Fijian island of Taveuni, where they ran what they call "the world's most remote movie theater," a dirty, barely functional place called the 180 Meridian Cinema. In the final month of their stay, director Steve James came to document their experience.
While the film lacks a story line as gripping as "Hoop Dreams" or an issue as powerful as "The Thin Blue Line" (previous projects for James and Pierson, respectively) and thus can't be expected to set the boxoffice aflame, it has a mixture of humor and cultural relevance that raises it above the documentary rank and file. That appeal could be enhanced by trimming a few enjoyable but unnecessary scenes from the film. In general, "Reel Paradise" is just what it needs to be: A vicarious vacation in an exotic setting, away from all the trappings of "civilized" life except the one moviegoers crave.
The 180 Meridian had been free all year (opening its doors to an audience that would not have been able to afford admission otherwise) which provoked an unexpected conflict: The nearby Catholic church was offended, claiming that giving things away undermined the work ethic that generations of Western missionaries had tried so hard to impose on Fiji.
Other conflicts arose as well, both at the theater (where John deals with projectionists who go on a bender instead of showing up for work) and at home (where Georgia's popularity with local boys scandalizes her classmates' parents, and the Piersons' relative wealth attracts burglars). Almost all the difficulties boil down to an intriguing clash of values but are made more interesting because of the varied personalities within the family -- from Wyatt, who eagerly adapts to local customs and is skeptical of his father's highbrow tastes, to Janet, who brings a liberal intellect to bear on everything from curfews to a showing of "Jackass."
Planted among the many cultural dramas, of course, is a motivating love of the movies. A few scenes capture a magic right out of "Sullivan's Travels": moviegoers who aren't yet too jaded to howl at the antics of Buster Keaton, Steve Martin or a "Jackass" willing to attach electrodes to his nether regions. James manages to slide these moments in without letting the docu feel like a solipsistic ode to cinephilia.
More Press...
|
 |
 |
I'm seated, with my mother, on a palace veranda, cooled by a breeze from the royal garden. Before us, on a dais, is an empty throne, its arms and legs embossed with polished brass, the back and seat covered in black-and-gold silk. In front of the steps to the dais, there are two columns of people, mostly men, facing one another, seated on carved wooden stools, the cloths they wear wrapped around their chests, leaving their shoulders bare.
Read More...
|
Then there's Hollywood's interpretation of the island...
To see that, check out Reel Paradise, a movie about the saga of American film maker maker John Pierson who in 2002 relocated his family
to Taveuni for a year to show free movies at the venerable Meridian Cinema near Waiyevo.
Read More...
|
Interview with John and Janet Pierson - Reel Paradise
On the latest episode of DVD Talk Radio, DVD Talk Editor Geoffrey Kleinman speaks with John and Janet Pierson about the DVD release for Reel Paradise.
Read More...
|
No Family Is an Island
BY SPENCER PARSONS
The Piersons on 'Reel Paradise'
Read More...
|
|
Reel Paradise: Review
BY Marc Savlov
When it comes to mid-life crises, some guys buy Porsches, some nail hot blondes,
and some just muddle through. Freshly minted Austinite and famed producer's rep/author/gadabout John Pierson chose to relocate his entire family.
Read More...
|
'Reel Paradise': Moving Theater Experience in Fiji
by Alex Chadwick
American movie buff and independent filmmaker John Pierson moved his family to Fiji in 2002 in search of "the world's most remote theater."
Read More...
|
Reel Paradise: Review
By Roger Ebert
Steve James' new documentary, "Reel Paradise," is about a couple with similar idealism, who also move to a small town and buy the movie theater.
Read More...
|
Reel Paradise: Review
By Kevin Crust
MOVIE REVIEW: A family, a film house and Fiji.
Read More...
|
|
Taking popcorn fare to paradise
By Merrill Balassone
It's like moviegoing is new again when a producer shows free films in Fiji.
Read More...
|
How an American family moved to Fiji and brought Hollywood along for the ride
By Edward Guthmann
After 25 years of making top-notch indie films, John Pierson needed to escape. So off to Fiji he went, bringing
his family to begin a new life. He documented the experience in "Reel Paradise."
Read More...
|
Keeping It 'Reel' in Paradise
By ANDY KLEIN
In 2002, well known indie film figure John Pierson - producer's rep for She's Gotta Have It, Clerks, and Roger & Me, host of IFC's Split Screen series, and author of Spike, Mike, Slackers
& Dykes - picked up his family and moved to Fiji for a year to show free movies.
Read More...
|
LA Weekly: Film
By Scott Foundas
The final month of Pierson's quixotic quest is chronicled by documentary filmmaker Steve James in Reel Paradise and the result is an enormously warm, comic travelogue about how you can go to the ends of the earth and still not escape from temperamental
teenagers, absentee landlords and the universal language of moving pictures.
Read More...
|
Creating a Free Cinema Off Beaten Track in Fiji
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Steve James's absorbing documentary follows a family to the rural Fijian island of Taveuni, where they showed free
movies in the world's most remote movie theater.
Read More...
|
'Paradise' found in Fiji
By LILY OEI
Indiewood came out in droves Monday to celebrate the Gotham preem of Wellspring's "Reel Paradise."
Read More...
|
|
A Cinema So Indie It's 5,000 Miles Away
By David Hochman
The Pierson's experiences running a cinema in Fiji are the subject of the documentary "Reel Paradise."
Read More...
|
On Screen and In a New City, Austin Embraces The Pierson Family
By Eugene Hernandez
These days, aside from traveling to a few film festivals to talk about Steve James' Miramax doc about their time in Fiji, "Reel Paradise,"
the Pierson's have become key figures within the Austin film scene.
Read More...
|
|
Variety - Reel Paradise
By Todd McCarthy
Indie film guru John Pierson goes native, sort of, in "Reel Paradise," an engaging docu about his year-long
stint showing free movies to the locals at what's purportedly
the world's most remote cinema, the 180 Meridian in Taveuni, Fiji.
Read More...
|
|
Sundance #3: Of heart and humor
By Roger Ebert
Another Sundance doc is also a wonderful portrait of an unexpected lifetime. Steve James, who directed
"Hoop Dreams," is here with "Reel Paradise," the story of a New Yorker named John Pierson, who distributed
and represented the films of Spike Lee, Kevin Smith and many other indie directors,
and hosted "Split Screen," an IFC program on independent films.
Read More...
|
Paradise Found
By Bill Chambers
Hoop-dream master Steve James on his latest film, REEL PARADISE
Read More...
|
Isle of Forgotten Fans
By John Pierson
I recently became the proud owner of the world's most remote movie theater. A year from now, you could be wearing a T-shirt that says, "I saw it at the 180 Meridian Cinema." At least that's how I see it.
Read More...
|
Fiji Favorites: Guys in Dresses
By Dave Kehr
The Piersons are back, and the New York independent film community is happy to see them home.
Read More...
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
