Z/Web

I’d been wanting to see this documentary since I first heard about it, but by the time it was actually available, it had dropped off my radar. I discovered it on Netflix streaming and watched it. It’s a fascinating story about setting the all-time scoring record in the Donkey Kong videogame, but the structure’s awkward as it doesn’t follow a traditional storyline. (That’s because it’s real life, but it seems like something that could be fixed in editing.) I don’t want to spoil the story, but let’s just say that it’s difficult to see who the heros and villains are, making for uncomfortable viewing as we aren’t sure who to root for and against, and the story’s ups and downs often left me frustrated because I couldn’t see where we were going (there’s no important foreshadowing like in a fictional tale that prepares us for bad news). It also ultimately felt a little empty, without any moral or conclusion. It could be that is the point — that people who spent zillions of hours mastering an ancient videogame are engaged in a pointless endeavor — but I wanted at least a hint of something more. All that said, I’m a huge fan of Donkey Kong and that alone makes me love this film. Donkey Kong was the first videogame I ever played (I’m showing my age). I still have vivid memories of my eighth grade year when I walked to school every morning and stopped by the 7-11 on the way and spent my lunch money on Donkey Kong (yes, DK was more important than food). When I first started playing I could go through my $1.25 in quarters in fifteen minutes, but eventually I risked being late to school because one quarter would last me thirty minutes or more. (I’d play again on the way home from school, too, and then I didn’t have quite such a deadline.) While I never achieved anything close to the scores of the phenoms in this film, Donkey Kong is still the one videogame I did the best at (I never had enough time for videogames after those halcyon days): I used to get groups of admirers watching me play as I was way better than most. (I once made it to the third pie factory, if that tells you anything.) This film resurrected a lot of memories. The endings is a little unsatisfying, but that’s mostly because it takes textual explanation at the closing credits to really conclude things (I would have much preferred that to be filmed as part of the story). But it’s definitely worth seeing, and if you’re a fan of classic videogames like Donkey Kong, it’s a must-see.

Strange title, but a neat quirky British film about a young artist who’s so devastated when his girlfriend breaks up with him that he goes weeks without sleeping. To occupy his time, he takes a job on the night shift at a supermarket. There he meets a bunch of strange fellow losers who each have ways to make the time go by while doing as little work as possible. He discovers his method is to stop time. He puts the world on pause and while everyone is frozen, he can use the time to draw pictures of any pretty female shoppers. I liked the way the film toys with the line of whether he’s really freezing time or if it’s just in his imagination (a question never really answered and truly, it doesn’t really matter since the effects are the same either way). As an artist, his privilege is to see beauty everywhere, and he falls for a homely clerk who gradually becomes beautiful to us as well. There’s not a huge amount of plot — the love story of the two is simple enough — and the main appeal is the young man’s genuine personality and the fantasy of being able to stop time. I liked it.