Sunday, March 05, 2017

Auteur Watch - Antwone Fisher

Boy, what it must do to a man to have his first movie with his own name as the title.  Well, seeing as how we have only the one case study to draw from, really, it's probably premature to draw terribly sweeping conclusions.  I mean, I love Antwone Fisher as much as the next movie blogger, but he's no Augusten Burroughs or Charlie Bartlett... oh, wait, Charlie Bartlett is fictional, by which I mean loosely autobiographical on someone, and even Augusten Zen Burroughs was bourne as Christopher Robi(n)son.  But look at it this way: he's one superpower away from joining the X-Men, am I right?
But according to the A.V. Club, apparently mentioned on "Saturday Night Live," Fisher's stock in trade is triumph over adversity, whether it's his own growing up in the Navy, or his own growing up in Atlanta, or... well, at least My Summer Friend is based on someone else for a change!
Anyway, having conquered the world of the autobiography, it was time to tackle the world of the documentary, or in Antwone's case, the autobiography of someone else for a change.  And just like Scorsese trying to rip off Ken Burns with Gangs of New York,... I don't know how to finish that sentence.  Anyway, what Antwone's next project was was called This Life of Mine The Leon T. Garr Story, a story full of triumph over adversity, and even greater triumph over grammar... I mean, shouldn't there be a '-' or a ":" in between the "Mine" and the "The"?  Am I right, middle school English teachers?  Well, I hate to say it, but if I were Leon T. Garr, I wouldn't be too proud.  I mean, this is a guy who apparently amassed millions of dollars, yet the film of his life story only cost $100,000!  What's a guy gotta do around here?  You mean to tell me he couldn't get David O. Russell to do a Joy-type treatment of the material?
Having all but quit the business, Antwone wades a little deeper into the deep end of the pool now with his next effort, and it's tentatively called Lincoln Perry.  Um... Madea called, wants his/her franchise back!

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