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Edge of Outside
R4 - Australia - DV1 Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Shane Roberts (16th October 2007). |
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The Film
 Using old and new interviews with film historians and important filmmakers plus plenty of archive footage, director Shannon Davis attempts to chart the history of the independent film industry and the maverick directors that have defined it. Although the bulk of the film is made up of profiles of directors it's also interspersed with the important events of the indie movement. Presented in chronological order, it starts with the pioneers of Hollywood such as D.W. Griffith and Buster Keaton who were essentially independents, and goes on to cover United Artists, the first Indie Hollywood studio founded by Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. As well as Italian neo-realism, the French new wave, the massive impact of "Easy Rider" (1969) and the founding of the Sundance Festival by Robert Redford which has helped introduce some of the biggest indie directors of the last 20 years like Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino who is also one of the featured directors. The above mentioned directors' profiles which include Samuel Fuller, Nicholas Ray, Orson Welles, Sam Peckinpah, Stanley Kubrick, John Cassavetes, Arthur Penn, Roger Corman, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, David Lynch and Tarantino are interesting, especially to anyone who may not have heard of some of them. But there's just not enough time to do any of them justice, each one could easily be the focus of their own solo documentary. Obviously because of the time constraints, the makers have decided to concentrate purely on filmmakers who stayed almost completely in independents throughout their career. But, conspicuous by their absence are directors like George Miller who made "Mad Max" (1979) as well as John Carpenter with his breakout film "Halloween" (1978), plus The Coen brothers and even Kevin Smith who even though they've spent most of their careers working for major studios, have contributed hugely influential films and deserve to be included. The directors who are featured are shown to be a talented group of individuals who all fought constantly throughout their careers to make films retaining their personal vision in and out of the studio system. In summary, the scope of the matter is just too large and as highly entertaining as this made-for-Turner-Classics-Movies documentary is, at just over an hour it barely scratches the surface and really just ends up being a very good introduction to what could be the first part of a series.
Video
Presented in the film's original ratio of 1.85:1 this transfer is generally quite good considering some of the archival footage isn't always in the best shape, but this Is expected when it comes to documentary film. The new footage is sharp and clean and displays natural colors especially skin tones and some mild grain are evident but it's nothing major. Black levels are bold and hold up well for this otherwise rather rudimentary transfer that simply does the job.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track is included, and considering this is a feature that includes a lot of talking heads the track is perfect in presenting the dialogue cleanly and without distortion. The music cues also appear well mixed and add some depth. This film does not include any subtitles.
Extras
DV1 have only included some biographies for John Cassavetes (3 pages), Samuel Fuller (2 pages), Stanley Kubrick (3 pages), Sam Peckinpah (5 pages), Arthur Penn (2 pages), Nicholas Ray (2 pages) and Orson Welles (3 pages).
Overall
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