Unusual for a movie-goer, to sit in a theater with the star of the show, unusual for the same audience members to party with the star later in the month, in iowa. Joshua Miller was studying at the Iowa Writers Workshop in 2002 when he (re)premiered his tour-du-force The Mao Game. The specifics behind the creation of this film, it's subsequent botched theatrical release, and then the contractual-copyright-Hollywood mumble-jumble-junk, for me, only adds to my contention that this film is a big F--- Y-- to the whole Hollywood system. Of course, JM does this through the medium the film but if you had the chance to do so, and to do so so brilliantly, you shouldn't be faulted for taking that chance. Speaking cinematically, Mao Game is an 7-8 and possibly a 9 when the background details compound with the film itself. While its been said before, this film is somehow an independent venture while it also gleans much from the Hollywood studio mechanism. I'm not sure how old JM was at the time, but as a first for the artist as writer, director, actor, i think it is quite an accomplishment. I hope we see some more ideas and stories from JM in the future. Since I saw this film around 3 or 4 years ago, I am losing my memory of the details, but I remember thinking it was quite good afterword. The film successfully tells the story of these three generations of Hollywood actors, but the same could apply to any sort of ancestry, only Alaskain Snow Crab Harvesters have much less access to rolls of 35mm film and the ability to draw Hollywoods stars. Yet for this reason, the film is also quite incredible because you get the sense that these people were willing to perform in this film, and that they decided and their agents decided to make time for this. Since I am not an expert on Hollywood, I am not sure, but I would guess that this scenario does not happen often. As a result it humanizes these stars. Toward the end, the bond that develops between grandson and grandmother strengthens as the end of life approaches. The Mao Game asks the question of "How do we care for each other?" Though the story does not give us the rules by which we should, it expresses through message and medium that we are so linked to our past and the care that was given to us at younger ages.
Review of The Mao Game
