The World's Greatest Sinner is a tremendous effort by a first-time filmmaker. There are plenty of technical faults, there are a lot of things Timothy Carey might have done better. These are easy to see as one deconstructs the film.
But film is captured one frame at a time, twenty four times a second. We don't go to movies to watch slide shows, we go to watch films. So it's almost rude to take this work of passion and artificially break it down into shots or sequences. It works as a whole.
Part of the beauty of this film is that it is clearly not an attempt to LEARN filmmaking. Carey isn't sacrificing this story for a future career in filmmaking. He had no formal training and learned everything he did by observations on the the sets of other movies he had acted on.
Was it enough to make him a great filmmaker? No, unfortunately it wasn't. Was it enough to encourage him to make his movie, the way he wanted to make it? Clearly.
And, as a completed piece, it works. It actually works beautifully.
The ultimate independent film, Carey didn't want anything Hollywood to screw up his film. He recruited cast and crew from classified ads. And he clearly didn't suffer "development Hell."
And it is this raw, let's-put-on-a-show aspect that makes it so powerful.
Certainly there are several moments in the film that would make it easy to give up on, to laugh at, not with. But it keeps pulling itself back together. Just as the protagonist does.
This is the story of a man, an insurance salesman, who says life is too sweet to waste it on being an insurance salesman. He decides to write a book and become a politician.
I think this film should be studied in film schools as part of a double feature with Citizen Kane. Two great movies existing in parallel: Orson Welles and his machine (talent, money, experience, power) on top; and Timothy Carey on bottom (DIY filmmaking with less equipment than currently available on an iPhone).
Each of these films explore ambition and corruption in a manner suited to the characters and the filmmakers (each director also starred as the lead). Each speaks to the cult of personality. Each depicts the eagerness of ill-informed followers. Each of the protagonists is debilitated by the death of his mother.
I am glad to have been among the hundreds of people who have ever seen this film. It is not available online or on disk. It never had a distribution deal.
As a new filmmaker myself, fumbling through the mistakes one does, I am inspired by Timothy Carey's vision and tenacity. I wish I could get it on DVD.
But film is captured one frame at a time, twenty four times a second. We don't go to movies to watch slide shows, we go to watch films. So it's almost rude to take this work of passion and artificially break it down into shots or sequences. It works as a whole.
Part of the beauty of this film is that it is clearly not an attempt to LEARN filmmaking. Carey isn't sacrificing this story for a future career in filmmaking. He had no formal training and learned everything he did by observations on the the sets of other movies he had acted on.
Was it enough to make him a great filmmaker? No, unfortunately it wasn't. Was it enough to encourage him to make his movie, the way he wanted to make it? Clearly.
And, as a completed piece, it works. It actually works beautifully.
The ultimate independent film, Carey didn't want anything Hollywood to screw up his film. He recruited cast and crew from classified ads. And he clearly didn't suffer "development Hell."
And it is this raw, let's-put-on-a-show aspect that makes it so powerful.
Certainly there are several moments in the film that would make it easy to give up on, to laugh at, not with. But it keeps pulling itself back together. Just as the protagonist does.
This is the story of a man, an insurance salesman, who says life is too sweet to waste it on being an insurance salesman. He decides to write a book and become a politician.
I think this film should be studied in film schools as part of a double feature with Citizen Kane. Two great movies existing in parallel: Orson Welles and his machine (talent, money, experience, power) on top; and Timothy Carey on bottom (DIY filmmaking with less equipment than currently available on an iPhone).
Each of these films explore ambition and corruption in a manner suited to the characters and the filmmakers (each director also starred as the lead). Each speaks to the cult of personality. Each depicts the eagerness of ill-informed followers. Each of the protagonists is debilitated by the death of his mother.
I am glad to have been among the hundreds of people who have ever seen this film. It is not available online or on disk. It never had a distribution deal.
As a new filmmaker myself, fumbling through the mistakes one does, I am inspired by Timothy Carey's vision and tenacity. I wish I could get it on DVD.