What interesting subject matter spanning decades of following kids born with silver spoons. And there definitely IS some interesting photography and inter views, but the biggest issue is that it fails to draw any big conclusions around the central theme. It feels a little bit like, "here is some info from my work as a journalist/photographer and make with it what you well." Which is fine, but it lacked follow-through thematically.
133 Reviews
begins on topic, ends on a personal journey
michellecarter-4859820 February 2019
I enjoyed this film. It was very compelling. All profiles are of damaged people with a lot of regret. Including the film maker, who confesses her feelings of abandonment by her own mother as a child, only to repeat the cycle herself...
Generation Lauren Greenfield
skepticskeptical23 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Generation Wealth is misnamed. It should be called Generation Lauren Greenfield because it is really her life story. If anything, it could be called Generation OCD. But ultimately it tracks Lauren Greenfield´s obsessions and pulls everything together in a kind of vanity project film billed as being about something other than what it is: a history of Lauren Greenfield.
Don´t get me wrong: I understand the desire to not waste one´s work. It is always tempting when writing a novel to put in every idea one ever had and include every surly character one ever encountered. So why not pull together film footage of everything one ever did into one work? Who knows? You might die tomorrow and therefore will not have the chance to make another film!
All of that said, this collage of an autobiographical film does end up being fairly thought provoking about each of its individual subjects, including the main protagonist, Lauren Greenfield and her family. I do feel that the scenes with the mother were an exhibitionist form of psychotherapy.
Don´t get me wrong: I understand the desire to not waste one´s work. It is always tempting when writing a novel to put in every idea one ever had and include every surly character one ever encountered. So why not pull together film footage of everything one ever did into one work? Who knows? You might die tomorrow and therefore will not have the chance to make another film!
All of that said, this collage of an autobiographical film does end up being fairly thought provoking about each of its individual subjects, including the main protagonist, Lauren Greenfield and her family. I do feel that the scenes with the mother were an exhibitionist form of psychotherapy.
The story of a woman who unconsciously ended up exactly like her own mother...
johntravolta123459 February 2019
And, more broadly, an examination of how pathology typically leads to even more pathology -- presented here in the context of how kids raised with incomplete and unsatisfied childhoods end up raising their own kids with the same or similar problems, leading to a snowball effect of pathologies that plague our society in innumerable ways. This is the key takeaway, despite the filmmaker likely not intending it to be: that childcare is extremely important (obviously), and the chain reaction caused by inadequate childcare may very well end up being eventual cause for America's collapse.
As our nation's population has grown during Ms. Greenfield's lifetime; as time has progressed; as our economic system has found new aspects of life to commodify and squeeze into our GDP growth figures, the pathologies of our culture have ballooned in tandem with our economic "success." We may very well have passed the point of no return towards our societal collapse, as this film suggests. At the very least, we are precipitously close to it.
Though I would like to say that this film is a must-watch, for its observations and lessons are so important for our nation's future, I think that such a recommendation is actually futile. As the professional critic reviews exemplify, for some folks (dare I say the majority of the US), this film will fall on deaf ears. We are so deep into our system of delusional desires and vacuous goals that we require great shock to awake to the truth. For this, there is no substitute for lived experience. Hence, as the reviews make evident, those who have experienced something that made them realize the truth of this film FOR THEMSELVES have rated it highly, while others have dismissed it as meandering and inconclusive. In other words, this film reaffirms the conclusions drawn by those who have already learned these same lessons for themselves, while baffling and even aggravating those who just can't/don't understand. We find ourselves in an unfolding catastrophe that is too alluring and complex for most of us to be able to perceive clearly -- let alone do anything about.
In any case, thank you Ms. Greenfield for your effort in making this film, and in particular, your own introspection on how you (and your family) were in a way consumed by the pathologies of our society. This was powerful storytelling, beautifully filmed and narrated. 10/10
As our nation's population has grown during Ms. Greenfield's lifetime; as time has progressed; as our economic system has found new aspects of life to commodify and squeeze into our GDP growth figures, the pathologies of our culture have ballooned in tandem with our economic "success." We may very well have passed the point of no return towards our societal collapse, as this film suggests. At the very least, we are precipitously close to it.
Though I would like to say that this film is a must-watch, for its observations and lessons are so important for our nation's future, I think that such a recommendation is actually futile. As the professional critic reviews exemplify, for some folks (dare I say the majority of the US), this film will fall on deaf ears. We are so deep into our system of delusional desires and vacuous goals that we require great shock to awake to the truth. For this, there is no substitute for lived experience. Hence, as the reviews make evident, those who have experienced something that made them realize the truth of this film FOR THEMSELVES have rated it highly, while others have dismissed it as meandering and inconclusive. In other words, this film reaffirms the conclusions drawn by those who have already learned these same lessons for themselves, while baffling and even aggravating those who just can't/don't understand. We find ourselves in an unfolding catastrophe that is too alluring and complex for most of us to be able to perceive clearly -- let alone do anything about.
In any case, thank you Ms. Greenfield for your effort in making this film, and in particular, your own introspection on how you (and your family) were in a way consumed by the pathologies of our society. This was powerful storytelling, beautifully filmed and narrated. 10/10
Imagery and personal stories are strong but sort of all over the map
petrelet1 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
People are going to disagree about this movie. How you rate or value it is going to depend a lot on your own sense of aesthetics. You can call it complex, or murky; multi-layered, or muddled. It pulls from the projects of filmmaker Greenfield's whole life, which is certainly ambitious - many will say that it's too ambitious, and that the film completely loses focus. Others will say that focus is overrated.
Greenfield presents images and stories of excess - mania for wealth - mania for commodities - desire to shape oneself as a commodity. This content combines in several narratives or patterns:
(A) At times we are told (on several occasions by leftish moralist Chris Hedges) that this is a uniquely bad time in the history of our global civilization. We are told that crescendos of hedonism and greed inevitably mark the imminent deaths of empires and ways of life. This sense of the coming apocalypse is sometimes accentuated by musical and visual elements as in Koyaanisqatsi, say, which however did it better and more single-mindedly. I should say that I find Hedges' interventions to be kind of irritating, not because they're anti-capitalist, which I would take as a plus, but because I don't think they're particularly well grounded in theory.
(B) Mingled with this, we see that for some individuals in the work the crash has already come, pointedly in the collapse of 2008. A hedge fund millionaire became a wanted fugitive; an Icelandic fisherman who became a bank employee had to go back to his boat; other persons experienced other kinds of bubble-bursting. But some of them have actually survived and accepted their new lives.
(C) Another pattern one sees is that some of the people just grew out of it. Early in the film we see teenagers who, back in the 1990's when she first photographed them, were given to all sorts of unhealthy excesses. Then, today, 20 years or more later, they have gotten over it and became kind of okay people. This is a hopeful note, by the way. The excessive kids you are panicking about today may be a lot different after they have had a few years to mature.
(D) But also on some level the film is really about Greenfield's own life - her experiences with her mother, whom she saw as obsessed with work, and with her own kids, who have seen her as obsessed with work. I should point out here that the farther the film progresses, the more it takes the position that "wealth" encompasses just about any thing that someone is overly obsessed with, such as work, one's body, having a child, and so on. You will hear that Greenfield "has always been photographing and reporting on wealth", but someone else can say "well, sure, once you have decided to define 'wealth' as just about anything, of course she has." Apparently this film is just one facet of her opus of oeuvre compilation, which we see has also produced a coffee-table book for people with very sturdy coffee tables.
My own bottom line is that I am happy to have seen it, but then I'm pretty tolerant of ambiguity and of filmmakers pursuing their own visions even if they aren't exactly clear and don't have what you would call "a point" exactly. This may help you decide whether you will like it or not.
Greenfield presents images and stories of excess - mania for wealth - mania for commodities - desire to shape oneself as a commodity. This content combines in several narratives or patterns:
(A) At times we are told (on several occasions by leftish moralist Chris Hedges) that this is a uniquely bad time in the history of our global civilization. We are told that crescendos of hedonism and greed inevitably mark the imminent deaths of empires and ways of life. This sense of the coming apocalypse is sometimes accentuated by musical and visual elements as in Koyaanisqatsi, say, which however did it better and more single-mindedly. I should say that I find Hedges' interventions to be kind of irritating, not because they're anti-capitalist, which I would take as a plus, but because I don't think they're particularly well grounded in theory.
(B) Mingled with this, we see that for some individuals in the work the crash has already come, pointedly in the collapse of 2008. A hedge fund millionaire became a wanted fugitive; an Icelandic fisherman who became a bank employee had to go back to his boat; other persons experienced other kinds of bubble-bursting. But some of them have actually survived and accepted their new lives.
(C) Another pattern one sees is that some of the people just grew out of it. Early in the film we see teenagers who, back in the 1990's when she first photographed them, were given to all sorts of unhealthy excesses. Then, today, 20 years or more later, they have gotten over it and became kind of okay people. This is a hopeful note, by the way. The excessive kids you are panicking about today may be a lot different after they have had a few years to mature.
(D) But also on some level the film is really about Greenfield's own life - her experiences with her mother, whom she saw as obsessed with work, and with her own kids, who have seen her as obsessed with work. I should point out here that the farther the film progresses, the more it takes the position that "wealth" encompasses just about any thing that someone is overly obsessed with, such as work, one's body, having a child, and so on. You will hear that Greenfield "has always been photographing and reporting on wealth", but someone else can say "well, sure, once you have decided to define 'wealth' as just about anything, of course she has." Apparently this film is just one facet of her opus of oeuvre compilation, which we see has also produced a coffee-table book for people with very sturdy coffee tables.
My own bottom line is that I am happy to have seen it, but then I'm pretty tolerant of ambiguity and of filmmakers pursuing their own visions even if they aren't exactly clear and don't have what you would call "a point" exactly. This may help you decide whether you will like it or not.
Could have been so much more
chip-heads30 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I generally don't review but I had to on this. Saw the trailer and was like, wow great subject! Watched the movie. The first part of the movie dealing with the commodification of america was good. Then it started to veer into a personal journey of Ms Greenfield. While it is interesting how she basically did the same to her kids that her parents did to her, it is not really supposed to be about her. It was supposed to be a comment on America. At 1hr and 45 min I thought it was 30 minutes too long because of that. I was like ok, we've reached the natural conclusion. Then it was self-serving for the rest.
Compelling stories of longing and losing
charlottebazely16 September 2018
This is surely one of the most important stories we can be telling about the way we live now- the relentless pursuit for wealth and fame that obsesses up so many us. Celebrated photo journalist Lauren Greenfield brings her unique eye to bear on over twenty years of excess. The stories she focuses on are both appalling and touching. Greenfield looks at the wealthy LA teens of the 90s including a young Kim Kardashian and talks to the extraordinary disgraced hedge fund manager Florian Homm, a former porn star and most heartbreakingly of all a neglectful mother obsessed with plastic surgery. It's an idiosyncratic documentary about the pursuit of money as an inadequate sticking plaster over the pervading wounds of scarcity and lack we feel in a secular, fame obsessed society. Greenfield seems to acknowledge her own unreliability as a narrator by turning the camera on herself and her family and documenting her own absences from them as she relentlessly pursued her subjects over the years. It makes for an uneven narrative and a story without easy conclusions. But it felt truthful to me because of it. We're all in this mess together and we are all voyeurs.
Less than stellar editing makes the completed film less than the sum of its (very compelling) parts
Jeremy_Urquhart31 January 2021
Most of it is really interesting, but the way subjects are strung together is a bit sloppy at times, most noticeably during a very jumbled second half.
It's frustrating, because there are few scenes on their own that are boring or poorly made- it just suffers when it comes to editing, because the whole ends up feeling less than the sum of its parts.
Still, if you can get past that, there's some very interesting points raised, and it'll probably get you thinking and/or feeling about how intensely some people fixate on wealth, and just how much damage can be caused as a result of such an obsession.
It's a decent documentary, but with some better editing and more of a flow between scenes, could have been great or close to it...
It's frustrating, because there are few scenes on their own that are boring or poorly made- it just suffers when it comes to editing, because the whole ends up feeling less than the sum of its parts.
Still, if you can get past that, there's some very interesting points raised, and it'll probably get you thinking and/or feeling about how intensely some people fixate on wealth, and just how much damage can be caused as a result of such an obsession.
It's a decent documentary, but with some better editing and more of a flow between scenes, could have been great or close to it...
The Effect Of $$$
zkonedog5 November 2018
Money can be a tricky thing: Despite nearly everyone's professing of the want of more of it, those that have it do not experience the seemingly requisite happiness or contentment. As a subject in this documentary says: "If you believe money can buy happiness, you obviously have never had money!". Everyone believes they can be the exception to the rule, but the results seem to indicate otherwise.
"Generation Wealth" is, at its core, a personal project from photojournalist/director Lauren Greenfield. She basically turned her camera lens toward the affluent around the world (we visit China, Russia, Europe, along with the U.S.), shot as many pics as possible, and then looked to see what interesting conclusions might be drawn from the experience.
For some reason, "Generation Wealth" receives very poor ratings from the critics, and I think I know the crux of the reason why: this is a very expansive, far-reaching documentary that severely lacks a thesis. Though the production value is very high, it lacks a true goal or thesis, instead throwing a bunch of wealth-related ideas out for thought and just letting them "sit there", so to speak.
The reason for this lack of coherent subject or purpose? In many respects, this is as much a personal journey for Greenfield, who grew up in the affluent LA suburbs and thus has a very personal stake in the entire discussion. Her relationships (documented on camera) with her own parents and immediate family/children bring an emotional punch to the doc that is much-appreciated (at least by this viewer). It's one thing to see how wealth affects the richest of Wall Street traders or international business tycoons. It's another to see how it can creep into day-to-day life of the "average" folk as well.
Usually, I would criticize a doc like this one for lacking any sort of primary focus or goal to accomplish, but I think "Generation Wealth" is the rare piece that works in spite of (if not in some ways because of) its non-proselytizing ways. It is indeed "all over the place", but all the different avenues it turns down lead to productive highways instead of dead-ends. Add in the emotional Greenfield angle and it covers all the bases.
Because of the ratings, I had very low expectations coming into "Generation Wealth", but found myself riveted from the opening salvo to the closing credits. If you are a fan of social documentaries or the topic of wealth in general, you'll find something to enjoy here.
"Generation Wealth" is, at its core, a personal project from photojournalist/director Lauren Greenfield. She basically turned her camera lens toward the affluent around the world (we visit China, Russia, Europe, along with the U.S.), shot as many pics as possible, and then looked to see what interesting conclusions might be drawn from the experience.
For some reason, "Generation Wealth" receives very poor ratings from the critics, and I think I know the crux of the reason why: this is a very expansive, far-reaching documentary that severely lacks a thesis. Though the production value is very high, it lacks a true goal or thesis, instead throwing a bunch of wealth-related ideas out for thought and just letting them "sit there", so to speak.
The reason for this lack of coherent subject or purpose? In many respects, this is as much a personal journey for Greenfield, who grew up in the affluent LA suburbs and thus has a very personal stake in the entire discussion. Her relationships (documented on camera) with her own parents and immediate family/children bring an emotional punch to the doc that is much-appreciated (at least by this viewer). It's one thing to see how wealth affects the richest of Wall Street traders or international business tycoons. It's another to see how it can creep into day-to-day life of the "average" folk as well.
Usually, I would criticize a doc like this one for lacking any sort of primary focus or goal to accomplish, but I think "Generation Wealth" is the rare piece that works in spite of (if not in some ways because of) its non-proselytizing ways. It is indeed "all over the place", but all the different avenues it turns down lead to productive highways instead of dead-ends. Add in the emotional Greenfield angle and it covers all the bases.
Because of the ratings, I had very low expectations coming into "Generation Wealth", but found myself riveted from the opening salvo to the closing credits. If you are a fan of social documentaries or the topic of wealth in general, you'll find something to enjoy here.
Leading to collapse of society
marialopezwrites17 November 2019
Wasted opportunity
almanac-3917817 August 2019
Director Lauren Greenfield commits a cardinal sin in documentary film-making. Instead of making this film about its subject matter, she makes the film about her. Rather than getting a deep, interesting exposé about our obsession with wealth and how it corrupts people, we get a facile, uninteresting examination of Greenfield, her parents and her (very reluctant-looking) children.
It's a real wasted opportunity, and largely a waste of time if you're interested in what the film is advertised as being about.
It's a real wasted opportunity, and largely a waste of time if you're interested in what the film is advertised as being about.
A brilliant window into the dark heart of our culture.
pbazely16 September 2018
mirror, mirror
ferguson-62 August 2018
Greetings again from the darkness. John Lennon wrote "Money don't get everything, it's true. What it don't get, I can't use. Now give me money. That's what I want." Gordon Gekko said "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good." Photographer-Director Lauren Greenfield (THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES, 2012) has spent the past 25 years chronicling the excesses of society. She now lets us in on what she has seen under her microscope (camera lens). It's no surprise that we see a society that values money and beauty, no matter the cost. She also makes this very personal by confessing her own decisions and experiences along the way.
Serving as her own videographer, Ms. Greenfield's film began as a photographic gallery exhibition, was published as a photography book, and has now morphed into a feature length documentary - one that blends much of her previous work. Her lens focuses on such varied subjects as celebrity kids, porn stars, eating disorders, the fashion world, beauty pageants for kids, high commerce, plastic surgery, family sacrifices, the end of the gold standard, and historical societies. It will likely cause you to blush, as well as shake your head in a disgusted all-knowing manner.
An unusual lineup of interviewees includes author Bret Easton Ellis, whose "Less Than Zero" is acknowledged as an inspiration by Ms. Greenfield; porn star Kacey Jordan, whose affiliation with bad boy Charlie Sheen made tabloid headlines; former billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Florian Homm; a workaholic woman with no time for a family or life; a participant from "Toddlers and Tiaras"; and journalist Chris Hedges who offers up a history lesson.
Every segment of the film is about excess. The beauty pageant kid crows "money, money, money". Mr. Homm croons "come to me" as if speaking directly to money. The son of a rock star (Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon) speaks to growing up wealthy, and a high school classmate of Kate Hudson recalls her spouting off about her famous parents. Ms. Jordan admits to hoping one of her sex tapes (she has "lots") will put her on top like it did for her hero Kim Kardashian. Mr. Hedges explains via the Great Pyramids, that societies accrue their greatest wealth at the moment their decline begins (which of course is an obvious mathematical certainty). His point is that all "great" societies of the past have crumbled, but he expects when it happens to us, it will bring down much of the world.
As director Greenfield interjects her own family (including her two sons) into the film, we get the feeling she is either making amends or perhaps using the process as her own therapy for the sacrifices she made for her career ... a career that puts a magnifying glass to society. She discusses the emphasis on wealth during the Ronald Reagan Presidency, and even throws in a glimpse of similar excesses in China, Moscow, Ireland and Dubai.
The old values of hard work and saving money have morphed into what has now become the new American Dream of consumption and luxury. It's a Kardashian society - or at least a society that dreams of living the life of a Kardashian. By the end of the film, the entertaining tales of Mr. Homm's lust for the almighty greenback has given way to a devastatingly sad (in a pitiful way) story unworthy of his cigar twirling. A Beverly Hills woman so desperate to purchase the hot new luxury handbag explains the "what's next" syndrome. The fixation, even addiction, to money, status, and physical beauty seems to be one that can't be cured ... though the film ignores those who don't share in the "dream". We are reminded to be careful what you wish for, and that "Money can't buy me love" ... or even much happiness. Ms. Greenfield's tale attempts to end with a lesson in values - hug those close to you, but the overall message is entirely too downbeat for such a final pick-me-up.
Serving as her own videographer, Ms. Greenfield's film began as a photographic gallery exhibition, was published as a photography book, and has now morphed into a feature length documentary - one that blends much of her previous work. Her lens focuses on such varied subjects as celebrity kids, porn stars, eating disorders, the fashion world, beauty pageants for kids, high commerce, plastic surgery, family sacrifices, the end of the gold standard, and historical societies. It will likely cause you to blush, as well as shake your head in a disgusted all-knowing manner.
An unusual lineup of interviewees includes author Bret Easton Ellis, whose "Less Than Zero" is acknowledged as an inspiration by Ms. Greenfield; porn star Kacey Jordan, whose affiliation with bad boy Charlie Sheen made tabloid headlines; former billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Florian Homm; a workaholic woman with no time for a family or life; a participant from "Toddlers and Tiaras"; and journalist Chris Hedges who offers up a history lesson.
Every segment of the film is about excess. The beauty pageant kid crows "money, money, money". Mr. Homm croons "come to me" as if speaking directly to money. The son of a rock star (Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon) speaks to growing up wealthy, and a high school classmate of Kate Hudson recalls her spouting off about her famous parents. Ms. Jordan admits to hoping one of her sex tapes (she has "lots") will put her on top like it did for her hero Kim Kardashian. Mr. Hedges explains via the Great Pyramids, that societies accrue their greatest wealth at the moment their decline begins (which of course is an obvious mathematical certainty). His point is that all "great" societies of the past have crumbled, but he expects when it happens to us, it will bring down much of the world.
As director Greenfield interjects her own family (including her two sons) into the film, we get the feeling she is either making amends or perhaps using the process as her own therapy for the sacrifices she made for her career ... a career that puts a magnifying glass to society. She discusses the emphasis on wealth during the Ronald Reagan Presidency, and even throws in a glimpse of similar excesses in China, Moscow, Ireland and Dubai.
The old values of hard work and saving money have morphed into what has now become the new American Dream of consumption and luxury. It's a Kardashian society - or at least a society that dreams of living the life of a Kardashian. By the end of the film, the entertaining tales of Mr. Homm's lust for the almighty greenback has given way to a devastatingly sad (in a pitiful way) story unworthy of his cigar twirling. A Beverly Hills woman so desperate to purchase the hot new luxury handbag explains the "what's next" syndrome. The fixation, even addiction, to money, status, and physical beauty seems to be one that can't be cured ... though the film ignores those who don't share in the "dream". We are reminded to be careful what you wish for, and that "Money can't buy me love" ... or even much happiness. Ms. Greenfield's tale attempts to end with a lesson in values - hug those close to you, but the overall message is entirely too downbeat for such a final pick-me-up.
Tangential mess
Surviveoutdoors18 February 2019
Started out with topic at hand. Generational wealth splattered with self promotion of her other movies/ writings. A tablespoon of her family biography and an inner look at some family pathology. Too self serving for my taste. For the love of God stay on topic.
Literally all over the place. Large disappointment.
Literally all over the place. Large disappointment.
A disturbing reality. Very thought provoking.
theinnovativeme24 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Just finished watching this documentary, and Oh man! Such a disturbing reality of the affect of wealth hoarding mindset of people on themselves, their families and the society overall. The relentless pursuit for wealth and fame to the heights of obsession, and the damage that it brings along... really thought provoking.
The director did shift the focus to telling her own life story a couple times, but I honestly did not mind it, because it was full of compassion and more importantly it was honest and heartwarming. Making a documentary like this could take a huge toll on a person to make her think of the obsessions in her own life.
The director did shift the focus to telling her own life story a couple times, but I honestly did not mind it, because it was full of compassion and more importantly it was honest and heartwarming. Making a documentary like this could take a huge toll on a person to make her think of the obsessions in her own life.
Look in the mirror
kosmasp20 June 2022
There are certain things that have been accelerated. Since the invention of ... well people getting famous. The 15 minutes of fame we all seek. Although no one sets a time limit to their goal. And of course since the world is big and we have a lot of people, we are generalizing here.
That being said, the documentary is well thought of. Even the filmmaker herself acknowledges that she now is more aware and better in connecting dots, she previously was unable to see. What does it mean though? I think most conclussions are quite easily deducted. You don't have to be a master in psychology to see and understand what people are talking about.
Of course that also makes the documentary more accesible I reckon. This is not a deep study - but taking into account what the subject matter is, a quite fitting one - no pun intended.
That being said, the documentary is well thought of. Even the filmmaker herself acknowledges that she now is more aware and better in connecting dots, she previously was unable to see. What does it mean though? I think most conclussions are quite easily deducted. You don't have to be a master in psychology to see and understand what people are talking about.
Of course that also makes the documentary more accesible I reckon. This is not a deep study - but taking into account what the subject matter is, a quite fitting one - no pun intended.
An insightful analysis of our times...
allysonstewartallen13 August 2018
This movie was a reminder of the importance of striving for balance... so many of the characters featured clealry lost sight of the damage done to themselves and their relationships in their obsessive pursuit of money for the sake of it. Lauren Greenfield's decades of chronicling gets showcased in this expose - and as someone raised in LA during these decades, it speaks the truth. Bravo Lauren. This should be required viewing for all students of modern culture in the developed and developing world...
Yeah I don't bite...
no_vampires_here19 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
First of all I don't know who this docu woman is and I don't care but looks to me she really enjoys richness but she masked it as a "professional interest". And she is being rich and her parents too.
What is the point in seeing rich people living "then and now" when they are still rich? "Money can't buy everything" - oh you don't say. Some had members of their family die, like any human being on the planet, so? Oh but wait, they are more important because they were in rich families.
So dear rich people, try having a poor life since being born until 50. NOW tell me "money can't buy happiness"! Life is easy to analyze when you own a house, don't worry about tomorrow's meal and other crap things a poor man goes through.
This made me sick.
What is the point in seeing rich people living "then and now" when they are still rich? "Money can't buy everything" - oh you don't say. Some had members of their family die, like any human being on the planet, so? Oh but wait, they are more important because they were in rich families.
So dear rich people, try having a poor life since being born until 50. NOW tell me "money can't buy happiness"! Life is easy to analyze when you own a house, don't worry about tomorrow's meal and other crap things a poor man goes through.
This made me sick.
An eye-opening experience. A must-see Doc which shocks, and thrills
queenbizzi24 July 2018
We live in uncertain times, people are obessessed with their image, their bodies, their 'fame' and their popularity, but there's one thing we are all crazy about...Money. This is a documentary which goes behind the scenes of the lives of the rich and famous, showing how these people have given up their souls, humanity and empathy in order to get rich. A great documentary which is highly informative, detailed and entertaining. It's not for everyone, but everyone should watch it.
"Looking at the extremes to understand the mainstream"
paul-allaer6 October 2018
"Generation Wealth" (2018 release; 105 min.) is a documentary about people's obsession with wealth. As the movie opens, we get to know the director, Lauren Greenfield, and how in the early 90s when she started as a photo journalist she chose to focus on a group of high school kids in Santa Monica (we see Kate Hudson aged 12, among others). Greenfield revisits with those kids, now 25 years later. In a separate path we are introduced to Florian Homm, a former hedge-fund manager who fled the US when he was indicted and is all but too happy to tell us his story. "I love money, come to me!", he exults. At this point we are 10 min. into the film, but to tell you more of the story would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments; this is the latest documentary from writer-director Lauren Greenfield, who previously gave us the excellent "The Queen of Versailles" documentary (in essence about the same themes as this movie). And while the intended topic of the film is appealing (is our society becoming more obsessed with wealth than, say, 25 years ago?), the movie turns out to be a convoluted mess, albeit a beautiful mess. For one, the movie becomes far too personal, as we get much footage about Greenfield's family, in particular her parents, and also her 10 and 15 yr. old sons, who both express their annoyance, time and again, with their mom's seemingly endless filming of their personal lives. No idea what that has to do with wealth obsession as such. But along the way we do get to see many outrageous moments expressing "a lot is good, more is better'. As Greenfield summarizes it: "I'm looking at the extreme to understand the mainstream". In the end, the documentary is a disappointing, yet at time intriguing, bag. Somewhat of a missed chance, really.
"Generation Wealth" premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and it finally opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend. The Friday evening screening where I saw this at was attended dismally (5 people, including myself), not a good sign for a movie's opening day. If you liked "The Queen of Versailles", I suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments; this is the latest documentary from writer-director Lauren Greenfield, who previously gave us the excellent "The Queen of Versailles" documentary (in essence about the same themes as this movie). And while the intended topic of the film is appealing (is our society becoming more obsessed with wealth than, say, 25 years ago?), the movie turns out to be a convoluted mess, albeit a beautiful mess. For one, the movie becomes far too personal, as we get much footage about Greenfield's family, in particular her parents, and also her 10 and 15 yr. old sons, who both express their annoyance, time and again, with their mom's seemingly endless filming of their personal lives. No idea what that has to do with wealth obsession as such. But along the way we do get to see many outrageous moments expressing "a lot is good, more is better'. As Greenfield summarizes it: "I'm looking at the extreme to understand the mainstream". In the end, the documentary is a disappointing, yet at time intriguing, bag. Somewhat of a missed chance, really.
"Generation Wealth" premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and it finally opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend. The Friday evening screening where I saw this at was attended dismally (5 people, including myself), not a good sign for a movie's opening day. If you liked "The Queen of Versailles", I suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.
Gross.
economywater11 May 2019
This would've and could've been an interesting documentary...if the filmmaker had actually stuck to the subject! Unfortunately, 50% of the time she can't seem to resist turning the camera on herself and her uninteresting family to talk about subjects (ie HERSELF!) that have absolutely nothing to do with wealth. "Mom! Turn the camera on and let's talk about ME!" Massive violent eye roll. I eventually just kept my finger on the FF button and would simply skip over the parts where the filmmaker inexplicably and unnecessarily started talking about herself. So self-indulgent. As a rule I do not like documentaries where the filmmaker (or their family) is also the subject--and Generation Wealth is the perfect example of why.
A Powerful Examination of the Corruption of the American Dream
JustCuriosity11 March 2018
Photographer/Director Laurie Greenfield's Generation Wealth was extremely well-received at Austin's SXSW Film Festival (coming off of its appearances at Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival). It is a remarkable cinematic journey as she revisits those she has photographed for previous projects which have often focused on excessive wealth.
Greenfield eloquently captures the decaying of the American Dream as a form of corrupt capitalism has eaten away at American idealism and replaced it with a form extreme narcistic materialism. In many ways this film explains - while barely mentioning him - how this country could elect corrupt narcissist as its President. It describes a country where beauty, sex, fame, and status have all become commodities on sale to the highest bidder
Greenfield takes it a step further by intriguingly adding herself and her own family as part of the story and suggesting that her careerism is also part of the problem. The photography is beautiful and provides a powerful narrative of the collapse of the American Dream. Highly recommended to all who care about the future of America. Greenfield should be commended for a work that is both personal and political.
Feels a bit like a leftover
severajaaho4 March 2020
Lauren Greenfield continues her study of capitalism's effect on culture, this time attempting to focus on its generational impact. The film follows the formula found in the previous films where the phenomena is described through the most extreme stories and people with interviews and anthropological lense. While the subject is interesting and the directors self reflection brings another level of dept to the film, the film uses a lot of material from the previous films and ties into the directors work in photography, which means that the film relies on that the spectator is familiar with the director and her work elsewhere. While the stories told here are certainly interesting and somewhat eye-opening, there is so much packed content in the film that it seems to loose its focus and emotial impact at times.
Bankrupt Vanity Project
pleasebeegood12 August 2018
Critics are giving this film mixed reviews: 'A' for effort; 'D' for execution; and 'F' for depth. Mostly, I agree. But critics are missing a glaring, unseemly trait of the film. Above all else, Lauren Greenfield's 'Generation Wealth' is a one hour and 46 minute advertisement for Lauren Greenfield. It screams narcissism.
There isn't anything inherently wrong with self examination on camera, it's just that Greenfield comes up empty. If you believe, as the filmmaker does, that 'money can't buy you love' is an earth-shattering epiphany worthy of a feature-length film, then you absolutely ought to pay the $12 fine to watch her navel gaze. Better still, cough up the $75 retail price for Greenfield's 500-page companion book, coincidently titled -- 'Generation Wealth.' (Why yes, it did take her 500 pages to warn against the excesses of consumer capitalism. Irony? Hypocrisy? Obliviousness?)
Ms. Greenfield has stated that she examines the extremes of a social phenomenon in order to understand it. She also adds, gymnastically, that this is not a film about the 'one percent'. What I saw were several vignettes of (mostly) wealthy people looking dumb or pathetic for their greed and ambition. Apparently, plain old middle class folks demonstrate greed and ambition in ways that aren't nearly as cinematic. Probably more accurately, the vast majority of us who do not occupy the highest or lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder, could never leave the theater feeling good about ourselves if Greenfield hadn't offered up the low hanging fruit for us to bash.
If you've seen the film and consider my thoughts on it unnecessarily harsh, please consider Greenfield's immeasurably superior 2012 film, 'The Queen of Versailles.' What does 'Generation Wealth' add to her eloquent thesis on the perils of consumer capitalism from the earlier film? Take your time, I'll wait...
If you considered the film 'eye-opening' or 'important', you've been sleepwalking through life. Wealthy people, like most other people, want more stuff. Greed and excess and narcissism are not novel. The 'American Dream' is as elusive as it's always been. Nothing to see here but bling porn and self-promotion of an artist's overstuffed retrospective.
I found 'Generation Wealth' an insulting vanity project that condescends to its audience by presenting simple explanations (disguised with an aura of profundity) for the complex set of circumstances it purports to depict. Especially insulting is the idea that the movie cares at all about a (never defined) generation and/or its relationship to wealth. Mostly the filmmaker needs an audience to assure her that her life's work has merit (by the way, much of it truly does) and that the time she missed from her sons' young lives was worth it. I almost feel foolish assuming that the film was meant for my edification and entertainment. For all Greenfield's gaudy self-indulgence, she neglects her audience by failing to deliver for us. It's not difficult to feel an odd kinship with her son who, when questioned about her absence makes clear "...the damage has already been done."
There isn't anything inherently wrong with self examination on camera, it's just that Greenfield comes up empty. If you believe, as the filmmaker does, that 'money can't buy you love' is an earth-shattering epiphany worthy of a feature-length film, then you absolutely ought to pay the $12 fine to watch her navel gaze. Better still, cough up the $75 retail price for Greenfield's 500-page companion book, coincidently titled -- 'Generation Wealth.' (Why yes, it did take her 500 pages to warn against the excesses of consumer capitalism. Irony? Hypocrisy? Obliviousness?)
Ms. Greenfield has stated that she examines the extremes of a social phenomenon in order to understand it. She also adds, gymnastically, that this is not a film about the 'one percent'. What I saw were several vignettes of (mostly) wealthy people looking dumb or pathetic for their greed and ambition. Apparently, plain old middle class folks demonstrate greed and ambition in ways that aren't nearly as cinematic. Probably more accurately, the vast majority of us who do not occupy the highest or lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder, could never leave the theater feeling good about ourselves if Greenfield hadn't offered up the low hanging fruit for us to bash.
If you've seen the film and consider my thoughts on it unnecessarily harsh, please consider Greenfield's immeasurably superior 2012 film, 'The Queen of Versailles.' What does 'Generation Wealth' add to her eloquent thesis on the perils of consumer capitalism from the earlier film? Take your time, I'll wait...
If you considered the film 'eye-opening' or 'important', you've been sleepwalking through life. Wealthy people, like most other people, want more stuff. Greed and excess and narcissism are not novel. The 'American Dream' is as elusive as it's always been. Nothing to see here but bling porn and self-promotion of an artist's overstuffed retrospective.
I found 'Generation Wealth' an insulting vanity project that condescends to its audience by presenting simple explanations (disguised with an aura of profundity) for the complex set of circumstances it purports to depict. Especially insulting is the idea that the movie cares at all about a (never defined) generation and/or its relationship to wealth. Mostly the filmmaker needs an audience to assure her that her life's work has merit (by the way, much of it truly does) and that the time she missed from her sons' young lives was worth it. I almost feel foolish assuming that the film was meant for my edification and entertainment. For all Greenfield's gaudy self-indulgence, she neglects her audience by failing to deliver for us. It's not difficult to feel an odd kinship with her son who, when questioned about her absence makes clear "...the damage has already been done."
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