ZD30 by Kathryn Bigelow. I have not seen it yet.
I have trouble with KB. ‘The Hurt Locker” I found tiresome and … well, I don’t really have a lasting impression of it. Best picture, director, writer …? This film seems forgotten already, in 5 years. The “realism” of the film – read shaky cam – is distracting. Pop culture and cinema.
Now, female directors: Ida Lupino, Lina Wertmuller, Leni Riefenstahl are 3 fine female directors. Lupino and Wertmuller are among my favorites and were pioneers. But KB is neither. In ZD30, she focuses on the single character Maya as THE star. KG was thrilled to have a woman be bumped up the ladder in a “docu-drama” that ignores others and ignores the SEAL team as the main protagonists. The “based-on” proponent means the script was re-worked to a fictional account forwarding a feminist agenda. Maya is an important portion of the search but not THE important one. Dramatic license is used for an agenda other than fact. What do we take home? Popcorn stuck our teeth.
Perhaps some of my problems with ZD30 stem from the fact the Osama was caught and killed prior to its release and the film was – reworked? Also, as a current–event film, it should have a stance and tell us something. Yes, entertain us but also inform us, beyond butter pop corn. And that shaky cam again, serving as a puppet-prop to "suggest" realism. OK.
The film starts … 10 years before 9/11/2001? W … WHAT THE … over 2.5 hours and only 30-35 minutes of SEAL climax?
KB reveals a talent, an eye, but not as an auteur. Like "Point Break" and "Strange Days," like "The Hurt Locker," ZD30 may well de destined to be an OK but forgettable pop flash-in-the-pan. I hope for better from KB in years to come.
BTW, KB is James Cameron's ex-wife.