This Film is Not Yet Rated
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This Film Is Not Yet Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson |
The documentary “This Film is Not Yet Rated” is a sarcastic insider’s look at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which rates films. The documentary centers around director Kirby Dick’s attempt to find out who the members of the MPAA are, and what constitutes their system for rating films (if they actually have one).
The MPAA is more of a secret, clandestine operation than the C.I.A. Its employees names have never been revealed to the public and only one member, board chair Joan Graves, speaks with the press. Jack Valenti, MPAA President while the documentary was being filmed (he finally retired in 2004 at age 82) is one of the film’s central characters, and its primary target. Valenti, who served as “special assistant” to Lyndon Johnson, is seen in video clips. He comes across as a two-faced megalomaniac in charge of his own private fiefdom. (No surprise here, he’s the bad guy.) He’s the J. Edgar Hoover of motion pictures, imposing his own antediluvian sense of morals on movie goers. One gets the feeling from Dick’s unflattering portrayal of him that Valenti knows where Jimmy Hoffa is buried and what’s under lock and key at Area 51.
As if to further tweak the MPAA, Dick hires a pair of lesbian detectives and their daughter to shadow the staff as they leave work. (The MPAA seems to have a vendetta against non-heterosexual based films.) A fortuitous moment in the investigation occurs when a security guard abandons his post, allowing the detectives to photograph a list of employees, including names of the staffers who rate films. Dick and one of the investigators raid one of the reviewer’s garbage cans, sifting through her trash in search of vital information. They uncover several evaluations of upcoming films, which help Dick and the viewer understand what criteria the reviewers use to rate films.
Now that Dick knows who he’s dealing with and can better gauge the MPAA’s parameters for rating films, he reveals a humorous ulterior motive – he wants the MPAA to rate the documentary he’s made about them. Joan Graves calls Dick to explain why the film’s getting an NC-17: “For some graphic and sexual content.” Dick takes what could have been a boring exchange and turns it a side-splitting lampoon by using spilt screen images to recreate their conversation. What’s funny is Dick is seen in person while Graves is depicted as a life-like cartoon, complete with disapproving facial expressions. Ditto for the MPAA’s lawyer, who comes across as a bullying Cossack holding the censorship line.
“This Film is Not Yet Rated” does a good job in giving a crash course on Hollywood censorship, beginning with the Fatty Arbuckle-Virginia Rapp scandal, through the establishment of a “moral code” by Will Hayes, to the black listing of alleged communists in the 50s. The most enlightening and amusing moments are provided by the directors whose films have been slapped with R or NC-17 ratings. Wayne Kramer, director of “The Cooler” and actress Maria Bello discuss the scene that nailed the film with an NC-17, in which it’s revealed Ms. Bello is not a natural blonde. They point out that a similar and more famous exposure by Sharon Stone in “Basic Instinct” made her career. Kimberly Pierce, who directed “Big Boys Don’t Cry” thinks the MPAA has a problem with female pleasure, citing a sex scene between Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny that was deemed verboten, while a rape scene and the scene in which Swank’s character gets shot in the head got the thumbs up. John Waters, the eternally strange director of “Cry Baby” and “Hairspray,” is aghast at the MPAA’s scattergun approach to ratings, but openly admits there’s a sexual act that scares even him, and Kevin Smith, director of “Clerks” is in fine shock-the-audience form. Matt Stone, who helmed “Team America” shows outtakes of the puppet sex scene and admits he put his marionettes in more positions than there are in the Kama Sutra, knowing the MPAA would censor most of the scene. I’ve never seen a human being render a golden shower (and worse), and now that I’ve seen it performed by puppets, there’s no way in this life or my next one that I’ll look at it again, so score one for the MPAA on axing that act of depravity from the film.
In a society where we’ve had to endure assassinations, wars, poverty and natural disasters, finding out who was helping Jack Valenti perpetuate an anachronistic film code isn’t exactly on par with discovering who killed President Kennedy, so the actual impact of “This Film Is Not yet Rated” borders on nice to know/who cares. After “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” received its NC-17 rating, Dick appealed the rating and the ensuing legal battle and surprising decision is another of the film’s likable facets. Dick set out to bag the king of the jungle and succeeded, and in the process created a droll documentary that’s fast and funny.
Posted February 6, 2007 Permalink
