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Starfire review
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STARFIRE- The Magic, the Music. This feature length film is actually not your typical documentary. Let me explain....You know how a lot of Hollywood movies that are set in certain time periods transition scenes by using a few clips and song to invoke your belief that the movie is indeed set in that time? Well, what if you took a similar concept of using the clips/ song and focused on creating a larger message out of them instead? This is what STARFIRE does, and quite effectively. The period of time is the late 60's, with hints of going into the 70's. These clips and song ARE that time period! To me, this is like a permanent window into that world!
Whether it's the freedom of youth within the 60's, the activists, war, space, politics, or whatever....it's all in there for you to experience for either the first time, or to re-experience....if you were there. The songs of that era and the events flashed before your eyes in both video and stills merge together to bring emotion to the front. Songs like, "Born To Be Wild" have a re-occuring theme with shots of riding on the open road ontop of motorcycles. Many of our entertainment icons are shown, from Elvis all the way down to Janis Joplin, with politicians on up to Richard Nixon. The archival footage list is quite extensive, as are the songs. Starting and ending in space, you get the feeling that our planet and this moment of time are all one speck within the cosmos.
Producer, Director, and Editor....Mark St. George brings this all to you as a SPQR presentation. Associate Produced by Nick St. George. This film is promoted as part of a double feature for benefits around the U.S.A. The main benefit is at: http://www.americasfallenheroesfund.com/ The other film being presented is "Alexander- Hero of Heroes", which is originally in literary form and available at www.proteusla.com . Many works, including films, are available or have information for them on that publishing website. The review for Alexander is here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-7859-Cleveland-Indie-Movie-Examiner~y2009m9d21-Alexander-Hero-of-Heroes-review
How does it play out? Quality of the production is strictly subjective to the archival source footage, while the songs are taken from quality digital re-mastered sources. The film guides your mood through how the clips and songs play out. While a handful of the songs are crafted to cut off abruptly after just a taste, this reminded me that while the 60's were a time of many great creations and advancements, these good times kept abruptly getting cut off by negative effects of war, world problems, and our country's internal struggles for equality. It's a statement that works.
After watching both Starfire and Alexander (the double feature, practically), I noticed that Mark St. George has an artists signature placed at or near the end of productions. In this case, it's through the use of movie footage that's more recent than the 60's, yet interestingly enough conveys the message of what the whole movie really is about....the costs of progress!
Starfire shows a clip of a movie, "Planet of The Apes", throughout. Charlton Heston is usually a scene stealer, but in this case, the Statue of Liberty is neck deep in the sand, and overshadows everything at that moment. I always thought Heston's swearing was for being "one-upped" in that scene by a set prop. Perhaps the loss of liberty is a lesson that those who made the ape movie and Mark St. George were trying to teach. War's a killer and eventually may consume us all! Oh, and in the 60's & 70's, how did we repay our soldiers for their service? Anybody recall? Oops, I'm going off topic. Oh the humanity!
I thought it was interesting to see Richard Nixon's different sides, and various footage from around the world filled with events. The music overtop a longer space mission scene was beautiful and seemed epic to me, which is amazing considering these are all a collage of image and sound. This is a lot of archival footage of the most influential clips in history. I loved seeing Playboy's creator being all young again with a beauty by his side, as well as Priscilla Presley with Elvis.
To summarize my experience with STARFIRE- The Magic, the Music...I'd have to say it was actually intense. This is a lot of archival footage of the most influential clips in history. There is nudity, which I certainly don't mind, but I don't recall it being from the Heffner shots, ironically. There's also a lot of emotion and consolidation of life altering events captured, where if it almost made me shed a tear (and I came close a few times), you can almost bet that somebody that lived through it most certainly will! It's like when "The Fifth Element" saw tons of history flashing through her eyes (Milla Jovavich) on her view screen and pulled away with tears streaming down her face. Really! Young kids who don't have a point of reference may prefer to listen to their hip-hop and watch American Idol to this, but anybody who's ever felt anything about history and enjoys film will most certainly get something out of this. You feel drawn in like watching an IMAX movie, which is surreal when viewing from a 37 inch hdtv. I was taken by the Magic!
Best, Kenny
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