The Story of Film: A New Generation

Watched a little while before the eyelids became heavy, it's not the content, but the monotonous drone of a voice...explains things as if he should be heard, the expert, but when the life-force is that of a deadweight glutton after a Christmas meal, the best thing you can do is switch off the film and go for a sleep. Worst narration I've heard, despite the obvious knowledge it holds. Maybe he's listened to too many voiceovers by Morgan freeman and assumed he could emulate. Freeman's voice wouldn't do it justice either. Maybe Mark Kermode could have been approached, or someone with a bit of life and doesn't need a de-esser to eliminate more hisses than the snake from disneys Robin Hood.

This is an interesting documentary about modern film from around the world.

There are a lot of films mentioned here that I had not heard of and are now added to my list on IMDb, so it was worth watching just to find some films you may not have discovered otherwise.

However due to the narrator having the most monotone voice I have heard I had to watch this in three parts, I'm sure he knows his stuff but he sounds very uninterested in his on own project which makes it hard to concentrate.

Perhaps this would have been better as a three part series rather then a 165 minute documentary to make it more digestible?

An insight into how cinema across the world has changed in recent years and it's impact upon us.

Those who go to the pictures at their local multiplex once a week, may wish to look elsewhere for a documentary about the movies, as this is probably not it. Cousins takes cinema very very seriously and shares with us through probably over 100 clips precisely in his view what are the clever life changing pieces of cinema that the world should be impressed by and why. Ok, it's a point of view like any criticism and he clearly knows his stuff, but overall it's a hard slog unless you're a cineaste or a film critic reliving the films you've reviewed so carefully, that probably few others watching this on Netflix will have seen. Coupled with Cousins' slow, whispering Irish drawl that could easily send you to sleep, I suggest you avoid watching this late at night and have 'Carry on Up the Khyber' on standby.

It's always nice seeing montages of film clips, if only to discover new treats. I watched a third of this on 1.5x speed, which made Cousins' monotonous, slow narration sound vaguely more normal. But then the clips were too fast. Cousins really is a pompous dousche. He describes the opening credits of Deadpool as if we need to be told that they're somehow edgy or different. He explains that they 'pushed the boundaries of comedy' or something. And on it goes. He seems to think he's some appointed superiority on the real poetry of cinema, here to hold your hand through stuff that never would have occured to you before. Even explaining how 'passion' drives cinema. Yet his own narration is so passionless, so pretentiously lofty in its delivery, he commits a huge sin in boring you rather than exciting you about cinema. I prefer Scorsese or Tarantino riffing on their observations anyday. Cousins should really be making hypnotherapy CDs.

I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary. It had a dream-like quality to it. Musing on films which have changed the way we look at movies. The presentation was beautifully executed and interspersed with some thougtful imagery. It has given me a long list of films to watch and reminded me of some to rewatch. I am a little puzzled by the other reviews of this as I really enjoyed the narration.