The Story of Film: A New Generation

I found this documentary interesting, BUT as others have said it's touted as " a new generation 21 century " but he spends far too much time relating stuff back 50-60 years ago.

Also this guy's narration and style would put even a Crystal meth doper to sleep.

It's a constant droll monotone with no punctuation, no gap, pause , breath nothing.

I watched 30 minutes or so and turned it off.

I think he was trying to be too clever or art for arts sake.

Just film a documentary and get Mark Kermode to narrate ! At leader he has some enthusiasm.

This was read with a style as weak as dish water . 5/5 for program 1/5 for narration and that for turning up zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz !!!

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?

I was excited when I discovered the existence of this sequel to "The Story of Film: An Odyssey" at the library. Unfortunately, it comes nowhere near the greatness of the original series, as it's a thinly connected mess of little coherence. I was excited to see the last decade of cinema summed up and have lines and threads I might not have thought about before drawn up for me, but unfortunately there are few big lines to see throughout the film. Cousin's just rambles on from one thing to the next, connecting the films only by his own stream of consciousness. For the most part, he just narrates what's going on onscreen in a single scene he's decided to feature, without telling you why this film is of any interest at all. There are some parts that connect more than others, and after talking about "The Look of Silence" and "The Act of Killing", he keeps his act together for a while, before the film starts rambling again. Unlike the original series, I haven't gotten the urge to watch a lot of the films I hadn't seen before, because the film gives me too little insight into what's good about the films, or why they're important.

This film is really an essay by Mark Cousins, on the films he has watched in the last 20 years and what he thinks about them. There is little in the way of actual insight. I found it useful to find new films which look interesting, films that either passed me by or I did not hear of. In that way I am grateful to be introduced to The Kidnappers, Cemetery of Splendour, Theorem, November, It Follows, Norte, An Elephant Sitting Still, About Leila and The Pearl Button.

For an analysis of 21st Century films released this essay was very wanting. There was no rhyme or rhythm to the structure. Many times it was a case of Cousins saying "look at this", "look at that", "isn't that smart". That kind of investigation can only go so far until you realise it is just a collage of film snippets that look great.

For a better analysis of film, I recommend the BritBox exclusive Reel Britannia which looks into British films by decade between the 1960s and 1990s. That is a clever concept as the stop gaps are the decade themselves and the TV show elaborately picks a subject or genre and discusses with more depth than this film.

A lot of people have criticised Cousins dry delivery in his narration. Personally, I did not mind it, although it does put into mind it is not so much what he says, which is actually not that interesting, but the way he says it. Some people may confuse slow delivery with deftness. I came away with the impression this film is limited by what Cousins saw and he has not seen.

It is really a love note to himself.

This is a documentary that taught me next to nothing.

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.