FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

Filmmaker Caveh Zahedi takes his camera and the audience on a journey of self-discovery and analysis as he attempts to come to terms with his sex addiction. He retraces his steps and brings us along from the fetish’s inception through two failed marriages and other destructive relationships up to the present day: his wedding day. This is his way of getting everything right out into the open before taking the plunge for what he hopes to be the final time.

Let me get this out the way right off the bat. I hated that Caveh talks directly to the camera. It’s not just that he does this, but rather the fact that he actually does it right before he walks through the doors to get married. Its this type of egotistical, self-indulgent pretentious attitude that really turns me off towards accepting him as a serious artist. Not every aspect of your life has to be captured on film and turned into an artistic endeavor. It is possible to just live in a moment and let it be that moment rather than the climax to your petty pet project. The dude’s production company is called “Reinventing the Wheel” for crying out loud. That cliché alone speaks volumes towards his high and mighty attitude and his lack of creativity to back it up.

With that said, the documentary isn’t completely terrible. It could be much, much better, but….Let me go back a minute. When you see the movie, get used to hearing that sentence. Caveh likes to backtrack constantly and fill in missing pieces of the puzzle. But this self-aware, post-modern approach wouldn’t be necessary if he were to just tell us these pieces from the get go. There is no discernable purpose to structuring the movie in this way that I can see. The movie should be chronological. Hell, the movie should just be “based on a true story.”

What we’re watching is essentially a narrative, since the documentary plays out almost exclusively in recreations with some voice over. I mean he hires actors to play all the female roles opposite him. With something like this it’s hard to tell where the reality starts and the fiction takes over. All he would have to do is take his goofy face off the screen and let the story do its thing. But that would mean taking his face off the screen and that seems to be a major issue. Caveh is a horrible actor. Not like the girls are all that great either, but especially his orgasm acting was painful to watch for multiple reasons.

But like I said, the whole thing isn’t painful. In fact it can be pretty funny at times. But it seems like he really only knows one tactic to make people laugh. He’ll say something in the voice over narration, then immediately after his “character” would repeat the exact same phrase to the current girlfriend in the scene. It got predictable, but still worked enough. Most importantly though, the story is an interesting one. It’s tough to not be curious about sexuality especially what could be considered deviancy. And Zahedi keeps our attention throughout. Even though a pattern clearly emerges with the three main storylines, the progression and boiling points are fascinating to watch.

I do have a problem with the dialogue. It very well could be that this is how they spoke to one another, but it seemed so incredibly blunt to the point of being forced. Perhaps, the delivery just wasn’t there for me in the acting. I also didn’t like the lack of focus. With the picture sequences, the flash animations, teaching lessons on the chalkboard, backtracking and sidestepping in the narration, and cutting back to him at the wedding, the movie is all over the place. It’s not hard to keep track of what’s going on, but I wonder if he truly understands how to balance and structure everything.

Unfortunately, because of all the various eye candies that get thrown in, the movie relies almost solely on the editing. That is a very dangerous corner to paint yourself into. Luckily, everyone seems to escape with dry shoes. Ultimately, the documentary is only slightly analytical and only delves slightly into trying to understand why perversions develop and progress. I think it does a better job of documenting all the pitfalls that come along with making a movie as he describes each one for us. As such, Caveh hasn’t created something that can actually help people deal with their own problems, but rather he has filmed his own personal diary for us to watch. It should have been more.

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