An N production. Produced, directed by Steve Seid, Peter Conheim. Compiled by Seid; edited by Conheim.
Eliminating extraneous plot and character, docu featurette "Value-Added Cinema" cuts to the semi-hidden heart of contempo mainstream cinema: Product placement. Placements excerpted here from some 70 studio pics make it jaw-droppingly clear how fully audiences have come to accept blatant plugs amid their everyday escapism. Pic eschews commentary, simply serving up heaps of incriminating evidence; it's an educational guilty pleasure suitable for both fest auds and the classroom.
In ye olden days, movie characters used fictively labeled products (i.e., Wile E. Coyote's "Acme" explosives), but no more. Instead, filmmakers find variably ingenious or bald-faced ways to highlight name brands that now pay considerable sums for the exposure. Perhaps most notorious example yet is "Cast Away," which critic David Thomson called "that abominable Fed Ex promo." Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man" insists on a Kmart visit; retarded Sean Penn's character illustrates the managerial benevolence of Starbucks, then Pizza Hut in "I Am Sam." Movies like "Minority Report" and "Josie and the Pussycats" at once parody and further the pervasiveness of advertising. Very entertaining assembly doesn't identify clips until final crawl.
Reviewed at San Francisco Indie Festival, Feb. 6, 2004. Running time: 48 MIN.
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