Film: A Motley Vision confesses

Dave's Mormon Inquiry brought to my attention a recent Meridian Magazine article by award-winning filmmaker Kieth Merrill on Mormon film. Dave then asks his readers how many Mormon films they've seen.

I have nothing to say about the Merrill article [except that it's the best thing he's written for Meridian, and probably the best article Meridian has ever published], but I do have an answer for Dave:

Zero.

Yep, my secret shame has now been revealed. I have not seen a single work from the world of Mormon cinema. I haven't even seen the recent LDS Church-produced films such as "Legacy" and "Testaments." I did watch the free DVD about Christ that was included in an issue of Ensign. But that's it.

This will especially come as a surprise to my family who gave me a VHS of "God's Army" for my birthday two years ago. I'm very glad they gave it to me, and I do want to watch it. I just haven't yet.

Clearly my abstinence in this area of Mormon culture has nothing to do with lack of knowledge and/or interest. I think it's safe to say that I've read almost every review of every Mormon film that has been released.

So what's the deal?

1. I'm not a serious filmgoer anyway. During the course of our six-year marriage, my wife and I have gone to an average of 2-3 films a year in the theater and rented 6-8 and caught a few others on television.

2. Film screenings take big chunks of time. Especially now that we have a kid, our entertainment works best if it can be broken down into small segments. So I read a lot of books and magazines, surf the Web, and watch a lot of TV. And we don't have cable so the shows we get always have commercials and are generally either short [my favorites right now are the 'nontraditional' sitcoms "Scrubs" and "Arrested Development"] or not so captivating that you can't tear yourself away to do necessary chores or go to bed, etc.

3. Movie going is expensive and is a one-time experience with the work. I don't spend a ton of money on entertainment. I get most of my reading material from the library. I rarely buy books and when I do, it's always something that I've already read that I want to own -- to re-read and write about. Other than that, it's the occasional CD -- which, at least for me, offer a lot more repeat entertainment. There are very films that I can watch more than once a year. [And, yes, I know, I know -- the solution is Netflix]

4. I live in Oakland. When Mormon films do play in the Bay Area, it's usually out in Contra Costa County or down in the San Jose area -- at least a 40 minute drive away. I commute 3 hours every workday. I want my entertainment to come to me. And I usually don't find out about it when films do play in the area. As much as I keep up with news from the world of Mormon cinema, I don't bother to check individual film Web sites to find out where they are playing.

As a side note, what would be great is if someone would set up Mormon film screening RSS feeds by region [Northern California, Utah County, etc.].

5. Obviously, the best way for those outside of the Mormon corridor to view Mormon films is on DVD or VHS. But my DVD buying habits are the same as with books -- I only buy films that I've already seen and know that I want to own. My siblings have seen several of the Mormon films because they've borrowed them from friends or screened them as part of a group activity. But they're all still in college. When my wife and I get together with friends, we do what married couples tend to do when they socialize -- eat and talk.

6. Finally, and this speaks somewhat to why I haven't watched "God's Army" yet even though I own it, I don't know if I'm ready for Mormon cinema. I have very mixed feelings on film as a medium anyway, to mix it with Mormonism…

Yes, I'm excited by the idea in theory and certainly hope to see the genre succeed. And I'm fascinated by how Mormon films are marketed, reviewed and received. But there's a part of me that feels like any Mormon film I watch -- even one as well-reviewed as "Brigham City" [which I totally want to see one day] -- is going to manipulate me and/or let me down in ways that I'm just not ready for.

Of course, another part of me is whispering, "dude, you've written a couple of screenplays…" [Which is true -- four to be exact -- and my friend and I actually made two of them into short films (shot on video) that aired on a local public access channel. But at the moment, I'm not interested at all in hopping on that bandwagon. Critical essays and short stories are what I'm in to now (even if they are all on the back burner and it's turned to LO].