Reincarnated REVIEWS
By Anthony Kaufman
Call him Snoop Lion. The inveterate gangsta, one- time pimp and rapper once known as Snoop Doggy Dogg has grown up, as revealed in this sometimes engaging, often marijuana-fueled doc- umentary, and transformed himself into a man of peace, love and family. The primary instrument of Snoop’s rebirth: reggae music. Equal parts making-of music chronicle, trave-
logue and biography, Reincarnated follows Snoop as he travels to Jamaica, records his first all-reggae album, and learns the spiritual and musical ways of the reggae legends that inspired him, from Peter Tosh to Bob Marley and the Wailers. While Reincarnated feels at times like a neatly
packaged promotional documentary for Snoop’s forthcoming album, the movie eventually deep- ens, revealing a surprisingly honest view of a man who appears sincere in his desire to change his life. With Snoop’s marketing savvy and name recognition, the documentary should find a wel- coming audience on DVD, VoD and select cable TV spots. Indeed, Snoop has already proven himself to be
a successful brand, having built a massive musical franchise and several legitimate TV and movie credits, including his own reality show. But while Reincarnated captures a few humorous Snoopisms (“I’m wiser… like Budweiser”), the documentary finds the hip-hop icon during a more serious
A Liar’s Autobiography Reviewed by Mark Adams
A swirling, surreal animated romp through the life — real and imaginary — of Monty Python member Graham Chapman, this blissfully odd merging of a splendid variety of animation styles is a unique tribute to the man himself… and prob- ably just how he would like to have been remem- bered — beguiling, complex, irreverent, charming and rather funny. To give it its full title, A Liar’s Autobiography: The
Untrue Story Of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman is a striking memorial to a remarkable man, and a film that offers astonishing insight into the thought processes of someone who died some 23 years ago, mainly because it is based around recordings he made of his book. It is a film of inspired madness, and will likely
bemuse those who do not get Chapman’s surreal sensibilities, but it is made with such clear love and affection that despite some sections working better than others, you cannot help but be won over by the sheer ingenious oddness of the project. A Liar’s Autobiography — which can be shown in
both 2D and stereoscopic 3D — can essentially be described as a collage, switching from one ‘chapter’ to another, allowing it to also be a showcase for several young animators. Graham Chapman joined the Cambridge Foot-
lights comedy troupe at the same time as John Cleese and they became writing partners, with Chapman eventually giving up his career in medi- cine to become a full-time writer and performer. In
n 12 Screen International at Toronto September 9, 2012 TIFFDOCS
US. 2012. 98mins Director/screenplay Andy Capper Production companies VICE Films, Snoopadelic Films International sales Paradigm,
paradigmagency.com Producers Ted Chung, Suroosh Alvi, Codine Williams, JustinLi Executive producers Calvin Broadus, Shante Broadus Cinematography William Fairman,NickNeofitidis Editor BernardoLoyola SoundNathan Ruyle Main cast Snoop Dogg
period of transition and contemplation. Still, he hasn’t abandoned his penchant for weed. Particularly during the first half of Reincarnated
(which was produced by Vice Films, a division of the youth-oriented risqué media company), the documentary has more ganja than Cheech and Chong’s Up In Smoke. “The Herbs”, as they call it in Kingston, are a focal point of the film and its char- acters; they smoke up in the music studio; sing songs about it; bond over it; and travel to Jamaica’s Blue Mountains on a kind of spliff pilgrimage, where Snoop surprisingly becomes just as enam- oured of the fresh grapefruit plucked from the trees
as the quality of the marijuana. The film also makes clear that pot is not a vice; it is a religious experi- ence for the Rastafari, who pray before toking up and call their bong a “chalice”. In fact, while the audience for Reincarnated will
ostensibly be fans of Snoop and reggae music, the documentary may be more interesting as a cultural study of the Rastafari culture and the poverty- stricken streets of Jamaica from which it sprouted. For example, there is one sweet sequence where Snoop visits a school for abandoned and troubled boys and the camera observes the children’s faces light up with the arrival of their famous visitor. While much of Reincarnated’s narrative mean-
ders in a smoke-filled haze, the story eventually deepens, taking on a more confessional tone and revealing some of the root causes of Snoop’s trans- formation. Late in the film, Snoop, looking for once more awake than glassy-eyed, openly discusses the pain of losing his longtime “blood” brother, Nate Dogg, as well as the shooting death of his col- league, rap legend Tupac Shakur. But there are also many aspects of Snoop’s story
that remain conspicuously absent. If Snoop has become a better family man, as the film suggests, there is little screen time devoted to his wife, who never gets a chance to speak. Similarly, we only hear briefly and superficially from one of his chil- dren. Some viewers may also raise an eyebrow with the appearance of controversial Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan as Snoop’s first spiritual adviser.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
UK. 2012. 82mins Directors Ben Timlett, Bill Jones, Jeff Simpson Production company Bill & Ben Productions International sales SC Films International,
www.scfilmsinternational. com US sales Brainstorm Media,
www.brainmedia. net Producers Bill Jones, Ben Timlett Animation producer Justin Weyers Screenplay Graham Chapman, David Sherlock, Douglas Adams, David Yallop and Alex Martin, based on the book A Liar’s Autobiography (Volume VI) Editor Bill Jones Music John Greswell, Christopher Taylor Main cast Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Cameron Diaz, Carol Cleveland
1969 Cleese and Chapman teamed with Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam to form Monty Python, though Chapman continued to write for other shows. He had come to terms with his homosexuality
and met his long-term partner David Sherlock, but his alcoholism increasingly threatened his work, and after filming Monty Python And The Holy Grail the other Pythons gave him an ultimatum that he must deal with his problems. He eventually went cold turkey. When the Pythons finally went their own ways,
he did not embrace a second career and instead in the 1970s became a tax exile in Los Angeles, and hung out with the likes of Keith Moon and Harry
Nilsson. By the mid-1980s he was back in England, but was diagnosed with throat cancer — he was a life-long pipe smoker — and died in October 1989, aged just 48. The series of short animated films — which
include sections on Oscar Wilde, teen sex, Biggles, Cambridge, coming out, parties and space pods — are all surreal and strange, often very funny and always intriguing. As well as the voices of Pythons Cleese, Palin,
Jones and Gilliam (Eric Idle is noticeable by his absence), also featured are Python regular Carol Cleveland as well as Stephen Fry, Tom Hollander, Lloyd Kaufman and — perhaps most surreally — Cameron Diaz as the voice of Sigmund Freud.
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