Documentarian Lauren Greenfield Shows Her Rich Heart in ‘Generation Wealth’
Sundance 2018: Seeking answers to her own obsessive chronicling of wealth, Greenfield turns the camera on herself to ask if perhaps she is a slave to excess of a different kind
I first took an interest in Lauren Greenfield’s work when I moved to Los Angeles from Europe 20 years ago. Her book, “Fast Forward,” was a vision of everything I feared about raising children in the soulless, culture-free, morally vacuous City of Angels. I interviewed her then for The Washington Post with the barely-veiled terror of a mother of toddlers facing future bar mitzvahs on studio lots (not ours).
That made Greenfield’s new documentary, “Generation Wealth,” which premiered Thursday night at the Sundance Film Festival, particularly fascinating. The photographer’s journey comes full circle as she goes back to seek out the pampered, celebrity high school subjects she photographed for that 1997 book, along with many others, to learn how their lives unfolded from the money-and-fame-obsessed culture of their years at Crossroads, the exclusive private school. (Where of course I ended up sending my own children #karma.)
The girl who was homecoming queen and voted “best body” has retreated to a bucolic rural setting where her own daughter is not allowed to watch television. The rebellious, drugged out son of the REO Speedwagon singer has found a path to domestic harmony as a working class dad. And in one of the film’s least convincing storylines, a German hedge fund manager – long wanted by the FBI for fraud – comes to embrace more simple mores.
Greenfield asks in the film, as she has through her photography and films like “The Queen of Versailles,” why our society has come to embrace the hollow values of excess and celebrity over more traditional values of hard work, discipline and simple human connection.
The film works best when it preaches least, and that happens when Greenfield turns the camera on herself to ask if perhaps she is also a slave to excess of a different kind: her own work. We watch her sifting through years – mountains – of photographs and weighing the work, while she recounts the unlikely narrative of her own overachieving family, based in Venice, California and asks: is it all too much?
The evidence: Greenfield’s mother was a Harvard doctorate researcher of sociology, her father – also a Harvard graduate – a doting father and doctor. Greenfield went to Harvard as did her supportive producer husband Frank Evers. Greenfield interviews her parents as well as her two sons, aged 15 and 8, and the film’s most emotional moment comes when her son Noah lets slip that his mother leaving so frequently to pursue her work projects left a scar – “but the damage is done.”
It all makes more sense when Greenfield explained during the q&a after the film that “We found the film in the edit room” over 30 months. She added: “It was a very organic, challenging, scary process.” Yes, telling the truth can be scary.
The film is disjointed in many respects and veers into annoying when journalist Chris Hedges insists on painting an apocalyptic vision of the American empire – the Greek chorus inserted at regular intervals – and rapacious capitalism.
At this point, decades past the “greed is good” ’80s and deep into the administration of our billionaire president, that shift and its consequences may seem obvious. By contrast, Greenfield’s willingness to show her own vulnerabilities – such as they are for a workaholic bent on chronicling the decline of western civilization – gives the film its heart.
“Generation Wealth” was acquired by Amazon and Magnolia.
13 Hottest Sundance Movies for Sale: From Ax Murderers to Notorious 'RBG' (Photos)
Park City, Utah, is about to be flush with cash -- and we're not talking about buying apres-ski gear. Here are the most promising sales titles of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
"Tyrel"
After his stunning performance in "Mudbound," Jason Mitchell is back in this drama alongside Caleb Landry Jones, Michael Cera and Ann Dowd. Buyers should go crazy for the film about a guy who goes on a weekend birthday trip to a cabin -- but he's the only black guy on the retreat.
Sundance
"Lizzie"
There's much interest in "Lizzie," which chronicles the life of Lizzie Borden, who was tried and acquitted for the 1892 ax murders of her father and stepmother. Chloe Sevigny, Kristen Stewart and Denis O'Hare star.
Sundance
"Burden"
Garrett Hedlund also gave a stellar performance in "Mudbound," playing the son of a man associated with the Ku Klux Klan. In "Burden," Hedlund is a repo man rising through the ranks of the KKK, but everything changes when he falls for a woman (Andrea Riseborough). The additional cast of Forest Whitaker and Usher should entice buyers.
Sundance
"The Miseducation of Cameron Post"
Chloe Grace Moretz stars as a high school teenager who gets caught in the backseat of her car with another girl. She's quickly shipped off for conversion therapy, where she for the first time feels like she can find her place among fellow outcasts. The strong themes of pain and loss while finding yourself and your identity should make it a hot title -- after all, it's based on Emily Danforth's acclaimed novel as well.
Sundance
"Juliet, Naked"
Perhaps one of the most anticipated films on the Sundance schedule, "Juliet, Naked" is an adaptation of Nick Hornby's best-selling novel. Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke and Chris O'Dowd star in this comedic drama about a woman who is in a transatlantic romance with a once-revered musician.
Sundance
"RBG"
What better time to release a documentary about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg?
Sundance
"Piercing"
Based on Ryu Murakami's critically acclaimed novel, this steamy yet bloody thriller will get Midnight audiences' --- and buyers' -- heart rate up.
Sundance
"A Kid Like Jake"
Director Silas Howard is debuting his film "A Kid Like Jake," featuring an ensemble that includes Claire Danes, Jim Parsons, Octavia Spencer, Priyanka Chopra, Ann Dowd and Amy Landecker. Howard, who's directed boundary-pushing TV series like "This Is Us" and "Transparent," here focuses on parents whose young son prefers princesses to action figures.
Sundance
"The Happy Prince"
Rupert Everett's directorial debut details the final three years of Oscar Wilde's life. Colin Firth and Emily Watson round out the cast of this period film.
Sundance
"American Animals"
There will never be enough heist films in the world, and the cast of "American Animals," which includes Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan and Blake Jenner, promises to pull off one of the biggest art thefts in recent history. Plus, it's a true story.
Sundance
"Ophelia"
"Ophelia" retells Shakespeare's "Hamlet" from the point of view of the melancholy Danish prince's presumed future wife -- played by Daisy Ridley, hot off "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" and "Murder on the Orient Express." Naomi Watts and Clive Owen round out the cast.
Sundance
"Sorry to Bother You"
This film boasts one of the most impressive casts of any film heading to the festival, and that won't be lost on buyers: Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun and Armie Hammer star in the original comedy.
Sundance
"Wildlife"
Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan star in Paul Dano's directorial debut, about a couple in a foundering marriage in small-town Montana in the 1960s.
Sundance
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Sundance 2018: Streaming companies and indie distributors will battle it out for these movies
Park City, Utah, is about to be flush with cash -- and we're not talking about buying apres-ski gear. Here are the most promising sales titles of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.