Sex, fame, youth, body image: Wealth isn’t the only thing in Lauren Greenfield’s “Generation Wealth.” The “Queen of Versailles” director’s unwieldy follow-up continues her admitted obsession with the rich, looking at the subjects of 25 years of her photography work and where they are now, but also taking a glimpse at her own family life and what kind of example she’s giving her kids.
The latter’s connection to the purported topic is as stretched as a socialite’s face. Greenfield’s older son may be surprisingly reflective for a 15-year-old, but otherwise insights are in short supply whenever Mom turns the documentary inward. “You have a problem,” reads a sign that her younger son sticks in front of her camera. The problem? Documenting every moment of her family’s lives.
Greenfield accuses herself of being addicted to work, just like her subjects are addicted to money or another of the above-mentioned issues. And she meanders even further to include footage of a party for her 30th wedding anniversary, for example, or her kid confessing that he’s intimidated by his brother’s perfect ACT scores. To these scenes we say: Who cares?
“Generation Wealth” is most riveting when it focuses on what was likely the Los Angeles native’s initial interest: Tracking down the affluent L.A. high school students she profiled in her 1997 book, “Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood.” Photos of the likes of the adolescent Kate Hudson and Kim Kardashian fill the screen before the director sits down with a New Age-y woman who ran with the fast crowd as a student or a father who’d predicted he’d become a filthy-rich rapper but now just wants to instill in his children a good work ethic. It’s all gripping in the way reality television is; it’s hard to look away from pretty people and their privileged lifestyles.
But these interviews run counter to Greenfield’s assertion that in the past 25 years, Americans’ obsession with wealth has grown. (Perhaps our access to the wealthy has grown, e.g. channels and channels of reality TV versus the only elite-spying show in the late-’80s to mid-’90s, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”) She bridges her hopscotching with the also-shaky thesis that wealth includes not only cash, but also whatever gives us value.
Here’s where the film expands: Broaching body image, Greenfield includes footage of the doctors’ visits of women with eating disorders (with her voiceover the only audio) and interviews with women who “fix” themselves with butt lifts and breast augmentation. She tells of a teenager who cut herself because “she wanted to damage the property” and follows a porn star throughout the years who goes from a fame- and money-hungry spotlight seeker to an unadorned woman who wants to reclaim her original first name and identity.
Another woman talks of how her workaholic tendencies led to several rounds of IVF so she could get pregnant after 40; she then wanted a child “more than anything.” But even though there is a ton of social commentary inherent in these stories, their relation to wealth is, for the most part, tangential at best, ultimately confusing Greenfield’s narrative.
Lest you think that only women get attention here, there is a male banker who was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for securities fraud and bald-facedly claims, “I love money.” The underwhelming lesson he learns after going to prison is that money can’t buy you the important things in life. (Also: “If you give away money at no cost” — e.g. subprime mortgages — “[people] are going to do stupid things with it.”)
As for Greenfield herself, she confronts her mother, who also worked a lot, as well as her son about the damage absentee parents can do to their relationships with their children. Again, this is no surprise, and it’s also unrelated to privilege. “Generation Wealth” is ultimately a string of subjects in search of a binder. And the director’s interests don’t count.
15 Top Grossing Documentaries at the Box Office, From 'An Inconvenient Truth' to 'Fahrenheit 9/11' (Photos)
Documentaries are rarely big money makers, but they can have the power to influence change and motivate people to action in a way narrative films cannot. So when a documentary does make a splash at the box office, it's an even bigger surprise. This list of the top-15 grossing documentaries ever is an interesting mix of political, nature and concert docs, and several of them likewise went on to win Oscars and critical acclaim. All numbers are domestic totals via Box Office Mojo.
Warner Bros./National Geographic Films/Paramount Classics
15. "They Shall Not Grow Old" (2018) - $17.9 million
Director Peter Jackson went to painstaking lengths to digitally restore and transform 100-year-old archival footage for his powerful documentary on World War I. Jackson restored color and sound to the Great War, something that was previously only known through black and white silent film. The documentary performed well in part because of a release that even transformed the footage into 3D.
Warner Bros.
14. "Oceans" (2010) - $19.4 million
You'll see a lot of Disneynature documentaries on this list. Pierce Brosnan narrates this 2010 documentary filmed across the world's oceans.
Disneynature
13. "Bowling for Columbine" (2002) - $21.5 million
Michael Moore's provocative documentary about American gun violence (and one of his best) won the Oscar for Best Documentary and broke international box office records for a documentary in 2002.
United Artists
12. "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" (2018) - $22.8 million
Morgan Neville's portrait of Fred Rogers and "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" proved to be a crowd-pleasing hit in the summer of 2018 because of the absolute niceness at its heart. Neville in his film explains that Fred Rogers was the rare person who really did not have a dark side, and in "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" it shows.
Jim Judkis / Focus Features
11. "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006) - $24.1 million
Davis Guggenheim's documentary spotlighting former Vice President Al Gore's plea to alert the world to the effects of global warming and climate change went on to win two Oscars and earn a sequel.
Paramount Classics
10. "Sicko" (2007) - $24.5 million
Another Michael Moore movie to crack the list, "Sicko" was Moore's look at the healthcare industry in America compared to other nations, with Moore sailing sick veterans down to Cuba to receive the care they couldn't have had at home.
Lionsgate
9. "Katy Perry: Part of Me" (2012) - $25.3 million
This 2012 concert movie followed Katy Perry on her California Dreams World Tour.
Paramount Pictures
8. "One Direction: This Is Us" (2013) - $28.8 million
"Super Size Me" filmmaker Morgan Spurlock directed this concert doc about the then wildly popular British boy group.
TriStar
7. "Chimpanzee" (2012) - $28.9 million
Tim Allen narrated this Disneynature doc about a three-month old chimp separated from his flock and adopted by another grown male.
Disneynature
6. "Earth" (2007) - $32 million
The first of Disneynature's documentaries, "Earth" was a theatrical version of the popular "Planet Earth" miniseries from 2006. "Earth" was finally given a stateside theatrical release in 2009.
Disneynature
5. "2016: Obama's America" (2012) - $33.4 million
Dinesh D'Souza's anti-Obama documentary speculated about where the country would be if Obama won a second term in office in 2012.
Getty Images
4. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" (2009) - $72 million
The footage in "This Is It" comes from a behind-the-scenes look at preparation for Michael Jackson's 50 shows at London's O2 Arena. It wasn't originally meant to be made into a film, but it provided an intimate look at Jackson in his final days.
Getty Images
3. "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" (2011) - $73 million
The Biebs holds the spot for the highest-grossing concert film ever and the documentary with the biggest opening weekend of all time.
Paramount Pictures
2. "March of the Penguins" (2005) - $77.4 million
People sure love penguins. Morgan Freeman narrates the nature documentary that opened on just four screens but soon spread into a nationwide hit.
National Geographic Films
1. "Fahrenheit 9/11" (2004) - $119.1 million
Michael Moore's scathing documentary about President George W. Bush and the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks is the highest-grossing documentary of all time and it isn't even close. The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Opening at over $23 million, the movie at the time opened higher than any other documentary had ever grossed in its lifetime. Moore followed up the film with a documentary about the 2016 election and Donald Trump, titled "Fahrenheit 11/9," which refers to the day after he was elected.
Miramax
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Michael Moore, Disneynature and several concert films top the list
Documentaries are rarely big money makers, but they can have the power to influence change and motivate people to action in a way narrative films cannot. So when a documentary does make a splash at the box office, it's an even bigger surprise. This list of the top-15 grossing documentaries ever is an interesting mix of political, nature and concert docs, and several of them likewise went on to win Oscars and critical acclaim. All numbers are domestic totals via Box Office Mojo.