Weiner (2016)

Too much of everything

Admirable film.

Absolutely the worst movie.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Weiner and American Election Politics I always use this documentary as a piece of Public Relations in PoliticsFilm makers Josh Kriegman's and Elyse Steinberg's film Weiner is one of best documentary praised by critics. The camera is on disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner who campaigns for New York City's new mayor. It is interesting to pursue how he manages to rebuild his reputation and how new scandal put him at worse. I will say, it is fly-on-the-wall view. Students of Mass Communication, film making will understand what is the importance of journalism in film making. "Weiner" reveals many illuminating moments of Anthony Weiner's failed mayoral campaign. He faces his online sexting antics; he calls the situation in blunt terms: "Fuck."The camera shot of 15 interminable seconds, watching Weiner alongside his wife and counsel Huma Abedin, and they take the situation without saying a word. Weiner is co-directed by former Weiner chief of staff Josh Kriegman with Elyse Steinberg, "Weiner" showcase all the remarkable tension implied by that silence. It offers extraordinary access to Weiner's ambitious gamble and re-launch of his career. The film directors focus the impact of the contemporary media on public life. Weiner is the best example of anti-heroes in recent memory. Vanity magazine writes,"A rollicking and never-dull insider's view of a political campaign that leaves fascinating questions unanswered."Washington Post wrote, "It's one of the best campaign movies in years. As Weiner"

"Weiner" is a thoroughly engrossing and at times gut-wrenching documentary. It defines the "fly on the wall" style of documentary film-making, finding a situation in which so many would kill to "be a fly on the wall", and against the odds, making such a proposition possible. There is even a time when the filmmaker, off screen, asks Anthony Weiner why he allowed the moment that has just transpired to be filmed. Weiner doesn't seem to know. The man is a fantastic politician, one who lit a fire in the hearts of many liberals across the US. But as his political career ascends, his personal life falls apart. "Weiner" begins as the former congressman from Brooklyn rises from the ashes and attempts to run for mayor. As we know, but the filmmakers couldn't have foreseen, another scandal was brewing.If "Weiner" has a flaw, it's that its subject is too adept at handling questions about his infractions. As such, we don't really get a sense of why he did what he did. This man's enigma is a double-edged sword: he doesn't know why he sent those texts, and he doesn't know why he let a documentary crew follow him around in the midst of the fall out. As a result of this we get closer than we expect, but not too close.

For those who are familiar with the political campaign and the main subject of the film, nothing that is a huge revelation is discovered. What the documentary definitely does a great job of is simply letting us having a first-person access to the behind-the-scenes footage and events that went on in this trainwreck of a political campaign and arc. Weiner is a very interesting political figure as well as a very entertaining person, and so the documentary doesn't have to do a whole lot to become a fascinating watch about politics and the media. I definitely recommend this to any documentary lover and to anyone really interested in the effects of the media.

So the well produced documentary is about this political figure of New York of whom I had never heard about (as Finn), whose last name happens to be W(e)iner. Before actually watching the program I had glimpsed a word "narcissist" - perhaps a user written review or from somewhere else. So, I expected to see a documentary about some hardcore political figure who controls people and himself like a marionette's puppeteer does for his subjects.Well, it's not about such a character. The guy we get to see is actually fantastic individual, with this sexual complex (and it's not like the rest of us don't have them), which gives him hard time (pun intended) in the world of politics.If only we had such great figures in our political system - who both know the issue at hand and can present them entertainingly and witty. It might even get the majority to take some interest in what is being done and what is not being done in the parliament.This documentary raised for me the question that is the American media like a child, who gets excited about anything that is famous - only for the sake of it?