Movie Trio: Surprise (to me) Mockumentaries

Finally saw Big Man Japan on DVD this week and it's a strange little, Japanese movie (which I know that's redundant as Japanese movies are often strange). I knew the basic premise of the movie before renting it, so knew that it was about a man who was a real-life giant super-hero working for the government saving the country from giant Godzilla-like monsters. What I didn't realize is that it was going to be mockumentary. This gave it an interesting twist as we got to see the life of this average man with problems like anyone else with ex-wife and a kid, who happened to be a super-hero saving the country; we also got to see how public sentiment had changed from when his grandfather was a super-hero to how it was for him in present day. It was an interesting take on Godzilla-like movies, and it only really worked because of the mockumentary aspect.

Seeing it reminded me of other movies that surprised me by being mockumentaries, and I think benefited from being told as a mockumentary rather than the usual narrative.

1) Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
When I first heard of this movie about a beauty pageant, I had no interest in it. But I knew of the cast and had a friend who said it was pretty good and not what I would expect, so I gave it a shot. What I discovered was a great black comedy with death and explosions and wicked pettiness; and what works about the film is that it's told through the lens of the impartial outsider as events unfold. So the camera crew is just as surprised as the audience when competition at the beauty pageant turns deadly, and it always keeps you guessing who's really behind it.

2) Surf's Up (2007)
This came out less than a year after Happy Feet; I had already seen that animated penguin movie and was very disappointed in it's need to go all "save the planet" when that seemed to veer suddenly from the rest of the movie. So I wasn't sure I wanted to see Surf's Up; but there were pygmy penguins in the trailer and that was enough to convince me that it might be worth a look. Much to my surprise, the movie started with a documentary-style interview of the main character and after that I was happily bemused by this mockumentary about penguins and their obsession with surfing. Surfing penguins (and one chicken) is super-ridiculous but somehow becomes more believable as a mockumentary.

3) The Blair Witch Project (1999)
When this one came out I had seen the "making of" special on SciFi channel and the Blair Witch website; so heading into the theater for the sold-out opening night I was under the impression that this was a true story (or at least based on one). Thinking this sold the movie for me as I felt that I too was lost in the woods and frightened about stick figures appearing in the night. It was only after seeing it that I found out that it was totally fictional. If this movie had been filmed in the usual style of horror movie it would have been dull and seemed empty of dialogue and plot; but with the close-quarters camera views and full panic of the actors, their experience became the whole movie.