Greenlit

Documentary Feature, Spotlight Premieres
D: Miranda Bailey

Nobody quite knows how to talk about environmental issues. There’s old-school doom-and-gloom or new-school, optimistic pep. There’s the nerdy numbers crowd that strikes deep but never close to the heart, and the cuddly animal types who do the opposite. Then there’s “it ain’t easy being green,” a popular post-Inconvenient Truth tactic rejecting all methods that came before. Greenlit fits into this category. When Bailey – with her cute-but-Republican husband and a mother who calls Al Gore “full of lies” – learns that her production company is working on a movie that’s “going green,” she begrudgingly goes along, but with camera in hand to capture every whiny moment. The crew attempts with varying degrees of sincerity to recycle, compost, and give up bottled water, succeeding most in driving one doe-eyed green consultant to tears. Bailey, in turn, learns that going green when making a documentary about a movie that’s going green is, simply, too hard. Many gallons of fuel and bottles of water later, this tale demonstrates what not to do when making a green film.

Friday, March 19, 6pm, Lamar 2

This article appears in March 19 • 2010.

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