melissa k
I really valued what these young people had to say, and I valued their prospective. I gained an insight into a world I have never seen, and one in the past I might have envied without knowing the struggles they face just being born who they are. After viewing it, I respected their honesty, and came away with a gratefullness to be born who am, and happy to have always had to work. It's kept me busy with purpose. I thought I saw courage in each one of them and applaud them for participating in something out of their comfort zones. It was well worth watching!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/02/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Born rich directed by Jamie Johnson opens up the world of the rich through this documentary. This film was interesting because it shows the life of the rich firsthand that many people don't get access to and in the interviews, they answer with honesty. In the film, the heirs show the struggles they endure being both emotional and social. Many of them go to college and participate in activities for the fear that at any moment their family can cut them off. It is hard for these teenagers to find real friends who won't use them for their money because the population of the real rich is so low. It is interesting to know that some of them didn't know they were rich until being told by friends or family members. I liked many things about this film, but there is a lot that should have been changed. Jamie could have done a better job with the film by adding style and not just being straightforward. I also think that the film would have been better by cutting down the narrating and showing more of how the rich live their day to day lives.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
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Audience Member
This movie was a great documentary and featured many interesting aspects of life among the rich that I never thought I would be able to view. It showed me the true hardships of being born into a family with extraordinary wealthy, and the everyday struggle for these kids to find there place in the world. Overall o thought this was a great movie and one that i would definity recomend.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/15/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Born Rich is a film about the heirs of the rich 1% directed by Jamie Johnson. It explores the lives of all these people through interviews in this somewhat short documentary. Although the film does a good job exploring these rich heirs, there really isn't any uniqueness or style to it, it's mainly just a straightforward documentary. I would say the movie itself is overall forgettable. Throughout the movie Jamie Johnson narrator, and it doesn't really work even though this is his movie. His voice is extremely monotone and dead, and when he's narrating it sounds like he is directly reading from
a script. I think the movie could have benefited from limited narration or no narration at all. Just basically let the movie flow on its own. Like I said earlier the best parts of the film are when he is interviewing the rich heirs. The heirs when they are speaking sound genuine and do convey how the fact that even though they are rich, they still emotionally and socially struggle. How they feel they haven't connected with their own society and feel like they are own their own in their own society (and some of them don't mind that). Some of their heirs are fine with their lavish lifestyle and don't seem to care for others. While some others don't feel comfortable with it. Overall the film is a fine straightforward documentary of the lives of the rich heirs with really no substance to it other than.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/15/23
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Audience Member
The documentary "Born Rich" by Jamie Johnson was an intriguing film which educates those who aren't used to money coming out of their ears, of rich teens. During the film, teenagers explained their growing-up experiences of being born into a wealthy family for Johnson to document and show the world the truth of growing up rich. Mostly, all the teenagers had answered differently. Some of the teenagers gave off a vibe that they were stuck up, others had no idea what to do with the money or had not trusted themselves with it. In this educational film, I had learned that just because somebody has money, does not mean they have the most happiness. The stereotypes our society associates wealthy people is not always true. Though I cannot give it all away, I do recommend this film for anyone interested in learning about the teenagers behind their brand names.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
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Audience Member
Johnson provides a unique look into the minds of various children born into wealth and involves an honest investigation beyond the media interviews and thoughts. A common stereotype consisting of the rich having simple and relaxing lives is questioned and debated upon greatly. The exclusiveness and uncommonness of this documentary open the doors of societal thought about being wealthy and successful. Johnson successfully conveys the message that being wealthy has it´s downfalls and holds one back from their desires and passions. A factor of the emotional and intellectual distress the featured people had faced was living in their parent´s shadow and only being thought of as being exactly like them. A common behavior the film included was the children proving their differences and plotting ¨revenge¨ to set themselves apart from their family name and character. These children face extreme isolation and because of their gargantuan wealth has grown cynical and untrusting of others. One of the participants described a sad but true feeling of worry that someone will just marry/want to be with him for his wealth. The documentary explores the idea of how richer people generally become more cynical and trustless, while individuals who aren´t wealthy tend to trust more. Experimentation with various drugs and deep emotional pain is common amongst the children, as feelings of shame, embarrassment, and depression are included. A key concept that is understood and thought about throughout the film is the difference between the people exposed to wealth recently (new money) versus people who have grown up with it and are used to it (old money). The idea of talking about money is discouraged by many of the people interviewed, as they say, it´s unpolite, but in reality, they don´t feel too positive about themselves, and don´t want to. Their lifestyle can be described as being outside of the ¨American Dream¨, which can mean a lot of things. I felt as though they had the money and unlimited buying power but soon realized that money doesn´t buy happiness, as the majority of the wealthy people were depressed and troubled both emotionally and intellectually. A second key concept that is made clear from this film is that money does NOT come from happiness, as one of the wealthy people describes how on television shows, a middle-class family is almost always portrayed as being perky and pleased in life. The film makes envy felt towards the wealthy and lowers it while making room for sympathy. It also explores how controlling and characterizing money is in society, as Luke Weil in the documentary said that his money is like a parent to him: is always there in times of need and can help whenever it's needed. The wealthy people in this film look for sincerity and look for others like them, as they feel all alone and feel as though they have no one to relate to. Personally, the film was a success in my opinion, as the technique of interviewing several wealthy people from completely different backgrounds made the central messages become more unbiased. However, I would have preferred more of the parent and child situations occurring like Jamie and his father, as that provided more interest and drama to the film. I also enjoyed the powerful use of setting, as the various footage included places highly correlated with the topic at hand like the Trump Tower and The Hamptons. To conclude, the documentary was decently produced for a first-time director and definitely achieved its main intent of getting its main point across while composing off of a unique and daring real-life idea (as a documentary).
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
Full Review
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