The Gleaners and I

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S R 1001 movies to see before you die. Left leaning documentary that won me over for its uniqueness. It was on CRI. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Such a simple low-budget, documentary, and yet I was glued to it. Agnes Varda has such a goofy, natural way about her, and she has a genuine interest and empathy for her subjects. And it’s so interesting how the gleaners (foragers?) have a history and a recognized place in French society - people just trying to get by. living a sustainable life before is was fashionable. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/06/22 Full Review jordan m Agnes picked a good subject to make a documentary out of, to be sure. I may have inadvertently prevented myself from enjoying it by not spending a lot of time watching lesser documentaries to compare this one positively to. I've really only seen a few, most notably When We Were Kings (about Muhammad Ali), and this one just does not compare to that. I liked that she had a unique style and that she inserted herself into the scene, but the parts where she highlights how old she's getting and how much she likes her new camera made the whole thing feel unfocused. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review William L Agnès, I can appreciate that you're trying to be thought-provoking, but that leaky ceiling and the large spot of mold that has formed isn't just an allegory. It's a structural problem and health hazard that needs to be addressed. Still thematically relevant (and likely will remain so until humanity eats itself out of a planet), The Gleaners and I is both a glimpse at the unsustainability of current economics based on endless growth, and the subculture that has sprung up from the quantity produced that falls between the cracks in the quotas. Mercifully, Varda does not present every individual that she catches sourcing potatoes from a field as some sort of perfectly enlightened philosopher demonstrating practical sustainabilty, but instead as a mixture of personalities - those gathering on an ethical basis, and those forced to do so out of a sense of practicality. Introspective if a bit self-important, the film documents Varda not only taking on a sincere social issue but drawing realistic parallels to her own story, the cracks in the TV screens mimicking the cracks in her skin as she wonders about the role of utility and purpose. Interesting to contrast this to the Grapes of Wrath; on the one hand, the French legal system arguing on moral grounds that gleaners cannot be denied the right to take what has been left to waste, while on the other America recruits policeman to ensure that not one orange is taken from full orchards to feed starving masses in order to ensure that the price of produce stays high. (3.5/5) Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/22 Full Review william k A remarkable documentary is fully realized in what one may call the Varda touch: an otherwise unnoticed aspect of everyday human life gets a full and very personal inspection and reveals so much more about those depicted, Varda herself and humanity. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Classic Agnes Varda, the movie has the director looking at the gleaners and the gleaned; the pickers and the picked; the bin rummagers and what they rummage for. The results are beautiful (like all Varda works), fascinating, and something like cinematic journalism. So it's just what a good doc should be. Among all the people who do this out of basic necessity in rural areas, those who do it for collecting or to reuse materials, to those picking through the refuse of the city, Varda speaks with your typical person to the degreed. Why are these people in this position? Just how much of this is people just trying to cut down waste or take some practical approach and how much of it is people just trying to survive? Both/All answers will say something about France and its people. Good stuff, it is. 3.4 stars Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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