Freakonomics (Sunday, October 3, 2010) (129)

Freakonomics is a fun and interesting documentary based on information taken from the 2005 book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Due to the very braod and weird nature of the book, the movie is made up of four shorts that are each individually written and directed by some of the most impressive and talented young documentarians working today.

Morgan Spurlock is probably the best known director, previously creating Super Size Me, and he has a great segment here about how given names either are or are not a predictor of success or failure in life. Alex Gibney, who recently made the brutal and brilliant Taxi to the Dark Side, has a nice piece about cheating in sumo wrestling and what it tells us about cheating in the banking industry. Eugene Jarecki, who did the interesting documentary Why We Fight, gives us a rather shocking and well-made short about how the rise in abortions in the 1970s led to a lowering of the crime rate in the 1990s. Finally, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who made Jesus Camp, bring us a story about how a Chicago-area school district is experimenting with paying kids money for good grades.

Each film is introduced by a brief discussion of the general context of the piece by Levitt and Dubner (these segments are directed by Seth Gordon who made the documentary The King of Kong - one of my recent favorites). These intros as well as the shorts themselves almost all employ wonderful animation elements, some more than others. Jarecki's piece is almost entirely animated with news footage cut into it, while Gibney's and the Ewing/Grady one have only a little in theirs.

Spurlock's short is a great example of his quirky style and very reminiscent of the best moments from his 30 Days television show - that is thankfully off the air now (he really ran out of ideas and it went down the tube). Several of the directors use Levitt and Dubner as interview subjects in their pieces to make the toughest freakonomic positions.

I think I was most affected by the Jarecki short for it's elegant animated style and totally mind-blowing conclusions. It's hard to argue with the economic and sociological findings through all of these pieces (particularly in this one) because the concepts they're working with are so immense. We have to assume that they checked their work and know what they're talking about - so we just have to have faith that what we are seeing it totally correct. I think Gibney's short is probably the dullest, though it has the best photography and might look the best aesthetically of the four.

There is a definite small-screen element to this film, and I almost feel it would work just as well, if not better, on television, rather than in the cinema. This could have easily been a small series on AMC or IFC or some cable channel - and in fact I would hope they continue to make other shorts along these lines.

Stars: 3 of 4