Generally I am not a fan of documentaries because they go on forever and are dull since they don't really tell a story. Family Portrait on the other hand works by telling a moving story about real people in a short amount of time.
There are a lot of great things about this film: Beautiful lighting/cinematography (in part due to the wonderful stock LIFE photos), great interviews, drama, etc. In particular I loved the fact that the remaining family returns to an art gallery featuring photos from LIFE about them from years ago and they explain it to their children - very touching moment and poignant to see new generation learning about old, reflection, emotion, etc.
What bothered me was the overused and sappy piano music which trivialized the otherwise powerful images and narration which could stand on their own. Same with the final message talking about poverty amongst black children - this would have been a better message to put in the beginning and then focus on one family or put bits of it throughout the picture. It seems out of place and not really related to the rest of the picture since it focused on one family not society at large, which makes you wonder if the filmmaker's message really came through.
Don't get me wrong, this is a better documentary than most and I was not bored at any time during it so I'd recommend it.
7/10
There are a lot of great things about this film: Beautiful lighting/cinematography (in part due to the wonderful stock LIFE photos), great interviews, drama, etc. In particular I loved the fact that the remaining family returns to an art gallery featuring photos from LIFE about them from years ago and they explain it to their children - very touching moment and poignant to see new generation learning about old, reflection, emotion, etc.
What bothered me was the overused and sappy piano music which trivialized the otherwise powerful images and narration which could stand on their own. Same with the final message talking about poverty amongst black children - this would have been a better message to put in the beginning and then focus on one family or put bits of it throughout the picture. It seems out of place and not really related to the rest of the picture since it focused on one family not society at large, which makes you wonder if the filmmaker's message really came through.
Don't get me wrong, this is a better documentary than most and I was not bored at any time during it so I'd recommend it.
7/10