Post by StevePulaski on Mar 12, 2019 14:28:19 GMT -5
Generation Wealth (2018)
Directed by: Lauren Greenfield
Directed by: Lauren Greenfield
Rating: ★★
For Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles), her documentary Generation Wealth was inspired by her success as a photojournalist, covering subjects such as wealth, success stories, sex, and body image over the last several years. She's someone who has long been fascinated by such topics and that fascination has led her to meet and interview some pretty interesting subjects. Watching Generation Wealth — and maybe reading Greenfield's lofty coffee-table companion-piece that goes along with it — it's abundantly clear that Greenfield has thought long and hard about people's endless obsession with exorbitant wealth and unprecedented riches, but that deep fixation seems to misguide Generation Wealth more than guide it towards answers or even compelling, persuasive points about why people are compelled to pursue the almighty dollar.
Greenfield looks at a barrage of folks who have come into a lot of money but are presently in a state of regret, remorse, or reflection of what the money — or rather the drive to get more of it — led them to do. One of the film's most prolific talking heads is a white-collar crook named Florian Homm, who gushes about working 100 hours a week, taking 50 phone calls a day, and living the alleged dream as a high-stakes investor who made hundreds of millions for himself and his companies. But Homm's dark-side is one that makes most of our closets look skeleton-free. We meet his adult son, who talks about the time his father bought a prostitute for him when he was a teenager. Homm states it was the point that he realized his riches could buy him anything.
Another soul is former porn-star Kacey Jordan, who made mainstream headlines along with Bree Olson for being one of the porn-stars in Charlie Sheen's circle in the early 2010s, who reflects upon her time in the industry. One of the most shocking details is when she talks about contracting salmonella after performing a scene with over 50 men. Added into the mix is everyone from a workaholic woman who strives for physical beauty through prolific plastic surgery and Botox to a young girl, not even ten-years-old, who was a star on Toddlers and Tiaras only to find out the meaning of 15 minutes of fame (again, she's not even ten-years-old).
Clear as day to any viewer is the human interest present in Greenfield's documentary; all over this 103 minute film are intriguing subjects with compelling stories that all have the commonality of money at the core of their personal motivations. But cobbled together in a lengthy film with a flighty thesis, things are just as discombobulated as the notes Greenfield scribbles into the margins of her notebooks and her photos. What is she trying to suggest by juxtaposing the stories of Jordan and Homm, or worse, clearly projecting her own fears of being a mother consumed by her work and seeing the negative effects in her children? I'd argue that Greenfield herself couldn't cogently answer that question.
Generation Wealth is at its best when Greenfield is actively seeking answers or sociological justifications as opposed to more subjects to sit in front of the camera. Most of this comes from the same bookish gentleman, who at one point brings up a fascinating point: we live in a social-media-obsessed society where presentation denies reality. Beyond what we choose to post and Instagram, TV has replaced our neighbors to the point where we'd more likely be able to name characters/actors on all our favorite programs than we'd be able to name who lives next door and behind us. As a result, instead of envying Carl down the street with a beautiful flat-screen and a snowblower, we envy Bradley Cooper for his good looks and Kim Kardashian for her body, therein leading us to crave and pursue lifestyles far beyond our means. The same man argues this is a consequence of a country that has seen an alarming decrease in social mobility. I couldn't agree more.
Unfortunately, Greenfield goes down this path very infrequently. The last 30 minutes of Generation Wealth are especially frustrating because once it dons on her that her behavior is indirectly emulating the obsessiveness of her subjects, she launches a quasi-feel-good campaign to try and reject capitalism's invisible hold on Americans in efforts to remind us that all we really need in the world is love and happiness. It's a tired argument that feels deeply insincere after we have had to stay put for 90 minutes watching privileged folks richer, more powerful, and privileged than most of us ever will be sulk "woe is me" about how they got so consumed in their ventures they forgot their wife or kid's name at one point. At least Greenfield recognized her potentially destructive path before she went down it even further. Too bad she didn't firmly stay committed to one documentary idea during the shooting stage.
Directed by: Lauren Greenfield.