Interview. Kirby Dick.

We keep meeting up with Kirby Dick simply because he keeps making such vital and fascinating documentaries. In 2004, Francine Taylor spoke with him about Derrida; a year later, she covered an emotionally charged screening of his Oscar-nominated Twist of Faith.

Now, with his "feisty, intellectually engaging" (AO Scott, New York Times) This Film Is Not Yet Rated in theaters, David D'Arcy asks him about the ways studios hamstring their competition, namely, indies and foreign films.

"Unlike the object of its scathing attention, Kirby Dick's documentary about the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board is merry and bright and loads of fun," writes Ella Taylor in the LA Weekly. "Dick is less concerned with the question of whether there should even be a ratings system than he is with the ludicrously secretive workings of the organization, which First Amendment attorney Martin Garbus nails as a last bastion of closed-door policymaking in America."

In the Independent, David Thomson sees the MPAA as a "racket" in that its "ratings have ended up re-enforcing the commercial mainstream."

Updated through 9/3.

For the AV Club's Scott Tobias, the film "makes a solid case that the culture has paid the price for its censorious practices. His attacks are the equivalent of shooting ducks in a barrel, but these ducks had it coming."

Cinematical's Martha Fischer: "Dick creates an often-hilarious documentary that is both cutting and compelling; it's so engaging that even filmgoers who wouldn't dream of setting foot in an arthouse cinema will eat it up."

J Hoberman in the Voice: "Any investigation into Hollywood inevitably mutates into a noir."

For Time Out, Trevor Johnston also talks with Dick. So does Cinematical's Ryan Stewart.

Updates: In the Guardian, Xan Brooks finds the British can be glad they've got the BBFC. For a briefer version, an online listening tip. Brooks appears several minutes into today's edition of the Guardian's Newsdesk. And more from Peter Bradshaw: "Does this affect us here in the UK? Well, actually, yes."

"[B]y way of educating us, you understand," writes Slate's Dana Stevens, "This Film Is Not Yet Rated is all but required to feature plenty of matter-of-factly presented, and thoroughly entertaining, filth.... At times, Dick does engage in the kind of deck-stacking that seems de rigueur in the post-Michael Moore documentary. Yes, the MPAA members he hounds for interviews seem laughable in their prissy outrage; then again, they're being, in essence, stalked and filmed by a total stranger."

Gary Dretzka offers a long, sober history of Jack Valenti and the MPAA at Movie City News.

"Dick himself is a mischievous presence, and he obviously relishes the fight he's picking here," writes Stephanie Zacharek. "There's a lot of information packed into This Film Is Not Yet Rated, but Dick's cool scrappiness - which sometimes leaks over the line into smugness - is what really informs the picture." Also in Salon, Andrew O'Hehir interviews Dick.

"Clearly, Dick is on a crusade," notes Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times. "But the skewering tone seems only fitting in dealing with an organization that purports to work for the public but doesn't deign to answer to it."

Another interview! Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls.

Updates, 9/2: Jürgen Fauth: "It would be hyperbole to call This Film is Not Yet Rated the most important documentary you'll see this year (An Inconvenient Truth, The Road to Guantanamo, and When the Levees Broke all vie for that distinction) - but it's close."

"What filmmaker in his right mind would antagonize these people, assuming he ever wants to work again? Unless he's counting on the board bending over backward next time, to prove that it's not being retaliatory?" asks Andy Klein in the LA CityBeat. "'That's what I told the other directors that I managed to get on camera,' Dick explains to me during a recent interview."

Online viewing tip. Karina Longworth latest edition of "Netscape at the Movies."

Updates, 9/3: Philip French in the Observer: "This is an amusing film, less smart and provocative than its makers take it to be, and thin on sustained, rational argument and international perspective. If it persuades the MPAA to become more open - as transparent in its operation as our own BBFC now is - that would be a major gain."

"All national film ratings systems are supposedly created to protect impressionable children from adult content. But the US scheme differs from the ones in other countries in several major ways." Time's Richard Corliss explains.

Posted by dwhudson at September 1, 2006 3:05 AM