UKC

Just finished watching Apollo 18. Dreadful film I should have known better.

Got me thinking about other films of supposed "lost footage" some I have liked such as the original Blair Witch. But they give up the pretense at the end, Apollo 18 continued by giving obituaries at the end. We all know its fake so why continue.

Somewhat docufilm have gotten your goat in the past?

In reply to myth: I liked Cloverfield, it was different from the norm.

In reply to Steve Perry:

I just couldn't believe that Spinal Tap was made up.............

In reply to myth:
"Picnic at Hanging Rock". I loved the film but its chilling nature derived from the suggestion that it was basically a true story. It isn't.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

"Fargo" is exactly the same.

In reply to coinneach:


My mum thought they were real. The clip of "The flower people" looks like a real piece of sixties footage. She was into her tunes, and was puzzled as to why she'd missed them.

In reply to myth:

Yeah "Snakes on a Plane" nearly put me off flying....

In reply to myth:
Iron Sky, the one with nazis on the moon ... Except I quite liked that film

In reply to Only a hill:

Not a bad film for a documentary.

In reply to Only a hill:
Iron Sky is a documentary isn't it?

In reply to myth:

Triumph of the Will

In reply to abseil:

Really? I never thought Fargo was pretending to be real - and certainly never thought of it as in any way like Picnic at Hanging Rock, although I did enjoy both films.

In reply to ripper:

It's not meant to be real, it's supposedly 'based on a true story' ...which I think is a lie. Brilliant film though.

Not a film, but I was gutted to find out Shantaram was actually mostly fiction. It's such an incredible book/story that to find out it's made up/heavily embellished was a shame...plus he looks more like a sex offender than the hero of a story

In reply to winhill:


Nation's Pride?

In reply to myth:

Saw Catfish ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1584016/ ) at the weekend, good film...but is it true? Hmmm

In reply to myth:

I can't believe that people are saying Picnic at Hanging Rock was good/enjoyable. I went to the cinema to watch it when it first came out, sat there thinking, this is gonna get better, it never did. Felt ripped off. Since then I've tried to find something about it that will persuade me otherwise, alas no. However, the comments have made me consider watching it again, only joking.

In reply to ripper:

Yes, at the beginning of Fargo there's a note on the screen saying 'This is a true story. It happened in Minnesota' or some such text. Turns out it's not true, though.

I really enjoyed both films too.

In reply to myth:

Babe 2 - Pig in the City.

In reply to abseil:

That wouldn't have made me think it was seriously trying to fool anyone, any more than Blair Witch. Picnic at Hanging Rock though, I did think that was (albeit loosely) based on a real incident.

In reply to myth: I thought that Kenny was brilliant - I was really disappointed that it was a "mockumentary".

In reply to abseil: The title card at the start of Fargo reads:

"This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987."

Apparently at least one person did really believe that the story was true, and that the ransom money was still waiting to be recovered:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1365004/Cult-fil...

Or then again, maybe not:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2003/jun/06/artsfeatures1
and
http://www.4docs.org.uk/films/view/18/This+is+a+True+Story

In reply to Removed User:
I have to say that for a very long time picnic at Hanging rock was one of my favourite films.
For me it was the haunting music that sold it to me and the ambiguity surrounding the disappearence. I was less impressed with the Third Wave.

However I only vaguely took on board that it was based on a "true" story and that made me think about the concept of "based on" stories. Essentially you have a story (ie Titanic sinks) keep the central theme (Titanic sinks) add love interest, class struggle, car chases and aliens but it is still "based" on a true story.

In reply to Duncan Bourne:

Must watch that film again........................I must have missed the alien bit!

In reply to myth: The Moon Landings starring Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong

In reply to abseil: seriously, is Fargo not based on a real story, even loosely.

In reply to myth: catfish is a good call. Saw that a while back, still thinking about it. My opinion is its all made up.

In reply to myth:

I didn't know to what extent Exit Through the Giftshop was 'real'.

The most bizarre thing about it is that a few years after the film, Mr Brainwash is doing hugely successful shows! Amazing, and confusing. Perhaps those fooled initially believe they can regain some dignity by getting on the bandwagon, pretending they knew all along?

Btw, if you don't know anything about ETTGS or Mr Brainwash, I strongly recommend you put that right. The ultimate in the art of piss-take, beautifully executed.

In reply to myth: This Is.... Spinal Tap

I've had several people ask me if it's for real. Goes up to 11 as well. Inspired by Saxon - Rob Reiner went on tour with them, but the history seems to have a lot of similarities with Status Quo.

In reply to myth:

District 9

In reply to Martin W:

Thanks a lot for the links - that's interesting stuff!

In reply to myth:

Not if we believe Wikipedia, which has an entry about it being true or not - it says it was based only very loosely on fact, and describes a real-life case which is perhaps connected to the film. Martin W posted some interesting stuff about this question too - see his post above, and his 4 links.