WELCOME BACK my lovely wet-sockians and say hello to a brand new movie director. This month we have (drum roll please) Christopher Guest, the man, the myth, the legend. Well known for his role as the Six-Fingered Man in The Princess Bride, Guest has since taken up a career in directing as well as continuing acting.
Guest’s directing and writing style leans towards comedic mock-umentary style films. An authentic, probably possible, yet downright ridiculous style of story telling gives us a world we can really delve into. His most popular movies are Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and Mascots, the latter of which came out in 2016, and is my personal favorite. See the pictures below for a sneaky peek.
Guest, like last month’s Wes Anderson, likes to keep his movies with the same cast of actors. I personally enjoy this aspect, it allows me to see how each actor can portray different roles in the same general type of movie. A favorite of his is Catherine O’Hara, who happens to be one of my favorite actresses. In addition to his crew of actors, he himself plays a role in every single movie of is, talk about my dream come true!
The film style of Mock-umentary has been on a popularity rise recently, and Guest has definitely contributed to that fact. His movie Mascots is about a group of sports team mascots who go to a competition in attempt to win the ultimate prize. This movie is absolutely hilarious, and is on Netflix, so I definitely recommend watching it if you haven’t already.
Mascots was reviewed to be one of Guest’s least likable films, and one of the least funny he’s ever made. It is said that the film lacks witty and joking lines as well as the kindness that his previous characters had. I, however, disagree.
I always found it so incredible how the actors in his films can learn to understand the characters they’re playing, even when they aren’t given a script. Some day I hope to be that good.
Guest is additionally known for a rather peculiar aspect in his films. They are almost entirely improvised! He and his co-writers create a general outline and occasional lines for the script and when filming time comes around, the actors are thrown to the wolves. I really love this method, being on my school’s improv team, and I find it really intriguing to see how the actors minds work when given so little to work off of. It gives a feeling of being right there with the actors as they create these scenes and truly adds to the willing suspension of disbelief.
Though he hates the word “mockumentary”, it is the only word to describe his farcical films. When my father introduced me to Guest’s films, he was instantly added to the list of my favorite directors, and actors! His movies are absolutely hilarious and I hope there are more to come out in the future. I definitely recommend Guest if you are looking for a movie filled with comedic and absurdly quotable lines.
I GUEST you gotta go check him out now!
that was a great pun.
-Q
