Directed
by: Errol
Morris.
It takes until the final half
hour or so of Errol Morris’ The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography
before Morris and his subject explain the title of the film. Dorfman is a
photographer, who spent the majority of her career working with a large scale
Polaroid camera, producing large, not quite life size photos. While she shot
many famous people over the years – including her good friend Allan Ginsberg –
the B-Sides of the title refers to her work where, for years, she took
portraits for regular people. She always took two photos – the people got one,
and she kept the “reject” – or The B-Side. In the last half hour or so of the
documentary, Dorfman and Morris go through many of these photographs, and
wonder why the people chose the other picture – the picture they don’t have. In
some cases, it’s obvious – in others, who knows. It’s this section that really
makes The B-Side worth seeing – as it really does continue Morris’ exploration
of images and truth – and what they tell about each other. The rest of the doc
is fine – but it’s clear from the beginning that Morris and Dorfman are friends
– and so the interrogator that Morris can be is not on display here. It’s not
that Dorfman requires the kind of prodding that the like of Fred Lechter Jr.,
Robert McNamara or Donald Rumsfeld have gotten in front of Morris’ camera –
just that because they’re so friendly, Morris barely seems to push Dorfman at
all – and as a result, I’m not quite sure her work is given its full due in the
documentary.
For the first 45 minutes or so
(this is a short documentary – barely hitting 75 minutes, although I couldn’t
help but think that an ever shorter doc would have been better) has Dorfman
telling her life story to Morris – from her short stint in New York, where she
worked in a book store, and where she first met Ginsberg and others like him –
to her return to her hometown in Massachusetts, where she became a teacher. It
wasn’t until she was in her 20s that she was handed a camera – and discovered
her life’s passion. Eventually, she’ll discover the camera she loves – the
large scale Polaroid – and never look back. She had to make a living – had to
pay the rent on her studio space, had to the pay for the expensive film, etc. –
which is why she started with the portrait photography anyway. While she took
pictures of famous people, for the most part she didn’t – it was normal people.
She had a gallery show once, and didn’t much like it. She’s one of those people
who seems comfortable in her own skin, doing what she wants to do – regardless
of whether or not anyone else cares.
The film feels like a rather
surface level look at Dorfman and her life – her memories of her parents, her
marriage and her son, are all talked about, but never in any sort of depth.
Perhaps this was by design by Morris – Dorfman does say in the documentary
after all that she isn’t really interested in the inner lives of those she photographs
– she wants to capture the surface, how they project themselves to the world.
Perhaps that’s all Morris wants to do here. The film is much more laid back
than anything else I’ve ever seen by Morris – he doesn’t use his infamous
camera The Interrtron – on Dorfman ‘preferring instead a more casual
conversation in her studio, where she can show him his work.
The B-Side feels like a minor
work for Morris – something he wanted to make because he loves Dorfman and her
work, and in making the film, he can bring it to a wider audience. So be it –
if that’s his purpose, than he achieves his goal. Yet, I cannot help but think
that Morris is perhaps too close to Dorfman to realize that he either didn’t
have enough material here to make a feature film here – or at least his
approach to Dorfman didn’t yield it. It’s still a fine film – but Morris is one
of the best documentary filmmakers ever – and this just doesn’t rise to the
level of his best work – or even come close to it.
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