I've never heard of her

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 50 Movies of 2020...

#15 : Be Natural - The Untold Story Of Alice Guy-Blaché

Documentary about the pioneering female film-maker, narrated by Jodie Foster, which seeks to restore Guy-Blaché to her place as a titan of early cinema, and most likely the first director ever of a feature-length film.

I've never heard of Ms Guy-Blaché, which sounds like it's probably not an uncommon occurrence (otherwise they probably wouldn't have made the film).  So I'm expecting an interesting story, if not necessarily an exceptional film to tell it.

And basically it starts at the beginning of her life and works its way through it in a reasonably straightforward fashion - but she managed to pack an awful lot in there, being a director, writer and producer of many films in the very early days of the industry.  So it's an interesting tale to tell although it's shocking (if unfortunately not surprising) how quickly she was written out of history. . There is lots of simply incredible archive footage throughout the film - it's weird to think a lot of it is over 100 years old.  

The film contains a lot of interesting nuggets of information. We learn that she created the first film with an all African-American cast - in 1912 (mostly because all the white actors refused to work with any African-Americans, so she went "fine - we don't need you").  I'd also say that film archival is a lot more complicated than I ever imagined it could be - it feels like a global secret society.  And one last fact for you - the US film industry was originally based out of Fort Lee in New Jersey but Thomas Edison controlled access to the cameras to such an extent that all the production companies moved across the country to Hollywood to avoid his influence.

It's obvious that a lot of research, travel and work has gone into the film, which is commendable.  There's a surprising amount of detective work and tension involved as potential sources of information are relentlessly tracked down - the section on how to restore an old Ampex tape was particularly interesting and involved talking to a lot of people!  And then, after it's been baked in an oven for the weekend (because that's what you do, apparently), it releases a further nugget of information - so off we go again down another rabbit hole!

A few minor gripes - it's slightly annoying how the film starts with a load of industry people telling us they've never heard of the woman and then later on in the film they're all telling us how great she is and pulling out examples of her technique.  And some of the linking graphics are a little clunky and distracting - and obsessed with travel between cities!

Overall - it's not a "great" film, but it's a perfectly serviceable one which tells an interesting story in an engaging manner.  I'm glad I watched it and have now at least heard of Alice Guy-Blaché.  If you have any interest in film or film history then I'd say it's well worth a watch - otherwise you are probably fine continuing without it (and her) in your life.

At time of writing, the film is available to rent on all the usual channels - it won't be for everyone, but it's an interesting tale for those that will be interested in it.

#16 - A fine film indeed
#14 - Something didn't quite click for me here