Dadetown

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11/07/2018 Dadetown is a "meta-documentary" about small-town America in the 1990s. Is a rural, close-knit community still the "American dream", or, with the closing of factories, has it become a kind of American nightmare? A stunning first feature from director Russ Hexter, Dadetown leads to an unforgettable revelation during the closing credits. Dadetown highlights a problem afflicting communities and individuals all across the country as the face of business undergoes a change. We can no longer rely on our employers to provide for us. No jobs are safe. Whether in Dadetown or New York City, the bottom line worker is always the first victim of middle-management judgment errors and upper management selfishness. See more 10/07/2010 One of the damnedest things I've ever seen. This film should be much better known. I'm also surprised that no films have followed in its footsteps. See more 08/06/2010 Succeeds at something most mocumentaries don't; it feels authentic. See more 09/11/2004 I've recently resolved to finally get around to watching the massive amount of films I've been taping off of various cable channels for the past few years. This may not sound like a huge resolution, but when you've got dozens and dozens of tapes filled with EP-recorded movies that you don't even remember thinking about staring at you from the shelves all around you, it can be a bit intimidating. I started the mammoth project off this morning with [i]Dadetown[/i], a documentary about a small town in the midst of something of a civil war. To be fair, I can't really give a total critique of the film on here, as the revelations in the final reel change the tone and meaning of the film so considerably that any real analysis would involve me spoiling the ending. And I don't want to do that, because [i]Dadetown[/i]'s final moments are so shocking that they'd best remain a secret until you see them. Don't go to the IMDb entry on it either, unless you want the ending to be plainly known. In fact, it seems that every single review of the film reveals the ending. But I won't. Because I'm like that. Dadetown is the sort of "small town, USA" mimicked in [i]Waiting for Guffman[/i], a place of tradition and loyalty to the Gorman company, the sole major manufacturer in town that employs most of the male residents. At the beginning of the film, a newer face, the white-collar telecommunications company API, has emerged in the city. While the new company has been there nearly two and a half years, the town is clearly divided, and the two sides rarely intermingle. When the Gorman company begins laying off workers, panic strikes the blue-collar part of town and someone begins trashing properties of API employees. It soon becomes obvious that Gorman is on its' way out, and tensions between the various factions rise. Spoilers below: [color=seagreen]But the whole thing is a hoax. [i]Dadetown[/i] is, in fact, a mockumentary, as revealed during the closing credits. Unlike other mockumentaries, it does a fine job of portraying everything as "real" and doesn't go for jokes, but rather social meaning. Just because the events depicted in [i]Dadetown[/i] [i]didn't[/i] happen doesn't mean they [i]couldn't, [/i]and Russ Hexler does a great job at doing kind of a fictional counterpart to [i]American Dream[/i] or[i] Book Wars[/i]. Sure, some set-ups look awfully suspicious, like a drunken laid-off worker attacking the camera crew until it turns black, and it could be argued that, with few characters that are actually followed through any sort of a story arc, there is little reason to really get attached to anyone in particular. But to the credit of the actors, nobody comes off as completely stereotypical or contrived, and if you're not a cynical avid movie goer, you may be pleasantly surprised by the twist.[/color] Dadetown is certainly worth a look, especially for this with a bizarre fascination for either small-town economics or documentary filmmaking. While never released on video in the U.S., it shows up intermittently on IFC. See more Read all reviews

Dadetown

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