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REEL PARADISE
***
Directed by Steve James. Produced by Steve James and Scott Mosier. A Wellspring release. Documentary. Rated R for language including sexual references,
and brief crude humor. Running time: 114 min.
The camera turns to the frontlines of movie magic -- namely exhibition -- in Steve James' engaging documentary "Reel Paradise," which follows the story of cinema operator John Pierson and his family during their final month of a yearlong sojourn in Taveuni, one of Fiji's most remote islands.
Pierson, whose career in the film biz began as an independent theatre owner with his wife Janet in New York, made his fortune by producing and representing some of the earliest movies by such now-established helmers as Spike Lee and Kevin Smith. Pierson also had a stint hosting an Independent Film Channel program dubbed "Split Screen" on cable TV, before deciding to embark on his Fijian adventure.
In an experiment to run the "most remote theatre in the world," Pierson returns to his exhibition roots by taking over Taveuni's 180 Meridian Cinema, where he screens movies to locals, free of charge, during his stay. And Pierson does his darnedest to make sure that his single-screener is filled to capacity every night. Challenges include securing product, fluky projectionists and protests from neighboring Catholic missionaries, who complain that the free screenings compete with mass services.
Throughout the documentary, the Piersons emerge as extremely likable and real, displaying a genuine desire to fit into and absorb the Fijian culture at the same time as they are undeniably urban, mobile and modern Americans. The Pierson children, teenaged Georgia and middle-schooler Wyatt, for example, revel in the large group of friends that are around at any given time -- a Fijian attitude towards children and togetherness that contrasts starkly to the Piersons kids' New York City experiences. However, Janet shares her concern that Georgia's more open attitudes towards boys, emulated by her best friend on the island Miriama, may prove lastingly detrimental to the local girl's reputation once the Piersons return to the States.
The films screened at the Meridian are also a source of consideration for Janet. The Piersons unveil a keen sensitivity to the possible impact of their introduction of Western mores and media into the small society. Worried that the local boys will imitate the stunts in "Jackass," Janet argues with Wyatt, a staunch defender of the film, that he's a kid, and while he thinks a film doesn't influence him, he might not notice its effect until later in life. Wyatt, whose precocity and witty observations on the relative merits of independent and mainstream movies are one of the documentary's highlights, retorts, "'Jackass' doesn't affect me now, but it will in 20 years?"
In addition to painting an engaging portrait of the Pierson clan, "Reel Paradise" quite simply captures the pure, unfiltered joy of the movies. By aiming his camera at the audiences inside the Piersons' cinema, resounding with peals of laughter or screams of terror, director Steve James showcases the true power of the big screen. -Francesca Dinglasan
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I'm seated, with my mother, on a palace veranda, cooled by a breeze from the royal garden. Before us, on a dais, is an empty throne, its arms and legs embossed with polished brass, the back and seat covered in black-and-gold silk. In front of the steps to the dais, there are two columns of people, mostly men, facing one another, seated on carved wooden stools, the cloths they wear wrapped around their chests, leaving their shoulders bare.
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Then there's Hollywood's interpretation of the island...
To see that, check out Reel Paradise, a movie about the saga of American film maker maker John Pierson who in 2002 relocated his family
to Taveuni for a year to show free movies at the venerable Meridian Cinema near Waiyevo.
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Interview with John and Janet Pierson - Reel Paradise
On the latest episode of DVD Talk Radio, DVD Talk Editor Geoffrey Kleinman speaks with John and Janet Pierson about the DVD release for Reel Paradise.
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No Family Is an Island
BY SPENCER PARSONS
The Piersons on 'Reel Paradise'
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Reel Paradise: Review
BY Marc Savlov
When it comes to mid-life crises, some guys buy Porsches, some nail hot blondes,
and some just muddle through. Freshly minted Austinite and famed producer's rep/author/gadabout John Pierson chose to relocate his entire family.
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'Reel Paradise': Moving Theater Experience in Fiji
by Alex Chadwick
American movie buff and independent filmmaker John Pierson moved his family to Fiji in 2002 in search of "the world's most remote theater."
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Reel Paradise: Review
By Roger Ebert
Steve James' new documentary, "Reel Paradise," is about a couple with similar idealism, who also move to a small town and buy the movie theater.
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Reel Paradise: Review
By Kevin Crust
MOVIE REVIEW: A family, a film house and Fiji.
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Taking popcorn fare to paradise
By Merrill Balassone
It's like moviegoing is new again when a producer shows free films in Fiji.
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How an American family moved to Fiji and brought Hollywood along for the ride
By Edward Guthmann
After 25 years of making top-notch indie films, John Pierson needed to escape. So off to Fiji he went, bringing
his family to begin a new life. He documented the experience in "Reel Paradise."
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Keeping It 'Reel' in Paradise
By ANDY KLEIN
In 2002, well known indie film figure John Pierson - producer's rep for She's Gotta Have It, Clerks, and Roger & Me, host of IFC's Split Screen series, and author of Spike, Mike, Slackers
& Dykes - picked up his family and moved to Fiji for a year to show free movies.
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LA Weekly: Film
By Scott Foundas
The final month of Pierson's quixotic quest is chronicled by documentary filmmaker Steve James in Reel Paradise and the result is an enormously warm, comic travelogue about how you can go to the ends of the earth and still not escape from temperamental
teenagers, absentee landlords and the universal language of moving pictures.
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Creating a Free Cinema Off Beaten Track in Fiji
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Steve James's absorbing documentary follows a family to the rural Fijian island of Taveuni, where they showed free
movies in the world's most remote movie theater.
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'Paradise' found in Fiji
By LILY OEI
Indiewood came out in droves Monday to celebrate the Gotham preem of Wellspring's "Reel Paradise."
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A Cinema So Indie It's 5,000 Miles Away
By David Hochman
The Pierson's experiences running a cinema in Fiji are the subject of the documentary "Reel Paradise."
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On Screen and In a New City, Austin Embraces The Pierson Family
By Eugene Hernandez
These days, aside from traveling to a few film festivals to talk about Steve James' Miramax doc about their time in Fiji, "Reel Paradise,"
the Pierson's have become key figures within the Austin film scene.
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Variety - Reel Paradise
By Todd McCarthy
Indie film guru John Pierson goes native, sort of, in "Reel Paradise," an engaging docu about his year-long
stint showing free movies to the locals at what's purportedly
the world's most remote cinema, the 180 Meridian in Taveuni, Fiji.
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Sundance #3: Of heart and humor
By Roger Ebert
Another Sundance doc is also a wonderful portrait of an unexpected lifetime. Steve James, who directed
"Hoop Dreams," is here with "Reel Paradise," the story of a New Yorker named John Pierson, who distributed
and represented the films of Spike Lee, Kevin Smith and many other indie directors,
and hosted "Split Screen," an IFC program on independent films.
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Paradise Found
By Bill Chambers
Hoop-dream master Steve James on his latest film, REEL PARADISE
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Isle of Forgotten Fans
By John Pierson
I recently became the proud owner of the world's most remote movie theater. A year from now, you could be wearing a T-shirt that says, "I saw it at the 180 Meridian Cinema." At least that's how I see it.
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Fiji Favorites: Guys in Dresses
By Dave Kehr
The Piersons are back, and the New York independent film community is happy to see them home.
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