Frederick Wiseman heads to the Midwest for latest documentary, Monrovia, Indiana
MONROVIA, INDIANA (Frederick Wiseman, 2018)
MoMA Film, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Wednesday, November 21, 7:00
Series runs through January 8
212-708-9400
www.moma.org
www.zipporah.com
Master documentarian Frederick Wiseman shows a compelling slice of Middle American life in his forty-third film, Monrovia, Indiana, screening November 21 at 7:00 in MoMA’s annual series “The Contenders,” consisting of works the museum believes will last the test of time. Wiseman, who will turn eighty-nine on New Year’s Day, directed, edited, produced, and did the sound for the 143-minute documentary, gorgeously photographed by John Davey. The camera makes its way around the small town, showing zoning discussions at a town council meeting, an award given out by the Freemasons to one of its members, a trio of old men in a café comparing maladies, a high school teacher talking about the importance of sports, people getting their hair cut, women in an exercise class, employees at a pizza place making a special item, and pigs being rounded up into a truck. Wiseman goes to the local market, a farm equipment auction, the church, a fair, a veterinary office, the high school gym, and a gun shop, all shot with natural sound and light. In between are beautiful, short scenes of streets, farms, and buildings, with no voice-over narration or informational text. However, even in this age of Trump, with an ever-growing disparity between the two coasts and the rust and Bible belts, politics never enters the film, which instead focuses on genuine humanity and day-to-day existence.
“I thought a film about a small farming community in the Midwest would be a good addition to the series I have been doing on contemporary American life,” the Boston-born Wiseman, whose previous films include Titicut Follies, High School, Central Park, Ex Libris — The New York Public Library, and Boxing Gym, explains in his director’s statement. “Monrovia, Indiana, appealed to me because of its size (1,063 residents), location (I have never shot a film in the rural Midwest), and the shared cultural and religious interests within the community. During the nine weeks of filming, the residents of Monrovia were helpful, friendly, and welcoming and gave me access to all aspects of daily life. Life in big American cities on the East and West Coasts is regularly reported on and I was interested in learning more about life in small-town America and sharing my view.” And that’s exactly what the film, which is also showing at Film Forum through November 22, is, a helpful, friendly, and welcoming document of small-town America in the twenty-first century. “The Contenders” continues through January 8 with such other 2018 films as Spike Lee’s BlacKKKLansman (followed by a discussion with Lee), Paul Dano’s Wildlife (followed by a discussion with Dano, cowriter Zoe Kazan, and actors Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal), Paul Schrader’s First Reformed (followed by a discussion with Shrader and Ethan Hawke), and John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place (followed by a discussion with Krasinski).