As a rule, I generally try to avoid catching films as soon as they come out because 'hype' for them can often skew the situation meaning that 9 times out of 10 I come away dissapointed. In the years i've taken this approach I've generally not had any issues. But sometimes leaving a film long enough for the 'release hype' to die down can lead to another problem 'legacy hype'. When something builds up enough goodwill amongst people that theres a lot of positive feedback, which is then turned INTO a problem by modern algorithms that are designed to try and guess what you like and funnel those views directly into your face.
This film is unfortunately one of those situations. I missed my chance at the Al Adamson boxset a few years back (one of my biggest non purchase regrets really) But initial word was that this film as an astounding assembly of the life of Al Adamson and arguably one of the best documentaries of the year.
I tried not to follow the hype, and after a couple of years some of my peers ALSO flagged up that this documentary was 'INCREDIBLE. UNBELIEVEABLE!, ASTOUNDING' and frankly a must see. Severin put the film out as a solo offering (paired with one of Al's other movies as B-Feature)
So last Black friday, while it was at a really good price, I snapped it up...excited to see this modern redefinition of documentary cinema as at least half a dozen friends and two dozen folks online had basically said it was one of the best cult documentaries ever made...aaaaand it was fine. Had noone said anything, or had I just had a sly recommendation for it from people rather than the 'ITS LIFECHANGING' vibe people kept telling me, i'd have probably been warmer to it...But the reality is 'Blood and Flesh' is just a pretty well put together documentary thats kind of like a sandwhich.
We open with a lengthy piece on Al's life, how he got into movies and the events leading up to his first picture...then about an hour and 10 or so is literally just talking head interviews with the cast and crew of his movies as we systematically go through all of the 32 films that were featured in the Al adamson set...with VERY light pepperings of Al's private life thrown in here and there (which I thought was a bit of shame really as I was kind of hoping for a bit more about the man rather than the movies) and the final 20 - 30 minutes turns into a 'true crime' special as they deal with the grizzly end to Al's life. and thats...about it.
As a documentary its fine enough...Like...I cant say I didnt enjoy it. But this kind of documentary film making has been the standard now for about 15 years at least...most boutique labels these days do this kind of style of documentary whenever they cover an auteur llower budget film maker, Stecklers had one, Milligans had one...I cant say this is bad...but there are people out there implying this is one of the great documentaries of our era...and its just...not.
While the interviewee's are delightful engaging and border eccentric at times (which I loved) The angle is firmly on 'Al the film maker' and it very rarely strays from that. Theres also a huge gap in the narrative near the end of the film where they discuss his latter films (Carnival Magic/Lost) which were made in 1983/84, and then suddenly we time jump to 1992 and the death of Al's wife where the documentary implies that THAT was what made Al quit film making, neglecting that he had actually stopped making films about 11 years prior...It would have been nice to find out what happened in those 11 years, the film alludes to him getting into other business ventures during this time and travelling a lot...But it doesnt elaborate.
They vaguely allude to Als final project, a UFO documentary that was never completed because Al 'supposedly' met a half alien/half human and got cold feet about the people involved in the project...but the interviewees who DO know more about that wont elaborate and the documentary just kind of drops it in front of us tantilizingly and then quickly hurries it away...you cant just casually drop into your film that Al met aliens and then hustle it away and start talking about his Ranch in Indio. Even looking online, noone seems to know anything about the incident, or even tangentally what it could be referring to...its just such an odd thing to not expand on.
The pacings a little slow for my taste, while some of the anecdotes are really engaging, some are a little dry, it kind of felt like some films didnt have a lot of history behind them, so they just had to go with ANY story that they could pull out of people for the time. They also gloss over a lot of Al's more 'Adult' films, which is a shame because they easily look like some of the more demented offerings that i'd have actually been quite interested in seeing...
Beyond this though, theres a lot of good to be had here. The film makers clearly knew their stuff and Al seemed to keep quite a good archive and paper trail, and the film makers have used it well in crafting a wonderful tapestry of behind the scenes footage, clips from the films and paperwork to help flesh out Adamsons film making years really well.
Its got a clear (if not slightly generic) directional vision, the cine is and framing used to help add context is really nicely handled and the editing and scoring is top notch too.
I think the unfortunate thing about this documentary for me at least, is that it doesnt feel like a standalone thing, it feels like something someone would watch if they hadnt seen an Al Adamson film (or had maybe only seen the really well known ones) and was about to crack open and work through the Adamson Severin set. A set thats now LONG out of print, stupidly expensive and unlikely to be reissued, with *most* of the 32 films ONLY available via that set or from sourcing older even MORE expensive VHS and DVD releases.
It acts almost as a sampler in that sense, something to get you intreagued about checking out the works of Adamson...works that, as of the time of writing, noone can see without dropping $400-600 on the masterpiece set 2nd hand.
In the future, his films may get another outing, and I sincerely hope they do because this documentary does a great job of selling them...But for now this just feels a bit like a part of a bigger thing thats missing a lot of its parts. One where i'd say, if its on streaming. Go for it, if your interested in Adamsons films, Go for it. But dont go out of your way to import a copy, and if your thinking of checking this out to learn more about Adamson as a person, you may not get what your looking for.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/blood-flesh-the-reel-life-ghastly-death-of-al-adamson/
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