Cinema Verite (2011)

This was a great HBO film.
It is about the Loud Family. They were the Kardashians before the Kardashians. America's first reality TV family. They didn't ask for the fame but got it anyway.
Craig Gilbert (James Gandolfini) comes up with the idea and his Santa Barbara friend, Mary (Kathleen Quinlan) recommends the Loud Family and they, somewhat reluctantly at first, agree to the plan.
On the surface, they do seem like the all American family and Gilbert has the picture to prove it. Father Bill (Tim Robbins) is a traveling salesman, brilliant at his job, which gives the family a hefty steady paycheck, sultry mother Pat (Diane Lane), oldest odd son Lance (Thomas Dekker), the bandmate middle sons, Grant (Nick Eversman) and Kevin (Johnny Simmons, always underused), Delilah (Caitlin Custer) and the horse loving baby Michelle (Kaitlyn Dever). However, unfortunately, most of the kids don't get the screen time they deserve, interesting characters in their own right.
The film opts to focus on the actual filming the reactions of the family. Alan (Patrick Fugit) and Susan (Shanna Collins), newlyweds themselves are the main filmmakers though they sometimes feel that this whole thing is an invasion of privacy. But Craig thrives on the moments when they forget the cameras are always following them and let their guard down.
It is also about the eroding marriage of Bill and Pat. Pat has suspected but ignored all the business trips Bill took, but can no longer turn a blind eye to his affairs and when she discovers his file folder full of photos decides she must end it. And she wants to dump him on camera, but tell her children and brother in private. At first, Craig is on board with her plan, but talks her into letting them film her breaking the news to her brother. Furious, she snaps at Craig that that was her best scene. But she decides, secretly, to hatch a plan where either Bill's secretary or son Grant will tell Bill about the whole thing before he comes home to the cameras. She doesn't want to embarrass him. But he doesn't call his secretary and Grant loses the nerve to tell him, in a task that should never have to fall to a teenage boy. So the whole thing enfolds on camera.
Then, the film jumps ahead one year to the debut of the film which is popular but the family is criticized for their actions. And they decide to fight back, appearing on all sorts of talk shows trying to justify their actions and apologizing for having to ever agreed to something like that in the first place.
The film flies by, ninety minutes have never seen so short, and the scenery and set is fantastic, looking just like 1971 Santa Barbara would actually look like. Even the casting is brilliant, of course the actors are better looking than the Loud family but still, there are strong resemblances. The cinematography, alternating between a small screen of the documentary cameras filming and the bigger screen of the real cameras. And the acting is flawless, Dekker manages to match the intonation of the real Lance Loud.
I do have problems with the film, one of which I mentioned above, the kids don't have a big enough role and at first, it seems like Lance's homosexuality will play a big role in the film. It doesn't. Who knows how exactly Bill takes that news. Still, this is a must watch showing a glimpse at reality TV before it was overdone but it also shows how easily something can be staged and manipulated to get the desired affect. This should have won more Emmys than it did. Grade: A-