FOOT: Dressed Review

A) Personal Issues
I think one idea that struck a responsive chord was that Nary was abandoned by his parents at 14 years old. I cannot imagine how traumatic of an experience that must have been. For me, my parents are some of the most important people in my life and the ones I can always talk to. If I didn't have them in my life, it would have been completely different. I probably would not be in college and would probably be a very bitter person. This chord provides for a strong emotional response because even though every person in the audience may not be a fashion designer, everyone has parents in some capacity. This is why I believe that this response can be generalized to other viewers.

B) Technique
I feel that the use of music was really good in this film. One particularly good use of music was using music from a band called Sink to See. They interviewed some of the members of this band because Nary knew them in high school. The whole time I was watching the film, I kept thinking that I would look for the names of the bands in the credits so I could look them up. The camera work on the whole was pretty good. There were some really interesting shots from above when Nary got the call that he no longer had a venue to show at. Other than that, it was a typical documentary with standard interview scenes. I feel that one of the film's strengths was that it used text on the screen to help divide up the scenes and give more information about either the situation or the history of fashion. It gave the audience "little breathers" and helped make the film not seem like one big blob of images. As for it's weaknesses, it would appeal more to a select audience since not everyone is interested in the fashion industry.

C) Acting
I don't feel that I can critique the acting since it was a documentary. The performance was pretty authentic and genuine so it did not appear to be a mocumentary or made up.

D) Plot
I feel the plot was the typical rags-to-riches kind of story. Boy comes from a background where his parents abandoned him and he was homeless at 14, became a self taught designer, and moved to New York. The film follows Nary, an aspiring fashion designer, trying to put on a show at Fashion Week in New York. If follows his creative process, his financial issues, and other experiences he has that occur up until Fashion Week occurs.

E) Themes
The main idea of this film is that with hard work and perseverance anyone can succeed. Like I said in the previous answer, it is a rags-to-riches story. Yet at the same time, the filmmaker interjects statistics about the fashion industry and says that after 2 years, approximately 80% of designers will be out of the industry and don't make it. It is meant to be uplifting and show that despite all the bad things that happened in Nary's childhood, he still was able to make something of himself. I do not feel that there are any hidden messages or messages that distract from the plot. Everything works together very well and has a good flow to it.

F) Genre
This film is a documentary. It resembles many other documentaries because it follows one person through a period of time in their life. Some of the common characteristics of documentaries include on site filming of real people in their world. It may or may not contain interviews with people close to the subject or experts on a field. There typically is not a script the the main characters follow though there may be some voice overs that give general overviews of the topic. I don't think this is necessarily a popular genre today but it will continue to exist because they are based in fact and the real world. It is something mostly for education or to chronicle a life, time period or idea and not fictitious entertainment.

G) Representation
It represents people in the fashion culture the way they are through the use of interviews. It also represents one story of a person who was homeless and abandoned by his parents. I believe everyone in the film is represented the way they are because it is an unscripted documentary.

H) Ideology
It challenged the stereotype that all homeless people are bums and cannot achieve anything. Nary shows the audience that he will do anything it takes to achieve his dream and does not look for sympathy from others. He wanted to show the audience that he was strong enough to overcome his situation and succeed.