A Complete History of
My Sexual Failures
Director: Chris Waitt
Writer: Chris Waitt
Year it was produced: 2008
Cast: (all as
themselves) Danielle McLeod, Olivia Trench, Chris Waitt and Hilary Waitt
Cinematography: Steven Mochrie
Editing: Mark Atkins, Chris Dickens
It was funded by Film4 and the UK Film Council
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures revolves around
filmmaker, Chris Waitt and his attempt to interview most of his ex-girlfriends
to find out why they dumped him and then from that information, try and make
himself a better person. I personally believe it comes under the category of
mockumentary, which is “a fiction film that uses documentary form to suggest it
is actually a documentary”. Parts of the
film that suggest this are the fast changing camera angles such as when Chris
is having a conversation with one of his ex-girlfriends at a dinner table and
the camera constantly switches between each person. Also, when Chris decides to
take many Viagra pills but there is a cut between when he puts the tablet in
his mouth and when he swallows it, suggesting that he never took them. However,
it is made in such a clever way that the audience are truly torn between
whether it is real or not. Chris uses poor camera quality to create a
documentary feel and props such as love letters, photographs and evidence of
all his ‘girlfriends’ to make the audience believe that this is completely
real. Another huge factor which contributes to the audience believing what they
are watching is the fact that we end up emphasising with Chris. We begin to
warm to him as a person through the use of comedy which makes us feel involved
and also through feeling sorry for him, such as when he is talking to Vicky and
they both get very emotional and when he opens up to us, we begin to like his
character and therefore are more likely to believe the documentary because he
is demonstrating real human emotions.
This is what critic, Jonathan Romney from Independent said: “A
Complete History ... is quite a performance – and I do mean performance. Waitt
maintains the pretence throughout that his film is a documentary, and as far as
one can see, many if not all of the exes he interviews (or who angrily refuse
to be interviewed) are women Waitt really has dated. His likeable mother – who
has little truck with his brattish self-pity – also appears really to be his
mother. Mind you, the end titles admit that some of the film's encounters had
to be "reconstituted"; make of that what you will.”
From this information, I believe that this documentary is
based partly on the truth. Chris may have used his real girlfriends and parts
of the film may have been genuine but a lot of it is still scripted in order to
create humour and enhance the film experience for the audience. Members of the
audience, who claim to know Chris, state that his true personality is reflected
in the documentary but again, he may be using this to make it even more
believable. It was funded by Film4 and the UK Film Council. They are not going
to waste money on making something that was completely spontaneous, they are
serious companies and a whole team was put together for this. So to conclude, I
believe it is completely scripted in most parts however is based on Chris’ life
and his real ex-girlfriends and is an honest reflection on his ‘sexual failures’
but told in a slightly exaggerated manner.
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures is also an
investigative documentary. This is because it introduces a problem/question
which it then goes on to solve. The problem is obviously the fact that Chris
struggles to maintain a stable relationship and cannot understand why he
consistently gets dumped. He solves it when he realises he still has feelings
for Vicky and then works things out with her and moves on so they are both
happy and he then finds a new girlfriend in which their relationship seems to
be running smoothly. It comes under the interactive mode because Chris makes
use of direct mode of address when he looks into the camera and interacts
directly to the audience. This creates a much greater sense of involvement and
the audience feel included because they are being spoken to, rather than having
to ‘listen in’ on a conversation. Furthermore, it is a personal documentary because
Chris is providing the audience
with his personal views and experiences regarding the subject matter and it
could be described as very intimate.
My personal opinion on the documentary: I found it very humorous;
there were many ‘laugh out loud’ moments so it was an entertaining viewing experience.
Towards the end, I eventually managed to emphasis with Chris but this was only
in the parts with Vicky because they were crying and seeing those emotions made
me instantly warm to them both. The whole time I was watching it, all I could
think was ‘is this real or fake?’ and at times, that definitely distracted my
attention from the documentary because I was trying to make a sense of it.
Undefeated
-Notice how there is no ‘writer’ for this documentary-
Cast (all as themselves): Montrail ‘money’ Brown, O.C.
Brown, Bill Courtney, Chavis Daniels and Jeff Germany.
Year it was produced: 2011
Production companies: Zipper Bros Films, Five Smooth Stones
Productions, Level 22 Productions and Spitfire Pictures.
Cinematography and editing: Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin
Undefeated is “a documentary on an underdog football team
who look to reverse their fortunes with Coach Bill Courtney.” It furthermore
covers the genres of coming of age (because we see the development and mental
growth of the football players) and sport. It is set in Manassas and their team
is called the Manassas Tigers. Undefeated is completely different to A Complete
History of My Sexual Failures because it is not scripted and it displays
real-life events as they are happening. It can therefore be classified under
the observational mode because the camera records everything that is going on,
allowing the audience to ‘listen in’ and through techniques such as: long
takes, sync-sound and no ‘voice of god’ narrator, the audience are not taken
away from the reality. This contrasts greatly to Sexual Failures because in
that documentary, we as an audience feel as if we are there with Chris the
whole time due to his strong use of the interactive mode which means we have
gone beyond the point of observation. Furthermore, Undefeated is an
ethnological documentary because it explores the lives and culture of a
particular ethnic group.
Undefeated explores themes which are meaningful and
therefore have an emotional impact on the audience. For example, it looks at
unity and fatherhood. All the team members come together and work as hard as
they can to achieve their goals. As the narrative develops, this becomes
especially evident because we can see them become closer and special bonds
start to form. Their Coach is hugely important and we can clearly see how much
his team means to him, for example this is evident towards the end when he is
saying goodbye to them. He acts as a father figure to them, guiding them
through, offering advice and being there for them when times are hard. He is
able to motivate them and encourage them to follow their dreams, the main piece
of advice he gives them is: “the character of a man is not measured in how he
handles his wins, but what he does with his failures”. This furthermore brings
up the theme of masculinity because he is stating that in order to be a ‘real
man’ you have to be strong and constantly stand up for yourself, even if things
are not going in your way.
Another huge theme is class and this is also evident in
Sexual Failures. There is a juxtaposition in class between the football players
and their coach. When we are introduced to the football players’ neighbourhood,
we can see that it is of a working class status whereas the Coach’s living
conditions are more of a middle class status, with big houses and generally an
area of more wealth. However when they all come together, class does not seem
to have a huge impact on their relationship and I feel this documentary wants
us to focus on their personalities and connections with each other rather than
their class. In Sexual Failures, Chris is demonstrating a working class
lifestyle because we can see that he lives in a very small, cramped flat. He
does not show any pride for himself, his flat is a mess and un-hygienic and he
can barely make himself look presentable.
My personal opinion on the documentary: I thought this was a
great documentary, in many parts I was truly touched by it and I was easily
able to emphasis with the football players and the Coach. I thought it explored
strong themes and it is a documentary that matters because it is so impactful.
I cannot say if I preferred this or A Complete History of My Sexual Failures
because they were so different and I liked them for different reasons.
Obviously, the comedy element to Sexual Failures was a huge positive but the
strong sense of realism in Undefeated seemed to draw me in more.
