I wrote a blog on The Turning Point Myspace page about a year back, complaining about all the film festival rejections we were racking up. Chris Suchorsky posted a comment about keeping my head up. I contacted him and thanked him for his optimism; what came of it was me reviewing his very good documentary Golden Days. Looking into his past a bit, I noticed he had also made a short documentary called Failure. I asked him if he could lend me a copy, so here we are.

Failure, was what came out of Chris trying to make his first feature film. Going into it, he was very naive; believing he could shoot a 95 page script in 6 days, with unfamiliar rented equipment, slacker friends to star in it, and no one behind the camera but him. What followed was a quick devolution into chaos; first he couldn't figure out how to properly use the camera, next his friends couldn't keep a straight-face or be reliable for more than a few minutes at a time, and he quickly learned when you're not paying somebody they're not likely to show up on time. After the week, he was barely able to scrape a scene together, let alone an entire film.

He sat on the footage for a while, thinking it was a complete waste. But then the brilliant idea came to him of turning the mess into a documentary, which he proves to have a talent for. He creates an entertaining and enlightening story out of his film's collapse and the hysterically bad footage he was able to get. I think that any amateur who sets out to make a film, should watch Failure first; get a feel for just how many things can go wrong. Anyone with an interest in filmmaking will enjoy it as well, and learn a little more about how difficult filmmaking can be; it's a quick watch at 30 minutes, and it plays often on IFC. - Grade: B

For more information about the film: Official Failure Website