Product Description

Surrealist filmmaker Gary Burns (Waydowntown, A Problem with Fear) joins journalist Jim Brown on an outing to the `burbs. Amidst the fresh foundations of monster homes, the two explore the dark side of suburbia and create a provocative reflection on why we live the way we do. Playing off sitcoms and reality TV, Burns and Brown turn the documentary genre inside out, crafting a vivid account of life in The Late Suburban Age.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80528 in DVD
• Brand: KOCH ENT.
• Released on: 2008-03-04
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 85 minutes

Features

• Gary Burns (Waydowntown, A Problem with Fear), Canada's king of surreal comedy, joins journalist Jim Brown on an outing to the burbs. Venturing through a toybox of cultural references, from Jane Jacobs to The Sopranos, the two create a provocative reflection on why we live the way we do. Riffing off sitcoms and reality TV, Burns and Brown turn the documentary genre inside out, crafting a vivid

Customer Reviews

Critical, tender and funny look at suburbia.
This is a funny and informative look at life in suburbia.
It's like a mix between The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American D Ream and This Is Spinal Tap (Special Edition).
The actors, just regular folk, are simply wonderful.
The film is interspersed with comments from community design scholar James Howard Kunstler who wrote The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape.

The National Film Board of Canada helped in the production of this film. They've been involved in many excellent films, including The Corporation and Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media.
People who are interested in the topics of suburbia, peak oil and human society will also want to check out A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash.

Superb!
Critical view of suburbia by a filmmaker who grew up there. Interviews with realtors, experts on city planning and architecture, mixed in with footage of the Moss family's daily routines. Never boring and very educational. Basically spells out why things seem so bleak and everyone needs anti-depressants to cope. (HINT: Its not because of a chemical imbalance in the brain, as your body's reaction to your environment is quite natural) Should be mandatory viewing by all. Other documentaries about suburbia I recommend are: The End of Suburbia, Escape from Suburbia, Subdivided, Gimme Green.

A Wake-Up Call
Wow! What a wake-up call for the current American suburban life style and the often dysfunctional values that sustain it. From our hour-plus commutes in mind-numbing traffic, to our grossly overpriced cookie-cutter tract homes, to the aways busy, busy, busy moms and dads shuttling kids from one programmed activity to another, this is a shocking and all too accurate portrait of the American "anxious class."

It is unlikely that anybody could watch this 90-minute documentary without sensing their daily personal reality slapping them in the face. This powerful video brought to mind the lyrics of John Lennon from a bygone era, "A working class hero is so hard to be. They keep you doped on religion, sex and TV. And you think you're so clever and classless and free. But you're still just peasants as far as I can see!" Perhaps it's time for all of us to reevaluate the American dream... that is unless your house is already in foreclosure.