Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
Directed by Jason Woliner.
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova. Partly subtitled. Available on Amazon Prime. 96 mins.
The first Borat film was a comedic lightning strike, a marvellous one-off, and a joke that Baron Cohen has been wearing thin ever since. No sequel was required and this follow up has been sprung on us like a surprise party with its existence only being made public on October 1st. To try and retain the air of mystery for as long as possible, reviews aren't just embargoed until 5.00 pm on the Wednesday before it is released on Amazon Prime, but critics have been kindly requested not to reveal spoilers, big moments or the identities of the real-life people that appear in it. There can only be two reasons for that. A, to cover up that it isn't very good. Or B, that they have pranked a really big fish, captured something potentially explosive.
The answer is both A and B. It's possible that by the time you read this the big prank and the identity of the person involved will be in the news, (so if you're going to see it, do it quick.) It's an audacious coup and probably enough to make the project worthwhile though it can't disguise how flat much of the rest of it.
I think I'm allowed to tell you that the set up for the sequel is that having shamed the nation of Kazakhstan with the first film, Borat has been sent back to perform a task that will redeem himself and restore the nation's pride. This time he is accompanied by his daughter Tutar. After a scripted opening sequence in its medieval version of Kazakhstan (offensive, but funny enough to raise hopes for the rest of the film) the majority is taken up with Borat interacting with real people, making outrageous statements and trying to provoke reactions.
The first problem with this emerges quickly – the character of Borat is still widely known in the States and the film shows him being recognised and getting asked for autographs by passersby. To get around this they have Borat disguise himself as an American or have his daughter do the stunts. All of this emphasises what a thin and inconsistent creation Borat is. He will just do and say whatever is needed to get a comic reaction. This time around it all seems like tremendously hard work, and the effort is rarely worth the payoff.
People seem wise to him now and, as a result, your sympathies are often with the real people in the scene, most of whom seem to be playing along with him. They all see him coming and nobody lets their guard down – apart from the big name catch at the end who seems to have been completely taken in. The late Christopher Hitchens argued that all the first film revealed was Americans' pedantic politeness and hospitality. Not sure I agree, but that is certainly the case with the second film. As a wise man once said, "Fool me once, shame on.. shame on you, If you fool me, you can't get fooled again."
Which perhaps brings us to a bigger problem with the film: trying to locate a point to it. The first film saw Borat touring the War On Terror America of Bush The Younger's second term, exposing some of the darker undercurrents in American society. Fourteen years on, what is their left to expose? When Trump blundered into politics he brought everything ugly to the surface, skewered American society far more effectively than Baron Cohen or any satirist ever could. So Borat 2's only purpose is as an I Told You So vindication, a recognition of the first film's potency as a Self Fulfilling Parody. If anything you come out of the film thinking actually these Americans aren't that bad really.
Borat 2 ties with another film out this week, the documentary on Trump's Coronavirus failures Totally Under Control, as the first full-length film release made during lockdown. (Borat started filming before the pandemic but was hastily rejigged and repurposed to make it relevant.) Both have been rushed to come out before the election in the belief, deluded surely, that they might have an influence. While Totally Under Control seems like it is making its case for one side in a fair, up front and on the level manner, Borat employs so much sleight of hand editing and subterfuge it's hard to take any of it at face value. If the Big Name prank does become some kind of scandal their defence will be that the footage has been edited in such a way as to misrepresent the individual involved and I think they'll have a case. On first viewing, I suspected that a body double or lookalike may have been used in a couple of shots. Repeated views were inconclusive; it's hard to say for sure what you are actually seeing but then as a lot of voting is based on wish fulfilment fantasy and ostrich brained denial, I doubt it'd make much difference either way.
Directed by Jason Woliner.
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Maria Bakalova. Partly subtitled. Available on Amazon Prime. 96 mins.
The first Borat film was a comedic lightning strike, a marvellous one-off, and a joke that Baron Cohen has been wearing thin ever since. No sequel was required and this follow up has been sprung on us like a surprise party with its existence only being made public on October 1st. To try and retain the air of mystery for as long as possible, reviews aren't just embargoed until 5.00 pm on the Wednesday before it is released on Amazon Prime, but critics have been kindly requested not to reveal spoilers, big moments or the identities of the real-life people that appear in it. There can only be two reasons for that. A, to cover up that it isn't very good. Or B, that they have pranked a really big fish, captured something potentially explosive.
The answer is both A and B. It's possible that by the time you read this the big prank and the identity of the person involved will be in the news, (so if you're going to see it, do it quick.) It's an audacious coup and probably enough to make the project worthwhile though it can't disguise how flat much of the rest of it.
I think I'm allowed to tell you that the set up for the sequel is that having shamed the nation of Kazakhstan with the first film, Borat has been sent back to perform a task that will redeem himself and restore the nation's pride. This time he is accompanied by his daughter Tutar. After a scripted opening sequence in its medieval version of Kazakhstan (offensive, but funny enough to raise hopes for the rest of the film) the majority is taken up with Borat interacting with real people, making outrageous statements and trying to provoke reactions.
The first problem with this emerges quickly – the character of Borat is still widely known in the States and the film shows him being recognised and getting asked for autographs by passersby. To get around this they have Borat disguise himself as an American or have his daughter do the stunts. All of this emphasises what a thin and inconsistent creation Borat is. He will just do and say whatever is needed to get a comic reaction. This time around it all seems like tremendously hard work, and the effort is rarely worth the payoff.
People seem wise to him now and, as a result, your sympathies are often with the real people in the scene, most of whom seem to be playing along with him. They all see him coming and nobody lets their guard down – apart from the big name catch at the end who seems to have been completely taken in. The late Christopher Hitchens argued that all the first film revealed was Americans' pedantic politeness and hospitality. Not sure I agree, but that is certainly the case with the second film. As a wise man once said, "Fool me once, shame on.. shame on you, If you fool me, you can't get fooled again."
Which perhaps brings us to a bigger problem with the film: trying to locate a point to it. The first film saw Borat touring the War On Terror America of Bush The Younger's second term, exposing some of the darker undercurrents in American society. Fourteen years on, what is their left to expose? When Trump blundered into politics he brought everything ugly to the surface, skewered American society far more effectively than Baron Cohen or any satirist ever could. So Borat 2's only purpose is as an I Told You So vindication, a recognition of the first film's potency as a Self Fulfilling Parody. If anything you come out of the film thinking actually these Americans aren't that bad really.
Borat 2 ties with another film out this week, the documentary on Trump's Coronavirus failures Totally Under Control, as the first full-length film release made during lockdown. (Borat started filming before the pandemic but was hastily rejigged and repurposed to make it relevant.) Both have been rushed to come out before the election in the belief, deluded surely, that they might have an influence. While Totally Under Control seems like it is making its case for one side in a fair, up front and on the level manner, Borat employs so much sleight of hand editing and subterfuge it's hard to take any of it at face value. If the Big Name prank does become some kind of scandal their defence will be that the footage has been edited in such a way as to misrepresent the individual involved and I think they'll have a case. On first viewing, I suspected that a body double or lookalike may have been used in a couple of shots. Repeated views were inconclusive; it's hard to say for sure what you are actually seeing but then as a lot of voting is based on wish fulfilment fantasy and ostrich brained denial, I doubt it'd make much difference either way.
