The Fear of 13 (15.)
Directed by David Sington.
Featuring Nicholas Yarris. 91 mins. Released by Dogwoof.
An hour and a half of a man telling you his hard luck story sounds like a tough ask for the viewer but Nick Yarris's tale of his decades spent on Death Row is a hell of hard luck story. It isn't just A tale of prison life, it is Every story of prison life you've ever heard, all rolled in to one. It has a bit of everything – miscarriages of justice, brutal guards, self improvement, shower scenes, escape attempts, impossible love stories – and Yarris's telling of it becomes such a one man show, that at times you may doubt the veracity of it. Maybe this is the most over egged prison inmate since Cool Hand Luke.
The filmed monologue is always a daunting proposition but the story of how Yarris ended up in prison for murder (the way the monologue is constructed it is very difficult to reveal any more details than that for fear of spoiling it) is not one that would stand dramatic telling. There are too many improbabilities, but also too many cliches. As you watch this charismatic bald figure telling his story it all seems a bit much. The Fear of 13 it dug up my instinctive mistrust of documentary film makers – hell, I still don't fully believe that French bloke in Man On Wire really did a tightrope walk between the twin towers. Director Sington previous cinema film In The Shadow Of The Moon was about another subject that people have trouble believing – the Apollo programme. He did a beautiful job on that, it is one of my favourite of the last ten years. Here he keeps it nice and simple, breaking up the monologue with just enough filmed recreations of important events to hold the viewer's attention.
Directed by David Sington.
Featuring Nicholas Yarris. 91 mins. Released by Dogwoof.
An hour and a half of a man telling you his hard luck story sounds like a tough ask for the viewer but Nick Yarris's tale of his decades spent on Death Row is a hell of hard luck story. It isn't just A tale of prison life, it is Every story of prison life you've ever heard, all rolled in to one. It has a bit of everything – miscarriages of justice, brutal guards, self improvement, shower scenes, escape attempts, impossible love stories – and Yarris's telling of it becomes such a one man show, that at times you may doubt the veracity of it. Maybe this is the most over egged prison inmate since Cool Hand Luke.
The filmed monologue is always a daunting proposition but the story of how Yarris ended up in prison for murder (the way the monologue is constructed it is very difficult to reveal any more details than that for fear of spoiling it) is not one that would stand dramatic telling. There are too many improbabilities, but also too many cliches. As you watch this charismatic bald figure telling his story it all seems a bit much. The Fear of 13 it dug up my instinctive mistrust of documentary film makers – hell, I still don't fully believe that French bloke in Man On Wire really did a tightrope walk between the twin towers. Director Sington previous cinema film In The Shadow Of The Moon was about another subject that people have trouble believing – the Apollo programme. He did a beautiful job on that, it is one of my favourite of the last ten years. Here he keeps it nice and simple, breaking up the monologue with just enough filmed recreations of important events to hold the viewer's attention.
