SYNOPSIS:
Twilight in Forks is the definitive DVD documenting the town of Forks made famous by the Twilight books and movies. Are there truly vampires and werewolves there? Hear from the real people living their lives in the town fans know and love, including the Chief of Police, the Forks Outfitters' employee who gets mistaken for Bella, and the vampire transplant who plays the real-life role of Alice. Visit Forks High School, hear self-described Jacob's grandfather tell the legend of how the Quileutes descended from wolves, and see many more of the peopla and places that make Forks and La Push the perfect setting for the Twilight saga.
MOVIE REVIEW:
To call "Twilight in Forks" a documentary is really a misnomer. After a brief introduction tantalising you with the possibility that this film would try to shed some light on the possibility that there might be some truth to Stephanie Meyer's Twilight myth, it reveals itself for what it truly is- another product made to cash in on the Twilight fanbase and perhaps worse still, a blatant attempt at justifying the fanbase behind the series (I hesitate against using the word saga).
Divided quite neatly into several sections, the film begins quite tellingly by interviewing a disparate profile of people who have but one bond- they are all Twi-hards. There are those who have followed the hype of the book and the movie all the way to where it was set- the town of Forks and the community of La Push- and settled down there. There are those who have gained fame through their music which uses the books as inspiration.
And then there is the father who claims that he has grown closer to his daughter now that he's started reading the books, or MTV's Larry Caroll detailing how covering the Twilight fandom for his job has changed his life. Is it one-sided? Of course it is. This is no more than a love letter to the millions of fans out there, a shoutout that you are not alone, and a feeble and unconvincing effort to make sense of the fan fervour. Perhaps the one objective voice is that of author John Granger who reasons that the series fulfils what people are missing from their lives.
The next section of the film focuses on the people of the town whose lives have changed as a result of the series. "Suddenly, we have people coming in and asking 'Do you have any Twilight stuff?" one shopkeeper says. Have there been any negative effects on the town? Apparently not- since all the interviewees seem to think that Twilight was a wonderful thing that happened to them. So too the tourist business, the subject of the following section, who sprang up to cater to the appetite of Twi-hards who wished to take a look at the locations on which the book was based on.
Only the last two sections in fact deliver what the opening promised- "La Push" looks at the community with an allusion to how they may have gotten their start with wolves as described by a few Quileutes; and "History" delving into that behind the town of Forks, from its humble beginnings as a logging town and how its economy was languishing until Twilight came along. Unfortunately, what should have been the main subject of this brief 80-min film has become relegated to its final 20 mins, leaving the rest of its time to justify the self-importance of the Twi-hard fanbase.
Don’t get me wrong- this reviewer has nothing against the hordes of fans who live and breathe Twilight. But when a film that sells itself as a documentary turns out to be no more than another excuse to reaffirm to fans of Twilight that their worship of the material is justified, that I take offence. Worse still, when it starts putting down fans of Star Wars or Star Trek and explaining how the Twi-hards are nothing like them. Perhaps I am not the right demographic for "Twilight in Forks". But if this is meant solely for the fans, then it should have the decency to sell it as such.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
NIL.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 does well enough to reproduce the interviews clearly. As the film itself was shot on video, some images turn out quite grainy at times.
MOVIE RATING :
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Gabriel Chong
Posted
on 1 May 2010
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