"A fly-on-the-wall thrill!"

"Fascinating...beautiful and full of life."

These are some of the critic quotes on the box for This So-Called Disaster. It's some heady praise, and it comes from the highest levels, including The New York Times and Variety. After watching the film though, I wonder if these critics are commenting on the film or the world of dramatic stage plays and the people involved. As a documentary, I don't see how these descriptions fit, as the movie drags without much in the way of energy. But if they are talking about Sam Shepard or Sean Penn, I can see how the respect for these men translates into a good review.

This So-Called Disaster chronicles the pre-production of Shepard's 2000 play The Late Henry Moss, an adaptation of Frank O'Conner's "The Late Henry Conran," informed by Shepard's experiences with his father. The film starts three weeks into rehearsal, which keeps the audience from seeing "the process" at its rawest, which would probably have been more interesting than anything in this movie. But one would expect ego would prevent these actors from allowing the camera to capture them struggling through the play's early days.

Shepard has an amazing cast at his disposal as he works through the San Francisco production of his play, starting with his lead, gruff James Gammon (best remembered by this reviewer as coach Joe Brown in Major League.) Throw in Penn, Nick Nolte (looking his mugshot best), Cheech Marin and Woody Harrelson, and you have the kind of cast that will sell-out a play no matter who wrote or directed it, or even if it's not very good. As such, you have to wonder if these actors felt the pressure that weighs on creators who have to worry about how they're received. If they do, they don't really show it. These are big stars who are basically working on a hobby side gig. If the play doesn't work out, there's another script waiting at home. As Shepard says at one point, "Just another horse race."

The rehearsal process shows how the play is built, as Shepard makes cuts from day to day and the show is workshopped at the reading table. As opening night gets closer, and the performances get tighter, it becomes a bigger shame that the movie doesn't start from the beginning of rehearsal. To see the performances improve from beginning to end would have made for a better appreciation of the evolution of a role. Instead, we see Nick Nolte or Sean Penn, not Earl or Ray, their characters. Seeing the actors immerse themselves in their roles would have prevented that.

Punctuated by title cards with lines from the script, director Michael Almereyda's camera is mostly unobtrusive, watching from a distance or just away from the stage, with rehearsal footage mixed with interviews and performances. A sit-down with Shepard, focusing on his relationship with his abusive, alcoholic father is threaded through the film, giving the movie some structure, but its appearances don't relate much to where in the film they are placed, reducing their effect. A very ordinary editing style drains the piece of energy, like the dull documentaries shown in public schools. For a director whose fictional films (Hamlet, Nadja) are so stylish, this film shows none of that creativity, resulting in a rather pedestrian movie that has all the visual and editing panache of the local evening news.

There are some bits of interest, namely watching Nolte act and preparing to act or seeing actors reading about themselves, but for the most part, this feels like a celebration of acting by someone too in love with the art. That can sometimes result in a great promotional EPK or bonus feature, but not a great documentary. Here it results in a limited view of creating a play that doesn't have any real drama. Considering the less-than-laudatory reception the play received, maybe the problem was the play. After all, they say a bad rehearsal means you'll have a good performance. Good rehearsals apparently means you'll have a boring behind-the-scenes performance.

The DVD
On one simple DVD, you'll find the 89-minute main feature, along with a buttload of promotional material (for films other than this one.) All the menus are static, while the main screen has some looped guitar music. On the five scene selection menus, there are still photo previews, while there are subtitle options, but it's basically on and off for English subtitles.

The Quality
Shot on video and presented in full-screen, "This So-Called Disaster" had to deal with a lot of challenges, the biggest of which was lighting. In the theater, there are so many color changes thanks to the light banks, but the disc reproduces them well. Due to the low-light nature of the theater, the colors are mostly muted, with a small amount of video noise. For what it is, it looks good. The audio is presented in mono, and sounds clear, without any interference or distortion. The music on the soundtrack is similarly presented.

The Extras
There are no content extras for this movie, but MGM made sure to use the disc to promote as much as they can. Though the trailer for This So-Called Disaster isn't included, there are six other previews: Intermission, Lost Junction, The Saddest Music in the World, The Ranch, De-Lovely and MGM as a whole. Apparently, there were a few spaces left over on the disc (but nothing for this movie's trailer), which was filled by a cover-art gallery featuring The Indian Runner, Dead Man Walking, Kingpin, Cherry 2000, Good Boy!, Cheech and Chong's The Corsican Brothers and Bowling for Columbine. An odd assortment of titles that I haven't quite decoded yet.

The Bottom Line
There's not too much at work in this movie, as it's mainly just a camera watching actors practice their craft, hung onto a skeleton of putting it into the context of Shepard's life and family history. If one is particularly interested in that realm, that of acting and drama, or just Shepard himself, this is likely fascinating. If not, you get an hour and a half of nearly pace-less behind-the-scenes footage celebrating a group of people who tend to be celebrated too often. With almost no effort put into the DVD presentation, the overall package isn't exactly enthralling. Again, if you're an actor or are interested in acting, this is a rare inside look at the inner workings of a play. But, like most stage plays, it's not something the average viewer will want to watch.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.