Roger Corman's 80s and onwards career isn't as well documented as his 50s to early 80s glory years so it's great to see this look at one of the most interesting chapters from his later years... when he set up a studio in Ireland. The Irish government wanted to build filmmaking in that region because... oh I'm guessing because it's cool... and figured that Corman would be a good person to learn from.
And you know something? That's not a bad idea - because Corman is famous for giving people chances out of cheapness, promoting from within. I would have loved an opportunity like that myself - a little bit of money was better than nothing.
The studio became controversial when critics got a look at some of the output - then it became an issue of whether tax payers dollars should do into supporting exploitation. (My view - its fine as long as the stories touched on Irish culture and the key creatives were Irish). It's not very well known today because none of the films are well known - I mean none, despite occasionally featuring people like David Carradine, and James Brolin - and no really well filmmakers graduated from that particular "class".
Corman says the studio closed because of the end of an EU loophole, rising wages in Ireland, and decline in the film market. I have read that the company had some tax troubles - these aren't really addressed in this documentary which is mostly sympathetic to Corman (maybe that's how they got him to agree to be interviewed).
It's not a white wash - the film is upfront about the erratic quality of the films, the difficulty sourcing good actors and talent, the troubles with unions, the snobbish atittude of Dublin (where Corman really should have based the studio - simply more talent eg all those Abbey Theatre actors).
Other talking heads include James Brolin (who directed a film), Corbin Bernsen, Alexandra Paul, plus some locals - several of who speak in Gaelic which was cool!
The films look all terrible - I had no enthusiasm to seek them out. This is probably the best movie to come out of it - its extremely entertaining.
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