San Francisco Guardian
I started VIFF day two with a look at Thin, the first documentary by photographer Lauren Greenfield, whose monograph Girl Culture found some admirers in the Guardian offices when it was first published. I can't say I was wowed by the book -- the portraits of consumer-crazed young girls seemed indebted to Diane Arbus in a way that verged on cheap-shot or caricature treatment of exactly the type of thesis-like subject matter Arbus avoided. But there was no denying Greenfield had a sharp, distinctive eye.
In Thin, that perspective yields greater rewards, because it's at the heart of a thoroughly committed -- at times problematic, and probably all the better for it -- approach to documentary. Shot by Double Dare director Amanda Micheli, Thin is much better looking than an average documentary, but not in a shallow or strictly stylistic sense. The camerawork here is attuned to the intimacy Greenfield is striving for in this extended look at a number of anorexic or bulimic girls and women, and the institution where they are receiving treatment, the Renfrew Center in South Florida. What Greenfield emerges with is an angry other side of Todd Haynes' Superstar and Safe, and a female "nuthouse" rendering much more nuanced and harshly honest than Girl, Interrupted. Through just one of her main subjects -- Shelly, a med-hooked nurse who arrives with a tube in her stomach that only allows her to purge more easily, Greenfield encounters complex family issues (Shelly is a twin) and an almost overwhelming amount of material for a critique of woeful American societal values and health care problems.
That's without taking into account Shelly's seemingly dazed but actually quite sharp personality. Besides Shelly, Thin also spends time with tough and manipulative Polly; Brittany, whose mom indoctrinated her in the practice of chew-and-spit when she was kid; and Alisa, a tough mother of two who joined the military during Desert Storm to lose weight. Thin was produced by HBO; while the network's attempts at making indie movies (American Splendor; Elephant) leave me unenthused, they have produced some excellent documentaries. Movie postscripts are often cringeworthy, but in the case of Thin, they pack a real punch, especially when paired with Greenfield's still portraits, which silently articulate these women's inner battles.