 Thanks for checking out this movie review video This is for the 2019 film leap of faith William Friedkin on the Exorcist and it's a shutter original and it's coming to shutter on Thursday, November 19th I'm putting this review out ahead of that time. So since it's out before it's even hitting shutter and since it's a new film I am not having spoilers in this which you don't even really need it I mean based on what I'm gonna tell you you're either gonna say This is my type of film or this is not my type of film and this is a very polarizing type deal Not because it's like controversial or anything. It's just how it's done It's really gonna be for some people and it's really not gonna be for other people I fall into the grouping of not really for me and I'll end up getting to why and I think it's actually not gonna be for most people And I'll tell you why What's it is written and directed by Alexander oh Philip or Philippe Has done films chick flick the miracle Mike story Earthlings ugly bags of mostly water. That's a funny title the spot the people versus George Lucas Which I have seen that documentary and it is interesting. I would recommend that one The life and times of Paul the psychic octopus Sounds like when I want to watch doc of the dead I have been meaning to see the doc of the dead one 78 52 Hitchcock's shower scene I've also wanted to see that one although it seems like that one could be kind of boring because it's very focused on that one scene And how much time? Can you really devote to something like that which kind of plays into this film? How much time can you devote to what's going on in this film which is? just listening to William Fried can talk about making the Exorcist But not just talking about it like there was this interesting story in this interesting story in this interesting story but talking about it from the standpoint of These are all the influences that came to me and he talks about music a lot And he talks about artwork a lot and he goes a little bit deep into those things He does these side tangents talking about those things and kind of not just talking about those things But also talking about them in other films and then tying it into the Exorcist So it's more high-concept stuff that he's talking about that some people are gonna find really cool and very interesting I could have but it's it's presented in such a dry boring way That I couldn't get behind liking this film the other thing is it's an hour and 40 minutes And it's basically like a lecture I mean William Friedkin is giving you a lecture for an hour and 40 minutes with not much of any break to it now There are see and you know times where they're actually quite a bit. They're cutting to Portions of films, you know whether it is a portion from the Exorcist or it's a portion from another film Or it's looking at a piece of artwork or you know anything like that. They do that, but it doesn't seem interesting It doesn't seem that exciting especially because the music that plays throughout this is very Melancholy, it's like melancholy string music that's very very light and it kind of lulls you to sleep and the combination of the light I Mean it's pretty music, but the light music and William Friedkin just talking and his voice is just kind of a bit monotone-ish It makes you feel like you want to go to sleep, honestly So the big thing is are you someone who's been fine with you know Staying awake during a lecture and are you engaged by lectures? I personally am not that really bores the crap out of me. I don't like that So I didn't really particularly enjoy this film that said like I was saying some people will really enjoy this for that reason the Importance of the film is the information that William Friedkin is giving about the Exorcist now that said I would argue that I Think this would have been way better If you got other people's opinions in addition because an hour and 40 minutes of just William Friedkin is A bit much especially because the man likes himself quite a bit He has propensity in this to tell stories about how he's better than people Not saying that outright, but telling stories that illustrate how he's better than other people and it's choice people One of the ones that really took me back was Blatty the guy who wrote the Exorcist because there's a portion in it where he talks about how Blatty brought him a script for the Exorcist that he wrote and Friedkin just talks about how he crapped all over it and how it was garbage and how whatever he was gonna do is better So those types of stories show up quite a bit. It's this ongoing theme You can tell that Friedkin has a huge ego. You can tell he's probably a prick To some degree, maybe not one of those like outright pricks, but definitely one of those like You know talks to you condescendingly type pricks But I have a feeling that on the set of the Exorcist He was an outright prick especially based off the the stories that he tells so I Don't really like the guy based off based off what I've read what I've heard and What I'm hearing him talk about in this documentary now that said I was able to kind of suspend that And really find some interest in some of the stuff he was talking about like his influences and everything like that But It's just not enough for me to ever want to watch this again And after I was done with it. I felt exhausted Um It's too much. It's it's it's just too much in my opinion I think it would have been way better off like I was saying as like an actual documentary about the making of the Exorcist Just getting other people's opinions in addition to freed kin I mean you can even give freed kin a substantial amount of time talking to the camera. That's fine, but You needed other people. You really needed other people But I will say the title tells you what it is leap of faith. William freed kin on the exorcist It isn't there's no false advertising there. So Just know that So the main crux of what freed kin has to say in this in the very beginning is this kind of dichotomy He says a faith versus fate Um, so that is an interesting thing and he kind of brings that up a few times with uh throughout so The filmmaker did a good job of kind of keeping that main theme fresh And um on your mind. So that worked um The beginning of the film does not grab you None of the film really grabs you all that much unless there's a particular story you're interested in Which here and there I found myself getting a little bit sucked into for particular stories Uh, he explains the ways in which he believes that a higher power Basically made the film through him and that what he was doing was not intentional and it wasn't him as a filmmaker And he was he wasn't a good filmmaker at that point. It was him being used as a conduit basically So he opens with that and then kind of explains that a little bit But then he gives all these examples of these influences that he's pulled into the exorcist Which basically negates what he was saying in the beginning of not knowing what he was doing just kind of he says like zombie walking through the film at one point, I think and Just being used by a higher power basically and it wasn't him. It was this higher power But the whole rest of it is explaining where a lot of his influences came from and in a lot of instances Tying other things directly into the exorcist and basically saying see here's an example. I did I took this and did this So he negates what he said so That leads to another thing with this is can you even believe what Friedkin is saying? That's another thing one of the other things is he never even touches On the abusive nature of stuff that he did with Linda Blair on that set He talks about it in context of a few other people Like slapping one of the actors And says that that's not anything he would do nowadays, but he stays away from talking about the more controversial issues of More abusive stuff towards Linda Blair, which I've read about so How uh, how believable is this individual who's narrating the entire thing and telling his story? I don't know. It's it's hard to tell um Trying to He likens making the exorcist to how we how building a A wonderful piece of music is done and that's kind of interesting the way he talks about that because it shows that he has a lot of uh experience with kind of picking music apart and one of the best things in this The part where I really got engaged when is when he was talking about How they achieved a lot of the sound effects in the film And what they used for that And i'm not going to spoil that stuff because if you do really want to watch it that is probably the most interesting thing It does seem kind of More creative than you would think it was it's Pretty out there at times, but cool out there in a cool way and uh very unique. So I I did like that portion of it um He discusses his methods for getting certain things from the actors and crew like I said he talked a little bit about Being kind of abusive at times, but he also talked about, you know, just unconventional methods and he kind of ties it into some other Some other directors and actually kind of blames the other directors for him doing it Um so kind of a way to to wash his hands of any responsibility for doing things that way There were some interesting ways they got certain sounds for or I already talked about that my apologies He does touch on something I've talked about not having music in the film Tell people how they should be feeling so I was very happy when I heard him talking about that because that's something I talk about on my movie reviews all the time Which is I love it when music is a little more understated when music doesn't tell the audience You're stupid. Let me tell you how to feel right now. So he kind of talks a little bit about that and that was cool I was like, all right. I'm on board with that one, buddy um He does touch on on the individual nature of film viewing And how each person has kind of like their own reality and their own experiences that kind of act as a lens Through which they end up seeing film and that's different for everyone So I thought that was an important point that he makes but that's kind of made More towards the end a lot of the stuff in the beginning is kind of more of like this Him just kind of like spinning off Into all these like weird directions Becomes a little bit hard to follow it gets way more focused and interesting as it goes on so As it goes much further on um He does reveal what he thinks was a mistake choice within the film And he blames that on bladdy For wanting The film the portion of the film to go that way and says that he didn't that he just went with it Because basically he couldn't come up with an alternative idea at that point So I don't know It's just another one of those moments of like him just not taking responsibility for bad things and you know Trash talking bladdy a lot in this which I think is very low class Uh, there's a callback at the end that kind of sums things up for how freed can feels in life and with the exorcist That was kind of that was well done. I do like how they kind of wrap that up Um, but yeah, that's mainly all I have to say about the actual film I did have some thoughts afterwards Wood freed can be able to talk at length about how he made the film and draw all these parallels to films If he didn't know what he was doing That's kind of my thing saying that he basically undoes his initial argument In the film and it just doesn't make sense um And then I wrote this thing really needed to have the run runtime cut down because it drags like crazy It drags like crazy Um an hour and 40 minutes of one person just talking You be the judge. Do you love william freed can? Go for it. Do you love the exorcist that much that you want every little bit of knowledge about it? Go for it But I would argue That you can probably find an article online That has the same amount of information Maybe more maybe a little bit less, but it would definitely take you less time to read that article Than it would to watch this film Just saying that said if this sounded at all interesting to you go ahead and check it out I'm not mad that I watched it once, but I will never watch it again And I will be very Selective with who I actually recommend it to It has to be the right person like I'm saying like it has to be someone who I know Can just sit there and listen to someone talk for an hour and 40 minutes about whatever they feel like talking about As long as it's the exorcist So anyway, that's my feeling on it. So out of five stars with half stars in play I'm going to give this a two star rating A bunch of the technical stuff was pretty solid, you know, there are good things within this But I got to go with a two star rating because it's just not engaging and it's boring. It's too long. It's boring. It's not engaging Just not a fan. So two stars, but What do you think once you see it? Put some comments down there. We can talk about it spoilers. No problem. Go ahead But do me a quick favor. I would appreciate it if you would hit that subscribe button if you like any review video or Otherwise that I've done with this channel That'd be your best way to repay me because I don't make money doing this or anything I'm just putting it out there so people can consume it and we can get nerdy and talk about things in the comments So if you could just pay me back a little bit just with a subscribe That'd be great And then also hit the notification bell because then you'll know whenever I'm putting up a new review video Or doing a live stream or any of the other random stuff. I end up doing video wise But regardless, I appreciate you taking your time. Watch this until next time. Keep it brutal