My first impression of the documentary
“John Lasseter: A Day in a Life”, had been a positive one. I am looking to go
into Animation and while I don’t expect to be running a corporation like Pixar,
getting a first-hand look at what the lifestyle demands and offers me was
really fun to see. John Lasseter is a work-centered person but the lifestyle is
oddly fitting for him since he seems to enjoy his life to the fullest. What
caught me off-guard was how much of a child-like wonder he emits. Although if I
think about it, anyone who runs Pixar and produces movies like Toy Story and
Nemo would have to have the imagination and heart of a child. He has so many
responsibilities that it really was eye opening to see all that he has to deal
with in just one day.
I have
found a deeper respect for the man because while I knew of his position, I
never really considered the roles that he has to play. That being said, from
what I understood from the article “Doc Storytelling”, I have to conclude that this
documentary was struggling for a story that wasn’t really there. As the title
promises, the film takes the audience on a tour of Lasseter’s day, starting
from his early workout to a rigorous work schedule. We are introduced to the
perks of what his title allows him and the obstacles he has to conquer. Yet the
fundamental aspect of a documentary should be its story. In other words; a
change has to happen in the protagonist’s situation or condition. The question
needing to be asked is “what does the main character want?” and then the rest
of the documentary is supposed to explore this desire and eventually come to a
sort of resolution or conclusion.
While
there were a few challenges in Lasseter’s workplace that needed attention, I
felt they were too shallow for the scale of a documentary. From what I saw, the
film took on the sense of a profile rather than fulfilling the expectations of
a story. The footage was captivating and did catch my attention yet there is no
real conflict. While it tried to augment the importance of production problems
with the project that was being handled at the time (Cars 2), these challenges
held no weight in my opinion for the simple reason that there was no
fundamental change in Lasseter through out the course of the film. One could
argue that the “desire” that he is attempting to resolve is his wish for the
production of the movie Cars 2 to progress
smoothly, however this “desire” is too weak to flush out a narrative spine and
fails to leave a lasting impact on the audience. I would recommend this
documentary to people who are curious for a look into what working at Pixar is
like, yet I warn that this film does not hold much more than that.
John Lasseter: A Day in a Life
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