Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016) YTS

Reviewed by R T 6 / 10

A documentary that tries to do just a

A documentary that tries to do just a little too much. The story itself is fascinating â" the discovery in 1978 of a trove of lost silent films preserved in the permafrost of Dawson City, Canada. To me, the â~star of the showâ(TM) in the documentary needs to be the films, and I would have liked the focus to be there, after an introductory explanation of context. Instead, director Bill Morrison rewinds us all the way back through the history of Dawson, from its founding, the Yukon gold rush, and the subsequent changes to the town over the years. He also takes us through various news stories and social movements from the 1910â(TM)s and 1920â(TM)s, as they relate to footage that was discovered. I like history and some of this was interesting to me, and at its best he matches photos to footage (for example, a socialist agitator being deported back to Russia). At its worst he gets into minutiae of Dawsonâ(TM)s history, and instead of just showing some number of the silent films fragments themselves with explanation of the actors, attempts to match footage to what people in the present are talking about. For example, one of the discoverers of the trove says he had to call someone up to come have a look at it, so as heâ(TM)s describing that, we see footage of someone on the phone in an old movie. The background music is awfully eerie and odd in places too. It was interesting enough to watch and a lot of research and care went into the production, so depending on your interests, you may like it better.

Reviewed by Georgan G 7 / 10

3 & 1/2 stars. Interesting from the point

3 & 1/2 stars. Interesting from the point of cinematic history. Really enjoyed the bits of very old movies. However, the subtitles were tiny & quickly gone which made keeping up impossible. Should have been narration so the viewer could just watch the film.

Reviewed by William L 5 / 10

Absolutely an excellent piece of research, weaving together

Absolutely an excellent piece of research, weaving together a narrative that makes able use of the rich archive of films that constitute the Dawson City Find, but as with many documentateries about brief interesting events that can't sustain a feature length it wanders terribly to pad for time. Records of the 1919 World Series and a protracted history of Dawson are barely even related to the film archive, which tries to portray the cinema content in the context of a growing America but just ends up feeling unfocused and often boring. There is very little narration and the narrative is presented through subtitles exclusively, supported by a soundtrack that some call hypnotic but seems more like white noise after a while without interruption, like some sort of screeching whale ghosts. You can tell there was real effort that went into chronicling the backstory, combing images of the town alongside historical records to pin precise events to period visuals and using clips of recovered film for emphasis, but unfortunately the end product is more academic than entertaining. As a lover of film, history, and documentaries independently, I really wanted to like this one, but couldn't find a way to do so beyond technical appreciation. (2.5/5)

Dawson City: Frozen Time

2016

Action / Documentary / History

Dawson City: Frozen Time

2016

Action / Documentary / History

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A documentary that tries to do just a

3 & 1/2 stars. Interesting from the point

Absolutely an excellent piece of research, weaving together

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