Rag Tale (2005)

Rag Tale: Directed by Mary McGuckian. With Rupert Graves, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lucy Davis, John Sessions. A romance that plays out in the splashy, sensational world of British tabloids. Over the course of one week, the journalists of tabloid newspaper ‘The Rag’ uncover and manufacture as much scandal as they can get their hands on.

“If this is meant to be a fly on the wall appreciation of a newsroom it is hard to imagine that flies can stick to walls, rather than fall to the floor suffering from some severe form of motion sickness. I could barely watch 24 minutes of this picture, as my head was spinning out of control. If I had watched it any further I may have ended with my face in the toilet bowl.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eYes this movie is quite unconventional in itu0026#39;s use of short shots, and rapid edits. But its lack of convention adds to its almost complete lack of veiwability (I may have invented that word). I do not know why someone would revert to a nauseating MTV style of editing with such a subject. Some reviewers here have said it adds to the fly on the wall experience. But flies on a wall have one perspective, because they are sitting still on a wall.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA sense of pace can be portrayed by other means. Such as using shots that last for more than two seconds depicting people moving frenetically, and exploiting these actorsu0026#39; abilities to show stress, see Broadcast News. I canu0026#39;t imagine this would be too much of a stretch for the cast in this pic.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt is a pity that many of the audience would not be able to watch this movie given the stellar cast and subject matter. JJL is one of my all time faves, and I was quite disappointed that I could not see more than 23 minutes and 55 seconds of this pic. I watched this movie on DVD, and Iu0026#39;ve never asked for money back; but on this occasion I shall.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf you want to have a good time that results in you being very sick at the end of the night, I recommend a night at the pub. This movie does not provide you with a good time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e0.5/10 Unfortunately IMDb doesnu0026#39;t allow for a 0.5 rating.”