FAKE IT SO REAL w/Robert Greene Live

Greene’s follow-up to KATI WITH AN I has been playing the festival circuit the past few months and making serious waves.  Here he displays the same attention to the casual moments in everyday life and crafts them into epic narratives of comedy, tragedy and triumph. 

In a stroke of brilliance, Greene may have found his quintessential subject in FAKE IT SO REAL, where he chronicles a troupe of amateur “professional” wrestlers in rural North Carolina.  The performative qualities of the fighters and the stories of good vs. evil they enact in the ring feel almost classical in their structure.  This level of professional wrestling is itself a bloated world of theatrics and bravado, and Greene is able to reproduce this spirit while also turning the less glamorous moments (training, building the ring, paying the rental fees, etc.) into fits of heroicism. 

The filmmaker follows this troupe for a week leading up to one of their matches, and it plays as a tight narrative that will resonate for anyone who has ever thrown themselves completely into something they love.  With its depths of sadness and moments of heart-swelling hopefulness, this is like a documentary version of THE WRESTLER. (Daniel)

After you see this movie, you're going to have a new favorite sport.  And you can get your fill at Anarchy Championship Wrestling, Texas' best independent wrestling troupe.  They'll be giving away 2 pairs of tickets at each show to their Distrust, Dismay & Antisocial Behavior 2011 event on August 21 at the Mohawk. 

Also check out Robert Greene's other film, KATI WITH AN I, playing August 14th at the Ritz.