This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Kirby Dick

Writers:

Kirby Dick (writer) &
Eddie Schmidt (writer) ...

Release Date:

1 September 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

censorship, uncensored.

Plot:

Kirby Dick's exposé about the American movie ratings board. |

Plot Keywords:

Exposé | Ratings | Censorship | Female Orgasm | Behind The Scenes

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Kimberly Peirce	...	Herself - Director of 'Boys Don't Cry'
Jon Lewis	...	Himself - Author of 'Hollywood v. Hardcore'
David Ansen	...	Himself - Film Critic at 'Newsweek'
Martin Garbus	...	Himself - First Amendment Attorney and Filmmakers Representative at Appeals
Wayne Kramer	...	Himself - Director of 'The Cooler'
Paul Dergarabedian	...	Himself - Box Office Analyst
Kevin Smith	...	Himself - Director of 'Clerks' and 'Jersey Girl'
John Waters	...	Himself - Director of 'A Dirty Shame'
Matt Stone	...	Himself - Producer of 'South Park' and 'Team America'
Richard Heffner	...	Himself - Former Rating Board Chairman
Bingham Ray	...	Himself - Co-Founder of October Films
Joel Federman	...	Himself - Author of 'Media Ratings'
Kirby Dick	...	Himself - Filmmaker and Interviewer
Jay Rosenzweig	...	Himself - Private Investigator (as Jay)
Paul Huebl	...	Himself - Private Investigator (as Paul)

MPAA:

Rating surrendered; previous version rated NC-17 for some graphic sexual content.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:(Banned) | UK:18 | Singapore:R21 | USA:Unrated (rating surrendered) | Netherlands:16 | USA:NC-17 (rating surrendered) | Argentina:18 | Canada:14A (Canadian Home Video rating/Manitoba/Ontario) | Australia:MA | Greece:K | USA:TV-MA (TV rating) | Portugal:M/12 | New Zealand:R13

Filming Locations:

Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Independent Film Channel (IFC)

Trivia:

Michael Cuesta, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Terilyn A. Shropshire were also interviewed for this film. Their footage is featured as supplemental material on the DVD.

Quotes:

Herself - Rating Board Chairperson: We don't give out that information.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in IFC News Special: This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

New York Studio 1959

Refreshing. Not perfect, but pretty *expletive removed* good.

A look into the mysterious organization that decides what rating a film is given. And all sorts of other issues/arguments that are created because of it. Numerous actors, directors, producers, former MPAA raters and critics share their thoughts on the good and bad of the highly secretive organization.

I have always found "rating reasons" funny and often absurd, which is why I make my own when writing these things. I have also always liked to look into second opinion on things so maybe whoever reads my little IMDb reviews will get that from them. Since, the often disturbing fact for film makers is the rating is something they have to live with and discussing it with the people who decided it is virtually not an option. And that ultimately decides what theaters decided to show it and how much, which is essentially how films money.

The reason as many of you know for the infamous NC-17 rating is sexual content, especially if it is explicit, and that is basically the focus of this film. Which is both good and bad. Good, because they do a pretty good job comparing R-rated and NC-17 rated sex scenes which are not that different. But bad, because the issue of violence (in my opinion the most potentially objectionable thing shown in film) is attended to on a small scale. There are violent PG-13 movies (Ah-nuld's "The 6th Day" for one) which include bone breaking, dismemberment, and you get the picture. While on the other side you have R-rated movies with really minimal or much more accurate depiction of violence (Michael Mann's "Heat" for one). Yet violence as entertainment is condoned, but showing kids what violence really looks like is not. Darren Aronofsky and Kevin Smith make the film's only points on violence and it'll leave you wanting for more.

Also there wasn't a comparison to other countries rating system, just a mention that those systems are a little less absurd, which is true if you look at the rating sections on most IMDb film profiles, but some thought here would have been invaluable to this film's argument.

However, this remains a pleasantly fresh documentary that many, but mainly John Waters (haha), have been waiting for. 8/10

Not Rated, contains: sexual material and some violent clips - There are many clips of sex scenes shown, but are shown and discussed from a critical perspective. The few violent scenes are discussed in the same manner. So bring your kids! They'll finally know what "it's not for you" means.