One of the great things about the TIFF Bell Lightbox is that not only does it have the normal Cinematheque screenings, but it also has exclusive engagements of films that previously played at various film festivals and wouldn’t usually get a normal release.
The People vs. George Lucas is one of those films, which previously played in Toronto as part of the Hot Docs festival.
As you can probably tell from the title, this film is about Star Wars fans and their growing frustrations over Lucas’ decisions involving the series – from his changes to the original films for the Special Editions to the entire prequel trilogy.
The film features many clips from YouTube rants, as well various fan-films and definitely gives one a glimpse of how devoted the Star Wars fanbase can be. There are also interviews with many experts and personalities and I thought the most intriguing of these comments were made by, Lucas’ mentor, Francis Ford Coppola, who stated that the huge success of Star Wars essentially ended Lucas’ career as a filmmaker (since he never directed any non-Star Wars films since American Graffiti in the 1970s).
This was definitely a very interesting (and humourous) documentary and I quite enjoyed it.
8/10