#directcinema

There are, especially in this kind of filming, what I would say, two subjective doors: there’s a subjective door on the part of the people who are making the film. We look at things subjectively. What we’re observing is factual. And then, the other subjective factor is the audience. They watch the screen, and what they perceive is very much a part of how they look at things. (2:08)*

Direct Cinema originated in the 1950s**. In this documentary style, the subjects are aware of the camera’s presence, but the filmmakers try to be as unobtrusive as possible (this is why the style is often called “fly-on-the-wall”). In response to common criticisms, that the presence of the camera can’t help but alter reality, Albert Maysles avers that their style of filmmaking can record real events “without materially affecting them” (28:22). I believe Direct Cinema truly sets itself apart from other documentary styles, not because it limits the influence of the filmmaker over the subject (any more than any other style of documentary), but because it limits the influence of the filmmaker over the audience. The audience is permitted more freedom to narrate the story in their own minds, or make judgments about the subjects, through the “subjective door” of observation, of which Albert Maysles speaks. His brother, David, describes Direct Cinema in his own words: "There’s nothing between us and the subject. We don’t ask the subject to do anything for us, nor do we have a kind of voice-of-doom narrator explaining things for you” (1:06). “Truth”, in Direct Cinema, is not a political end, but a matter of personal interpretation.

In the above scene, Paul Brennan (nicknamed “The Badger”), a door-to-door salesman for the Mid-American Bible Company, makes a righteous effort to close a sale. Throughout the film, Brennan criticizes his desired clients, making up reasons for why his product (The Bible) is met with disinterest, in order to direct his frustration over his poor success. His associate, Raymond Martos, has taken Brennan along with him, hoping to revive his spirits. In a previous scene, Martos tells him “you get a week or two of good production under your belt, you’ll be okay” (1:24:41). The experience only frustrates Brennan further.

*Albert Maysles, in an interview with Jack Kroll. This interview is included in the DVD of Salesman (1969), distributed by The Criterion Collection.

**(p 210, caption) Nelmes, Jill, ed. Introduction to Film Studies, 5th e.