Six Days In Roswell - roswell6.com

Reviews

The Kansas City Star

Press Reviews - Thursday, December 14, 2000
http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/fyi.pat,fyi/37749978.711,.htm

MOVIE REVIEW: SIX DAYS IN ROSWELL
Fun `Roswell' is an uncanny kind of `mockumentary'

By ROBERT W. BUTLER - The Kansas City Star Date: 07/13/00 22:15

***1/2

"Six Days in Roswell" The comic documentary opens today and is unrated. Running time is 1 hour 22 minutes. Showing at the Fine Arts Theatre.

The aliens have landed ... and they're bringing film

Fun `Roswell' is an uncanny kind of `mockumentary'

By now we're accustomed to "mockumentaries" -- fictional films that employ actors but attempt to pass themselves off as "real" by employing the narrative and technical conventions of genuine documentaries. It started 20 years ago with "This Is Spinal Tap" and in recent years has enjoyed a renaissance, thanks largely to "Waiting for Guffman."

"Six Days in Roswell" isn't quite a mockumentary. It's a weird hybrid populated by real people, save for one character who is clearly fictional. The idea is to watch this fictional character interact with the real world.

Since the setting is the 50th anniversary celebration of the notorious alleged 1947 crash-landing of an alien spaceship near Roswell, N.M., you can be assured that the real people in this movie are every bit as weird as the fictional one.

Our guide through this world of UFO mania and conspiracy theorists is Richard Kronfeld, a 30ish nebbish who, we're told, leaves the soil of Minnesota for the first time in his life to travel to Roswell, where he can indulge his personal fantasy of being abducted by aliens.

In fact, Kronfeld is a performer, screenwriter and star of a comedy series on Minneapolis public access TV. But for purposes of this film he plays a none-too-bright geek who lives with his mom, works in a factory and knows the "Star Trek" universe inside out.

Once in Roswell, Kronfeld is like a kid on his first visit to a carnival midway. Obtaining lodging in a sweltering motor home parked outside a Roswell residence (the owner charges him $200 a night but defrays the cost if Kronfeld will do odd jobs), our hero ventures forth into a wacky world of alien-themed parades, films, museums, banquets, lectures and even an original musical comedy.

Those he encounters tend to fall into two groups. First there are the locals who see aliens as a meal ticket and happily peddle alien cookies, alien fashions, alien ash trays -- even an alien haircut that turns Kronfeld's noggin into a fair approximation of a flying disc.

Then there are the true believers: folks who claim to have seen UFOs or to have been abducted, government coverup theorists and intergalactic religious cultists.

As directed by Timothy B. Johnson and edited by Roger Nygard (both were involved in the recent documentary "Trekkies," about "Star Trek" fanatics), "Six Days" rides a fine line between open derision of these folk (some are clearly nut cases) and the acknowledgement that something extraordinary happened in Roswell in 1947, though we may never get the full story.

The film is amusing but only occasionally truly hysterical, with much of the humor stemming from the way in which it has been edited. Most subjects are allowed to utter only a sentence -- invariably one that makes them look very foolish -- before the movie cuts to yet another bizarre pronouncement from yet another colorful individual.

Some of the interviewees (such as best-selling abduction author Whitley Strieber) obviously think they're dealing with a genuine documentary crew. Others seem to be in on the gag and appear even to have been fed lines so that Kronfeld can deliver a droll comeback or react with a bit of physical business.

Holding it all together is Kronfeld's deadpan narration and bewildered-but-hopeful demeanor. He's so good at playing the intellectual and emotional naif that you're halfway through the movie before you realize he's putting us on.

To reach Robert W. Butler, movie editor for The Star, call (816) 234-4760 or send e-mail to bbutler@kcstar.com

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