Between the Folds

Meh.

I watched an hour-long PBS documentary today called Between the Folds. It wasn't quite as "riveting" as the Netflix synopsis claimed.

Basically, the documentary as an artistic statement didn't have a whole lot of merit. You could have edited this down to a half hour and it would have been just fine. It simply follows a few different origami experts and reveals their passion for folding paper. There's no glue holding it together or anything extraordinary about the film. It just is.

The people documented are an interesting bunch, though. And by interesting, I mean incredibly nerdy. Math geeks. Geniuses. Art fags. French art fags! One guy is making his own paper and says, "boy, I just can't wait to fold this!" His enthusiasm for paper-folding borders on the perverse.

A lot of what they do IS incredible. It IS impressive. It IS very artistic and emotive. The topic is great, it's just that the Director isn't as good as making films as the art fags are at folding paper.

I wouldn't watch it. But don't hold your breath for the next, great, origami documentary to come along...for I fear you might turn blue in the process. If you must know about the geometry and art behind origami, this is probably your only choice.