I tried to watch the documentary Following Sean and it was an utter failure.  The idea is intriguing- a 15 minute interview with a 4 year old living the Haight-Ashbury life in the late 60s, then to the modern day “what happened next” idea.  Unfortunately, the auteur could not resist injecting himself too much into the story (which in itself is not a problem) which resulted in a fascinating subject (people!) becoming dry dry dry.  The clips from the 60s were interesting, but the filmmaker’s self-important, uninspiring (trying to inject more meaning into actions than I would have reasonably attributed) narrative ruined the film.  I could.not.watch. it, and I love documentaries!  Maybe it improved after the first 20 minutes, but I suppose I will never know.

I really just wanted to know about Sean and see his 15 min interview and a “what happened next”, not the filmmaker using it as a medium for exploring his own life (but nothing happened apparently, because the “show, don’t tell” idea failed here).

Thumbs down.  Maybe it’s time to pick back up in Hoop Dreams, after all.