New Obsession: Pat From Sherman's March

(This week, we're highlighting some of our favorite Videogum posts / video-related moments of 2008. So that's why things look different, and are old, this week. And Happy Almost New Year!)

Originally posted on Videogum on May 13, 2008:

You pay a price for being a female prophet.
- Pat Rendleman in Sherman's March

I finally saw the 1986 genre-defining first-person documentary, Sherman's March, last week, and now I have a new IM icon: Pat Rendleman, one of the amazing women interviewed in the film about a guy named Ross McElwee who set out to make a documentary about General Sherman and ended up making one about his hapless search for love (and nuclear non-proliferation, and Burt Reynolds, but mainly love). I would call Pat "the new Little Edie," because of her fascinating larger-than-life role in a classic quirky documentary and her awesome fashion sense, but it's not like the movie isn't 27 years old -- Pat is just new to me, and here are some clips illustrating why I love her.

When Ross (and the viewer) first meet Pat, she demonstrates her "cellulite exercises":

And this is my favorite Pat clip, where she tells Ross about her screenplay idea, which is obviously just her biggest fantasy in life. It's a little crazy in that early-twenties way that everyone is crazy, but can you imagine anyone being this much herself in a documentary now? I love the part where he asks her how old she is in this movie and she quickly answers "Ageless.":

Here Ross briefly meets Pat's family, in a setting so reminiscent of the Halls in Annie Hall that I just realized maybe that's part of my obsession with Pat -- she's like Annie Hall, but Southern. She also reads Ross's palm for clues to his romantic future:

Pat is now a artist in NYC. Sherman's March is pretty navel-gazy, but is definitely worth seeing for the female "characters," whose honesty and big personalities would go uncaptured now that reality TV and the internet have made everyone so self-conscious on film. You can buy it here or Netflix it here.

Posted by Lindsay at 11:00 AM in Documentaries, Rerun, Train Wreck Documentaries
Tags: Sherman's March

3 Comments

Yeah, listen: this looks great. But can't you guys understand that obtaining a copy of the out-of-stock The Room dvd is such an all-consuming task, I really don't have time to watch this? Can't you guys burn a copy of The Room and have some sort of giveaway contest? Your readers are dying, here.

Posted by: K at 12/29/08 11:41 AM  | Reply
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That's a good idea. Maybe you guys can team up with Rich from FourFour a create a cult classics box set.

Posted by: itsthenewjanbrady at 12/29/08 2:16 PM  | Reply
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Ahem... (bittorrent)

Posted by: Smurf Face at 12/30/08 4:18 AM  | Reply
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