INPUT / … / … / Fiction or reality?

Television drama, particularly on film, often achieves the realism f the documentary. Directors strive to close the gap between artifice and reality, at times concentrating on total naturalness in the actor, at others getting real people to act themselves. The identification of actor and character can be complete. The child who asks “but is it real?” can be misled. In CONTACT, it is almost impossible to believe that these are not real young soldiers on dangerous patrol in Northern Ireland. By contrast, VACANT LOT takes advantage of the vitality of three street kids with no previous acting experience, who improvise their own story. BORN TO LIVE, an outstanding film from Hong-Kong, shows the unlikely friendship of two handicapped young Chinese, and again is full of the energy of realism. But we learn a great deal more about the reality of their situation than we expect.