BORING. While I enjoyed hearing about his interesting childhood, and he seems like a creative and nice person to know; I wanted to see more of his creative process. Not name dropping. They didn't even bother to label most of the people who appeared with their gushing testimonials after their first appearance--and if you blinked you missed it, apparently assuming we would all know who they were and where they fit in the fashion world. This was less a documentary about his shoes--or even him, and all too much about the people who know him--and wear his shoes. Given his lengthy career surely they could have discussed how he became so famous--how did he connect with so many well-known fashion designers early in his career?
The basic problem was that like most "celebrities", they can only talk about themselves and not the person they are supposed to be talking about. The only person I remember who actually shared stories about Mnalo himself was Anna Wintour, and her interview was the most interesting. If there was indeed more substance to this biography, it was overwhelmed by the self-congratulatory "here I am"! tone of most of the interviews, in which it was obvious that they were only there for their own moment on camera, not to celebrate the man they were there to actually talk about.
Overall the best part of the documentary was the clever animation. To put it bluntly this could have been far more interesting. While there was a segment showing him hands on in the factory, I for one would have liked to see more of this aspect of his business and process. This is a man who has spent most of his very successful career creating clever shoes (and honestly some are down-right ugly craft project worthy--juxtaposed with some genuinely beautiful and unique) for the wealthy. Why not at least show case the shoes? (I mean so you could actually see them)
The basic problem was that like most "celebrities", they can only talk about themselves and not the person they are supposed to be talking about. The only person I remember who actually shared stories about Mnalo himself was Anna Wintour, and her interview was the most interesting. If there was indeed more substance to this biography, it was overwhelmed by the self-congratulatory "here I am"! tone of most of the interviews, in which it was obvious that they were only there for their own moment on camera, not to celebrate the man they were there to actually talk about.
Overall the best part of the documentary was the clever animation. To put it bluntly this could have been far more interesting. While there was a segment showing him hands on in the factory, I for one would have liked to see more of this aspect of his business and process. This is a man who has spent most of his very successful career creating clever shoes (and honestly some are down-right ugly craft project worthy--juxtaposed with some genuinely beautiful and unique) for the wealthy. Why not at least show case the shoes? (I mean so you could actually see them)