The September Issue – Anna Wintour & The Making
of Vogue (2009/Lionsgate DVD Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Documentary: B-
Though
the Internet is causing a decline in newspaper and magazine production, there
are still both print formats that have titles that thrive. One of the top magazines in the world
continues to be Vogue, the very name
of which speaks pure fashion to its huge readership. Since it is about fashion, the pictures and
other graphics are necessary to see beyond a webpage screen and have the actual
print issue at their fingertips the way all great magazines are. R.J. Cutler’s The September Issue (2009) is a new documentary that shows how
their most important yearly issue is made.
At the
center of the story is the current editor of the magazine, Anna Wintour. She has been the editor for a while and at
one early point, because her tastes ultimately decide what goes into this
issue, we hear some say (a plant or not) that she is the most powerful woman in
America. Powerful how?
Telling women what will make them happy, what to buy, how to look and
what the stores should sell. Yes, that
is power, though it has its limits. So
does she.
We see
how hard it is to do any such high profile magazine. Like a Rolling
Stone or Time, Vogue has many advertisers, is a large
organization and has all kinds of connections and inside information that make
their publication so one of the biggest in the industry. We see the offices, meet her assistants, see the
companies who support the magazine, see the fashion industry and learn about
Wintour. However, it still was not
enough to give us any revelations about the magazine, the decline of print
media or the fashion industry in general.
The dramatic film The Devil Wears
Prada told us some darker things we never hear here. Unlike Funny
Face, we do not see the most glamorous side of this industry either.
What we
do see is still worth seeing, but in the end, the final cut seems a little too
safe and by-the-numbers, feeling formulaic at times and too confined to tell us
everything and in the end, more than a few things seem unsaid. Yes, Vogue
will survive the industry changes because it is just too influential and
popular, even with some classy fashion magazine competition, but this runs only
90 minutes and could have been longer.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is on HD video for the most part with
motion blur and some image weakness throughout, but we also get some good
shots. The Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby
2.0 Stereo mixes are about the same as this is a dialogue-based piece with
audio dropouts form location recording. Extras
include 20 more minutes of footage that could have stayed in the final cut, the
Theatrical Trailer, Deleted Scenes, behind-the-scenes photos by Director of
Photography Bob Richman and a feature-length audio commentary by Director
Cutler. They help make this DVD set
better, but there was still much left unsaid.
Maybe next time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
