Powerful

Fantastic!

Absolutely brilliant

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I think the world of Professional spelling bees could be interesting. I know I've caught myself watching it on TV and found it very interesting. So I thought that Spellbound could have really been an interesting look at the inner workings and I was completely wrong. In fact I think the film maker for this "documentary" meant nothing more than to poke fun and make a film about the stereotypical "nerds" and their hobby of spelling. I mean no disrespect to the children in this film but the ones that are focused on are made to look like the kids that get beat up on the school yard and I am positive they could have either found a balance of personalities partaking in this or at the very least made the children they did focus on seem a little more interesting and perhaps shown to enjoy other things in life than just spelling. Yes I know the film was about spelling bees but were these children actually raised from birth to become spelling champions because that was the impression the film left me with. I was blown away to discover that this film was actually nominated for an Oscar let alone other awards.I am not going to review the performances by any of the people in this film because they weren't actors. This was a documentary, not a drama or comedy or anything else. I will however discuss the film maker and director Jeffrey Blitz. Two things should be noted...first of all this was his first film as a director. Secondly Mr. Blitz went on to direct the very popular dry humor comedy The Office. Coincidence? It would lead me to believe once again that Jeffrey Blitz was not taking this very seriously which is fine if it was presented as some sort of mockumentary comedy which it was not. I also feel bad for the kids portrayed because this was serious for them likely but I simply wanted to laugh through most of the film.The Oscar Nomination is just ludicrous because no matter how you look at Spellbound it just wasn't good. Even if you take the participants for what they were...they were far from interesting. It was like watching people come out of a comic book convention (no offense, I love Comic Books too.) The kids were awkward, socially outcast and just made to look like the most stereotypical geeks you could possibly think of. Spellbound is far from interesting and it certainly won't make you think highly of spelling bees or want to participate or visit one...ever. Steer clear of this stinker, it's barely entertaining. 5/10

The film starts with personal lives and motivations of eight spelling bee contestants in 1999 and culminates in a thrilling climax with the crowning of the champion. A lot of nail biting moments in the documentary are provided by the contest itself and cannot be attributed to any special efforts by the director. However, digging a little deeper, the documentary is exactly what it should be. It does not try to take any limelight away from the actual competition. Instead, through the stories of the hand-picked eight contestants, the film attempts to answer any and all questions that people are most likely to have while watching an arcane competition. Questions like- why do they do it? how do they feel? what motivates the parents?- may remain unanswered when the contest is televised. So, each significant moment in the bee is complemented with emotional interpretation of it through the eyes of the parents and participants. The documentary leaves you with a sense of satisfaction and wonderment. this is not only because the stories are exciting, but also because the director has laid out a minimalistic, yet adequate, framework to explore spelling bee and the people in it.

Why do we, as a culture, give such accolades to the skill of spelling? As long as you know enough to get through your daily life without looking like you have a learning disability, I'd say that's good enough. Apparently not good enough for everyone, though, and that's who this documentary is about: eight overachieving children who have made it to the national spelling bee in Washington D.C. Given the subject matter, I was delighted to discover that this movie was as engrossing and gripping as any well made thriller Hollywood could make.As each of them are introduced, you notice that there's something that makes them different than most kids. It varies with each, of course, but there's something not quite normal about them all. Some of them participate in interviews while talking like a "musical robot," some of them shun social contact in favor of studying for the next spelling bee, some are rich kids with too many hobbies, and some are Indian. I guess the rumors that Indian families take their academics much more seriously than Americans are true. I do have to express amazement at how normal most of the parents seem. In a field like this, as in little girls' beauty pageants, you could expect the parents to be weirder than the children, and they don't have the excuse of being a child. But I was impressed at the restraint they all showed while on camera, at least. Who knows how they behaved when the film wasn't rolling. The parents all seemed to be genuinely supportive of their kids without pulling that I'll-live-through-you-vicariously-so-you-can-make-up-for-all-my-flaws routine. Most of them even acknowledged that winning spelling bees is kind of lame and not worth much heartache if you lose. But the kids love it for whatever reason - because it lets them be around their peers, because they have something to prove, because they're smart and can't think of something more productive to do than memorize words like "kookaburra" - so the parents are there to back their kids up.We are all fully aware that knowing how to spell words you won't find outside of a medical dictionary is a nearly useless skill unless you're a linguist, and still we heap praise upon the winners of these contests, and still it is gut-wrenching to see all the kids get up in front of the microphone and fail. Because no matter how pointless the actual exercise is, they've all been practicing for months, giving up so much time and energy for that one thing. When 248 of the 249 kids fail, it's not just a word they misspelled, it is a dream winking out and hours of obsession that have added up to zero. This is not a movie about one person winning the national spelling bee, it's about the other 99.6% who fail miserably because they didn't realize the word "distractable" is actually spelled "distractible." It's a movie about disappointment. Who would have thought you could find that in a spelling bee?http://www.movieswithmark.com

Spellbound is obviously a short documentary profiling eight spelling bee contestants from across the United States who vie for the championship title in the 1999 Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee. In watching this movie, I couldn't help but laugh at a lot of the seemingly bizarre comments and lifestyles of the young children and their parents on screen, which to me, made real what Christopher Guest's movies (especially Best in Show) parody. John Waters, too, except that his films are plain fictional narratives rather than mockumentaries. These are also just like mirror images of the characters we laughed at in Napoleon Dynamite. We traverse around the United States, going from Texas to Florida, Pennsylvania to New Jersey, Missouri to California, Washington DC to Connecticut to give a fairly even spread of personalities and backgrounds.The brother of the contestant from Texas went on and on about how his parents immigrated from Mexico hoping for a better life. Scenes, which were interspersed with the ranch owner unfortunately, making dreadful racial remarks about Mexicans, among other things.The family from Missouri just seemed to be fascinated with their seemingly alienated middle child, making the odd comment here and there about how the spelling bee will benefit him, showing off their prized peacock farm, and how the older brother will probably wind up in jail.The mother of the girl from Pennsylvania was ecstatic about her daughter going all the way to compete (and ranking in the top four) in the National Bee, proudly referencing every now and again her inspirational stationary with the words 'Bee Happy' coupled with illustrations of bumble bees. There was the particularly badly timed comment the daughter makes while sitting with her parents that they remind her of Archie and Edith Bunker whereby Archie is always insulting Edith for being dumb. This, of course, followed by a shocking expression from the mother and a quick cut to something else.There was the hyperactive kid, Harry Altman, from Jersey, who was annoying to watch. Especially as the crew were interviewing him in his bedroom and, when they asked him how long he studied, he told them in the sound of a musical robot, followed by asking whether the boom mike was edible. And all this after he said that people have told him that he talks a lot.Neal, the kid from California, a very quiet fellow and I believe the oldest of the group (and therefore, in his last competition), seemed like one of those kids who might've enjoyed competing at one time, but was probably sorry he ever got involved once his father became his verbal trainer and thereby, increased the amount of pressure he felt in competing. Even if he did mean well, the father came off as not only very stern, but somewhat more involved with the interview than his son, showing all that his family had acquired and his philosophies on success and so forth.There was the girl from Connecticut with matching parents--they both had almost the same hair cut and identical glasses. They appeared to be the least intrusive parents, outside of the one girl's from Texas who couldn't speak English. But they nonetheless, at least in appearance, seemed so bizarre.There was Asheley White who was right there in Washington, DC. She seemed like a smart girl, and certainly a lot less weird (in that home-schooled way) than the other kids. Her mother raised concerns about the daughter not getting really publicized about her Spelling Bee achievements. As cash strapped as the DC Public School system is here, at least when it comes to schools outside of Northwest DC, it was nice to see a teacher devoting so much time for Ashley. I felt bad that she had always become so nervous when she came to the microphone. I imagine a lot of contestants were just like that.And finally, there was the champ from Tampa, Florida. An amazingly bright girl who, although she seemed to have parents who might've forced more on her academically with her oddly making comments about what life is like in India compared to the United States (presumably based on things she was told by her parents). I like the three boys who she competed with at school who offered some commentary throughout her scenes in the film. They seemed to really be proud of her.There were former Spelling Bee winners who commented on the value of winning the championship, including the first ever winner of a National Spelling Bee in the late 20s. There was an interview with the "pronouncer" of the words, and also some of the ESPN coverage, which only furthered parodies the whole thing. There was even an interview with a kid named Georgie who had almost a military philosophy of life: respect Jesus, honor thy parents, and try your hardest.Spelling Bees are a piece of Americana, but maybe in a more demented sort of way because of the nature of their contestants and worse, their parents. Honestly, I think they all mean well, but the obsession is just so comical. I think Spellbound proves that much.