Main Cast: Christopher Vogler, Roger Corman, Meat Loaf, Joe Pesci
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 62 minutes
Plot
No other series of films has achieved greater commercial success, or captured the attention of as many viewers, as Star Wars, its two sequels, and the continuing series of prequels. Filmmaker Tariq Jalil had long been fascinated by the passionate following the films inspired, and when the publicity machine began rolling for the release of Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace in 1999, he assembled a camera crew to document the fans who waited in line (some for as long as a month and a half) in order to be among the first to see the long-awaited film on its first day of release. Along the way, Jalil also interviewed a number of other passionate Star Wars devotees, and the documentary A Galaxy Far, Far Away examines the cultural phenomenon of Star Wars fandom, from celebrities who stop by to see the film on opening weekend (including Samuel L. Jackson, Joe Pesci, Meat Loaf, and Roger Corman) to Star Wars-inspired rapper Jam Master Jedi and a number of rabid toy collectors who nearly riot while trying to get their hands on Episode I action figures. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Clearly inspired and emboldened by the success of Trekkies, Tariq Jalil follows science-fiction fan fetishism down an equally fertile avenue in A Galaxy Far, Far Away. The effort provides as many laughs and as much head shaking as Roger Nygard's documentary. What it lacks in production value it makes up for in focus, with the countdown to Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace serving as a great spine for this freak-show parade. Belying his clearly low budget, Jalil dispatches teams to the far corners of America to interview fans camped out in tents and on sidewalks. He could have gone more into the nitty gritty of the logistics: do they have to be constantly present to be a legitimate line member? What's their favorite on-line pastime? But sacrificing interviews with latter-day Jedis and a hip-hop Boba Fett would hardly have been worth it. Scenes where Jalil delves into some of the fans' sad family histories, which inspired them to cling to Star Wars, don't work quite so well, but he buttresses these with academic opinions on how Star Wars speaks to its fans. There are even some guerilla-style celebrity interviews, the most hilarious and egotistical of which involves Meat Loaf comparing the Star Wars phenomenon to his album Bat Out of Hell. Jalil clearly owes a debt to Trekkies, but his film has one bit of good sense that Trekkies does not. Cutting his film to a mere 62 minutes, Jalil recognizes that a little of this goes a long way. Stretching it out to feature length (let alone making a sequel, as Nygard did) might be as excessive as a six-week queue for movie tickets. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
