Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) Movie Information:

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) Directed by: Alexandra Cassavetes Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) Written by: Not available at this time Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) Cast: Robert Altman, Jacqueline Bisset, Jerry Harvey, Henry Jaglom, Jim Jarmusch

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) U.S. Distributor: Not available at this time Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) U.K. Distributor: Not available at this time

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Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) Synopsis:

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) Movie Review:

The reason I don’t have cable or satellite television is because I want to try and continue to have something that vaguely resembles a life. Sometimes I look up the TV schedule for the Film Four channel, and salivate. So maybe it’s for the best that something like Z Channel, available on American cable for over a decade (pre-VHS), was never available to me. It is described as being like ‘a film festival in your own home.’

Its Chief Programmer, Jerry Harvey, was a troubled man. In 1987, he shot dead his wife and then himself. The channel lasted almost a year without
him (by the end it was forced to show sports as well as movies). It was eventually pushed off the air. But when it was on, what a difference it made to American moviegoers.

This documentary about the channel, and Harvey, shows a lot of clips of the movies it showed. Films I have seen and love like “The Wild Bunch,” “Aguirre: The Wrath of God,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “The Leopard,” and films I know I should have seen, like “l’Avventura,” “Salvador,” “The 400 Blows.” The scenes from films punctuate the documentary, and will be treasured by film lovers.

Interviews are also shown with those who were involved in the channel, giving insights both into Harvey (who watched and picked all of the films
himself), and into the movies and their effects. This channel had the guts to show not only the director’s cuts of “The Leopard,” “Heaven’s Gate” and “Once Upon a Time in America” (which was shown along with the cut version so the audience could compare), but also the 11-hour version of Fassbinder’s “Berlin Alexanderplatz.” Can you imagine that ever being shown on Sky Movies?

The channel was admired by a lot of important filmmakers, too. Quentin Tarantino raves about the movies he saw on Z Channel that he couldn’t have
seen any other way. Robert Altman liked Harvey because he helped people see his lesser-known films, like “3 Women.” Michael Cimino was one of his best friends, as Harvey helped people see his original version of “Heaven’s Gate,” the cinematic cut of which was loathed by critics and avoided by
audiences.We also hear a recorded interview with Harvey, giving insight into his weird, troubled mind. He had issues. One of his sisters killed herself.
His dad cared more about his religion – he was a devout Catholic – than his children. He was sometimes cruel to the people who helped him with the channel, and when he drank, he got violent. When asked, in the recorded interview, if he has ever been married, he says, ‘Yeah… I think so.’

The problem with the documentary is an inevitable one; by taking on this subject, the director, Xan Cassavetes (daughter of John Cassavetes), has to
deal with two very different subject matters. Firstly, there is the channel, which was an invaluable resource for film lovers who wanted to see
films that they had never seen before, from all around the world. Secondly, there is the tragic man, whom we can never really understand (and certainly not excuse), but whom we do feel some sympathy for. Perhaps if a greater link was drawn between the two, and the film was re-edited slightly, it might have felt less disjointed.

However, anyone who loves movies will love the chance to see some of these clips on the big screen. The saddest thing about movies today is that most of them are aimed at teenage males with short attention spans. We cannot forgive Harvey for what he did as a human being, but as a programmer for a movie channel, you can’t fault him.

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Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) review written by: Adam Whyte