Not Quite Hollywood is a documentary that might not be suited to the average moviegoer, but anyone more passionate about the art of filmmaking will have a blast with it. Even if the area of cinema that it focuses on isn't all that familiar to you it will serve as a great lesson in it. The film breezes along with a bouncy, energetic pace skipping from interviewee to interviewee succinctly and by the end you feel like you've actually gained genuine knowledge.
Not Quite Hollywood explores Australian exploitation films full of gore, sex, violence, and everything else that comes with it. Various people, fans and filmmakers (including Quentin Tarantino — a sure selling point of the film to potential audiences) alike, chime in with their stories and memories of what it was like to be a part of, and a fan of, an era that influenced the history of cinema.
The film will have you scrabbling to take mental notes because of its whip-fast pace. It's rare for a documentary, particularly one which makes use of "talking heads," to keep the viewer on their toes. In this case it makes the piece move past simply being informative and onto being a heck of a lot of fun.
This is clearly a documentary made with great passion for what it explores; that may be an obvious statement to make, but in the case of Not Quite Hollywood you can really feel the passion burning while you watch. There's so much explored here, and it's presented at such a break-neck pace, that it almost feels like you need a lot longer than it's 100 minute runtime to get the full measure of it. But, nonetheless, as it is, it's a rip-roaring watch, and certainly one of the most purely enjoyable documentaries in a long, long time.
For anyone not steeped in exposure and appreciation of Australian B-genre motion pictures which the film showcases — such as the ever enthusiastic and megafan interviewee Quentin Tarantino -- this will probably be a rare, and possibly only, chance to catch a glimpse of some of these films. Movies like Next of Kin, Night of Fear, and Stork will go straight over the head of most modern moviegoers, but for a generation of genre-film lovers these were the silver screen experiences they lived for. Not Quite Hollywood is a joyous celebration of these works.
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