The Emperor's New Clothes (2015 film)
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''The Emperor's New Clothes'' is a 2015
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
about the growing disparity between economic classes, directed by
Michael Winterbottom Michael Winterbottom (born 29 March 1961) is an English film director. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—''Welcome to Sarajevo'', '' Wonderland'' and '' 24 Hour Party People''†...
and starring actor/activist
Russell Brand Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...
.


Synopsis

The film contains archival footage from the 21st-century recession paired with "comedic send-ups" from Brand, conducted in the financial districts of London and New York. In one scene in the film, Brand attempts to confront
Lord Rothermere Viscount Rothermere, of Hemsted in the county of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the press lord Harold Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth. He had already been created a baronet, of Horsey in th ...
, the billionaire owner of the ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'', about his "
non-dom Taxation in the United Kingdom may involve payments to at least three different levels of government: central government ( HM Revenue & Customs), devolved governments and local government. Central government revenues come primarily from income ...
" tax status, through which he avoids paying taxes in the United Kingdom by claiming residence elsewhere. When Brand rings the bell at Rothermere's London mansion and asks through the intercom to speak to him, he is told by an unseen person that Rothermere does indeed live there. Winterbottom stated that the film will explore why "nothing has changed" since the economic crisis in 2008. "It's about inequality and why the 1 percent (of the world's wealthy) seem to have so much and the rest of us not quite so much," Winterbottom told the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in October 2014. "Everyone knows about equality and what's going on in the world, so the idea is to point out the ludicrous extremes of our society." The documentary began shooting in October. Winterbottom and Brand had previously discussed—but ultimately abandoned—the idea of producing a film version of Brand's first memoir, '' My Booky Wook''.


Distribution and release

The film is produced by Winterbottom's Revolution Films company and distributed by
StudioCanal UK StudioCanal Limited, operating as StudioCanal (formerly Optimum Releasing), is the official branch of StudioCanal in the British Isles. The company releases many films, including foreign, anime (mostly Studio Ghibli), independent, art, British, ...
. ''The Emperor's New Clothes'' debuted in London on 21 April 2015, followed by a question-and-answer session with Brand. It made its international debut in the Spotlight Category on 24 April at the
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
.


Reception

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has a 60% approval rating based on 40 reviews, with an average ranking of 5.6/10. The site's consensus states: "''The Emperor's New Clothes'' offers trenchant, timely insight on the current socioeconomic climate that is only partly undermined by star Russell Brand's self-aggrandizing on-screen persona". On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of a 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Martin Tsal of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' wrote "Advocacy documentaries simply don't get better or more compelling than this". David Calhoun of '' Time Out said "Even if you can't stand the sight of this greasy Jesus, you might warm to the tub-thumping political doc mentaryhe's made with director Michael Winterbottom". According to
Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' the film is "moderately effective agitprop".
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
's Scott Tobias criticized the film for its branding, calling it a "hectoring irritant throughout the film". A similar criticism came from Noel Murray of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' who added "Russell Brand rants about the economy for 101 goddamn minutes in
his film His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...
. Following the film's premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, Kenji Fujishima wrote "''The Emperor's New Clothes'' suggests that Russell Brand has picked up a few tactics from
Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...
". While Fujishima was rather fond of the film, another contributor of ''Slant''s, Clayton Dillard, criticized the film for "hyping Russell Brand as a constituent for the people atherthan locating the means for sustained economic transformation". Even though the US publications were mixed on the film, the national newspapers in Britain and Ireland were mostly fond of ''The Emperor's New Clothes''.
Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers ...
of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' called the film " nentertaining attack on the dishonesty and mediocrity of Britain's corporate overlords". Geoffrey Macnab of ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' wrote "Brand puts across a familiar message in a very lucid and entertaining fashion". ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
''s
Nigel Andrews Nigel Andrews FRSA (born 3 April 1947)ANDREWS, Nigel John
''Who's Who 2015'', A & C ...
have praised the film for its "Socratic dialogues". According to Charlotte O'Sullivan of the ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
'', the film " spects our intelligence and bombards us with jolting facts about the ever-widening gap between rich and poor". Wendy Ide of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' was the only British critic who gave the film a negative review, stating "''The Emperor's New Clothes'' is a case study in the pitfalls of personality-led documentary". Donald Clarke of ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' was also critical of the film, stating "Many sympathetic to the comic's critique of bandit capitalism will be repelled by his flamboyant self-regard". From Australia,
Sandra Hall Sandra L. Hall (born September 5, 1951) is an American blues and soul blues singer and songwriter. She has been billed as Atlanta's "Empress of the Blues" Hall is an Honorary Member of the Atlanta Blues Society. To date she has released five ...
of ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' stated "Angry but affable is the style adopted by British comic Russell Brand for this extended rant against the sins of the rich and powerful".


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emperor's New Clothes (2015 documentary), The Documentary films about the Great Recession 2015 documentary films 2015 films British documentary films Films directed by Michael Winterbottom Russell Brand 2010s English-language films 2010s British films