Ken Burns at 2004 Full Frame Film Fest, photo by Renee Wright

Filmmaker Ken Burns gives
the 2004 Full Frame
Documentary Film
Festival thumbs up.

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The Same River Twice

Full Frame Documentary Festival, 2003

Reviewed by Allan Maurer

"The Same River Twice," directed and produced by Robb Moss, benefits from using film made by a band of attractive, naked hippies 25 years ago as they rafted the Colorado River, made love, climbed rocks and sang folk songs around camp fires. Moss, who was one of them at the time, follows the same group, clothed this time, as they battle the ravages of Boomer aging: divorce, new loves, cancer, career success and failure — and another trip down the Colorado.

The Canyon scenery, the glistening, healthy, muscular naked bodies, the recapturing of the folk-singing, free love, dope-smoking era, give the film an ambiance that rivals any major commercial film in impact. This is "The Big Chill" and the "Return of the Secaucus Seven" for real.

It's an extraordinary adventure I plan to take again with Mr. Moss and his friends, who share their lives with us the way great actors share their emotions to make fiction seem real. The combination of the beauty of film and intimacy of handheld video in this film suggests new possibilities for capturing both scenic vistas and intimate personal dramas effectively.