Hi everyone!
Today we welcome back Keith Lyons to the podcast, with a Netflix Original documentary about a treasure hunt. Where the treasure is cocaine! For a few other recent Netflix Original documentaries, check out “Shirkers” (Episode #305), “Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski” (Episode #363), and Shane Hyde’s review for “Fyre” (Episode #398).
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Take it away, Keith!
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Hi, Philly Film Fan here with another review for One Movie Punch. You can follow me on Twitter at PhillyFilmFan.
Today’s movie is “The Legend of Cocaine Island”, the documentary directed by Theo Love. It tells the story of one man and his quest to find buried treasure. The treasure is $2 million worth of cocaine.
No spoilers.
“The Legend of Cocaine Island” centers on Rodney Hyden, a Florida man who owned his own construction company and was quite successful. But the 2008 financial crisis hit his business hard, even after cutting his staff of 80 down to just six, the bank still wound up foreclosing on his office and one of his homes. These were dark times for Rodney but a local legend gave him hope. Rumor had it that one of his neighbors had been living on a small island in Puerto Rico when a mysterious bag had washed up on shore. This neighbor opened the bag to find cocaine, roughly $2 million worth, and, not knowing what to do with it, dug a hole and buried it. Rodney, broke and desperate, approached his neighbor with a plan to retrieve and sell the drugs. I probably don’t have to tell you this, but hijinks ensued.
I think that documentaries are the most forgiving film genre, because you can get away with truly uninspired filmmaking. Here’s the format for a lazy, unoriginal documentary: Interview one subject at a time. Have the subject sit down and look in the general direction of the camera. Film the subject in either a medium or close-up shot. Collect archival images (either still or moving) relevant to the topic. Then edit the whole thing together (usually laying out the story in a linear chronology). Documentaries can get away with such a boring format because they generally focus on extraordinary individuals or topics of great social importance. But it’s still hackneyed filmmaking and so depressingly common that I appreciate any film that pushes back against this format, like “The Legend of Cocaine Island”.
“The Legend of Cocaine Island” uses semi-comedic “dramatic” reenactments, combined with overly stylized cinematography to tell this story in an amusing fashion. Rodney, a rotund, middle-aged white man, with glasses and a gray mustache, is filmed like the star of a hip hop music video with a tornado of cash circling around him in slow motion as his stares directly into the camera. It’s a ridiculous posture, but it perfectly captures this film’s light tone and lets you know that the filmmakers are more interested in creating a compelling yarn than in uncovering the truth. Like they say in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”: When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
“The Legend of Cocaine Island” is a breezy documentary that is well-suited to its home on Netflix. The slight story and an emphasis on style over substance could leave a theatergoer feeling like they wasted a night out on an inessential story. However, for someone at home scrolling through an endless list of “suggested titles” who is just looking for a light film that’s fun to watch, “The Legend of Cocaine Island” is a solid choice.
Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
Metacritic: 44
One Movie Punch: 7.0/10
“The Legend of Cocaine Island” (2018) is rated TV-MA and is currently streaming on Netflix.
This jawn was brought to you by Philly Film Fan. For more movie reviews, follow me on Twitter at PhillyFilmFan where I’m participating in the #365Movies challenge. That’s P-H-I-L-L-Y-F-I-L-M-F-A-N.
