Audience of One

In this film-about-a-film, Richard Gazowsky, a Pentecostal pastor based in San Francisco, receives a message from God to make a multimillion-dollar movie, and then sets out to fulfill that mandate. Reasoning that “the message of Christ was to dream big,” he sells his house, solicits donations from parishioners, forms What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) Filmworks, and embarks on creating a biblical epic called Gravity: The Shadow of Joseph, which his producer describes as “Star Wars meets The Ten Commandments.” Gazowsky (who saw his first flick at the age of 40) enlists the help of his wife Sandy, son Sunny, daughters Misty and Rocki, and dozens of other collaborators to produce a script, create storyboards, assemble a cast, and make costumes, after which principal photography commences and problems quickly arise. When Gazowsky's mother, Marilyn, grudgingly offers her support, and adds, “He's a sweet man...very naïve,” she could be describing everyone involved with Gravity except for the trained cinematographer. Using a fly-on-the-wall approach, first-time director Michael Jacobs follows Gazowsky through preproduction in Northern California and principal photography in Italy—up to the point when the money runs out. Although Gazowsky strives to become a secular George Lucas, his negligible talent for filmmaking aligns him more closely with Ed Wood of Plan 9 from Outer Space notoriety. DVD extras include audio commentary by Jacobs, deleted scenes, a clip from Gravity, and the song “Second Wind” (performed by Gazowsky and family). Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)