"What are words for, when no one listens anymore?" asked the New Wave band Missing Persons in their 1982 hit "Words." Tell it to the judges, who were all ears at the 1999 National Spelling Bee finals held in Washington D.C. Jeffrey Blitz's Oscar-nominated, art house hit Spellbound follows eight of those young competitors in a film that serves up more edge-of-your-seat tension than a whole slew of summer blockbusters. Granted, hopefuls at a spelling bee might not sound like a subject for riveting, nail-biting suspense, but this simple, stylistically unpretentious film, which cuts back and forth between interviews with the middle school-aged youngsters and their parents and nerve-wracking competition footage, turns out to be both gripping and poignant. Charming, eccentric, hopeful, uncertain, brilliant, and heartbreakingly vulnerable…you'll want each of these kids to win big, feeling the sense of exhilaration when one successfully spells a word, and the pain when another stumbles over some word you can barely pronounce, let alone define or spell. If there's a special scene-stealer, it's certainly Harry, a hyperactive jokester, while two girls--Angela and Ashley--are the most inspiring for the socioeconomic obstacles they overcome to make it to the finals. Although concentrating on just a handful of participants in a single year's competition, the film nevertheless goes beyond the particular to offer up a universal story of young people struggling to excel. Ordinarily, this story is told on a football field or basketball court, but this celebration of intellectual accomplishment proves to be every bit as stirring. An absorbing, inspired winner that easily delivers on the promise in its title, Spellbound is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: I, J, H, C, P. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by producer Sean Welch, director Jeffrey Blitz, editor Yana Gorskaya, and supervising sound editor Peter Brown; text bios and “Where Are They Now?” segments for each of the eight profiled spellers; 24 minutes of bonus footage featuring three additional spelling participants not used in the final film (with updates); three text “About the Filmmakers” bios; DVD-ROM features (including an interactive hangman game and an educational guide); and trailers. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for a superb documentary.] (F. Swietek)
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