3 out of 5

Directed by: Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe

My main criticism of the film 12 Monkeys centers around Terry Gilliam’s dedication to visual storytelling over nuts and bolts.  It’s not exactly that the look and design become more important than other things, rather that he “sees” the story completely through images, which can disconnect it from emotions brought about by its characters or plot.

After past difficulties with his film productions, Gilliam tasked Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe to capture a documentary on the making of 12 Monkeys, which became the feature length The Hamster Factor, and though it’s well organized and edited, it ends up inheriting the same loose, unmoored feel as the film, depicting a director who often remarks that he’s not sure what he’s making, and lots of people bickering (mostly good-naturedly) about unclear concepts surrounding that.

The doc takes us mostly through shooting and editing, with a little bit of post-script of test screenings and reviews and, eventually, film success.  There’s enough production discussion and footage to make it a worthy study – the title comes from Gilliam’s focus on tiny details instead of the larger picture, as in a hamster refusing to run on its wheel on the edge of a frame – but the focus is more on the movie’s lack of focus behind the scenes.

With more retrospect and a willingness to dig in – since this was a requested insider’s look, there’s the sense that footage has been picked through for what’s most ‘appropriate,’ not so much for Gilliam but for stars Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt – there’s a lot to be shaped up into a sharper doc, but having been made and edited while mostly in the trenches, it’s understood that it can’t quite go that far.  It’s an interesting watch all the same, and definitely complementary to a viewing of the film.