SummaryKen Burns meets Spinal Tap in a subversive tour de force relaying the outrageous life stories of four forgotten Civil War heroes: an opium-addicted gay colonel, an aging Chinese launderer, a nerdy escaped slave, and a one- armed teenage prostitute.
SummaryKen Burns meets Spinal Tap in a subversive tour de force relaying the outrageous life stories of four forgotten Civil War heroes: an opium-addicted gay colonel, an aging Chinese launderer, a nerdy escaped slave, and a one- armed teenage prostitute.
With its convincingly antique-looking artifacts and hilarious “re-creations,” the March 1 release should please audiences searching for an intelligent, satiric spin on historical hindsight.
By the time the humor overreaches, escalating into the surreal, you’ve fallen under the movie’s spell. Audacity and invention more than compensate for the deficiencies. Who knows what Ms. Cohen will do next? But it should be interesting.
Despite Civil War homages—hazy vistas, silhouetted cannons, and even the famous Ken Burns pan over still photos—the imaginary heroes never spring to life.