DVD Review: Visionary Internet Pioneer Chronicled in ‘We Live in Public’

Printer-friendly versionE-mail page to friendPDF version

CHICAGO – Ondi Timoner introduces the subject of her award-winning documentary “We Live in Public” by saying “This is the story of the greatest internet pioneer you’ve never heard of…” and, for the most part, she’s right. Josh Harris is a fascinating and arguably deranged gentleman who basically prophesized and created the virtual lives most of us lead on Facebook, Twitter, etc. The doc about him is riveting viewing that may stumble a little bit in its final act deification of its subject matter but is still a must-see for doc fans or simply anyone wondering how the hell we got here.

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

Timoner’s film became the first work to ever win the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 (after her excellent doc “Dig!” took the same prize years ago). It’s easy to see why the Park City, Utah crowd took to “We Live in Public” as it’s very much about the kind of independent thinker that the Sundance crowd admires.

We Live in Public was released on DVD on March 2nd, 2010.
Photo credit: IndiePix

“We Live in Public” is not another story of a dot-com bust but its lead character has certainly seen enough ups and downs in his life to tell his stories over several films. To be brief, Josh Harris is a complicated man. The film about him opens by noting that when his mother asked for him to come and see her on her deathbed, he sent a tape. Now, Harris had reason to be angry at his mother, even in her moment of death, but Timoner opens with this later-in-life detail for a reason - Josh Harris has always communicated via technology.

We Live in Public was released on DVD on March 2nd, 2010. Photo credit: IndiePix

Timoner documented the life of Harris for over a decade and, after a brief background, her story really begins when Harris founded Pseudo.com, an internet TV show before such things were really popular. Before every site on the web had streaming video, Harris was bringing original programming to browsers around the world. Like everything he would attempt, Pseudo.com ended in an unusual way, almost as if Harris sabotages everything he attempts (he began dressing in strange outfits and spooked investors).

His next efforts would end even more drastically, including a notorious effort called “Quiet,” in which over 100 people lived in a bunker on camera for 30 days while Harris and his people basically drove them crazy, and a riveting case study in why cameras in every room of the house can be bad for a relationship.

To Harris, privacy was only a state of mind. He believed that as we got more and more connected, we would become more and more open to sharing our lives and secrets. As he says, we will no longer want fifteen minutes of fame; we will want fifteen minutes every day. To say that he foresaw the world of MySpace, Facebook, etc. is not an exagerration.

However, I think Timoner lets Harris off the hook a little bit. The guy is a raging egomaniac who uses nearly everyone with who he comes in contact. We’re all fodder for his next experiment. I wish Timoner had asked a few more difficult questions in the final act of “We Live in Public” instead of merely deifying the man for all the technological advances he saw coming years before anyone else.

This is a minor complaint for what is ultimately an excellent documentary. Ondi Timoner is one of our most interesting documentarians. I wouldn’t be surprised if she walked off with a Sundance Grand Jury Prize a third time before she’s done.

The DVD release of “We Live in Public” includes a commentary with director Ondi Timoner, commentary with Josh Harris, “Inside the Bunker: The Guns,” “Inside the Bunker: The Pods,” “Making Of: With Ondi Timoner,” “Behind the Scenes: Sundance 09,” “Josh Watches Film For 1st Time,” and Theatrical Trailer.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com