order-of-myths.jpgFrom the recently concluded Sundance Festival comes The Order of Myths, a documentary written and directed by Margaret Brown, and set in the world of Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama. AJ Schnack at indieWIRE really likes it:

“Beautifully shot by Lee Daniel and Michael Simmonds and expertly edited by Brown, Michael Taylor and Geoffrey Richman, the film examines the time-honored tradition of Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, where celebrations remain segregated between white and black residents.

“With a deft, observant touch, Brown does what several recent acclaimed nonfiction films have done (”Street Fight” and “Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?” among them) by approaching issues of race from a side angle. But Brown surpasses her predecessors with a level of craft that stuns.”

John Anderson, writing in Variety, isn’t so sure:

“. . . it’s hard to take “The Order of Myths” too seriously when the film treats its main subject so frivolously. If Brown thinks it’s all silly, why shouldn’t we? A pre-parade wine-tasting among the white elite of Mobile turns into very low comedy; the antics of black celebrants is made to look just as inane, in either their behavior or their investment in a fairly ornate, tradition-bound exercise in pre-Lenten excess”

Just what we need–yet another critique that ridicules and demeans Southern traditions. As if folks down here weren’t tired enough that every television show and movie in the country uses a Southern accent to signal stupidity or venality or both.

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