Sherman's March

Thoroughly unique. McElwee's uncomfortable attempts to woo are painful but sympathetic. I could relate to it, and also to his nuclear nightmares. Is there a connection between loneliness, fear of annihilation, and General Sherman? Probably not, but that's the great fun of this film. It goes where it wants to. There's not a single dull scene. It's a wonderful portrait of humanity as McElwee comes across one interesting character after another. A funny, original, fascinating film.

A (mostly) fascinating film partly from a historical perspective, partly in terms of the characters presented and partly as this strange amalgamation of fear of nuclear war, Sherman's rampage and a man grappling with his history with women.

A great documentary that crystallised McElwee’s cinematic style, a style that has served him well ever since.

Satisfying in the weirdest way. The film is indeed about Sherman's March, but it's also rich with the prevailing culture of the (then) contemporary South. Also along for the ride is all of Ross McElwee's baggage about women, not to mention the bizarre paranoia emanating from the late stages of the Cold War that permeates everyone's words. All in all it's a brilliant and oft-amusing time capsule of America that uses its past and its present to show life as it is.

It feels personal in both really great ways and really tedious ways, but it's so revealing and unique that I can't help but be very impressed. The opening of the film made me fear that it would be one long pity party, but while McElwee's biased perspective is undeniable he doesn't wash over his own flaws too much. The sociological undercurrents are very interesting as well, and the film's humour keeps it from feeling as long as the runtime.

McElwee knows exactly the foolish mistake he is making as he engages in one horrific romantic interlude after another, and yet he is powerless to help himself. More riveting and humorous than you would ever expect a 137-minute amateur documentary to be.

Absolutely brilliant. One of the smartest documentaries ever constructed, a fascinating and beautiful example of real life conveniently coming together on screen, perfectly portraying the throughlines of love, General Sherman, nuclear holocaust and Burt Reynolds. It's either all of that, or the best fluke of all time.

Superbly odd. Sherman, to me the most interesting man in the Civil War is a backdrop at times to McElwee's own neurotic existence. You will never see another doc quite like this.

# 855

An unusual, engaging documentary about using the making of a documentary about General Sherman as an excuse to meet women.

That one woman who tried to set him up with the Mormon...I had some homicidal thoughts about her.

Ross McElwee aims to make a documentary about Sherman's March but instead delves deep into his own navel. The specter of nuclear war is apparently so strong that the all-too-real and harrowing fashion sense of mid-'80s women goes unremarked.

This film is probably the most fascinating thing I've ever watched

what at first looks like another hippie self-help exercise turns out to be a structurally and thematically quite solid film. a snapshot of southern women / realities bringing out the hidden worlds in everyone and their roots in the past.

Yeah, I "get" this, but goddamn is it boring.

A sprawling film held together only -- & loosely -- by the sensibility of its creator. Given how Sherman clearly functions as an analogue for McElwee, I'm a bit uncomfortable with how little McElwee is seemingly interested in the aftermath of his own campaign of romantic rampage; his is a film acutely reflexive of and interested how the camera intervenes in relationships -- but, really, it's sort of weaponized here, used to constrain & cajole & compel the self-presentations of those near him

A film of simple corruscating moments all but obfuscated by the story of a nebbish single-mindedly driven by the conviction that procreation, and all its concomitant obligations, should dictate all decision making.

Wonderful in the most painful way possible. Ross is unlucky in love, we're lucky in viewing.

"McElwee asks us to reconnect not only with each other but with our human spirit." - Ed Gonzalez

So lets go way back to the ancient times When there were no 50 states And on a hill there stands Sherman Sherman and his mates

At once a brilliant personal deconstruction and a problematic piece of evidence in the argument of government funding of the humanities.

This is NOT about Sherman's march during the Civil War. Rather, it is a kind of documentary-romantic-comedy--with the filmmaker himself as the protagonist. In the film, he meets a series of different women in an attempt to find love. What is remarkable is how real and natural these people during these interactions. It is funny, and never mean-spirited (trust me, some of the people can be easily made fun of).