Tower (2016)

Pretty Good

One of the best films i have seen

not horrible nor great

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Great film beautifully conceived and executed. The animation was perfect. Only thing that stood out to me as strange was the police office saying that he thought the tower was filled with Black Panthers starting a revolution.The shooting from the tower was in August of 1966 and the Black Panther party for Self Defense was not formed until October 1966 - 2 months later. I am surprised the filmmaker did not catch this as it undermines some of the testimony because you realize that with time or testosterone people tend to embellish stories to make themselves look better perhaps than they were.Still loved it, but just questioning the full authenticity now not the craft.

Back in 1966, a tragedy occurred at the University of Texas. A crazed gunman atop the clock tower began opening fire on folks down below...killing about a dozen folks and injuring many more during this 90 minute spree. This film is the second I have seen about it...and it's very different from "The Deadly Tower", a made for TV movie from 1975. "Tower" tells the story using voice actors and rotoscoped* animations of the actors. The voice actors read testimony by a variety of survivors who witnessed the incident. There are also a few folks who talk about it without the use of animation as well as some archival footage from the time. And, here's what is really interesting...instead of focusing on the killer as the previous film did, this new film deliberately avoided mentioning him or giving any attention to him personally. This was a wise decision and really showed respect for the man's many victims. Instead, it focused on the folks who risked their lives that day--who ran out to help the victims.Overall, it was a compelling story told in an unusual manner by Keith Maitland. Well worth seeing...especially since some folks really rose to the occasion that day and proved that within tragedy was some humanity. Just be sure, if you do watch, that you keep some Kleenex handy...just in case.*Rotoscoping is a simple technique for animation. A scene is filmed live and the drawings are made atop the original pictures. It's been around since at least 1915 when the Fleischer Brothers used it in their animated films.

Well, plenty of reviews, the story doesn't need any further explaining so I will just say that this is innovative, creative and a genius way of telling a story accurately.The animation really allows for the viewer to get into the situation and get into the emotions of the participants.I think this is groundbreaking and will surely be the start of a whole new cinematic aspect to documentaries. This method allows for way more accuracy and punctuality.Great job, well done! Must see ASAP!

This film is really an extraordinary achievement, in both the animation genre and the documentary genre. This could have been just like many other documentaries where talking heads are intercut with archival footage. By using animation, the film is able to create re- enactments that play around with memory and affective experience in a way that wouldn't be able to be done without animation. It's able to be a clear documentary while still telling a cohesive, linear narrative with many main characters and different perspectives at its core. This deserves to be seen and widely acclaimed, its achievement in not just how much of an emotional impact it has but also in various aspects of filmmaking are enough to recommend this to fans of quality cinema.