A Man Who Delivers

A Man Who Delivers interested me greatly. The initial interest came from the touchy topic of cocaine dealing, but also the fact that it is presented in documentary form. This topic is typically not the one that I would expect to be in documentary form, so I found it to be especially different from what I expected. The way that it is presented is very intriguing. The setting of almost the entire film is from the car of the (assumed) dealer. Throughout the film it displays text messages to and from the dealer and his clients. It also shows the progression of time as it displays it clearly across the screen in bold red digits. It clearly portrays the discreet and down-low nature of the text messages that are asking for the deliveries, and successfully presses this idea of haste and angst in getting the job done as fast and quiet as possible (the job of dealing the cocaine). The documentary is filmed in a kind of somber, first person perspective where the dealer’s daily life as well as his past is narrated. From time to time the narrator would mention things such as “Used to have a teaching job once”, or topics like that. However, usually the narration was based around his dealings and experiences that are associated with it.

               One of the main connections from this film to the documentary reading is the kind of “diary” form that the documentary is filmed in. In the reading, the writers describe Blue Vinyl and how it follows a kind of “personal diary format” in order to follow a specific character’s issue that they are dealing with. This seems highly similar to A Man Who Delivers in that it follows this dealer character closely, revealing many personal and important portions of his daily endeavors.  A Man Who Delivers follows this style of documentary very religiously, from my point of view. Another main connection to the reading is the style of camera placement. The camera seems to be stuck to the main character’s car, following them wherever they go. The reading describes the difference in feeling from if there is a close-up of a person’s face, to if there is a very far view of their face. The same goes for the way that this was filmed, how we as viewers never even see the face of the dealer. We simply see the roof of his car, the steering wheel, the windshield and not much more. It greatly changes the way that the viewers may interpret the film, for both its underlying messages as well as its overall demeanor as a film.