Jay McCarroll Trasitions from Reality TV to Reel Life
Documentarians Michael Selditch and Robert Tate follow the ebullient, feisty, out-of-the-box newbie during a year of behind the scenes struggles in preparation for the eleven minute show that can make or break his career.
Can McCarroll Make It From Reel Life to Real Life?
Case in point: Jay McCarroll, Project Runway's first season's first prize, has been eclipsed by subsequent Runway winners--but not one of them has yet managed to ascend to haute couture.
In fact, McCarroll has been laying low. But all that can change, if his Fashion Week show stirs the fashionistas and the buyers. It's an eleven minute show that can elevate him to rag trade stardom or dash his hopes for turning the Jay McCarroll name into a fashion brand.
In following McCarroll through an anguished year of preparing for the show, filmmakers Michael Selditch and Robert Tate present an altogether engaging insider glimpse into the less than engaging cut throat world of fashion. McCarroll, who relentlessly clings to his vision and his dream, is a terrific lead character, a genuinely wonderful on camera presence. He's talented, witty, flamboyant and not afraid to speak his mind. And the stakes are very high for him. So, Eleven Minutes is the clear and compelling chronicle of McCarroll's claim to fame adventure, and you are quickly caught up in it.
Will McConnell Succeed?
McCarroll's willful streak sets up a series of conflicts that give dramatic heat to the film, and that, in turn, more fully reveals the designing artist's character. His retorts are quick and clever, he's charmingly outrageous and doggedly loyal to his own ideas of what works and doesn't. He's quirky and fascinating to watch. But somehow he never quite shows the kind of passion that makes you care passionately about whether he'll succeed or not.
No spoilers here, but have you seen the McCarroll label--a brand called Transport--on the racks of Saks or Urban Outfitters?
This documentary shows that McCarroll's initial success on Project Runway--which has certainly given him more than eleven (or fifteen) minutes of fame--was premature, and that it has created monstrous expectations about him--for himself, for mean-minded fashion moguls and for the consuming general public. He's finding it tremendously difficult to translate his reality RV celebrity into a genuinely productive career as a respected designer with his own label.
