‘Zipper’ Film Festival Review

Amy Nicholson has created a flawless documentary that captures some amazingly beautiful shots into the world that is Coney Island (although was Coney Island might be more accurate). Nicholson succeeds in showing off a culture which has somehow diminished almost entirely.

Zipper: Coney Island’s Last Wild Ride has been accused of making a mountain out of a mole hill when it comes to what can be considered progress. Sure, progress is what we all want, but Zipper takes a look at what defines progress. Beautiful graphics and cinematography work to depict a developing story line; Coney Island is being destroyed through real estate development and re-zoning.

Zipper Film 1

According to Zipper, New York originally zoned 60 acres of land as amusement property to make up a new and improved Coney Island. The current complications that have ensued in the last few years seem to stem from one major company, Thor Equities.

Back in 2007, Thor Equities began buying up the majority of Coney Island land and forcing out amusements in order to get the land rezoned in a simple stroke of genius: Thor sat on the vacant land until one of two things happened 1) the city rezoned or 2) bought the land back to “save” it from going to waste.

In the end, the city of New York spent more than $14 million an acre to buy back a portion of the land from Thor-which originally purchased it for less than $1.5 million an acre. The 60 acres previously zoned for “amusement” will now be squashed into a 9 acre plot, and all the rest will be nothing more than commercialized property by Thor.

The owner of Thor, Joseph Sitt, claims all the enterprising is in the name of making Coney a better place. He lists the many different visions he has in mind that will come in to take the place of the historic Coney Island landmarks. Basically it amounts to the typical suburban outdoor mall with a few rides. Sitt happily draws comparisons to Las Vegas and Six Flags. Innocently he asks if there’s anything wrong with that?

Certainly, we could all ask ourselves, what is wrong with making a junky old carnival into a high class string of condos along with our favorite restaurant chains, shoe stores, and gimmicky-whatever’s-popular right now. But what it boils down to is culture loss.

Zipper Film 2

You don’t have to be a New Yorker to appreciate the level of loss here. Coney Island is a representation of American history which is being destroyed. We don’t have much here, why erase the little that we do have?

Zipper draws the connections between what’s happening in Coney and forces its audience to ask, if this can happen here, then what else could change that I love? What culture will we have left? A society of greed that worships things and crappy corporate food over quality time, mom and pop shops, and memories with friends and family?

The carnival celebrates an aspect of diversity that is still rarely celebrated; socioeconomic status. Our society has been founded on the idea of democracy, opportunity for all, and celebrating differences. If a simple carnival which is filled with people who have all sorts of backgrounds, and enjoyed by all ranks of society that has been around for over 100 years can bring so much joy to so many millions of people in name, or fame, how is it right that corporations can come in and destroy it?

These implications offered in Zipper are actually very subtle. Much of what each viewer will gain from the film are very subjective as you really do have to infer so much.

Zipper can’t really be accused of being manipulative. The film simply gives a list of facts, straight from the sources. It doesn’t take much to show what Joseph Sitt wants out of his business ventures; only profit. We know this simply based on the personal interview he gives throughout much of the film. How Amy Nicholson was able to get so many of the players in the film to give so much uncut dialogue that speaks for itself is evidence of her clearly well thought out and calculated questions to get at the real meaning behind motives.

Zipper Film 3

This is the first true documenting I’ve seen in a while. It appears to simply make a good old fashioned documentary that’s far from the manipulative story telling we see in every facet of the genre these days. It’s a picture of reality and growing pains, if you will, in a political and economic struggle.

Independent filmmaker, Amy Nicholson, has taken some criticism for not showing all “perspectives,” yet I can’t see why that’s even a legitimate concern. Either you like carnivals or you don’t. Either you see the larger connections or you don’t. No matter how you see it,  Zipper: Coney Island’s Last Wild Ride is a great show. If you don’t give a hoot about anything political, watch it for the sheer genius employed. It’s interesting, beautiful, cleverly edited, culturally educational, and eye-opening; what more can one ask for in a documentary?

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