Eleven Minutes - Movie Review and Synopsis

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Category: Movies. Tags: Documentary, Jay McCarroll, Michael Selditch Robert Tate, Regent Releasing.

It’s been two long years since the sharp-witted Jay McCarroll was dubbed “the next great American designer” on season one of reality TV’s Project Runway, and he’s anxious to finally show his first line of clothing. The feature documentary, “Eleven Minutes,” chronicles his year-long journey preparing his first independent runway show for New York’s Fashion Week in Bryant Park and the subsequent selling of his line to stores. The result is an in-depth, painfully raw and humorous exploration of the creative process and the constant conflict of balancing commerce with art, fame with talent, and reality-TV with actual reality.

Michael Selditch and Robert Tate first sat down with Jay McCarroll for the pro-Bravo, faux-confessional Project Jay, but I hear this time around the co-directors caught every caustic and revealing comment McCarroll can offer about his life before, during, and especially after his time on “PR,” the formerly wonderful reality/competition show whose fifth season was a bore (I wake up sometimes, still irritated by Suede, Blayne, Kenley, and Joe) and upcoming season is buried in a pile of litigation. Take this one in to reminder yourself that McCarroll is actually a slightly better celebrity Christian Siriano — though Siriano is the superior designer — while both men pale in comparison to Evan Biddell, the season-one winner of “Project Runway Canada.” While this documentary is set to kill in cities across the country, I have my eye on The September Issue’s fall release, and take delight in knowing that more fashion docs are in the works.

Rated R for language.

Director: Michael Selditch Robert Tate
Stars: Jay McCarroll
Studio: Regent Releasing
Release Date: 20 February 2009 (USA)