Review: Twilight in Forks DVD

STUDIO: Summit Entertainment | DIRECTOR: Jason Brown
RELEASE DATE: 3/20/2010 | PRICE: DVD $19.99
BONUSES: none
SPECS: not rated | 84 min. | documentary | 1.78:1 | stereo | English, Spanish subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

Out the same day as the latest installment in the Twilight saga, New Moon, documentary Twilight in Forks doesn’t have a picture of stars Kristen Stewart or Robert Pattinson in it, except in posters and photos that fans show off. Instead, director Jason Brown looks at how the phenomenal success of Stephenie Meyer‘s Twilight books and the subsequent movies have changed the town of Forks, Wash.

Meyer set her series of vampire books in Forks without knowing much about the small town. As one Forks resident describes it, Forks was chosen because Meyer Googled rainy and gloomy and Forks won out. Indeed, as the documentary reveals, Forks gets 10 to 12 feet of rain a year.

But that doesn’t stop the hundreds of visitors who descend on Forks each day to see where Bella and Edward live. These fans, the residents say, are disappointed when they come to Forks and find the sun shining.

But the sun was shining when this documentary was filmed. Forks is shown as a beautiful place, with its small-town buildings, quaint wooden houses and stunning surrounding countryside. This is something that surprises fans, we discover, and some have even moved to the area. As one resident says, a fan told her she came to Forks for Twilight, but comes back for Forks.

The attention Forks has received from Twilight fans took the town by surprise, but residents have embraced it, with themed stores, tours and a Stephenie Meyer day on Sept. 13, chosen as it’s Bella’s birthday from the books.

Forks residents are also grateful for the attention, which is shown in the documentary. Twilight has helped this town thrive in an economic climate that has other small towns seeing severe problems. Logging used to be big business for Forks, but as that industry has dwindled, Twilight business has more than offset the difference.

Brown looks at the people of the town, characters themselves, and about local legends that feed the mystic, such as the idea that werewolves might have lived in the surrounding woods and a family of Cullens did once live in the area, with a father and mother who had five children, one of whom was adopted.

As much as Twilight is a Cinderella story for its main character, Bella, Twilight is a Cinderella story for Forks, and Brown documents that wonderfully in this film.

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