Lengthy 5-part miniseries/travel blog/documentary by legendary French filmmaker Agnes Varda, who remained prolific and constantly creative from the late 1950s until her death in 2019.
She's equally good at making fictional films and documentaries, and I think this one would have to be her longest documentary. I watched it in a few chunks over more than one day, but still probably could have spaced it out more, as the five parts are each about 40-45 minutes each.
She travels to various locations around the world (which I guess could be easily and conveniently done for anyone who had some spare savings back in 2010/11 😢) and films/observes. Often very ordinary things are focused on, as are everyday people, who get interviewed alongside other significant artists, filmmakers, and actors.
Varda's enthusiasm for unusual things is one of the main things that keeps her documentaries unique and engaging, as does her sometimes funny, sometimes quite sad narration. From Here To There has the feel of watching one of her 90-120 minute documentaries stretched out into an extra long directors cut. It does get a little repetitive and exhausting at a couple of points in the second half, but it's definitely never bad.
Easy to recommend for anyone who's particularly interested in art in general, French culture, international travel, or filmmaking.
