Fuck (film)

Fuck (styled as FUCK, F★CK, or F*CK; alternatively titled Fuck: A Documentary and The F-Bomb: A Documentary) is a 2005 documentary film by director Steve Anderson which argues that the word fuck is an integral part of societal discussions surrounding both freedom of speech and censorship.

Fuck was first shown November 7, 2005 at the AFI Film Festival.

Quotes

Lenny Bruce is quoted as observing, "If you can't say fuck, you can't say fuck the government."

• If you can't say fuck, you can't say fuck the government.
  • Lenny Bruce — cited in Lowerison, Jean (December 2006). "The Reel Story: F*ck - History of a bad word". San Diego Metropolitan Magazine & Daily Business Report (San Diego, California: San Diego Metropolitan). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• [Fuck] sounds exactly like what it is.
  • Billy Connolly — cited in Lowerison, Jean (December 2006). "The Reel Story: F*ck - History of a bad word". San Diego Metropolitan Magazine & Daily Business Report (San Diego, California: San Diego Metropolitan). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• It's one of those all-purpose words.
  • Sam Donaldson — cited in Lowerison, Jean (December 2006). "The Reel Story: F*ck - History of a bad word". San Diego Metropolitan Magazine & Daily Business Report (San Diego, California: San Diego Metropolitan). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• It's the ultimate bad word.
  • Bill Maher — cited in Pinksy, Mike (March 12, 2007). "DVD Verdict Review - Fuck". DVD Verdict (Verdict Partners LLC.). Retrieved on April 19, 2013. 

• The f-word is special. Everybody uses the word breakfast, but not everyone feels comfortable using the word fuck so there's an extra power behind it.
  • Alanis Morissette — cited in Walker, Rowan (November 18, 2006). "First Person: Is this an f-word too far?: A new documentary about a certain four-letter epithet has got America talking (so long as they don't use that word). Rowan Walker asks if it deserves four stars". The Observer (Guardian News and Media Limited): p. 28; Section: Observer Focus Pages. Retrieved on April 22, 2013. 

• You could think of that [word] as standing in for most of the changes that happened in the 20th century, at least many of the important ones.
  • Geoffrey Nunberg — cited in Stamets, Bill (November 17, 2006). "Documentary 'F*ck' is less than word pefect". Chicago Sun-Times (Illinois: Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.): p. NC31. 

Quotes about the documentary

In his book, Fuck: Word Taboo and Protecting Our First Amendment Liberties, Professor Christopher M. Fairman of the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University called the documentary "the most important film using fuck".

• Ultimately, Fuck is a movie about free speech. ... Freedom of expression must extend to words that offend. Love it or hate it, fuck is here to stay.
  • American Film Institute — Vincelli, Rose. "Fuck". Silverdocs 2006 Film Guide (American Film Institute). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• An interesting debate about censorship.
  • Chelsea Bain (December 8, 2006). "Movie Review: Flick doesn't mince words". Boston Herald: p. E17. 

• F*ck manages to strip some of the mystique from the forbidden word, and in the end, despite some road bumps, is a satisfying f*lm.
  • Marjorie Baumgarten (December 1, 2006). "F*ck". The Austin Chronicle (Austin Chronicle Corp.). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• The most important film using fuck.
  • Christopher M. Fairman (2009). Fuck: Word Taboo and Protecting Our First Amendment Liberties. Sphinx Publishing. pp. 19-20. ISBN 1572487119. 

• At the forefront of the discussion is the question of freedom of speech.
  • Sally Foster (March 23, 2006). "Fuck". Film Threat (Hamster Stampede LLC). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• Fuck provides a highly provocative and humorous overview of a word that, love it or hate it, undoubtedly holds more power than its measly four letters might suggest.
  • Sally Foster (March 23, 2006). "Fuck". Film Threat (Hamster Stampede LLC). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• All in all, I’d have to say that this film was entertaining as fuck.
  • Sally Foster (March 23, 2006). "Fuck". Film Threat (Hamster Stampede LLC). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• For something rather different there’s F*ck, a moderately amusing documentary about the second most offensive word in the English language.
  • Karl French (February 11, 2009). "The slow road to revelation". The Financial Times (The Financial Times Ltd.). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• All told, Anderson's film is surprisingly amusing, as well as insightful, even if viewers have to sit through about 800 uses of the word in the 90-minute film. (And that's a cinematic record.)
  • Jack Garner (January 5, 2007). "'F---: The Documentary'". Democrat and Chronicle (Gannett). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• The documentary offers an effervescent blend of cultural history and political opinion.
  • Glenn Garvin (May 27, 2011). "How to hear the F-word 857 times on TV - F**k. 2-4 a.m. Saturday. Documentary Channel.". The Miami Herald (Florida: The McClatchy Company). "Anybody expecting protective bleeps will suffer lethally seared eardrums within minutes of tuning in; the program shatters all existing records of F-word usage with 857 gloriously stereophonic examples." 

• Can you support the First Amendment, and be appalled at the often-ridiculous fines levied by the FCC for a single broadcast F-bomb, and still be weary of this word's ubiquity? Anderson's movie doesn't say, but many know the answer.
  • Moira MacDonald (December 1, 2006). "Movie Review: F***": Film about F-bomb's power fails to fully detonate". The Seattle Times (The Seattle Times Company). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• Anderson's glib approach is to the movie's advantage, allowing anything profound to seem unexpected.
  • Wesley Morris (December 8, 2006). "Movie Review: Presenting the history of a four-letter word". The Boston Globe (The New York Times Company). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• Unlike Kirby Dick's scatterbrained This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Steve Anderson's similar state-of-obscenity documentary Fuck gives both sides of the decency argument a fair hearing.
  • Noel Murray (November 9, 2006). "Fuck - Film - Movie Review". The A.V. Club (Onion Inc.). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• A thesis-level course in the history, derivation and proper use of every sailor's favorite cuss, the movie has to wage a constant battle against potty-mouthed monotony. Fortunately, it emerges largely unscathed, and almost triumphant in its own single-minded way.
  • Steve Schneider (March 30, 2006). "Closing Frames: What to watch for in the final weekend of the Florida Film Festival". Orlando Weekly (Orlando, Florida). Retrieved on April 17, 2013. 

• Mr. Anderson’s movie is staged as a talking-head culture-war skirmish between embattled upholders of propriety (or repression, if you prefer) and proponents of free expression (or filth), but its real lesson is that the two sides depend upon each other. Or rather, that the continued vitality of the word — its unique ability to convey emphasis, relieve stress, shock grown-ups and function as adverb, noun, verb, intensifier and what linguists call 'infix' — rests on its ability to mark an edge between the permissible and the profane.
  • A. O. Scott (November 10, 2006). "No Way to Put This Delicately". The New York Times (The New York Times Company): p. E12. Retrieved on April 22, 2013. 

See also

• Censorship
• First Amendment to the United States Constitution
• Freedom of speech
• Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment
• Sexual slang

External links

• FUCK: Four Letter Film. fourletterfilm.com. Archived from the original on January 6, 2012. Retrieved on April 17, 2013.
• About The Filmmakers. fourletterfilm.com. Archived from the original on January 2, 2007. Retrieved on August 1, 2012.
• Fuck quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Fuck at Rotten Tomatoes
• Fuck at Metacritic
• Fuck at Yahoo! Movies