DVD Review: Startup.com (B+)

Startup.com (2001)
Directed by Chris Hegedus and Jahane Noujam
Starring Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman
MPAA: R
Grade: B+

Review by Scott Standish

This excellent documentary follows the rise and fall of a New York city dot com from start to finish.

Here's the story: Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman have an idea to create a web site where people can transact business with the government. Its an excellent idea (if you've ever wasted half your day trying to pay a parking ticket you know what I mean). This idea turns into a legitimate business as they grab some easy venture capital and start hiring staff. Its not long before they are riding the crest of the dot com revolution.

The pressures of running a dot com are bad enough and we all know what happened when the tech economy hit the wall. This makes for some very touching moments as the people here try to navigate the sometimes treacherous waters of friendship mixed with business (or is it the other way around?). Kaleil and Tom have been friends a long time, and its interesting to see how working together affects their relationship.

The documentary style here is effective: they don't use voice overs or narration, simply letting the story unfold over time. It's tastefully done and the story is always interesting. The subject matter is fascinating and the directors keep the focus on the characters here even as the technology and the business hype swirls around them.

Startup.com was produced by the legendary "cinema verite" documentary filmmaker DA Pennebaker (among others). Pennebaker directed Don't Look Back (the groundbreaking documentary about Bob Dylan's tour of England in 1965) and The War Room (an excellent documentary about the Clinton campaign machine). If you like Startup.com (and you probably will) then you might also want to try The War Room and Don't Look Back.

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