A note before starting. Be mindful of the comments. The conversation contains spoilers of the film.
Fan of baseball cards? Trading cards in general? Nostalgia? Collectibles? Documentaries? If you answered yes to some or all of those, check out the "film", Jack Of All Trades on Netflix. It's a documentary of Stuart Stone, child baseball card collector turned adult trying to sell his massive collection.Throughout his story, Stuart quickly finds out the golden rule of collecting. Collect for the fun, not the value. Despite his massive collection of cards, Stuart finds that the excess of the 80's and over saturation of the 90's has left him with a collection worth nothing.
It's an interesting, if not somewhat sad tale. Especially as you watch the group of documentary makers start to fight and argue with each other.
At first, Stuart comes across as selfish, whiny and entitled. However, as you learn more about him, you start to see that there's actually a deep rooted pain in his life, which perhaps, is the reason he acts the way he does. One which he needs to, and does, face as the documentary continues on. As this is where the true heart of the "story" lies, I won't ruin it for any of you planning to see it.
Overall, it may not offer any insight into the card industry which seasoned collector's don't already know. Instead, it provides something much larger. A glimmer of hope for Stuart himself.
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Gotta check this out!
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty good.
DeleteI used to collect cards too. The mass-manufacturing of the late 80's and 90's destroyed what was essentially a child's passion for collecting pictures and stats of her heroes.
ReplyDeleteThis film, though touching on the criminal aspect of stealing from little kids, really highlighted the selfishness and complete lack of accountability of a father who crushed his own children.
Their father was a true scalper. Selfish to the core and greedy. Just like Stuart said, his dad traded his family just like baseball cards.
DeleteStuart is the oldest immature guy ive ever seen!
ReplyDeleteMy original write up of this documentary was not as "gentle" as the final version. I made comments such as, "I wasn't rooting for him to have a happy ending because he's not likable."
DeleteAs you can see, I toned it down considerably.
Man oh man... That was hard to watch. I regret even keeping it on in the background. I don't dislike movies very often but... its just so boring.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely wasn't focused on baseball cards. At least not anything much or new.
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