Coming to select theatres and simultaneously being released on DVD and VOD today, Friday, May 29: THE TRUE COST
Andrew Morgan’s investigation into the not-so-hidden costs of cheap, disposable fashion makes its debut via limited theatrical engagements in New York City and Los Angeles, with direct-to-consumer access via its website and VOD platforms.
Taking as his subject “fast fashion,” the corollary to “fast food” – quick, cheap, and readily available for consumption, and just as easily tossed out after a few months – Morgan looks at the dangerous impact of the ridiculously profitable business model used by chains like H&M, Top Shop, Zara, and Forever 21. Droning on in an intermittent, weakly delivered narration, the director offers a broad survey of factors that help keep clothing cheap, but in the process exploit workers and farmers, damage the environment, and delude the masses into thinking they’re well-off while instead contributing to their own financial indebtedness. More of an emphatic, well-meaning advocacy piece than a well-constructed project, Morgan’s film doesn’t offer any revelations, nor any practical large-scale solutions – while one of his interview subjects faults capitalism itself for privileging profits over people, in the absence of overthrowing the world’s dominant economic system, the best that the documentary really seems to offer is the desire for a vague “revolution of values” to take place so that we collectively stop treating people like things.
what (not) to doc 