Fire of Love

Yes, I'm referring to the 2022 documentary by Sara Dosa concerning the famed volcanologists Katia and Maurice Kraftt, who sadly although perhaps destined by fate to perish doing the task they both loved. That review is below: 

A film mainly watched to see all the stellar volcano footage, but there's a touching love story among all the lava flow. When this was released almost two years ago, all the rave reviews on Letterboxd were remembered by me. As I should actually use my Hulu account while subscribed, why not check out something so highly regarded while seeing what famed volcanologists Katia & Maurice Kraftt filmed during their lifetimes.

The format was standard: after an opening then the revelation that they both died in 1991-this was early on, so it's not a spoiler-their love story of how they met & both were obsessed were volcanoes was shown then aside from some fancy split screen shots and wacky graphics, much of this is Miranda July narration (more on her at the end; for now I'll say that what she speaks is NOT similar to the twee pretentious movies she directs) and due to their obsession with filming all their expeditions, a treasure trove of footage was available to show of all the active eruptions they filmed, often right next to the danger. Whether they were just kindred spirits or their love was more traditional (perhaps it was both), they had their differences yet worked well together... the work they did resulting in communities taking the threat of eruptions seriously, I did not think, “Oh, what foolish idiots they are! Why are you standing right next to lava shooting up in the air?”

As archival interviews are also used of the couple, a full picture could be painted of their relationship & how they stayed together while in such a field full of unpredictability & risk. The footage also fascinated me so there was no regrets in discovering why many film fans swooned hard for Fire of Love. A familiar song or two pops up on the soundtrack; otherwise, it was score composed by one of the two guys who are part of the French electronic act Air. This does reflect what kind of score you should expect if you're familiar with Air.

This was my initial exposure to Miranda July in anything; her narration was fine. I've noted in the past that “pretentious twaddle” is not for me and I know enough about her movies to give them a wide berth. After all, when you name the main character in your latest picture OLD DOLIO... life is too short and could end unexpectedly-as this documentary proved-so it would be best to skip something I am sure to loathe. This noted, I'll unfortunately think of a horrible post on a messageboard when I think of Ms. July. Someone saw Me and You and Everyone We Know and became irrationally angry. That's one thing; the details are fuzzy now as this was a long time ago but let's just say that “he threatened bodily harm towards her.” Even in those less sensitive days, this person was rightly vilified for his WTF comments.