These adults – all of them living in the Pacific Northwest of the United States – have a passion for Lego, the wildly popular building blocks originally designed by a Danish company in 1958. Actually, it less of a passion and more of an obsession. Each of them have brought their childhood toys with them into fully grown adulthood and do not seem ready to feel ashamed or embarrassed by their childish pastimes.And why should they? This short documentary delves into their obsessions and comes up with an interesting picture of grown men who are striving to bring the execution of their hobbies to a whole new level. And when you get a look at some of the objects they have created using Lego, you begin to understand the levels of intensity, ingenuity and engineering know-how that are required to create their fascinating creations.
In addition, the overall sense of camaraderie and community that these gentlemen – and others like them – have found as they make social connections with like-minded people makes this a fairly heartwarming short film. Documentaries that focus on strange aspects of society that one may otherwise miss tend to be the better ones to watch, as they provide a “fly on the wall” snapshot to parts of our own community that are relatively accessible.
I loved the innocence and positive nature of this documentary. The producer of this short have stated that this will be the first of a series of documentaries focusing on Lego-obsessed adults, but even if the other films in the planned series never arrive, I personally think that this first effort would be more than enough.
AFOL A Blocumentary from AFOL on Vimeo.