I was unemployed during the spring of 2011. It was a lousy time to be unemployed, but, hey, how many of us get to choose? For a few weeks I got temp work as a member of a crew that cleans out hoarder homes. I learned a lot about hoarders that month. There are five levels of hoarding; the people in this film barely creep into level 1. By level two, you have a problem and you need to address it. By level five, you no longer have a problem; the problem has you. My favorite aspect of level 5 is by that part of your hoarding journey, you’re beyond having a simple pest-problem, you have an eco-system; predatory species have set-up shop in your house to take advantage of the thriving primary and secondary pests.
But I digress. Do I Need This? isn’t about hoarding so much as addressing what makes us consume … or at least it started that way. Writer/director/documentarian/daughter/homeowner/reformed hoarder Kate Schermerhorn took over ten years to make this film. When she finished it, some elements of her life would have been unrecognizable to the woman who started this journey.
So what makes us consume? Why does the average American household contain 300,000 objects? Yes, 300,000. Is it a lack of love? Is it misplaced love? Is it a societal need to consume partnered with a guilt about that consumption that makes us throw away nothing? I’m not sure any of these questions ever get answered in Kate’s journey. But the important part here isn’t the answer or some sort of scandalous indictment of American culture. The important part is the personal journey and the people we meet along the way.
Among those Kate interviews is a woman who gets a stylish new outfit every week for church, a man who has turned his entire house into an collection of Americana kitsch, a couple in a pristine, sale-ready house who can
store the entirety of their non-recyclable waste for a full year in a single jar, and –my personal favorite- the Buddhist monk with a closet full of robes.
I’m really not kidding about that last one. Those ascetic, self-disciplined, one-with-the-universe guys? Turns out, some of them own too much stuff, too. Who knew? Kate Schermerhorn has a very tongue-in-cheek Michael Moore kind-of directional style: she sees humor in almost everything, which is good, because there is humor in almost everything. Who else would ask to look in a monk’s closet, huh?
Somewhere along the way, however, Ms. Schermerhorn abandoned her search for consumer truth and examined her own inner-journey, one where her parents figure prominently. I cannot tell you where this story goes; I simply say that Kate Schermerhorn made the right choice – her film had become her journey; it was no longer a commentary about American consumption and instead turned into a reflection on what that consumption equals on a micro-level. I won’t say this is best documentary I’ve ever seen; not by a long shot. But it’s truthful and emotional, which are adjectives I didn’t expect to use going into this experience. I dunno if Kate has another 15-year film in her, but I hope she does.
Kate sought to ask about collecting stuff
When she found the answers proved tough
So the process still hovered
A single truth uncovered
She hoarded emotions well enough
Not Rated, 65 Minutes
Director: Kate Schermerhorn
Writer: Kate Schermerhorn
Genre: Who are you people?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who don’t mind if a movie changes its theme
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who do
