Do we own our things, or do they own us? NEVER ENOUGH probes our relationship with the material world through three Americans’ relationships with their “stuff.”
Michele Gitlin has 700 sweaters. In touch with the pain as well as the pleasure of over-collecting, she calls Ron Alford, the “Disaster Master,” for help. Ron, a de-cluttering expert who coined the term “disposophobia” and believes that “clutter begins in the head, and ends up on the floor,” determines that Michele is indeed a hoarder. We follow Ron as he visits a retired marine (who owns 7,800 beanie baby dolls), and a Home Shopping Network addict whose purchases have made his apartment unlivable.
NEVER ENOUGH is a meditation on material culture, consumerism, mental illness and the social fabric of our lives.
2010, 36 minutes, color, DVD
Produced and Directed by Kelly Anderson
TRAILER
"Anderson has chosen wonderful subjects to tell their story, people whose self-understanding runs as deep as their addiction to collecting. She takes clutter out of the aesthetic and moral, where it usually resides, and into the philosophical. Students across the gamut, from psychology to literature, will find provocative ideas here."
Valerie Allen, Professor of English,
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
“A moving examination of the human tendency to accumulate physical objects, Never Enough will stimulate discussion in a variety of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, psychology, and cultural studies. Highly recommended for use in both graduate and undergraduate classrooms.
Judith Pascoe
Professor of English, University of Iowa
“The people and their obsessions are tenderly presented, and the links between these folks and the ethos of the broader consumer culture are astounding. In the classroom I have no doubt that this film will lead to energetic discussions about compulsive hoarders and the inner life of American consumer society in general. This is a gem.”
Stuart Ewen
Distinguished Professor of History and Sociology
Hunter College & Graduate Center, CUNY
"A sensitive and nuanced portrait of characters who might, in a lesser film, manifest as caricatures."
Rick Prelinger and Gordon Quinn,
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Jurors
