Generation Wealth

Lauren Greenfield's 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles, in which a tycoon's dream of building the biggest house in America is scuppered by the 2008 financial crisis, provided a pointed snapshot of the vagaries of materialism and affluence in the 21st century. Here, the award-winning director uses a 1990s photography project about loadsamoney LA teens (like the Kardashians), as a springboard to explore contemporary attitudes to the pursuit of money, celebrity and fame. After checking in with the now grown-up kids about what happened next, Greenfield then tours the world for all-too familiar stories about our obsession with wealth. Tales of success - Limo Bob and his glee at owning the longest limo in the world; hostess with the mostest Tiffany Masters ("I am such an untraditional mum.") - are tempered by the broken dreams of others like traumatised porn star (and Charlie Sheen escort) Kacey Jordan. Then there are those who've gained belated enlightenment, typified by investment banker Florian Homm, arrogantly puffing on a fat cigar in European exile from a US fraud charge and seemingly unrepentant, until a humanising truth reveals itself. Greenfield is a sensitive, intelligent chronicler of the times and her photography back catalogue enhances the film brilliantly. However, the moment when she's chided by her sons for globetrotting instead of being a mum seems to belong to a different documentary.