Archive for the ‘Documentaries’ Category

  • 13 May

    Posted by


    Category

    DVD Review: Of Two Minds

    0

    Of Two Minds Still

    Director: Douglas Blush, Lisa J. Klein (What A Ball, Cult Culture: The Poseidon Adventure)
    Producers: Kristin Chambers, Lisa Klein
    MPAA Rating: NR
    Running time: 89 min.

    Illness is never easy to deal with but mental illness is particularly difficult. Here’s an illness that has no easy fix. It doesn’t manifest as a rash you can treat and there’s no little pill that will make a sufferer feel better but often it can manifest in very physical ways. Douglas Blush and Lisa J. Klein’s Of Two Minds sets off to explore the tricky rollercoaster world of bipolar disorder.

    Focusing on a handful of individuals, Klein and Bush delve into the manic highs and suicidal lows of the disorder one that, for many of the individuals interviewed, was not diagnosed until later in their adult lives. Cheri Keating explains how she was diagnosed at a free clinic in LA and her experience living her youth as a sufferer and not knowing what she was suffering from. Journalist Liz Spikol and architect and artist Michael Peterson share similar stories of rollercoaster emotional highs and lows that often brought them to the brink of death.

    Of Two Minds follows these individuals as they share their stories. They recount their lowest moments and also the highs, the manic energy that makes you feel invincible and alive and capable of doing anything and how those moments of high energy can also be the most dangerous. While in this state the mind loses reservations and people will do things that they generally wouldn’t, causing them to end up in compromising situations that they sometimes don’t remember or would rather not remember when they finally come down. It’s interesting and heartbreaking that the sufferers, all of whom hail from different walks of life, share such similar experiences.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 04 May

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: Muscle Shoals

    3
    HotDocs13-MuscleShoals

    Tucked into the North-West corner of the state and hugging the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals, Alabama is a slow-paced town of about 13000 people (if you sift it out of its Quad Cities region). But aside from its intriguing name (taken from the shallow areas of the river where mussels could be found), what makes this Southern city so interesting and worthy of an entire documentary about it? Three reasons spring to mind…

    The music…That swampy, bluesy, soulful music that pushes the rhythm section up front and then drags all of the vocalist’s deep seated, long buried emotions out into the open. Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Otis Redding and The Staple Singers all cut seminal sides of music here and influenced countless others – many of whom later came to Muscle Shoals themselves (Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, etc.). Duane Allman just about forced himself into the recording studio as a session guitarist and convinced Pickett to cover The Beatles “Hey Jude” – the results (a revelation to me in this film) becoming a template for The Allman Brothers. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” (as tired as it has become from classic rock radio) has never sounded as fresh or alive than it did playing over the end credits of the film. It’s said that the black artists from this area of Alabama used styles from country music while white musicians incorporated blues & gospel elements. The results lead directly to the Muscle Shoals sound – reason enough to encourage a melting pot of cultures – which permeates every corner of the film. The soundtrack is stupendous and sounded staggeringly great in the confines of the Bloor Theatre.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 02 May

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: Valentine Road

    0
    HotDocs13-ValentineRoad

    Director Marta Cunningham is glad I’m angry. The second showing of her fantastic documentary Valentine Road has just let out at Hot Docs and a few of us are milling about the lobby. She’s more than willing to discuss the film, but even happier to gauge people’s feelings and emotions after viewing it. Several of us mention the anger we feel at the sequence of events, the many points where warning signs were missed and the absolute failure of just about every adult in the film to do the right thing for the students in this particular school. She says that she hopes we hang on to that anger so that we can turn it into something positive – like taking action in regards to local issues or simply helping where we see fit.

    Well, it’s a few days later now and my anger has subsided somewhat – but not completely as it’s still hanging in there. Via its nuanced look at the complicated interactions and issues that led to the 2008 murder of a 15 year-old boy in his classroom, Valentine Road ensures that the feelings will linger. You may remember the case – a Grade 8 boy in Oxnard California named Larry King asks another boy in his class (Brandon McInerney) to be his valentine. A few days later, he lies dying near his classroom computer after Brandon shoots him twice with a gun he brought from home. It’s a horrible crime emanating from intolerance and lack of education, but it’s far from the whole story. Cunningham begins to introduce us to the many people involved in this story – friends, family, teachers, girlfriends, half-brothers, cops, lawyers – and takes us through the tragic backgrounds of both the slain boy and the killer. The cast of characters continues to grow as the film moves beyond the incident, through its aftermath and ever so slowly towards the trial. 3 full years go by from the time of the murder to when the trial finally takes place and then stumbles to a mistrial. A plea bargain is finally reached, but no matter how you view the story there’s bound to be something in it to get your back up.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 28 Apr

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: Anita

    0
    HotDocs13-Anita

    I‘m a bit conflicted over my impressions of Freida Mock’s newest documentary Anita, so let’s see if I can work them out…

    First of all, let me be clear about the subject of the film – Anita Hill is clearly an incredible person. Intelligent, funny, brave and interesting, 20 years ago she became a lightning rod around issues that few people enjoy discussing even today. And yet, there it was on the news back in 1991: an entire panel of old white men talking about sexual harassment, penis sizes and pubic hair during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas. As women were finally breaking down some barriers by garnering greater positions within the U.S. government, Hill’s grace under fire during her single 9 hour questioning session made her a role model for many women and brought more public attention and debate to the issues. Hill understood that harassment of any kind is primarily about control (perhaps being the youngest of 13 children helped her recognize this…) and she strongly felt that her prior experiences with Thomas’ repeated sexual advances and inappropriate closed door insinuations was relevant to him being given a lifetime position on the Supreme Court bench. In other words, “Speak Truth To Power”. The film documents a great deal of Hill’s lengthy appearance at the hearings via old news footage and shows us the road she traveled afterwards up until her present day role as a speaker and professor of public and social policy. Though she never wanted to discuss her history specifically in the classroom, she’s never shied away from it. “If I’m not public, it will be a sense of victory for them”.

    But the film let’s both Anita and the audience down in the telling of all these events. There are fascinating sections of her story (the condescending questions of senators at the hearing, the 25000 letters of hate/support Hill has received, the effect she had on the rise of female politicians at the federal level, etc.), but it’s told flatly, doesn’t always provide as much context as it could have, and mostly sticks to archival footage and current talking head interviews. It’s clear that Mock wanted to keep the focus on Hill, but as engaging as Hill is herself when speaking and discussing her family, career before/after the hearings and her hopes for the future, it sometimes feels similar to a 60 Minutes piece. That’s not in and of itself bad, but it’s disappointing. Particularly due to the excellent work Hill is currently doing with young women and the array of her peers that could have been pulled in for further positioning of her role in changing perceptions on harassment in the workplace. As I walked out, I mentioned to a friend that all the conversation I heard after the film was mostly about ideas Anita Hill had discussed in the extended Q&A (also attended by Mock) and not about the film.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 27 Apr

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: William and the Windmill

    0

    What exactly is William and The Windmill about? Is it the story of a resourceful and ingenious young Malawi boy who builds a windmill from available detritus using diagrams in a book so his parents have a way to power their water pump during a particularly nasty African drought? Or is it the story of affluent white philanthropists (Including Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos’ parents Jacklyn and Mike) who are caught up in their own benevolent idealism? If you go and watch the second of William Kamkwamba’s Technology Entertainment Design (TED) talks – the first one is featured in the film, but at age 17 he is more deer in headlights than anything else – he comments on that experience in retrospect something to the effect of, “I’d never seen surround by so many azungu – white people. ” There is another exchange in the Ben Nabor’s documentary where the filmmaker asks William point blank what he wants for his life, rather than what other people want for his best interest. There is confusion to such a naked question, as William seems to perpetually wear a cloak of semi-dignified acquiescence. This moment might be best one in the film, which tells, but barely shows the event when William was 14.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 27 Apr

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: Rent A Family Inc.

    0

    Ryuichi Ichinokawa’s wife doesn’t know what he does for a living. And she doesn’t really seem to care…”Without meaningful conversation, any relationship withers. I guess I just gave up on him. As long as we can pay the bills, I don’t care what he’s doing anymore.” He is either out at work, uncommunicative on the computer at home (when she says the above quote to the filmmakers, he’s right there in the same room on the computer and has no reaction) or sleeping. He thinks she has a negative attitude, stopped supporting him long ago and cares more about what her friends think than what he does. Short of his obsession with one day getting to Hawaii, they no longer have any ambition, hopes or dreams and assume the worst about each other. They are two very lonely people and Ryuichi wonders how much longer they will stay together after the kids have both gone off to school. So it may seem odd that the name of his company is “I Want To Cheer You Up Ltd”.

    HotDocs13-RentAFamilyInc

    Ryuichi’s business provides the service of having himself or one of his extended team come and pose as a family member or friend for the client. Weddings tend to generate a lot of business as brides and grooms want to fill out their side of the aisle with additional people to show their worth (Ryuichi has even sat at an honoured guests table and even made a speech), but it seems like just about any situation might suddenly need a fake family member present. He’s played the husband for a woman trying to get her Ex to provide for her kids and a father for a girl whose boyfriend wants to ensure he has the right blessings before they move in together (her real Dad would never approve) while also having a team of about 30 other people who can take on any role required. The need for all this fakery seems to stem from many people’s concept of family honour and the need to represent a strong family and set of friends to others – which makes everything quite ironic when they use Ryuichi’s service to create layers of new secrets and lies.

    My initial interest in the film stemmed from it sounding like a real life version of the events in the Greek film ALPS (based around a team of people who take on the role of their clients’ family members to re-enact scenes from their life). As interesting as that facet of the film is, it’s actually a stronger match with Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata – the story of a man who can’t bear to tell his family he lost his job. Ryuichi is still very much a follower of the patriarchal society and is searching for his validation and respect through his customers since he doesn’t appear to get it at home (he talks about how they used to celebrate Father’s Day, but don’t anymore…). He claims that he simply wants to make his clients happy and help steer their lives in the right direction – mostly due to the fact that he is deeply unhappy himself and doesn’t see a way out. A fascinating look at one man’s broken dreams and the broader implications of a culture that places importance on what other people think of you.

    Upcoming Screenings:

    Sun, Apr 28 9:00 PM
    Scotiabank 4

    Tue, Apr 30 1:00 PM
    The ROM Theatre

    Sun, May 5 1:00 PM
    Scotiabank 3

  • 26 Apr

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: Shooting Bigfoot

    0

    Director Morgan Matthews states right up front that he used to be keenly interested in Bigfoot in his younger days. Years later, that interest has now flipped and turned into a deep curiosity of the people that continue to search, track and believe in the hairy Sasquatch. He follows along with three separate teams – the deluded but honest believers, the opportunist business man and the liar – while they go through their paces to gain any evidence of the long-elusive beast. Early on it looks like the film might be just like any other let’s-go-talk-to-crazy-people doc (filled with energy, but not shedding any interesting light on anything), but shortly after all three expeditions are arranged and we’ve jumped between each team’s early preparations with Matthews, we cut to the director lying in a hospital bed. Suddenly we have a different movie on our hands…

    HotDocs13-ShootingBigfoot

    Though Dallas and Wayne seem a bit unsteady, they appear to honestly think they have the largest amount of compelling evidence anyone could come across. Sure it’s mostly blurry photos, recordings of sounds and anecdotes, but they’ve devoted their lives to it. They truly seem kindhearted, but a little bit lost and possibly even desperate. Tom and his professional team, on the other hand, have trucks filled with equipment and have made numerous videos of their exploits. They feel they are “this close” to finally nabbing one of the pesky critters. He is easily angered by any kind of intimation that perhaps he may have previously exaggerated some of their findings (actually, many things easily anger him) and he’s wary of the camera always being on. The third team is a solo hunter named Rick and his part-time vegetarian intern named Briana. He happens to have some history with Tom: a widely reported hoax by Rick and a friend was initially supported by Tom until proof of the fraud was made public. Rick has now reinvented himself as a professional tracker of Bigfoot and Matthews joins him on a several days-long jaunt through the deep woods.

    The film becomes more and more engaging as we learn more about these people, their techniques, self-delusions and possible deceptions. It’s all the more intriguing since you know that Matthews is going to face an ordeal of some variety, but with which team? None of them escape looking silly – Rick tripping in the woods while he wears cowboy boots, Tom’s admission after a particularly stressful moment that he’s had 7 stints in his heart, Dallas calling for Bigfoot using a “shamen language” – but there’s also a more serious tone that slides under the entire film as the teams come across numerous other people living in rather desperate and terribly sad ways. Guns seem to be easily acquired, the economy hasn’t rebounded for any of these folks and basic needs are a struggle to acquire. It’s a clever mix of myth debunking, suspense, silly fun and state-of-a-decaying-nation profile. So how does it end? Well, like Bigfoot itself, you’ll just have to see it to believe it.

    Upcoming screenings:

    Tue, Apr 30 8:29 PM
    TIFF Bell Lightbox 2

    Wed, May 1 11:59 PM
    Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

    Fri, May 3 9:30 PM
    The Royal Cinema

  • 26 Apr

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne

    0

    HIt takes a certain amount of chutzpah to walk into a jewelry store and pull a pure short-con swindle. Doris Payne, now in her early eighties, remains as wiry and razor sharp as she ever was, pulling one jewel heist or another around the world as she has been for the past 60 years. Delightfully no-tech, she uses sleight of hand, the expectations of the clerk and a chameleon ability to role-play – meaning she’s a wonderful liar! And there is something rather magnetic (on screen anyway about a magnificent liar.) Payne has her own level of fame and notoriety in the criminal world, and even at her advanced age, is far from feeling too old to retire from her unusual lifestyle. But the world, now bursting with technology and chain department stores featuring ubiquitous surveillance, has passed by her criminal moment.

    HotDocs13-DorisPayne

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 26 Apr

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: We Cause Scenes

    0

    Having seen numerous examples of their good-natured public pranks online, We Cause Scenes was pretty much exactly what I wanted in a documentary covering the history of Improv Everywhere. Aside from a few minor blips along the way, there’s no backstabbing, terrible secrets or battles against demons to derail them. Just the uplifting story of one guy, a whole pile of his friends and how they wanted to bring a bit more happiness to people’s everyday lives. They were also ahead of the curve in that they got on the web in the early days of blogging, had tons of video ready to go when YouTube started and jumped in with both feet to High Def. It’s easy to see why they’ve built their following – mission by mission – from local friends to similar groups doing similar events around the world.

    HotDocs13-WeCauseScenes

    The first I heard about this merry band was the Best Buy gag: a sizable group of people all wearing blue shirts and pale khakis (the same look as the uniform of Best Buy employees) each entering a single Best Buy store and simply standing around and lingering…If asked a question or mistakenly considered to be an employee, they would just say they were waiting for someone. It’s a funny concept and, as it played out in an edited YouTube video, an even funnier implementation. Granted, it perturbed several actual Best Buy employees and managers, but the overall impact was to put smiles on the faces of a pretty large chunk of random shoppers that day. And that was always the ultimate goal: do something that for people who saw it, turned into “their” story and experience which they could race back and tell their friends about.

    Charlie Todd (the brains behind the operation) and some friends started doing things on the cheap – the no-pants subway rides, having a costumed Princess Leia suddenly encounter Darth Vader on the subway, having jockeys pretend to race on a carousel, etc. – and these were the perfect way to build the audience initially to get people invested in what they were doing. The film plays out somewhat like a DVD commentary on their gags – there’s nothing wrong with that as it kept a smile on my face for most of it – but it also might have been more interesting to dig further into reactions to these events, issues when they backfire, how stores and authority figures react, etc. It’s a minor complaint in that the film already touches on these subjects and its good will is in abundant supply. I initially had a few worries that the troupe might have been involved in more pranks involving the embarrassment of their victims, but fortunately they stay true to their maxim – bring some unexpected joy to random strangers.

    Upcoming Screenings:

    Fri, Apr 26 9:30 PM
    The Royal Cinema

    Sun, Apr 28 2:00 PM
    Isabel Bader Theatre

    Sat, May 4 5:30 PM
    Hart House Theatre

  • 25 Apr

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: The Manor

    0

    Prior to the screening, I must admit that it was a bit eyebrow raising that the Hot Docs Film Festival planned on opening with a film about a strip club, and the dysfunctional Jewish family that runs it, in rural Guelph, a tiny University town just outside Toronto. Was the festival going for titillating, or as the programme intimated, a bit of character driven slice-of-life, in lieu of the usual activism, art and social issues with their opener. A film from a first-time director, no less. Of course, now having seen the film, indeed, it is a great choice for an opener, which relies less on showing gyrating strippers and the peeler bar itself, and far more about the effect of putting a family unit (and business) in that environment for so long a time. While not a social finger wagging type of film at all, it does demonstrate the rather profound effect that the breadwinning business has on each family member appetites and values, both literally and figuratively. Slotting The Manor as the kick-off film shows a festival gleefully breaking with tradition, just as it hits its 20th year, and delivering something subversively crowd pleasing, at least for those with a twisted sense of humour.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 25 Apr

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: The Expedition To The End Of The World

    0

    One of the old adages of filmmaking is that you need to start with the story, focus on that narrative and build from there. Documentary film isn’t overly different, except that in some cases it can find its narrative as it goes along (or is found in the editing process). Typically, though, the film will still be crafted in the end to create a full story arc. Daniel Dencik’s The Expedition To The End Of The World chooses another route. By assembling a rather diverse crew of scientists, artists and adventurers on a single ship diving into the inlets of Greenland, Dencik has meshed together their different reasons for making the trip, their different tasks and experiments, and their very varied philosophies into a large tapestry of perspective on the results (and potential results) of global warming.

    HotDocs13-TheExpeditionToTheEndOfTheWorld2

    Though there is essentially a beginning and an end – as the gorgeous ship enters and exits these inlets that have rarely, if ever, been explored – the rest of the film flips and flits between the ship’s passengers to see how they are spending their time. It varies…Some perform experiments that include hooking up hang gliders to motorized rafts, drilling down to the permafrost and even discovering new lifeforms while others paint, draw, write or get into long discussions about the nature of man. The conversations are oddly unemotional and free of politics: some of the scientists admit they are more interested in the process of global warming than they are in what it does to humanity, while one of the artists (the film’s most entertaining character) simply states he doesn’t care since we will just adapt.

    It’s an interesting point of view, though probably better expressed by one of the scientists – he states that whenever a life form has just about evolved to meet its surroundings, it starts to have enough of an impact on them so that they need to restart the evolution process to fit the new surroundings. In his view, that’s exactly where humanity is right now. The constant impending doom of the film – its soundtrack, the massive icebergs (some crumbling right in front of the camera), the ideas being debated – might make those statements seem ominous, but the humour of these men and women, the occasional blasts of Metallica emanating from the ship’s deck and the absolutely stunning scenery and surroundings (I haven’t seen a more beautiful film in quite some time), certainly bring some positive hope. As one of the adventurers says: “Life is everywhere”.

    Upcoming screenings:

    Fri, Apr 26 7:00 PM
    TIFF Bell Lightbox 1

    Sun, Apr 28 3:30 PM
    Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

    Sat, May 4 6:30 PM
    Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

  • 25 Apr

    Posted by


    Category

    Hot Docs 2013: Quality Balls – The David Steinberg Story

    0

    It’s 1976 or 1977 and sitting at the table are John Candy, Martin Short, Joe Flaherty and Dave Thomas – Canadian comedy royalty if there ever was. And yet standing over them, presiding over the entire affair in this old TV clip, is David Steinberg. Already an influence to a generation of comedians due to his storytelling abilities and decision to keep his own name, it seems apropos that he help spawn even more careers from his own short-lived TV show (about a guy called David Steinberg who had his own TV talk show – the influence continues…). Yes, a Canadian could actually grow up to become a famous comedian and even do it on his own terms no less.

    HotDocs13-QualityBalls

    Quality Balls (a term provided by Jerry Seinfeld to denote not only what Steinberg possesses, but also what he was able to provide as a legacy to today’s political humourists) is a conventional enough documentary about Steinberg’s life, but is generous enough with old clips (in particular some gems with Johnny Carson) and new interview footage so as to give us a very full picture of the Winnipeg-born funny man’s humour and approach to comedy. Through his early days in Chicago’s Second City (with Fred Willard, Robert Klein and others), to his improvised sermons, to his 130 appearances on Carson’s Tonight Show (second only to Bob Hope) and on to his current incarnation as a director (film and TV), we see the growth of his natural timing and charm as he perfects the art of slowly unveiling his tales.

    You can see it in the eyes of Carson as he watches Steinberg from his desk (there’s a wonderful rapport between the two of them – easy to see why he was brought back so often) and hear it in the voice of Jerry Seinfeld as he tries to coax him back to doing another stand-up – it’s that sense of joy they have in watching the craft of comedy. It’s a bit odd to think of that kind of reverence being given to such a friendly man who achieved great success for directing top TV hits like Newhart, Golden Girls and Mad About You, but when you hear about his years being on Nixon’s enemies list, his sharp barbs (“critics are like eunuchs at a gang-bang”) and how he is essentially the reason for the removal of The Smothers Brothers Show from the airwaves, it makes a whole lot more sense. Quality balls indeed.

    Upcoming screenings:

    Thu, May 2 9:30 PM
    Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

    Fri, May 3 4:15 PM
    Scotiabank 4

    Sun, May 5 4:15 PM
    Isabel Bader Theatre

Page 1 of 1612345»10...Last »