Visions of Non-Fiction

The Mill and the Cross

2011-12-02T16:09:00.004-05:00

The Mill and the Cross
By Lech Majewski, 2011

If you have ever looked at paintings from centuries past and wondered what a particular scene would look like when brought to life, here is your chance. In Lech Majewski’s new film The Mill and the Cross, he attempts to understand and portray the meanings and decisions behind Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 1564 painting The Way to Calvary. Why is there a tree there? What does the mill itself represent? As a filmic answer to these questions and more, The Mill and the Cross is quite the success.

The film opens on a Flemish landscape. The camera pans along the setting, and in it we see a crowd of people including soldiers, peasants and a woman crying in the foreground. The characters hold their stances as still as they can, with a horse or a child occasionally coming out of his or her freeze. Soon the artist Bruegel enters with a colleague to discuss the scene at hand, the scene that will become his painting.

The Way to Calvary is a work depicting Jesus being persecuted amongst the people of Flanders in the 16th century. Flemish people accused of heresy were regularly executed during this time by the Catholic Spaniards ruling the land. Bruegel created this work as an allegory for the inhumane crimes he witnessed, and now Majewski has painted a wonderful portrait himself, being ever so insightful of the painting with his film.

Besides laying out the scene in the painting (the scenery is beautifully composed using a wonderful green screen effect that allows the actors to appear alive on Bruegel’s painted background), Majewski uses elements from the painting to display historical details from the time period. When we cut away from the live-action painting at the beginning of the film, we are taken to the mill that stands in the artwork's top corner. A couple wakes up in the early morning, they put on their wooden clogs and begin the laborious process of starting up the windmill. A man asleep on the floor is also awoken; he walks the exaggerated distance (the mill in the painting is perched atop a steep mountain peak) to the mill’s terrace, where he releases the mill's sails to begin the grinding of grain. Soon after, we are shown a young Flemish couple take their calf to market, only for the man to be apprehended by Spanish soldiers, beaten, then tied to a wheel which is subsequently perched atop a tall stick of wood so his bloodied body can be feasted on by crows. In The Way to Calvary, these barbaric devices are seen planted throughout the landscape.

Unlike anything I’ve seen before, The Mill and the Cross is quite special. It is part documentary, part drama, part history lesson and part art lesson, using a minimal amount of dialogue to share its knowledge. Maybe it isn’t for everyone, but if you are keen on learning and have patience for details, please seek this film out. Immediately after viewing the film I found myself hoping that the director would follow up with another investigation of a painting. I really hope so.

4 out of 5

Project Nim

2011-08-19T16:25:00.002-04:00

Project Nim
By James Marsh, 2011

My friend and I have a running joke about all things primate: chimps, gorillas, apes, etc. There isn’t a specific joke we have going, but we both find them hilarious and terrifying. Chimps are scary. As cute and human-like as they might seem, they are unpredictable and incredibly strong. With the new Planet of the Apes reboot just released in theatres, my friend and I thought we were up for a special blend of fun and scares. But with quite good reviews, maybe we ought to take that film more seriously before venturing to the theatre. The other primate-focused film in theatres right now is Project Nim, and after listening to an NPR podcast about a similar scenario, I recently opted to choose reality over science-fiction.

Project Nim is James Marsh’s documentary on Nim Chimpsky, a chimp raised solely by humans in the 1970s. Nim was taken from his mother by psychologist Herbert S. Terrace soon after being born in order to see if he could be taught American Sign Language. The film follows Nim’s journey through several homes, including his initial homestead where he was treated more like a child in a family than an animal, and a research building in the country where the comings and goings of psychologists and students would cause the chimp to act out in anger and revolt.

The documentary is a well-executed, suspenseful piece of filmmaking. Marsh sets up the story with a cast of interesting characters that include the types of heroes and villains one would find in a fiction narrative. The central character is always Nim, but he is as complex as any human you will see in a documentary this year; he becomes a type of antihero that you pity but also fear. The story is constructed with the use of great historical footage, and the interviews are quite intimate and direct at times, reminding me of Errol Morris documentaries like The Thin Blue Line and Standard Operating Procedure.

Although a metaphorical motif of having characters literally ‘removed from the picture’ is a little forced, as are some of the reenactments, overall Project Nim is a very interesting film. It raises many questions about our relationship with animals and the underlying, mysterious feelings these captive primates have. And Marsh seems to revel in these types of fantastical stories in our history, as he did in Wisconsin Death Trip and Man on Wire. These stories aren’t widely known, so let’s hope he continues to unearth many more and bring them to life, so we as an audience can join in on the discovery.

4 out of 5

2000s: Billy the Kid

2011-08-07T16:49:00.002-04:00

Billy the Kid
By Jennifer Venditti, 2007

I first saw Billy the Kid at one of my first Hot Docs Film Festival screenings. I was to finish my Film degree at York University the following year and excited to take part in what would become my favourite Toronto film festival. The film stuck with me over the years (Billy and director Jennifer Venditti are featured in the title bar of the site) and I was pleased to pick up a copy not too long ago. I rewatched the film last night.

Billy the Kid is a 2007 documentary about Billy Price, a sophomore high school student living in small-town Maine. Billy is intelligent, outspoken and loves karate, metal music and girls. He sounds like any other teenage boy, but in another way, Billy is quite different. He has an obvious social awkwardness to him; one which doctors said early on would mean he would need to be institutionalized. More testing revealed that Billy was perfectly fine to live at home with his family, which he does, and he attends a regular high school.

Venditti's film follows Billy's day to day activities, aided by a voiceover where Billy talks about his views on life, love and his personal mental health. He is mostly seen bouncing around the nearby woods or biking around the streets of his town, talking to local kids about his fascination with horror movies. A narrative takes shape when Billy meets a local girl working at a diner. With his heart aflutter, Billy woos the girl, and the magic of seeing someone with their first love is all caught on camera. All of this conjures up nostalgia for one’s own pining and high school crushes, but the film isn’t without its concerns.

One can’t help but wonder while watching Billy the Kid about exploitation in documentary. Billy’s social issues are confirmed in the DVD extras as Aspberger’s Syndrome. Venditti may not have been aware of this while filming, but she knew that something was amiss. So one has to question, is the director’s intentions sympathetic or exploitive? Billy obviously makes for a great character; his insights are profound, mature and hilarious. And Venditti’s commentary suggests that she had found someone whom we as an audience can all relate to, someone who displays all the awkwardness of coming of age as a teenager. But one can't help but wonder if she is also poking fun at Billy. There's a moment where we see Billy pick up his guitar, take his shirt off and rock out to a metal concert video on his TV. He is obviously hamming it up for the camera, but then the view is switched to outside of his window, and instead of hearing both the concert and Billy playing along, we hear just Billy. I was taken back by that small section when I rewatched the film, wondering if Venditti was intentionally teasing Billy behind his back. Or is she just showing an example of a memory we are all familiar with; one where we are back in our teenage bedrooms, doing things the rest of the world doesn't know we're doing? Whatever the reason, the film itself is a good conversation piece regarding the moral grounds of documentaries, and Venditti offers a lot of touching moments.

Billy the Kid is an enjoyable experience because we as an audience are tested by Billy's brazenness and are reminded of our own trials and triumphs when we were in high school. You can tell that Venditti does care for her subject and rewatching the film, I can tell why I was first so enamored with it when I first saw it. It's the tale of an outsider, being himself and finding his way through the ups and downs of life.

3 ½ out of 5

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

2011-07-27T12:54:00.003-04:00

Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog, 2010

The documentary subjects of Werner Herzog films are always unique. Whether it is the community of people living in Antarctica, a man obsessed with grizzly bears, or the flying of a one-of-a-kind vessel over Guyana, Herzog’s non-fiction subject matter seems specially associated to him; the focus is always Herzogian, if you will. Traveling to extremes, documenting curious individuals, and facing environments many have not encountered the likes of, the director’s latest adventure is no different.

In Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Herzog and a small team of scientists and technicians explore the Chauvet Cave in France. The cave was discovered in the 1990s and found to contain perfectly preserved drawings from 30,000 years ago. Vivid and detailed drawings of horses, rhinoceroses, lions and others cover parts of the cave wall, looking like they could have been completed yesterday.

What is special about Cave of Forgotten Dreams, other than being able to see these drawings at all (Herzog was allowed incredible access to the cave. Most filming equipment could cause damage to the preservation of the drawings, so the documentary team had limited time and had to use special equipment to capture the imagery), is that it utilizes the currently popular 3D style. Personally, I find 3D films to be often quite distracting, headache-inducing, and diminishing in the overall colour of the picture. Yet the use of 3D in Cave of Forgotten Dreams is actually quite wonderful. It creates an impressive feeling of depth within the cave and aids in visualizing the contours of the walls the scenes are drawn on.

As with most Herzog documentaries, the filmmaker plays a role in the narrative. His distinct voiceover plays throughout, describing his thoughts on the drawings and the people who may have created them thousands of years ago. His philosophical ramblings are a signature of his films (again, Herzogian), but in his previous works I have felt more at home with them. I find he strives to say things here that are intriguing but also a bit silly. At one point he asks a technician what the dreams of the cave drawers may have been, which is valid but also comes off as “trying too hard”; In a sense, I feel he is trying too hard to make this a Herzogian film. The connection he makes to alligators living in a sanctuary near the cave to the future of the cave itself also seems a bit haphazard and thrown in.

As always, though, a new Werner Herzog film is something to behold and discover. I admire the man for his guts and bravado, taking on and fighting to film the subject matter that many may believe is unfilmable. He is prolific beyond words, and Cave of Forgotten Dreams is another piece in his canon that is truly an original work of wonder.

3 1/2 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - Buck

2011-05-09T16:20:00.002-04:00

Buck
By Cindy Meehl, 2011

My last screening of the festival was yesterday, Sunday, May 8. A Mother's Day afternoon showing of Buck, Cindy Meehl's tale of Buck Brannaman, a traveling horse whisperer and horse clinic organizer, proved to be a wonderful way to end my venture into Hot Docs 2011. Brannaman's story of personal growth after a childhood of pain and becoming an amazingly talented and patient presence around horses was a hit at Sundance earlier this year and (just announced) placed sixth in Hot Docs' Top Ten People's Choice standings. Brannaman is an amazing subject. Interesting, handsome and hilarious, his poise, wisdom and grace carry the film. The landscapes are beautiful and the scenes with untamed horses at the clinics are tense, frightening and exciting. Meehl has captured something special here, for horse lovers or not.

5 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - The Forgotten Space

2011-05-09T13:28:00.003-04:00

The Forgotten Space
By Allan Sekula and Noel Burch, 2011

After the high of seeing The Interrupters, I rushed to a cinema in the same complex to see The Forgotten Space by Allan Sekula and Noel Burch. I had to skip a Q&A with Interrupters' director Steve James in order to catch this film, but I was soon wishing I hadn't. Maybe it was because I had just seen a very engagingly emotional piece, but I never really found myself connecting to The Forgotten Space, a film about the the effects of globalization on the transport industry. The film seemed more suited for a television news program, but even then, with its cloying voiceover and unfocused editing and subject matter, I don't know who would have found it particularly enthralling. Maybe a second chance is needed, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

2 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - The Interrupters

2011-05-09T12:40:00.003-04:00

The Interrupters
By Steve James, 2011

Hoop Dreams director Steve James came to the Hot Docs Film Festival this year with a documentary about the state of violence in Chicago. The Interrupters follows the workers of a group named CeaseFire, a committee dedicated to intervening in altercations and preventing violence in the harsh streets of their city. The film is a lengthy 142 minutes, but the screening felt steady and brisk. With this film, James has captured a city in turmoil with grace, humour and empathy, and he succeeds as well as he does because of the wonderful subjects he interviews and focuses on. CeaseFire's Ameena, Eddie and Cobe offer a world of history and wisdom not just to the many young Chicagoans they are helping, but to the audience as well. The film is edited in the default "seasons of the year" style, but it is such an emotional and powerful piece that tears were often running down my face throughout the screening. Another festival favourite.

5 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - At The Edge of Russia

2011-05-09T09:18:00.002-04:00

At The Edge of Russia
By Michal Marczak, 2011

A young officer in the Russian military is sent to the country's northern border. Meeting his fellow patriots at their log cabin-like outpost, they are given the task of patrolling the snowy, barren land for invaders. Marczak has really captured something magical in At The Edge of Russia, as everything comes together wonderfully. The snowy landscape is beautiful and haunting, and the outpost itself becomes a secluded haven, a character itself. Speaking of characters, the director could not have found more interesting subjects. Without the use of interviews, we come to know the men, each with their own words of wisdom for the young recruit and each with their own characteristics and standings within the makeshift family. They pass their days with futile training activities, distracting themselves occasionally with games, songs and dances. The men's jobs may appear boring, watching the film is anything but. A real highlight from this year's festival.

5 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - Living Skin (with Guanape Sur)

2011-05-09T09:13:00.005-04:00

Guanape Sur
By Janos Richter, 2011

Guanape is a short film that preceded the screening of Living Skin. Both films were a part of the Workers of the World series at this year's festival and both films came up slight for me as I had higher expectations. The short documentary is beautiful visually and the subject is highly promising: workers are sent to an island off the coast of Peru every eleven years to collect bird excrement that has hardened and turned into profitable fertilizer. Many risk injuring themselves due to infections, illnesses and the peril found on the steep landscape. When the film abruptly ended, I found myself wanting more. More scenes of the interesting landscape, more focus on how the fertilizer is collected and organized, and more intimacy with the workers. Sometimes Abrupt endings feel warranted.. Sometimes they just feel... abrupt.

3 out of 5

Living Skin
By Fawzi Saleh, 2011

In the bustling city of Cairo, child workers play a prominent role. Living Skin is a mid-length documentary following various young boys as they work in the city's tanneries, handling animal skins, treating them with dangerous chemicals and shipping them by horse and cart. The conditions these boys live and work in are shocking and Saleh does a wonderful job capturing their daily routines, but its chosen structure comes off as a bit too easy and sloppy. The film is edited into days of the week, but for no apparent reason, because after the title card with the date is shown, one day is undecipherable from the next. The film is also heavy with narration from the boys, which plays over scenes of them working. The narration is interesting at times, such as when the boys speak about their work, but there are also tangents from them about girls they love and other feelings that, although are cute, come off as unfocused and would have been better presented elsewhere.

3 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - We Were Here

2011-05-04T17:10:00.003-04:00

We Were Here
By David Weissman, 2011

Weissman’s feature documents the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco from its uncovering in the late 1970s and early 1980s to its slowdown, yet still much alive state, today. We Were Here is a “talking heads” documentary, which can leave the viewer, such as myself, hungry for more visual and creative flair. But the interviews presented here are just so heartbreaking and involving, really making this film something to cherish. Interviewing various subjects who lived through the era: a florist, a nurse, a hospital volunteer, Weissman intercuts their words with haunting visuals of lives lost and of citizens in political and social unrest. Without said visual flair and a concrete ending (but could there really be an ending with such a subject?), the film risks alienating audiences, but the director has compiled such fantastic interviewees that I wonder if there was a dry eye in the entire theatre last night. A wonderful film and a great history lesson.

4 ½ out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - Zelal

2011-05-04T16:58:00.004-04:00

Zelal
By Marianne Khoury & Mustapha Hasnaoui, 2011

Directors Khoury and Hasnaouri confine themselves inside the walls of a Cairo mental institution in their film Zelal, their camera rarely leaving the hard and worn faces of the resident patients. It can be a difficult film to watch as we learn many patients (I want to write inmates) have been abandoned by their spouses and families, with some showing signs of possible sanity but no freedom of choice. The direct cinema style displays haunting portraits of people forgotten by the outside world, but also creates a sort of redundant showcase: the ramblings of the insane become almost synonymous. The film should be seen for its unnerving view inside a world that is rarely observed, a world that should be opened up and renovated in its infrastructure and healthcare. But be prepared for possible boredom.

3 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - The Casle

2011-05-04T16:46:00.003-04:00

The Castle
By Massimo D’Anolfi & Martina Parenti, 2011

The Castle is a cinema verite-style documentary focusing on various characters working, arriving, departing and living in the Malpensa Airport in Milan. Whether it’s a young man being questioned for smuggling drugs, people’s bags and phones being extensively searched or a hilarious bomb specialist investigating an abandoned suitcase, D’Anolfi and Parenti are allowed incredible access. The film asks no questions, but just observes with a wonderfully steady (although sometimes too steady) hand. A great piece of direct cinema.

4 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - The Hollywood Complex

2011-05-02T17:14:00.002-04:00

The Hollywood Complex
By Dan Sturman and Dylan Nelson, 2011

Set in the Oakwood Hotel in Los Angeles, California, The Hollywood Complex focuses on the families of child actors who stay there during the annual Hollywood television pilot season. While some families leave after the season is over, many stay year after year, their children taking classes and going to auditions. The film is pretty wonderful overall, displaying shocking and hilarious portraits of money-hungry parents and agents, and children wanting fame before anything else. The subject is one that needs to be uncovered and presented to the public, as much of the casting process for these children is startling. But as one of the directors stated during the Q&A, many classic films could not have been made without children, so there is a troubling conflict of sorts. If I have one complaint, it is with the same director trying to cover up his tracks during the Q&A by saying that he was worried by some of the audience’s laughter during scenes and that he hoped they presented not only the bad and the ugly, but also the good. I believe that much of the reaction to the film, with such subject matter, is unavoidable, and that the “good” really wasn’t much on display here. It did come off as an indictment of an institution, which is nothing to be ashamed of. And as a personal conflict: as much as I enjoyed the documentary and participated in the laughter, I just hope the film’s children never see it.

4 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - Maids and Bosses (with Three Walls)

2011-05-02T17:09:00.005-04:00

Three Walls
By Zaheed Mawani, 2011

Screening before the mid-length feature Maids and Bosses, Three Walls is a terrific short about the history, design and society’s current feelings towards the modern-day cubicle. Director Mawani intercuts wonderful shots of factory workers building cubicle walls with the testimonies of several office workers and architectural designers. The film is a hilarious and poignant look at not just the physical structure, but office life in general.
4 1/2 out of 5

Maids and Bosses
By Abner Benaim, 2011

This year Hot Docs has a series entitled Workers of the World, a category that holds three of the films I will be seeing during the festival. Maids and Bosses is one of these films, which presents the dichotomy of servant and master in modern-day Panama. The film showcases both maid and house-owner, allowing each to tell their stories of either strife or success, with most of the sentiment belying the maids who have to undergo less than desirable treatment from their bosses. Many of these maids tell compellingly startling stories of absurd treatment, yet the film trivializes them with sometimes-unfitting music and strange and long cinematic diversions, such as a child making a mess in a toy room in slow-motion. I feel if the film followed two or three maids’ stories and used a more cinema verite approach, the film could have been more successful.
3 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011 - Wisconsin Death Trip

2011-05-02T17:04:00.002-04:00

Wisconsin Death Trip
By James Marsh, 1999

Part of the Ripping Reality series at this year’s Hot Docs Festival, which screens “looked-over” gems from the past ten or so years, Wisconsin Death Trip is Man on Wire director James Marsh’s look at the strange events that occurred in one small Wisconsin town between 1890 and 1900. Edited as almost a photo essay, the film uses articles from the town’s newspaper to list off what happened and incorporates wonderfully filmed reenactments to go along with the narration. Although the almost unbelievable occurrences make the film very engrossing, the ‘compilation’ feel of the editing (event after event after event) creates an expected tiresomeness.

3 1/2 out of 5

Hot Docs 2011

2011-04-28T17:20:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow I start my annual venture into Toronto’s beloved annual Hot Docs Film Festival. I have 11 films I plan to see, so it’ll be another exhausting, but worthwhile run. I start with a late night screening of James Marsh’s Wisconsin Death Trip, a documentary from 1999 about one small town’s crazy occurrence of disasters in the 19th century.

My list of films to see also includes:

Maids and Bosses by Abner Benaim
The Hollywood Complex by Dan Sturman, Dylan Nelson
The Castle by Massimo D'Anolfi, Martina Parenti
Zelal by Marianne Khoury, Mustapha Hasnaoui
We Were Here by David Weissman
Living Skin by Fawzi Saleh – screening with Guanape Sur by János Richter
At The Edge of Russia by Michal Marczak
The Interrupters by Steve James
The Forgotten Space by Allan Sekula, Noël Burch
Buck by Cindy Meehl

I will be writing capsule reviews of these films as I did last year.

2000s: Deliver Us From Evil

2011-03-25T18:52:00.005-04:00

Deliver Us From Evil by Amy Berg, 2006

With no real resolution, the case presented by Amy Berg in 2006's Deliver Us From Evil is one of the most difficult in recent times: the accusations of abuse by Catholic priests of children. Now I cannot act as an expert on this field, so I will try to keep discussion to the film at hand. As a sidenote, I will be viewing and discussing films, even if they are a few years old and do not seem relevant to today, as I am only coming to view them now.

The documentary Deliver Us From Evil primarily focuses on Father Oliver O'Grady who moved from Ireland to California in the 1970s to be the head of a parish in a small town. After accusations of abuse by parishioners, O'Grady was moved by heads of the church to various other towns in close proximity. Abuse in each location is eventually brought forth yet systematically covered up by higher powers. The film contains many instances in the trial of O'Grady and several abuse victims and their families speak of the horrible natures of their ordeals. We learn that the Catholic church itself continuously does its best to deny any knowledge of wrongdoings, particularly with O'Grady's case.

The film itself is impressive in its access to O'Grady himself. He talks freely with the filmmaker about his urges and his ideas on what should and should not have happened. At one point I found myself oddly respecting him because he was able to talk so openly about his feelings and the events that occurred. This respect changed by the end, when a glimmer in O'Grady's eyes showed something very disconnected with his past actions. A smile here and a wink there left me bewildered and disturbed. Berg's choice of interviewees is also to be commended as experts on the Catholic faith and officials of the law give very interesting commentaries on the nature of the church's actions and the possible reasoning behind so many priests' unlawful actions.

It's hard to argue about Deliver Us From Evil on an artistic level. The film is a talking-heads expose on the church and its crimes and its interviews are surprising and heart-wrenching. One may find it difficult to say certain artistic choices failed when the subject matter is really what is most important, yet I found the editing lacked a certain build-up. The story at times seemed a bit all over the place and I found it a bit difficult to understand the chronological order of events. The music choices also felt sometimes odd – as in when the abuse victims visit the Vatican, a Celtic-style soundtrack is used that hearkened too much towards O'Grady's cultural background and almost felt like an unneeded Irish celebration. I am sure this was unintended, but that was the vibe I felt.

Deliver Us From Evil is a film that really should be seen. It angers one to see how so much is being covered up by an institution that is to be revered for its morals. The director should be acknowledged greatly for her unearthing of facts and testimonies to tell a shocking tale of incredible deceit.

3 1/2 out of 5

The Arbor

2011-03-03T12:44:00.002-05:00

The Arbor by Clio Barnard, 2010

At a very young age, Andrea Dunbar became a local sensation in her Yorkshire town. Having written a play called The Arbor, Andrea found her work commissioned for a theatre in London. She had a simple reason for its title: this is where the events in the play take place. This is where all of these events really happened.

Clio Barnard’s new film, also titled The Arbor, is a unique venture into filmmaking. What could be called a fiction/narrative-styled documentary, the film uses actors to lip sync to audio interviews Barnard recorded with her subjects – mainly Andrea Dunbar’s relatives and acquaintances. The style is often immediate and unsettling: you know the actors are not saying the words, but their interpretation of the subjects’ responses and gestures, along with their gazes aimed directly at the camera give the film a haunting importance. Although one may argue that the subjects themselves could have easily been filmed and presented in real form, I found the technique a mesmerizing and worthy choice.

Dunbar’s story is a tragic and often difficult one to hear. Her plays tell of struggles with pregnancy, racism and violence (scenes from the play The Arbor are performed throughout the film in the Brafferton Arbor where Dunbar grew up, with residents surrounding the actors as a real audience) and the interviews with Dunbar’s relatives and acquaintances speak of a harsh family life and subsequent hardships experienced after Andrea’s early death. The interviewees’ heavy accents are almost indecipherable at times, but the story is compelling and heartbreaking, and the performances are really top-notch. During a post-screening Q & A, an audience member asked if English subtitles were considered. Barnard’s answer was that reading words at the bottom of the screen would have viewers missing the actors’ subtle facial movements and expressions. And with a film as uniquely styled as The Arbor, one really does not want to miss anything.

4 1/2 out of 5

Top Ten of 2010

2011-02-01T12:39:00.007-05:00

After finally seeing The King's Speech this past weekend, I thought it was time to write a Top 10 list of 2010. I need to catch up on the Academy Award nominees for Best Documentary Feature, and it must seem like an obvious omission to have not seen all of them before writing this list. But, alas, here is my list anyway. The order in which the films are listed are not set in stone, as I keep flip-flopping when I try to place certain picks above others (my honorable mentions could be swapped into the top ten as well), but my top two are definitely there to stay.

Festival Films:

I think it may be a little unfair to list these three films in my top ten as they were only, to my knowledge, shown on the festival circuit. Nonetheless, they are fantastic:

La Belle Visite - Jean-Francois Caissy

The House of Suh - Iris K. Shim

The Fabulous Fiff and Fam

Honorable Mentions

Two wonderful examples of realist cinema, set in opposite landscapes and displaying opposite tones and atmospheres. One from a legend in the medium, the other from a newer American filmmaker. Both containing winning performances, especially from the likes of Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Dale Dickey and John Hawkes.

Another Year - Mike Leigh

Winter’s Bone - Debra Granik

Top Ten:

Although this is mainly a documentary/realist cinema blog, I like what I like. I’ve recently come across the fact that many of the films I gravitate towards and purchase are, well, somewhat ‘downers’. Therefore, I found myself really enjoying creative and fun “popcorn fare” this year. I think my number one choice, in a way, combines my various tastes.

10) Blue Valentine – Derek Cianfrance - A modern American relationship drama about an age group that never seems to be represented as truthfully as it is here. A wonderful performance from Ryan Gosling and fantastic time-shifting editing.

9) The King’s Speech – Tom Hooper - Gloriously shot, a historical comedy/drama that succeeds due to its central friendship. Director Tom Hooper builds tension in a climactic scene that needs no guns or violence to pin you to your seat.

8) Kick-Ass – Matthew Vaughn - A film where the guns and violence do pin you to your seat, but it’s so fun that you want it to go on long after it has ended.

7) Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work – Ricki Stern, Anne Sundberg - This one has grown on me over time. A comedy legend brave enough to show us her real self, inside and out. Touching, funny and ultimately and surprisingly sad – but in a good way.

6) Incendies – Denis Villeneuve - Canada’s nominee at the Academy Awards is a brutal, heavy piece on war, memory and coincidence. A film I think that iss ultimately too heavy for me to view again, but one that is so wonderfully made that it deserves its place among the best of the year.

5) Let Me In – Matt Reeves - Chloe Grace Moretz is one of the breakout stars of 2010, with this film and her turn in Kick-Ass. She and Kodi Smit-McPhee give two of the best performances of the year in this dark remake of the Swedish original. I may be sacrilegious in saying this, but I believe it succeeds in eclipsing its predecessor. More fluid and engaging, and containing an astonishing car accident scene, this film impressed me more than I could have imagined.

4) Exit Through The Gift Shop – Banksy - A hilarious and astounding piece on street art and its transformation into sometimes bullsh*t commodity, Banksy creates a portrait documentary on a man who becomes an unlikely and, while viewing the film, unexpected star.

3) Scott Pilgrim Versus The World – Edgar Wright - One of the most creative and exciting films I have seen in a long time. Succeeds in making Michael Cera charming again, with a wild cast and an even wilder visual presentation. I can’t wait to see it again.

2) Marwencol – Jeff Malmberg - Seeing this at last year's Hot Docs Film Festival, I was astounded by its contents. The director never trivializes his subject, and what a subject he is. Mark Hogancamp is so interesting and his photographs are so beautiful that after watching Marwencol one can’t help but wonder why he or she hadn’t thought of taking similar pictures. Excellent stuff.

1) Please Give – Nicole Holofcener - It was a toss-up between this film and Marwencol for the top spot, but every time I think of the past year in film, I immediately think of Please Give. A touching and hilarious portrait of every day people and how consumerism and guilt affect them, the film contains some of the best performances I have seen all year, Amanda Peet topping them all. A film with no easy answers or resolutions, Please Give is all the better for it. It may not be the most groundbreaking piece seen in 2010, but it affected me in a way I can’t explain. I take that as a good sign.

Realist Cinema: Another Year

2011-01-19T15:45:00.006-05:00

Another Year by Mike Leigh, 2010

I don’t find myself in any way qualified to review a Mike Leigh film. The man is a legend for his variety of films mostly focusing on the British working-class and his well-known improvisational techniques used to get the very best out of his performers. Although they may lack the gritty texture of other realist films, an exception being Naked, his films are the epitome of realist cinema and it is always a privilege to watch his work.

Leigh’s latest, Another Year, centres on Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), a tremendously content older couple living out their peaceful lives in London. The two have a beautiful home, a loving son and grow fresh vegetables in a communal garden outside of town. Tom works as an engineering geologist and Gerri as a councelor at a medical clinic. They frequently have guests over for dinner, during which most of the film’s drama takes place.

The aforementioned guests include the alcoholic Mary (Lesley Manville), a coworker of Gerri’s who is always looking for reassurance that she is either satisfied with being alone or that one day she will find Mr. Right. Then there is Tom’s friend Ken (Peter Wight), an overweight bachelor whose love of food may just be a suppressant for his own sadness. As the guests wine and dine, conversation eventually turns to tears and Tom and Gerri are there to console.

As I watched Another Year, I became more and more frustrated with Tom and Gerri, which I took as a sign of me not liking the film as much as I had hoped. They appear to be the loveliest couple in the world, so I am supposed to like them, right? But I don’t think Leigh meant for the film to be that black and white. This couple isn’t perfect, and like Poppy in Happy-Go-Lucky, a person’s good will creates different reactions in different people – we cannot help everyone. Tom and Gerri continuously harbor these sad cases, even though they don’t look like they are enjoying themselves while doing it. For whatever reason, whether it is pity or genuine concern, they bring these people back into their lives and I found myself annoyed that they did so. But then I realized that maybe this annoyance is granted, and might just be a suitable reaction to Leigh’s work here. The film isn’t simply about good people helping other people in need, but the variety of reasons they do such things and how they come together to interact. Also a rumination on loneliness, the film has various layers to speak of.

The performances in the film are all-around wonderful. Ruth Sheen and Jim Broadbent are believably in love, and stolen glances here and there show true feelings behind their warm smiles. At first Lesley Manville’s Mary appeared to me as an unbelievable eccentric, but I came to respect Leigh and Manville’s choice to throw her quirks in our face. Mary may seem a bit erratic and strange, but the performance is one that becomes well rounded for it. Anyone else might have gone for something subtler, so it was refreshing to watch a true character creation. A cameo from Imelda Staunton at the beginning of the film is also fantastic.

Another Year's simple construction (the film's events take place over the defined four seasons of one year) can take away from the free-flowing elements of the dialogue and story, but it also allows Leigh to do what he does best: develop intricate characters and relationships, and give us the treat of watching said events unfold.

4 out of 5

Realist Cinema: Blue Valentine

2011-01-10T23:14:00.003-05:00

Blue Valentine by Derek Cianfrance, 2010

After months of waiting, it finally came. After months of working through the acknowledged, acclaimed, and critics-groups-awarded films of October, November and December, Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine has reached the cinemas of Toronto. After months of only having a charming ukulele dance scene to view on Youtube, I was able to sit down and watch one of my most anticipated films of 2010.

Blue Valentine stars Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling as couple Cindy and Dean, and follows the evolvement of their relationship over time in a fractured narrative style. We are first introduced to their characters at a particular stage where Cindy and Dean are in their early thirties, married and with a child named Frankie. Dean drinks beer in his undershirt and jokes and tickles his daughter, a cigarette hanging on his lips. Cindy appears to play the adult role in the family, preparing their daughter’s breakfast while Dean and Frankie make a mess of it. Petty arguments ensue. There are obvious strains in their marriage.

Cut to years back. Cindy and Dean have not yet met. The world is a sunny place, fuller of hope and possibilities. Dean is hired as a mover, while Cindy is studying medicine. When Dean sees Cindy for the first time during a move, it is love at first sight.

The film is edited to great effect in this past and present style. Arguments in the present about specific subjects become clear when the past is revisited, while the juxtaposition of the two makes the central romance and its decay that much more meaningful. What was once something bright has become dull and painful and the attempts made to renew that love fail in comparison to the ease at which it began. The cinematography also aids in the juxtaposition, with the past shot in a carefree, handheld documentary style, and the present more controlled, with icy blue overtones evident in the picture.

Although the various reasons behind the central relationship's deterioration are never fully realized, Blue Valentine is a work of honesty because there are no simple answers and no one person is at fault. A documentary-style, observational drama, Cianfrance's approach smartly makes the film realistic and relatable. Certain events may be uncomfortable to watch, but are never that out of the ordinary, and although one may feel the film lacks cinematically because of its lack of narrative extremities, I think it is better for it. When the film does move in that direction, such as a particularly explosive scene at Cindy's work, it tries too hard to be more interesting, and instead pulls away from what was already interesting enough - the dialogue, and lack thereof, between the central characters.

Williams' and Gosling's performances are spectacular, their chemistry filling the frame. While I feel the character of Cindy is a bit too cold in what is considered the present, with her constant angry demeanor threatening to comprise her other layers, Michelle Williams is wonderful at subtlety and body language. Watch her neck tense as Gosling's character attempts a rendezvous in the shower. Similarly, Dean's character in the present may at times verge on being a white-trash cliche, but Ryan Gosling creates a likable and complicated man. Dean's mood swings and his charm vary in an instant. He is wonderful to watch.

Derek Cianfrance has created a complicated modern age relationship drama about a generation that is more often than not portrayed in silly, sexualized comedies. It is refreshing because of its seriousness and realism, and Cianfrance should be commended for the risks he takes here. If a cinema verite-styled ukulele scene is one of the most touching scenes I have witnessed this year, he must be doing something right.

4 out of 5

Realist Cinema: Meek's Cutoff

2010-09-29T15:43:00.004-04:00

Meek's Cutoff by Kelly Reichardt, 2010

After the masterworks that are Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy, director Kelly Reichardt has become one of my favourite directors working today. Her attention to observation and simplicity give her works a humanistic feel – one driven more by the subtle nuances relationships evoke instead of flashy action scenes.

Reichardt’s newest film, Meek’s Cutoff, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this month, and after slight debating, I bought a ticket. I knew I had to see the film no matter what, but as a rule I try to see the festival films that may not get a theatrical release in the city. Word on the street is that Meek’s Cutoff will probably not screen in Toronto until 2011, so I decided to break my rule and spend the extra cash to watch the film in Toronto’s new cinema Mecca, the TIFF Lightbox.

Set in the 19th century, Meek’s Cutoff is the story of a group of families traveling the unending plains of the Western United States. Led by the titular Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood), the immigrants are walking to a destination where Meek states they will be able to settle and make a better life for themselves. When we first meet our clan, they are wading through a river with their provisions and wagons, three weeks past their promised arrival date. The families struggle to traverse the dusty landscape and to feed themselves and the animals that assist them in their transport.

As each day passes, the more the characters question their leader. Paranoia leads to discussions by the men about Meek possibly being in cahoots with Natives who want these travelers led to their deaths. When a Cayuse man (Rod Rondeaux) is spotted and captured, tables are turned, and the group decides to use the man to lead them to a source of water to quench their thirst and fill their barrels. Meek, untrusting, tries to sway the decision.

Meek’s Cutoff plays out as a series of simple events: the travelers collect wood, sit to eat and pray, set up camp then pack up again. Many of these scenes play out in almost silence, and as a means for simple, documentary-style observation, they are beautiful to look at, but never really add up emotionally. Their journey is one that could be described as hell, but the immigrants’ actions and discussions never really made me feel connected to their plight. Their origins are never discussed and after an hour passes and “nothing happens”, one is left clinging for some sort of drama to appear.

Now the phrase, “nothing happens” can be interpreted in different ways. One may argue, “nothing happens” in both Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy. The characters in those films spend much of their time sitting around and ruminating about their situations. But with her first two features, Reichardt succeeded enormously on the subtlety of her surroundings and the performances. We learned much about Mark and Kurt’s complicated friendship through a small campfire discussion, and really felt for Wendy when she called her family back home and received only a short, unhelpful response. In Meek’s Cutoff, we are distanced from the characters to a point where we never really connect to them. Other than watching these people learning to trust a Native man who is completely alien to them (even this seems a little inconsequential – Michelle Williams’ immigrant wife character, first terrified, appearing all of a sudden willing to approach him) we are offered very little in the way of the human drama we have come to expect from Reichardt’s realist storytelling.

The film has its redeeming qualities in the beautiful cinematography (that many of you are now familiar with as shot in the classic 1.35:1 Academy ratio) and Rod Rondeaux’s solemn, stoic performance. Miscast are Shirley Henderson and Michelle Williams, as two wives in the group. Henderson’s British accent came through during many of her lines and made me wonder if her character was meant to be British. Williams is not particularly bad in her role, but the world-weariness the Oregon landscape called for seemed missing from her performance. She simply didn’t feel like she belonged. Bruce Greenwood’s Meek is simply a caricature, what felt like a cringe-inducing Yosemite Sam impression. The musical score also felt tagged on. It was minimalist and used to minimal effect.

With such beautiful, previous results, I could not help being nervous before viewing Meek’s Cutoff. Reichardt secured herself as a master of observing modern living and relationships that I wondered if a period piece could evoke the same feelings. Upon leaving the theatre, other than feeling thirsty, what came to mind was not necessarily the time and place that mattered, but the content. And in this case, the proverbial water barrel felt half-empty.

2 out of 5

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

2010-09-07T17:35:00.003-04:00

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg

Like her, love her, or completely loath her, Joan Rivers is one hardworking woman. Since beginning a stand-up comedy and acting career in the 1960s, she hasn’t stopped. Seriously. Just watch A Piece of Work and you should have a new-found respect for the crass red carpet staple.

The insightful documentary follows the then-75 year old working diligently on a new play about her life, playing comedy clubs big and small and constantly trying to find new gigs to pay her bills and feed her hunger for stardom. She is down on her knees in the bathroom writing jokes (how many 75 year-olds are able to do that?), and performing pratfalls during rehearsals for an upcoming comedy roast. As Rivers states in the film, she is one of those “if she isn’t performing, she’s no one” types of people.

A Piece of Work is a sympathetic study of a workaholic outsider. Although she has been working in the industry for almost forty years, many will agree that Rivers has yet to be appreciated as much as some of her peers. Tracing the history of the comedienne’s career, the filmmakers explore how a career that was once so promising, has, in some circles, become a bit of a joke. They wonderfully interweave the past and present, letting Rivers tell her story as her continuous struggles as a performer wage on.

Stern and Sundberg must be commended for the material Rivers gives them. She candidly speaks with such insecurity and emotion that we are given a woman that is a complete opposite to the one we’ve been exposed to over the years. One may think plastic surgery would hide emotion, but even that specific subject brings Rivers to tears - real tears. To earn Rivers’ trust on such revealing topics is a great achievement and skill. But my wish is that more of these moments existed throughout the film. Sitting down and talking with Rivers and experiencing how frail and honest this woman is was definitely a game-changer on how even I, a fan, felt about her. I think these instances were very heartfelt, and true, so I would have been happy with more attempts to show her humanity.

The film also could have used more footage from early on in the performer’s career. I understand expense might have been an issue, but it really would have helped a younger fan like myself understand just how revolutionary her subject matter was for its day, and how established she was before many of her setbacks began to pile up.

Winning an award at Sundance this year for Documentary Editing, A Piece of Work is very deserved. Creating a story with no narration and pretty much letting Joan Rivers’ words guide the path for the narrative would not be an easy task, but the film was engaging and easy to follow, if only a little long. The comedienne’s presence is undeniable and you can’t wait until she lets loose another one of her vulgar tirades. It’s all for a good laugh and I hope to experience more in the future.

3 1/2 out of 5

TIFF 2010

2010-08-18T16:13:00.004-04:00

Here in Toronto, the city's international film festival is slowly creeping toward its opening date. The fest is rather expensive, and I usually like to save my money for the much cheaper and rarely distributed films at Hot Docs, but looking at the films that have been announced so far, I might have some choice documentaries to pay up for.

I don't believe all of the films have been announced (I really want Meek's Cutoff to come. Although I try to use these festivals to see works that probably won't get a release date in the city, Kelly Reichardt is one of my favourite current directors, so to witness she and Michelle Williams in the same room would be priceless).

Coming to town are new films by Errol Morris and Kim Longinotto. I saw the latter's excellent troubled school for boys documentary Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go at Hot Docs earlier this year. I will definitely be checking out her new title.

Here is a list of titles that have interested me so far. Werner Herzog's new film sounds especially fascinating. * = Very interested.

The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town
Thom Zimny, USA World Premiere
“The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town” takes us into the studio with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for the recording of their fourth album. Grammy and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Thom Zimny has collaborated with Springsteen on this documentary, gaining access to never before seen footage shot between 1976-1978, capturing home rehearsals and recording sessions that allow us to see Springsteen’s creative process at work.

Nostalgia for the Light*
Patricio Guzmán, France/Germany/Chile North American Premiere, World Premiere
In Chile’s Atacama Desert, astronomers peer deep into the cosmos in search for answers concerning the origins of life. Nearby, a group of women sift through the sand searching for body parts of loved ones, dumped unceremoniously by Pinochet’s regime. Master filmmaker Patricio Guzmán contemplates the paradox of their quests.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams*
Werner Herzog, USA World Premiere
Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting. He puts 3-D technology to a profound use, taking us back in time over 30,000 years

The Game of Death
Christophe Nick & Thomas Bornot, France North American Premiere
This documentary examines the idea of the limits of obedience and punishment. Based on an experiment conducted in the ‘60s, the setting is a modern television game show where we see how far people will go to inflict pain on a contestant who stands to win one million dollars.

Guest
Jose Luis Guerin, Spain North American Premiere
Filmmaker Jose Luis Guerin documents his experience during a year of traveling as a guest of film festivals to present his previous film. What emerges is a wonderfully humane and sincere portrayal of the people that he meets when he goes off the beaten track in some of the world’s major cities.

How to Start Your Own Country
Jody Shapiro, Canada
Shapiro’s documentary about micro-nations, tiny countries seldom recognized by the outside world, mixes comedy and compassion with a serious analysis of the concept of statehood and citizenship.

Machete Maidens Unleashed!
Mark Hartley, Australia International Premiere
From cult cinema documentary director Mark Hartley (“Not Quite Hollywood”) comes this account of the wild and unruly world of genre filmmaking in the Philippines when the country was a back-lot for a bevy of B-movie mavericks and cinema visionaries.

Pink Saris*
Kim Longinotto, UK World Premiere
Acclaimed director Kim Longinotto is often drawn to tough women. Now she follows Sampat Pal Devi, the leader of the “Pink Gang,” who brings her own brand of justice to the streets of Uttar Pradesh, India, combating violence against women.

The Pipe
Risteard Ó Domhnaill, Ireland International Premiere
Irish farmers and fisherman rise up in protest when Shell tries to build a pipeline for natural gas through their county. The local confrontation reflects an international concern for how energy companies affect the environment and communities.

The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical*
Sarah McCarthy, United Kingdom North American Premiere
For one emotional night, a group of children living in a slum in Mumbai, India, get a chance to experience a different world as they perform “The Sound of Music” with a classical orchestra, fostering hopes that it could change their lives.

Tabloid
Errol Morris, USA World Premiere
The director of “The Thin Blue Line” and “The Fog of War” tells the story of a former Miss Wyoming whose quest for one true love led her across the globe and onto the pages of tabloid newspapers.

Realist Cinema: Winter's Bone

2010-06-26T23:02:00.005-04:00

Winter's Bone by Debra Granik, 2010

God knows I love a good documentary, but of course I indulge in different types of film. Therefore I have decided to dedicate a section of this blog to Realist Cinema. Although there doesn't seem to be a specific definition for this genre, I see any film with a docu-drama feel fitting this category.

There have been some prominent realist American films over the past few years that are set in the hostile, rural terrains of the American landscape. Ballast, Frozen River and the films of Kelly Reichardt (maybe less so, due to their warmer climates) fit the bill. This renaissance of simplicity over spectacle has aroused great interest in me. After seeing notices for Debra Granik's Winter's Bone, I knew that I had to check it out.

17 year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) lives in the Ozark Mountains, taking care of her young siblings and ill mother. Ree struggles daily to provide, hunting for squirrels in the forest and counting on neighbours for provisions, even for the family's horse. When Ree is told her mostly absent, drug-abusing father put up the Dolly home as his bail and failed to attend his trial, Ree makes it her mission to find him before the property is taken away in a week’s time.

This is when Ree’s adventure of sorts begins. In a desperate search for her father, Ree treks to the homes of various neighbours she knew he was in contact with. She speaks with Teardrop (John Hawkes), her uncle, who is infuriated with Ree every time she brings up the subject of her father. When she is told in confidence to seek out the home of one particular resident, her resistance to find answers is met with fierce caution. A search for a missing man becomes a life or death situation.

Winter’s Bone is both terrifying and beautiful. The landscape is stark, but the blues and greens of the forest and mountains are magisterial. These characters inhabit a world that at once offers nothing, yet is surrounded by infinity of discovery. The cinematography plays up the landscape, and the absolutely beautiful soundtrack that utilizes the music of the local inhabitants gives the hardships seen in the film a poetic resonance.

Lead Jennifer Lawrence is fearless in her depiction of Ree. She is hard-nosed and authoritative, and Lawrence doesn't shy away from any gruesome characterizations other actresses may have found too dirty. John Hawkes is also a great discovery, giving Teardrop a spectrum of emotions - he is at once despicable and caring. I knew I recognized Dale Dickey, who plays the convincingly brutal Merab. She guest-starred in a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad, playing a witch-like crack addict to great effect. Another stupendous and rangy portrayal.

Although I did enjoy the film, I felt it was repetitive when Ree traveled to the various neighbours' homes in search of answers. Another trek to another location. I understand that it displayed her need to persist, but it felt a bit redundant. A dream sequence including squirrels also seemed a bit out of place.

Winter's Bone is a film of brutality and the struggle to survive amongst an austere locale and people (a scene where Ree confronts some of these people is one of the most terrifying scenes I have seen in a while). It isn't shy in this sense, and I applaud the film's vision and honesty.

3 1/2 out of 5

Exit Through The Gift Shop

2010-06-07T10:47:00.008-04:00

Exit Through The Gift Shop by Banksy, 2010

I would not call myself a street art aficionado. Although the movement and talent interest me, it has never grabbed me the way other mediums have. I respect the work and lengths these artists go to in order to produce their pieces, and the secretiveness of it all is exciting, but for whatever reason, I haven't explored the art further.

I was introduced to Banksy's work a couple years ago when my roommate received a book of his work from her uncle. As soon as I saw the cover, he became familiar. It was like a song playing on the radio that you know, but you don't. His iconic images are seen everywhere - all over the world - his style recognizable. Painted silhouettes of rats and kissing British policemen now have a name behind them.

Hearing about the release of this film, Banksy again became familiar to me. I remember recalling my roommate's book, thinking "oh, it's about that guy." After being released here in Toronto for a couple weeks already, I finally went to a screening yesterday, maybe more to enjoy the medium of documentary (and to see what all the buzz was about).

But Exit Through The Giftshop's main subject, surprisingly, is not Banksy. It is a man named Thierry Guetta, AKA Mr. Brainwash, a man obsessed with filming everything on his camcorder. Running a vintage store in Los Angeles, Guetta begins to befriend various street artists. He claims to be collecting footage for a documentary on the movement, filming these artists making their marks in different cities, spray-painting and stenciling their signature images on the most daring pieces of wall and billboard.

The filming of these acts becomes an obsession for Guetta, and he travels all over the world with his new friends to capture anything they do. He befriends the most infamous street artists, but one evades him. The most elusive, yet well known street artist out there: Banksy. It becomes Guetta's personal mission to find Banksy and film him creating his pieces. When Banksy needs an assistant during an LA visit, someone suggests Guetta, and to Guetta's utter shock, the two meet and eventually become friends and accomplices.

But is Guetta actually a filmmaker? What are his motives for following and filming these artists, night after night, day after day, city after city? A bigger concern arises when Guetta decides to become a street artist as well. He wants to do big things, and fast. How valid is his work when there is too much too soon, and all of it looks very familiar? Is Mr. Brainwash an artist, a copycat or both?

These last questions are what made Exit Through The Gift Shop so much more interesting than I expected. While I was surprised by the film's focus, I was also glad for it, as Banksy's need to keep himself a mystery would have grown tedious if the film were just about him. Guetta's rise to fame, and how he achieved it really make the viewer wonder how easy one's status is gained. My friend made a good point when he said that after the screening he wondered if the whole film was a ploy by Banksy to just show how much of the art world is really a joke. As Banksy is the director, his access and tactics seem a bit self-serving. He keeps himself hidden, but uses Guetta's own footage against Guetta. Was the interview footage of Guetta filmed by Guetta, or did Banksy concoct it all?

At first, like Sam over at Wonders in the Dark, I was taken aback by the use of voiceover. God knows a terrible voiceover can ruin a film for me (Vicky Cristina anyone?), but I quickly looked past it's overt sarcasm, and became really involved with the story. Images of street artists grappling over bridges and climbing out windows in order to create their art were intense. Since these acts of artistry are purposely done while no one is around, it was like seeing your pets talk while they think you're not home. The narrative was also fascinating, unraveling the story so we are hooked and shocked in the appropriate places.

If Banksy directed and edited this film to serve as a commentary on our consumerism and the shams of the art world instead of a portrait of an artist (the title fits this perfectly), he completely succeeded in hooking me into this strange little world. Assuming the film would be all about Banksy, I became very involved with this unexpected commentary. Maybe now I can borrow my old roommate's book and look at this medium a little differently.

4 out of 5

Les Parents

2010-05-25T14:12:00.004-04:00

Les Parents by Christophe Herman, 2009

Last Thursday, Toronto’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Film Festival, Inside Out, opened for its 20^th Anniversary run. My own short documentary, Doing It On the Ice, played at the festival last year. A film about a gay curling league here in Toronto, it was well-received and a very exciting platform for my first-ever public screening. My friend’s experimental short is playing at the festival this Wednesday, so we thought we would take advantage of the festival and see something on the weekend. We settled on Les Parents, a feature documentary by Christophe Herman.

Les Parents focuses on couple Alain and Richard who reside in a small village in France. Instead of going to a standard nursing home, senior citizens can opt to live with Alain and Richard, who run a sort of alternative, hostel-type environment in their home. The couple takes care of the residents 24/7, washing their hair, making them meals, and taking them for walks. The home is comfortable and peaceful, and the warmth the two men show towards their patrons is obvious. When Alain’s AIDS-related complications begin to rise, the couple must choose whether to continue with their business or focus more on Alain’s illness.

The distance Herman uses for the first three quarters or so of the film works well for the subject matter. We are slowly immersed into the special world these two men have created for their tenants. Herman asks no questions, yet observes the men as they take care and interact with the two, featured women living in the hostel. As one of the women has Alzheimer’s Disease, the struggles the couple faces daily become apparent. Simply trying to calm the woman down as she cries for her parents to come to her birthday and states that her father has just returned from World War I, becomes a heartbreaking routine the viewer must also endure. But the beautiful moments peppered around the hardships, the men singing with the ladies and joking with them, creates a nice balance. As the three quarter mark comes around, though, this balance is somewhat lost.

At this point we are suddenly introduced to Alain’s illness. Before, nothing was mentioned. And the details of the illness aren’t clear as no one in the film exactly states that Alain has AIDS (we had to learn this from the festival’s program). But we soon realize that the couple’s home and business may be sold so Alain and Richard can end their days together in a more gay-friendly climate, and one more suited to the complications that may arise with Alain. I think the film could have worked better if Alain’s illness was gradually revealed throughout the documentary. The sudden shift of focus felt very jarring and both themes could have been better juxtaposed.

Herman also chooses to use impromptu interviews with the couple here, shifting from its observational tone. Using these interviews, we do get direct insight from Alain and Richard on how they feel about the business, Alain being sick and the intolerance they face in the village, but stylistically it just does not flow well. More time spent on moments where the couple discusses their relationship with each other and speak about the alternative nursing home they run would have added a less-forced type of emotional and informational reveal without compromising the rest of the film’s aesthetic.

Les Parents is a beautiful film with an emotional heart that just feels rushed by the conclusion (an unwelcome, sudden ending does not help any). Possibly money was a factor as to why more time wasn’t spent wrapping the story up properly, or the director wanted to leave us to our own devices. Either way, I believe the film deserved one last bit of attention – one last look for a very interesting story’s sake.

3 out of 5

Hot Docs 2010 in Photos

2010-05-11T14:10:00.000-04:00

Here are some screen captures from some of the documentaries I saw at this year's festival.

Little Alex from Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go

Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank in American Movie

Into Great Silence

A resident in La Belle Visite

Mark Hogancamp's alter ego's marriage in Marwencol

The Fabulous Fiff and Fam

Complaints Choir

A Yanomami tribe member in Secrets of the Tribe

The Suh family in The House of Suh

Hot Docs 2010 - A Summary

2010-05-10T10:40:00.000-04:00

Today, I offer a round-up of the ten films (twelve including the short films) I saw at this year's Hot Docs Film Festival. A couple amazed me, others disappointed. Here is the list:

General Orders No. 9 by Robert Persons, 2009
A poetic documentary with too much pretension. The narration killed the images onscreen at times, which could have made for a much more interesting film if less was involved. A dreamlike piece on how the American South has been transformed by man throughout time, the director almost resembled the film's antagonist - a being who took something simple and made it unnecessarily overwrought.
2 1/2 out of 5

Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go by Kim Longinotto, 2007
A wonderful film documenting a year in the lives of the staff and students at Mulberry, a school for troubled youths in the UK. Director Longinotto takes a direct cinema approach, displaying relatively no contact with her subjects, using the interaction between them to tell the story. Therefore, the film feels honest, although one may wonder how much the camera provoked the children. Hold Me Tight contains images that range from unsettling to triumphant - children spitting in the faces of adults, but also crying for them when they graduate - so the emotional range the viewer is taken on keeps her/him engaged throughout. One is left concerned about the future of these kids after the credits roll, which is a great achievement for the director. A retrospective was shown of Longinotto's work during the festival.
4 1/2 out of 5

American Movie by Chris Smith, 1999
This year's festival contained a section of films entitled "Ripping Reality", and was a look at achievements in documentary over the past decade. Shamefully I had never heard of Smith's American Movie until reading about it in the Hot Docs program, but what a spectacular film. Absolutely more hilarious than most comedies out there today, this documentary captured the right moments at the right time with the right subjects. The filmmaker hit a goldmine with these characters, a group of amateur filmmakers led by their committed director, Mark Borchardt, out to make a horror feature. Smith is able to achieve a wonderful balance of pathos and hilarity as Mark struggles to finish his film, much to the chagrin of his family members.
5 out of 5

Into Great Silence by Philip Groning, 2007
A quiet (not surprising, seeing the title), repetitive film observing the daily lives of a devout sect of Catholic monks living in silence in the French Alps. At a length of almost three hours, Into Great Silence is an endurance test, as Groning achieves the redundancy of these people's lives through the repetitious use of Biblical text and images, such the daily ringing of the monastery's bell. The best moments of the film were when the filmmaker showed the men taking a break from prayer to enjoy the company of one another, either sledding down a snowy mountain side or finally allowing themselves to chat outside in the summer sun.
More of an achievement I respect and admire than one I would enjoy watching again.
3 1/2 out of 5

The Mirror by David Christensen, 2010
(screened with the short film The Freshwater Plague by Jake Chirico, 2009)
The Mirror is a film I enjoyed, yet maybe had too many expectations for. On paper it sounds like an almost magical tale - a small town in northern Italy loses sunlight for eighty-three days of the year. The town's mayor develops a plan to construct a mirror and place it on the mountainside to reflect sunlight onto the town during those dark months. Christensen was lucky to have a great central character for his documentary - the mayor is outrageous and flamboyant, relishing in the press and in the many phone calls he receives throughout the film. His plan is original and interesting, and he is the perfect person to tell the town's story, yet the film becomes a bit of a muddled mess. The introduction to the film is sloppy and quick. We are introduced to so many characters in little time that confusion is inevitable. The chapters that make up the film also appear to be a lazy construction effort instead of really adding anything to the story. They contain sentences that tell of future scenes to come, even though some are inconsequential. During the Q & A, the director's answers felt very long-winded, which made me understand why The Mirror also felt that way.
3 1/2 out of 5

The Freshwater Plague is a fun short film displaying the invasion of shadflies that arrives every year for two weeks in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. They cover sidewalks and storefronts, creating a nuisance for the citizens of the city. Although containing somewhat annoying, quick shots of buzzing flies to emphasize their pestering ways, the film has some strong visuals and is quite entertaining.
4 out of 5

La Belle Visite by Jean-Francois Caissy, 2010
Maybe my favourite type of documentary, like Longinotto's Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, La Belle Visite takes an observational approach, using distance instead of interviews to tell its story. Set in a Quebec nursing home that once was a motel, the film follows a group of elderly residents as they play bingo, eat dinner, have visits from the doctor and pray. It is meditative, poetic, simple and beautiful. The distance Caissy kept from his subjects allowed the audience to see portions of the residents' lives we would not normally see. This is also why he did not include many meetings between visitors and the residents. A wonderful film and a definite highlight from the festival.
5 out of 5

Marwencol by Jeff Malmberg, 2010
Already receiving attention after its win at the South by Southwest Festival earlier this year, Marwencol is a remarkable portrait documentary. The film's subject is Mark Hogancamp, a man who was brutally beaten in the nineties, losing all memory of his former life. He finds comfort in his creation of a World War II town for his dolls and barbies in his back yard, painstakingly adding details to each building, vehicle and face. Using his camera, he creates visual stories, but unbeknownst to Hogancamp, these photographs soon come to the attention of a magazine editor, and labelled as gallery-friendly fine art. Watching the documentary, you really get a sense that Hogancamp is very comfortable with Malmberg. He opens up to him like you wouldn't expect someone with his condition would. The subject is fascinating, the story is well-told and edited, and the photographs are stunning.
5 out of 5

Complaints Choir by Abigail Bligaard Soby, 2009
(screened with the short film The Fabulous Fiff and Fam by Solveig Melkeraaen, 2010)
After realizing that The Fabulous Fiff and Fam was a short documentary screening with Complaints Choir, I still opted for a ticket, despite being more interested in the former. Complaints Choir is a bit of a one-trick pony documentary that really does not amount to something more than it could have been. Complaint Choirs are organized around the world by Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Koctha-Kalleinen, Finnish artists who believe complaining is a necessary form of cathartic release. They travel to various cities, organizing these choirs where people, after much organization and composition, eventually sing their complaints in public. The documentary focuses on the artists working in two cities: Chicago and Singapore. Although the complaints themselves are humorous, they soon get redundant and lose steam. Nothing else really holds the story together and the film ends up feeling very disjointed. We are introduced to various characters who do not have any real story arc, including the artists. Briefly we see a church group who has organized an anti-complaining campaign, but other than the subject matter, the two groups have nothing to do with each other in the film. There is also a mother Singapore with an autistic adult son finding it extremely difficult to provide for him and a young gay couple, also from Singapore, who have to hide their love from society. We are given glimpses into their lives, yet after tensions heighten due to government opposition to the choir's performance, they are never heard from again. At sixty minutes, the film feels both too short and too long. A short documentary on one of the cities would have contained the humour and drama found in the situation, without using any filler. A longer film could have provided more insight into the participants' lives. A half-baked film without much depth.
2 stars out of 5

The Fabulous Fiff and Fam is a sweet short out of Norway about two elderly women (I seem to have a thing for documentaries about seniors) who have been friends for life. At almost ninety years old, these ladies still take trips together - drinking wine, sitting by the pool, gossiping and reminiscing on their past. The director uses a very cinematic form of shooting to tell the story. The vibrant colours and slow, revealing tracking shots reminded me of The Savages. These ladies are full of life and love each others' company, and the tone of the film really suits their personalities. A poem about childhood and looking forward in life read by one of the women to her friend near the end of the film will have you reaching for a tissue, if mostly for her companion's reaction. Absolutely lovely.
5 out of 5

Secrets of the Tribe by Jose Padilha, 2009
The content in Jose Padilha's documentary is very interesting, yet the way it is compiled and displayed is not. In the 1960s anthropologists traveled to Venezuela to study the Yanomami tribe, a tribe that had no real contact with the outside world before that point. As various anthropologists visit the area and/or read of the studies conducted by these workers, accusations begin to arise. Did these men really conduct medical experiments on members of the tribe that were harmful instead of helpful? Did one man sexual abuse young tribe members? Horrible allegations come out of the dark, and most, if not all, are impossible to now prove. Initial studies on the Yanomami were hailed by anthropologists around the world, yet some are now discounting any credit the ones studying the tribe might have had.
Secrets of the Tribe is highly involving, with great images of the Yanomami people in archival footage and the present. Yet the film is lacking creatively. When the film opens, the audience is bombarded with information and characters, and many talking heads spew details that become unnecessarily complicated. Padilha also uses an odd editing technique, where one interviewee will mention another character, and we are shown a brief clip of that character, usually just sitting in his interviewee position in silence, looking silly. The audience laughed at various times because of this, and all it really added to the film was an obvious sense of manipulation. If one interviewee is talking poorly about another, and we are shown that other person looking dumbfounded and out of context, of course we may tend to side with the person speaking. It may have been an attempt to help the audience understand who was who, but it failed.
3 1/2 out of 5

The House of Suh by Iris K. Shim, 2010
Playing out almost like a crime thriller, The House of Suh was very successful in engaging the audience in a horribly sad and difficult story. A Korean family immigrates to Chicago, parents and two children - a loved son, Andrew and a repeatedly told, unloved daughter, Catherine. As the years pass, Andrew becomes prized while Catherine is ostracized and turns into a rebellious teen. When both parents die while the children are still young, Catherine becomes the head of the household, her boyfriend Robert moving in. Andrew eventually goes off to university, but tensions between Robert and Catherine rise, and as secrets are revealed, Catherine urges Andrew to murder Robert, which he does. Andrew is now serving a one hundred year prison term.
The House of Suh's success is hugely dependent on great story telling. Detail after detail are revealed strategically throughout the film, many causing the audience to emit gasps. Andrew is a very engaging interviewee. He speaks so matter-of-factly about his situation and about what happened, that we believe his every word. The mystery of Catherine also keeps one curious and wanting answers. Shim's use of imagery played a little obvious (i.e. when Andrew spoke of an outside light flickering on, an actual light flickering on is shown), yet I appreciated her intent for re-creation. The use of drawings to portray events also seemed a bit indie-precious and unoriginal, but I began to see their similarity to court-room sketches. With all of its faults, this documentary still amounted to something exciting, sad, concerning and ultimately unforgettable.
4 1/2 out of 5

General Orders No. 9

2010-05-03T10:59:00.000-04:00

My first film at Hot Docs 2010 was the experimental documentary feature General Orders. No. 9 by Robert Persons.

General Orders opens in silence as hands from an unknown owner remove trinkets of the past from a drawer - bullet shells, the skeletal head of a bird. The discovery of these small treasures sets the stage for the rest of the film - a poetic montage of the history of a decaying land. The screen is soon flooded with image after image of tranquil Georgian townships - places that seem almost out of place in most of our urbanized lives. A voice with an old southern drawl explains the history of these towns with the aid of stylized black and white maps - where the roads met, that's where the towns were built - like the centre of a wheel. At the centre of town, there was the courthouse, and on the courthouse the clock tower. Finally, perched on the clock tower was the weather vain.

Much of the film plays off of this idea of division of land as a metaphor for it's eventual dissolution. As we are shown beautiful landscapes and the simplicity of lives and towns once popular, we are reminded by the author that this common way of settlement is being lost in the construction of urban high rises and cemented freeways. The filmmaker relies heavily on juxtaposition and montage to create an almost picture book film which he speaks over as the voice of God. But herein lies General Orders' main issue. The narration is a prime example of taking what could be a beautiful collection of images to tell a story, to something far more pretentious and unnecessary. The director's internal ramblings become so forced and vague that the story becomes less about the subject than him attempting to be artistic. His many musings throughout leave the viewer confused and searching for their meaning, even if they are not as important as what, maybe, saying nothing at all could say.

This type of "artistic overkill" is also seen in a fast montage near the end of the film of photographs from around 1900 escalating towards images of urban decay. Set to a score that could have been from a horror film, it became a wildly erratic way of forcing the film's message down our throats one more time. It didn't serve a purpose for the film, yet came across as a way for the director to flex his filmmaking muscle. Like the land of which General Orders speaks, the beautiful pictures that construct a documentary are sometimes best left alone.

2 1/2 out of 5

Hot Docs 2010

2010-04-30T15:33:00.000-04:00

What better way to kick things off here at Visions of Non-Fiction, a blog dedicated to the world and history of documentary film and television, than reporting on Toronto's 2010 Hot Docs Film Festival.

Founded in 1993, Hot Docs has grown to become North America's largest documentary film festival. Opening last night with Thomas Balmes' Babies, which follows the first year in the lives of four infants around the globe, Hot Docs runs until next Sunday, May 8th.

Babies will be getting a proper theatrical release that same day, and as it was the first documentary to go into rush screenings, I was not able to purchase a ticket with my pass. I am more than happy, though, to be able to see ten other films that might not get the same kind of exposure as Babies already has. After some research, I have uncovered that a couple of my selections are not quite new and have been released in some capacity at some point in time. Nonetheless, Hot Docs is my favourite film festival of the year and I am happy to discover some treasures that are new unto me.

Tonight I am scheduled to see two films: General Orders No. 9 by Robert Persons and Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go by Kim Longinotto. The latter is a part of a retrospective of the filmmaker's work and was completed in 2007. One is of the decline of the American South displayed through experimental techniques, the other about a boy's school in the UK for troubled youth.

Full reviews will be up in the near future!