Reviews - Page 108

Giving you our points of view on the latest docs in release and on the circuit.

Review: ‘Minding the Gap’

Minding the Gap (USA, 100 min.) Dir. Bing Liu Kartemquin Films has enjoyed a long history as one of the benchmark homes for socially conscious documentaries about everyday Americans. That tradition for excellence looks to be in good hands as director Bing Liu confidently announces himself with one of the most remarkable directorial debuts of the year with Minding the Gap. It could prove to be the Hoop Dreams of a new generation. (Hoop Dreams director Steve James is among the film’s executive producers.) Liu offers a frank portrait of his tightly knit social circle of skateboarder friends as they rule

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Review: ‘My Generation’

My Generation (UK, 85 min.) Dir. David Batty Listen up, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England! Michael Caine might be a regular English gentleman to younger viewers on this side of the pond, but the two-time Oscar winning actor was never destined for stardom. As Caine narrates in this tour of the swinging 60s, English society was still very much caught in the stranglehold of the class system when his parents brought him into the world. Kids, depending on the social strata that were born into, knew their place and couldn’t aspire to much if they hailed

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TIFF Review: ‘American Dharma’

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American Dharma (UK/US, 100 min.) Dir. Errol Morris Programme: TIFF Docs (North American premiere) “Elections have consequences, and at the end of the day, I won.” That’s what newly elected president Obama told Eric Cantor in the early days of his presidency during debates about the stimulus package that Democrats hoped would end the financial crisis. It’s also, in a very different way, the rationale for Errol Morris’s new documentary American Dharma, about ex-Breitbart boss, Trump strategist and populist crusader Steve Bannon. Whatever you may think of him—and if you’re reading this, I think I know exactly what you think of him, and

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TIFF Reviews: ‘The Trial’ and ‘Donbass’

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The Trial and Donbass (Netherlands, 127 min.; Germany/Ukraine/France/Netherlands/Romania, 121 min.) Dir. Sergei Loznitsa Sergei Loznitsa must be unique in the history of film in working in three distinct modes. This year, madman that he is, he released three films, one from each mode. At Hot Docs, I saw his latest observational documentary, Victory Day, which pursues the vein he has previously tapped in work like Austerlitz (2016) and Maidan (2014). In these works, Loznitsa’s approach is austere: long takes; wide shots; little in the way of incident; an obsessive focus on crowds. It’s like the last shot of Michael Haneke’s Caché (2005) blown up into an entire aesthetic. In addition to

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TIFF Review: ‘An Elephant Sitting Still’

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An Elephant Sitting Still (China, 234 min.) Dir. Hu Bo Sometimes criticism is beside the point. An Elephant Sitting Still is Chinese director Hu Bo’s first feature film. It’s also his last: he committed suicide last October. The film premiered at the Berlinale to the very particular kind of rave reviews a four-hour film by a dead director might be expected to get. The film weaves together four storylines that crisscross over the course of an exceptionally violent day in a post-industrial town in China. The moody teenagers, abusive parents, small-time gangsters, neglected old folks, and unscrupulous administrators who make up

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TIFF Review: ‘Fausto’

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Fausto (Canada/Mexico, 70 min.) Dir. Andrea Bussmann Andrea Bussmann’s solo debut feature after 2016’s Tales of Two Who Dreamt, made in collaboration with partner Nicolas Pereda, is a bit slippery. Ostensibly, it’s a freeform adaptation of the Faust myth, but I can’t say I caught many of those resonances beyond occasional references to the devil. Much of the film is comprised of voiceover narrators, or occasionally on-screen characters, telling enigmatic fables about ghosts or other shadowy figures often over hazy images of the Oaxaca coast. Very little, indeed almost nothing, happens onscreen. Though the images are often lovely they don’t quite

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Review: ’14 & Muslim’

The students of Toronto’s Islamic Foundation School (IFS) have the same stresses and worries that most kids their age do. Concerns over fitting in, being cool, preparing for the future, and fulfilling expectations set by parents are headaches felt by most teens. But the students of IFS have an additional anxiety not faced by most kids in other schools: Islamophobia. The new CBC doc 14 & Muslim offers a snapshot into the lives of Muslim students growing up in Canada at a time when prejudice and Islamophobia are on the rise and when ultra-conservatism and white supremacy are sadly making a comeback. Justin Trudeau ackknowledge in

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TIFF Review: ‘The Biggest Little Farm’

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The Biggest Little Farm (USA, 90 min.) Dir. John Chester Programme: TIFF Docs (International Premiere) The Biggest Little Farm is a wonderful portrait of the hands that feed us. This personal documentary by John Chester shares the filmmaker’s mission to create a natural farm that harkens back to traditional practices. The farm builds upon the vision of Chester’s wife, Molly, a writer and food blogger, who emphasizes the natural methods of cultivating and preparing food. More importantly, though, the mission for the farm builds upon a promise the Chesters made to their rescue dog, Todd. They told Todd that his home with them

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TIFF Review: ‘Angels are Made of Light’

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Angels are Made of Light (USA/Denmark/Norway, 117 min.) Dir. James Longley Programme: TIFF Docs (International Premiere) James Longley returns to the Middle East a decade after his 2006 Oscar-nominated documentary Iraq in Fragments. Longley’s latest, Angels Are Made of Light, brings him to post-war Afghanistan to chronicle how a nation looks to rebuild in the aftermath of a long and brutal war. The doc offers a portrait of Afghanistan’s children as Longley sharpens his focus to tell the stories of the kids at Kabul’s Daqiqi Balkhi School. The powerful doc is a tough but necessary portrait of the generation that will rebuild a country

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TIFF Review: ‘The Death and Life of John F. Donovan’

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The Death of Life of John F. Donovan (Canada/UK, 107 min.) Dir. Xavier Dolan, Writ. Xavier Dolan, Jacob Tierney Starring: Kit Harrington, Jacob Tremblay, Natalie Portman, Thandie Newton, Ben Schnetzer, Susan Sarandon, Sarah Gadon, Emily Hampshire, Kathy Bates Programme: Special Presentations (World Premiere) I really feel for Xavier Dolan. When critics eviscerated his 2016 film It’s Only the End of the World, many of them, particularly the Americans, made a point of panning him personally while ripping apart the claustrophobic family drama. Making it personal shouldn’t be part of the job. The consequences of these deep digs and hot takes are

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