Reviews - Page 124

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

Review: ‘Of Sheep and Men’

/

Of Sheep and Men (Switzerland/France/Qatar, 78 min.) Dir. Karim Sayad Programme: TIFF Docs (World Premiere)   We all know that humans and sheep are different beasts but Sayad’s doc suggests that there are similarities. When expected to follow the shepherd and keep in line with the herd, sheep might stomp their feet, huff, puff, and blow straight through the pen—but what about men and women? The Arab Spring movement is one of the most powerful contemporary examples in which ordinary people refused to be complacent and took to the streets to spark a revolution. The waves of protests rippled around

Read More

Review: ‘Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle’

/

Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle (Muchos Hijos, un Mono y un Castillo) (Spain, 88 min.) Dir. Gustavo Salmerón Programme: TIFF Docs (North American Premiere)   Julita Salmerón insists more than once in Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle that nobody outside of her friends and family will have any interest in watching her story. Julita has a point, since family movies often hold little value for viewers who don’t share the genes or immediate concerns of their subjects or creators, but she couldn’t be farther from the truth when it comes to this film. Director

Read More

Review: ‘There is a House Here’

/

There is a House Here (Canada, 105 min) Dir. Alan Zweig Programme: TIFF Docs (World Premiere)   What are the roles and responsibilities of artists who want to explore stories of communities outside their own? This question is a hot topic in the cultural milieu, as debates wage concerning who can or should tell such stories. In the midst of these editorials, radio rants, Twitter wars, toxic Facebook threads, hot takes, and often-justified outrage, an important question often gets lost in the shuffle: if allies want to help, what is the appropriate course of action? Along comes There Is a

Read More

Review: ‘Azmaish: A Journey Through the Subcontinent’

/

Azmaish: A Journey Through the Subcontinent (Pakistan, 85 min.) Dir. Sabiha Sumar Programme: TIFF Docs (North American Premiere)   The personal is political for Sabiha Sumar. The Pakistani filmmaker embarks on a daunting task to interrogate the complex relationship and divide between India and her native country. Her journey yields both challenges and rewards as she reflects upon the currents that shape national identity and collective consciousness and, in turn, shape the lives of all the inhabitants within a nation’s borders. Sumar admirably covers all her bases while tackling the Indo-Pakistani divide in all its complexity. At home, she visits

Read More

Review: ‘An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power’

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (USA, 98 min.) Dir. Bonni Cohen, John Shenk   Eleven years ago, Davis Guggenheim’s An Inconvenient Truth implored mass audiences to wake-up and learn about climate change. Driven by a compelling PowerPoint presentation by former US Vice President Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth essentially updated Terre Nash’s eco doc formula from If You Love this Planet to speak to audiences and lay out a compelling argument about the threats to the planet. The film went on to earn considerable box office success and two Academy Awards that helped bring its call to action to

Read More

Review: ‘Dawson City: Frozen Time’

Dawson City: Frozen Time (USA, 120 min.) Dir. Bill Morrison   It’s amazing to learn that Colin Low and Wolf Koenig’s City of Gold nearly became a greenhouse. The story goes that in 1947, Irene Crayford of Dawson City in the Yukon discovered old glass plate negatives within the walls of her home and sought advice from her employer, an artisan named Dick Diment, on how to remove the emulsion from them so that she could reuse the plates and build a greenhouse. Diment, recognising the historical significance of the plates, exchanged them for new ones and sent the negatives

Read More

Review: ‘In the Name of All Canadians’

/

In the Name of All Canadians (Canada, 75 min.) Dir. Vivian Belik, Karen Chapman, Aisha Jamal, Khoa Lê, Annick Marion, Ariel Nasr, Patrick Reed, Andréa Schmidt, Jérémie Wookey   Earlier this year, TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey posed a fair challenge to Canadian filmmakers. In a Globe & Mail piece titled ‘Dear Canadian filmmakers: it’s not about you, it’s about us’, Bailey wrote, “What if we stopped pretending that Canada is safe, nice and boring enough to leave off the big screen, while we focus on personal fictions? Instead, we could rip the lid off and reveal very Canadian acts

Read More

Review: ‘The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography’

The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography (USA, 76 min.) Dir. Errol Morris Starring: Elsa Dorfman, Allen Ginsberg   Errol Morris has won great acclaim for his documentaries on powerful, conflicted men like Robert McNamara (The Fog of War) and Donald Rumsfeld (The Unknown Known), so it’s fascinating to see him make a lovely reversal in The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography, and create a feature-length profile of a woman who has spent a relatively serene life taking terrific photos. A self-described “nice Jewish girl,” Elsa Dorfman didn’t pick up a camera until she was 28, but when she found her

Read More

1 … 122 123 124 125 126 … 161
0 $0.00