Reviews - Page 128

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

Review: ‘Photon’

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Photon (Poland, 107 min.) Dir. Norman Leto Programme: Nightvisions (North American Premiere)   Imagine an elliptical and increasingly dystopian introductory physics lecture delivered by a slightly ornery Aussie version of David Attenborough with the customary PowerPoint replaced by a mashup of_ 2001: A Space Odyssey_ and Jean Painlevé‘s Surrealist nature docs. That will give you a pretty good idea of what to expect from Norman Leto’s avant-garde science(-fiction) documentary Photon. A film of cosmic scope like 2001, Koyaanisqatsi, Dog Star Man and the “Rite of Spring” episode in Fantasia, Photon transparently aspires to the cult status of those films—astutely observed

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Review: ‘Vancouver: No Fixed Address’

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Vancouver: No Fixed Address (Canada, 75 min.) Dir. Charles Wilkinson Programme: Canadian Spectrum (World Premiere)   Home ownership in Vancouver has become nearly impossible, and in Vancouver: No Fixed Address, director Charles Wilkinson examines the causes and effects of this critical issue. Unfortunately, his documentary suffers from structural and aesthetic problems, which work against its urgent subject matter. Looking to the housing market in Vancouver, Wilkinson goes in depth into the intersecting issues at play, allowing for a great deal of nuance in his discussion. Vancouver: No Fixed Address is capable of hitting nearly every issue possible, from every angle.

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Review: ‘Donkeyote’

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Donkeyote (Germany, UK. 86 minutes) Dir. Chico Pereira Programme: Magnificent Obsessions. (Canadian Premiere)   A crowd-pleasing tale of an old man with a dream, a dog and a donkey, Chico Pereira’s Donkeyote is a stellar example of documentary-fiction hybrid. Pereira, who hails from La Mancha, Spain, the fictional birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes’ hero, Don Quixote, casts his uncle, 73-year-old Manoel, who enjoys sleeping outdoors and going on long walks around the countryside with his donkey and dog. Manoel also has his own version of Don Quixote’s impossible dream: To walk the Trail of Tears, the route taken, between 1830

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Review: ‘Bobbi Jene’

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Bobbi Jene (Denmark/Sweden, 95 min.) Dir. Elvira Lind Programme: Artscapes (Canadian Premiere)   Attendees at last year’s Hot Docs festival might have encountered the rhythmic visual babble of Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin’s “gaga” dancing in Mr. Gaga. This year, festival attendees can experience a virtual sequel created by a former member of Naharin’s Batsheva Dance Company in the sexy new film Bobbi Jene, which hits Hot Docs after winning a trio of awards at Tribeca for best editing, cinematography, and best documentary feature. This doc by Elvira Lind profiles dancer/choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith as she leaves the Batsheva Dance Company

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Review: ‘Pre-Crime’

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Pre-Crime (Germany, 90 min.) Dir. Matthias Heeder, Monika Hielscher Programme: Special Presentations (World Premiere)   Billed as a “chilling and explosive in-depth examination into the modern age of policing,” Pre-Crime looks at the increasing use of big data and proprietary algorithms by police agencies around the world to flag and monitor those who are statistically more likely to commit crimes. While the subject (digital privacy) and its implications (demographic profiling) are both highly relevant and definitely fascinating, the execution of the film falls short in a number of ways. Structurally, it feels cyclical and lacks an arc. One could reasonably

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Review: ‘Rat Film’

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Rat Film (USA, 82 min.) Dir. Theo Anthony Programme: Nightvision (Toronto Premiere)   Over Godardian snatches of string quartet music and images of a race car track, an incongruous voice emerges: “Acknowledgment of a creation myth: before the world became the world, it was an egg. Inside the egg was dark. The rat nibbled the egg and let the light in. And the world began.” Equal parts Ta-Nehisi Coates, Werner Herzog and Jon Rafman, director Theo Anthony’s first feature documentary, Rat Film, is a brash collage that imaginatively investigates America’s race problem through the lens of Baltimore’s rat problem. Science

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Review: ‘Libera Nos’

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Libera Nos (Italy/France, 90 min.) Dir. Federica Di Giacomo Programme: World Showcase (Canadian Premiere)   Although I’m a horror movie fan, I’ve ignored most of the relentless lurch of zombie shows because nothing can compare George Romero’s six-part “Dead” series, and as for exorcism epics, William Friedkin’s award-winning movie pretty much nailed that genre to the cross. Federica Di Giacomo’s Libera Nos is different because it’s a documentary with the power of reality behind it. For some critics and observers, but not necessarily for the director, the demons in the film are the priests, especially Franciscan Father Cataldo Migliazzo. The

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Review: ‘City of Ghosts’

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City of Ghosts (USA, 91 min.) Dir. Matthew Heineman Programme: Special Presentations (Canadian Premiere)   City of Ghosts makes a strong case for being the definitive documentary of Syrian Civil War to date. A portrait of the citizen journalist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), directed by Matthew Heineman of Cartel Land fame (and executive-produced by Alex Gibney, whose smooth narrative style City of Ghosts successfully emulates), it offers both an involving look at a group of courageous activists and a useful overview of the wider shape of the conflict to date. It’s what The White Helmets should have

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Review: ‘Memory in Khaki’

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A Memory in Khaki (Qatar, 104 min.) Dir. Alfoz Tanjour Programme: International Spectrum (North American Premiere)   A uniquely lyrical documentary about the Syrian Civil War, A Memory in Khaki weaves five monologues into a fugue on themes of Syrian history and identity. The five voices—director Alfoz Tanjour and four close friends, including a Damascene writer, an activist/filmmaker, a friend now living in France and the director’s aunt, a former activist now living in Finland—ruminate about their lives under the “khaki” Assad regime. The term “khaki” seems to stand in both for the colour of military and student uniforms and

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Review: ‘Ukiyo-E Heroes

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Ukiyo-E Heroes (Japan, 96 minutes) Directed by Toru Tokikowa Programme: Made in Japan (World Premiere)   The narrative of Ukiyo-E Heroes is amply covered in the first ten minutes of Toru Tokikowa’s documentary. Around 2010, Jed Henry, an American children’s book illustrator and animator, became intrigued with traditional Japanese woodblock (ukiyo-e) printing. He researched the subject online where he came across David Bull, a Canadian who has spent the last 30 years in Japan learning and mastering the wood-block printing style practiced from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Bull developed a niche business, running a workshop with a team

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