Reviews - Page 143

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

Review: ’69 Minutes of 86 Days’

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69 Minutes of 86 Days (Norway, 71 minutes) Dir: Egil Håskjold Larsen Programme: International Spectrum. (North American Premiere)   The most emblematic photograph of the Syrian war to date was that of the corpse of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, drowned on the Mediterranean beach in September 2015, after his refugee family’s third attempt to reach the Greek island of Kos. Norwegian director Egil Haskjold Larsen’s 69 Minutes of 86 Days begins on the Greek shoreline in what feels like an alternative history. It’s the story of another three-year-old refugee, this time a girl named Lean, who sets out with her parents

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Review: ‘A Cambodian Spring’

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A Cambodian Spring (UK, 121 minutes) Dir. Chris Kelly Programme: International Spectrum (World Premiere)   A visceral, complex film that should come with a “For further study” list, A Cambodian Spring was made over six years by the Irish, London-based filmmaker, Chris Kelly. This unavoidably complicated examination of Cambodia in the new millennium involves the authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen, runaway development, police violence, corruption, land claims, overlapping anti-government movements and the return of an exiled politician, culminating in the 2013 mass protests of the “Cambodian spring” of the title. Kelly’s original idea, eclipsed by later events, focused on local

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Review: ‘The Force’

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The Force (USA, 93 min.) Dir. Peter Nicks Programme: World Showcase (Canadian Premiere)   It’s often easy for verité filmmakers to become so precious about their technique that they lose track of the narrative, allowing formal purity to come at the expense of content. So it’s refreshing to see that with The Force, the filmmakers were wise enough to capture the smallest details with surveillance-like precision, never losing focus as the situations for their participants changed. As a look at contemporary law enforcement reform, The Force is a precise and focussed work that surveys the much maligned Oakland Police department

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Review: ‘Quest’

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Quest (USA, 107 min.) Dir. Jonathan Olshefski Programme: World Showcase (International Premiere)   Quest may be one of the most important films about the American experience ever filmed. A wonderful, captivating portrayal of a family, which spans the time from Obama’s inauguration through to the election of Trump, the film manages to be both epic and intimate, offering a story that’s highly specific to a small community yet breathtakingly universal in its scope. Christopher “Quest” Rainey’s day job is as a newspaper delivery man, throwing papers with the prowess of a professional ball player. His self-built recording studio is home

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Review: ‘I Am Another You’

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I Am Another You (USA, 85 min.) dir. Nanfu Wang Programme: International Spectrum (International Premiere)   I Am Another You is an intricately layered, visually seductive exploration of the longing for absolute freedom, the thin white line between vision and madness, and director Nanfu Wang’s search for her own identity via her main character. Having moved from China to New York, travel-loving Wang hits the road for Florida where she meets Dylan, who quickly becomes the subject of this film and an ongoing obsession. He fascinates her with his philosophy of unconditional freedom and craving for all forms of human

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Review: ‘Chasing Coral’

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Chasing Coral (USA, 93 min.) Dir. Jeff Orlowsi Programme: Special Presentations (International Premiere)   In a cinematic landscape teeming with environmental advocacy docs calling attention to the woes of climate change, Chasing Coral manages to stand apart from the pack by focussing on a part of the planet witnessed by only a select few. The splendour of a coral reef is for many the stuff of children’s cartoons or vacation snorkeling, but for scientists, avid divers, fisherpeople and activists, they are not only the largest living systems on our world but also harbingers for the radical changes being made on

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Review: ‘Eye Camera’

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Eye, Camera (USA, 17 min.) Programme: Singular Sensations   In 2005, artist Tanya Vlach lost her eye in a car accident. Looking towards artistic influences, such as science fiction or superhero narratives, Vlach begins to think of the experience as not a loss, but something to make her stronger. In Brittney Shepherd’s Eye, Camera, we watch as Vlach attempts to develop a wearable camera she could use to replace, and improve upon, the biological eye she lost. Initially, Eye, Camera is a striking film. With an expressionistic use of colour and visual distortions, we are given a new way of

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Review: ‘The Monster’

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The Monster (Sweden, 29 min.) Dirs. Lisa Gustafsson & Johan Palmgren Programme: Magnificent Obsessions (International Premiere)   Putting a new spin on the term “blood lust,” Lisa Gustafsson and Johan Palmgren’s new film The Monster follows Elena, a young woman with hematophilia: she is aroused by blood. Gustafsson and Palmgren show us Elena’s journey through life, from drinking the blood of her partners, to everyday activities, culminating with her confessing her secret desires to her family. The Monster is a most deliberate film. It looks to shock: graphic scenes of blood-letting and blood drinking make the punk clubs and dive

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Review: ‘Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World’

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Rumble: Indians Who Rocked The World (Canada, 103 min.) Dir. Catherine Bainbridge, Alfonso Maiorana Programme: Special Presentations (Canadian Premiere)   As a music film this talking-head style documentary may not break much new ground, and the cynical may dismiss it as just another in a long line of similarly themed retrospective works. Yet the key to really appreciating Rumble: Indians Who Rocked The World is found in a quote from Robbie Robertson, where he speaks of being told to be proud of his Indigenous heritage, but to never speak of it to those outside of the community. Loudly, proudly, Catherine

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Review: ‘Mommy Dead and Dearest’

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Mommy Dead and Dearest (USA, 82 min.) Dir. Erin Lee Carr Programme: Special Presentations (International Premiere)   Fans of true crime must see Mommy Dead and Dearest. If documentaries such as Amanda Knox, The Imposter and OJ: Made in America chilled and enthralled you, Mommy is for you. This doc tells one twisted tale. One might not believe Mommy Dead and Dearest if it were an episode of Law & Order or CSI, but the interviews that director Erin Lee Carr gets from her subjects, particularly from the killer, offer more unexpected reveals than a writer of TV drama could

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