Reviews - Page 65

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

‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’ Reminds Us that Greed Isn’t Good

Capital in the Twenty-First Century (New Zealand, 103 min.) Dir. Justin Pemberton This reviewer can’t help but smile whenever #EatTheRich trends on Twitter. The world is in an escalating crisis as the gap widens between the haves and the have nots, and Twitter mob has the knives out to turn the one-percenters into an all-you-can-eat buffet. This observation isn’t new or novel, but it’s impossible to avoid. Scan the headlines, read the Tweets, and watch the news. Frustration is everywhere. If feels the tension building towards a French Revolution style riot against banks and crooked politicians, so be it. #EatTheRich

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Jerry Seinfeld Returns with ’23 Hours to Kill’

Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill (USA, 60 min.) Dir. Joe DeMaio It’s been 22 years since Jerry Seinfeld produced a stand-up comedy and the good news is that he’s back in fine form in the Netflix special, 23 Hours to Kill. Since his overwhelming success in the Nineties with “the show about nothing,” Seinfeld hasn’t had to work. As one of the show’s producers, he’s been a one-percenter for a long time: filthy rich, but still Seinfeld. So, as he points out in this performance, why is he there? The simple answer is that if you’re very good at something,

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‘Workhorse’ an Equine Elegy

Workhorse (Canada, 82 min.) Dir. Cliff Caines Is any animal more cinematic than the horse? The equine characters of Cliff Caines’ Workhorse seem like naturals before the camera. There is ample posing to be seen as the robust and rippling muscles of the horses catch the light beautifully in the black and white compositions from DP Ryan A. Randall. Their hair flows ravishingly while the legs and hooves accentuate nearly every frame of the film with their indefatigable strength. This exquisitely shot elegy for a fading way of life captures the power and beauty of horses with a nostalgic lustre. Caines’ film

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Becoming the First Lady of Documentary

Becoming (USA, 89 min.) Dir. Nadia Hallgren Is it time to crown Michelle Obama the First Lady of Documentary? After lending her mojo as executive producer to great docs like Crip Camp and last year’s Oscar winner American Factory, the former First Lady proves herself a spectacular subject with Becoming. A superhero hasn’t revealed herself so refreshingly and candidly since Ruth Bader Ginsburg disrobed for RBG. Obama is a terrifically engaging subject who enjoys a magnetic rapport with the camera and everyone with whom she shares the screen. Rather than offering mere self-serving hagiography through this doc produced by Netflix and Higher Ground Productions, Michelle

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Natalie Wood: Or, Mommy Dead and Dearest

Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (USA, 100 min.) Dir. Laurent Bouzereau Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind might be the documentary its creators hoped to make. It’s an affectionate and loving portrait of late actress Natalie Wood told by her family members and closest friends. However, cinephiles who love Wood in films like West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass, and Rebel without a Cause might find it lacking. One’s disappointment with this film should not reflect on Wood’s legacy as an actress, nor does it belittle her tragic death at the age of 41 on November 29, 1981 when she drowned under mysterious

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Will “clean meat” change how we consume animals?

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Meat the Future (Canada, 90 min.) Dir. Liz Marshall Over the past couple of years, it’s become impossible not to know about plant-based foods that mimic meat. The appropriately named Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have made a huge impact in grocery stores and fast-food joints across North America as customers have enjoyed the novelty of eating something that tastes great but could help to sustain the planet. Many consumers, especially younger ones, realize that animals raised to become food products occupy more land (45%) and emit more greenhouse gases than anything else. With technology for food consumption becoming so

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‘Finding Sally’ and a Family’s Search for Answers

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Finding Sally (Canada, 73 min.) Dir. Tamara Dawit Tamara Dawit offers a touching exploration of personal and collective history in Finding Sally. Subdued and thoughtful, the doc takes a restrained approach to procedural investigations. Finding Sally premieres this Thursday in the Hot Docs at Home series on CBC Gem and shares similar traditional aesthetics as the series’ first installments, Made You Look and 9/11 Kids, which will help transition the festival to the small screen. Driven by talking heads and archival still photos, Finding Sally similarly emphasises story and character while using a non-threatening accessible style. Unlike the other two docs in the series, though, this film is tangibly personal.

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‘A Secret Love’: There Is Crying and Baseball

A Secret Love (USA, 83 min.) Dir. Chris Bolan Across seventy-two years of love and companionship, Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel have seen it all. Stories of the love lives of the elderly are rare in the movies, but this one is especially so as a portrait of two queer women whose relationship outlived most partnerships by any standard. Going from “cousins” to wives is a claim that few couples can make. A Secret Love tells the story of these two women and the journey together as their relationship rolled the tumultuous ride towards marriage equality. Their tale, intimately and affectionately told, charts

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‘Pahokee’ Feels Like an American Landmark

Pahokee (USA, 112 min.) Dir. Patrick Bresnan, Ivete Lucas Every now and then comes a documentary that feels like an American landmark. Pahokee is one of those films. This outstanding documentary from Patrick Bresnan and Ivete Lucas takes audiences into the daily lives of four Florida students—Junior, Jocabed, Kerria, and BJ—during their final year at Pahokee High School. Pahokee recalls the best of Fred Wiseman with its power for observation as directors Patrick Bresnan and Ivete Lucas chronicle these four students as they strive for hopeful futures in a tightly knit impoverished Florida community. The film is at once potently intimate and breathtaking in scope. Kerria

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Michael Moore and Friends Attack the Left in ‘Planet of the Humans’

Planet of the Humans (USA, 100 min.) Dir. Jeff Gibbs You’ve got to hand it to Michael Moore. The Oscar winning documentarian has always been provocative, whether he’s exposing the US gun lobby (Bowling for Columbine), big bad corporations (Roger & Me) or the US health care system (Sicko). But he’s never attacked the Left before. In Planet of the Humans, which Moore executive produced, his friend and film collaborator Jeff Gibbs takes on the environmental movement with Moore’s explicit approval. Gibbs takes no prisoners. This is an all-out assault on the green movement by someone who believed in the cause and

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