Reviews - Page 75

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

Hot Docs Review: ‘Mein Vietnam’

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Mein Vietnam (Germany/Austria, 70 min.) Dir. Tim Ellrich, Thi Hien Mai Program: World Showcase Thi Bay Nguyen and Trung Tam Mai have been living in Germany for nearly thirty years. However, one would hardly know it from watching Mein Vietnam. This unique documentary from Tim Ellrich and Thi Hien Mai offers a timely portrait of migrant experiences. The film observes the Vietnamese ex-pats as they make ends meet in Germany with hopes to retire eventually to their homeland. Nearly all the human drama of Mein Vietnam occurs in the couple’s modest public housing apartment. A fair portion of the film is also “screen

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Hot Docs Review: ‘A Pleasure, Comrades!’

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A Pleasure, Comrades! (Portugal, 106 min.) Dir. José Filipe Costa Program: The Changing Face of Europe In 1975, in the wake of the Carnation Revolution overthrowing Portugal’s dictatorship, the southern European country welcomed youth from all over the world eager to work the fields of change. Local farmers, recently organized in cooperatives, were confronted with new ideas and habits while spirited young souls learned to keep their utopian dreams in check. José Filipe Costa revisited Portugal’s past in his second feature-length documentary film A Pleasure, Comrades! A big, honking, commercial truck passes a Seventies love bus on a highway ramp outside

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Canadian Film Fest Review: ‘Shoot to Marry’

Shoot to Marry (Canada, 70 min.) Dir. Steve Markle “Real life is no romantic comedy,” says director Steve Markle in Shoot to Marry. “It’s a Stephen King movie.” Markle uses his camera to play the dating game in Shoot to Marry. This shoestring film about the director’s romantic foibles might indeed have a higher ick factor than most Stephen novels do. The ruse of the film is that the director, 42-years-old and hopelessly single after his ex-girlfriend declined his proposal, endeavours to find his perfect match. Markle tries online dating, hires a matchmaker, visits a sex club, and hits on random women. None

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Hot Docs Review: ‘Zero’

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Zero (Japan, 128 min.) Dir. Kazuhiro Soda Programme: World Showcase 12 years ago, director Kazuhiro Soda made a film that took you deep into the Chorale Okayama Clinic, a poor people’s mental health facility. In Mental, Soda revealed that his intention was to part the curtain blocking the world of the mentally ill from view so that the “normal world” could see what the abnormal world was really like. The film’s unintentional hero, visiting psychiatrist Dr. Masatomo Yamamoto, was shown interacting with the patients in a quietly effective manner. As Zero begins, Dr. Yamamoto is 82 years old and about to give up

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Canadian Film Fest Review: ‘Clapboard Jungle’

Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business (Canada, 98 min.) Dir. Justin McConnell How does an aspiring talent survive in the independent film scene? This question fuels Justin McConnell’s Clapboard Jungle, which navigates the hardships of an unforgiving business. The documentary is a companion piece of sorts to McConnell’s 2008 film Working Class Rock Star, which considered how aspiring musicians struggle in the business of art. Clapboard Jungle takes an insider’s view into the film biz as McConnell, a B-movie horror filmmaker by trade, endeavours to see several projects through the production line. Some succeed and others don’t. He learns tips of the trade

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Hot Docs Review: ‘L.A. Tea Time’

L.A. Tea Time (Canada, 82 min.) Dir. Sophie Bédard-Marcotte Program: Markers “Hi, Miss July. Um…hi, Miranda? Hi, my name is Sophie and I am a filmmaker based in Montreal,” director Sophie Bédard-Marcotte says to the camera early in L.A. Tea Time. These hesitant and slightly quirky remarks become a running mantra in the film. L.A. Tea Time sees Bédard-Marcotte embark on a futile quest to land a coffee date with filmmaker, author, and Hollywood eccentric Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know). Bédard-Marcotte wants to pick July’s brain and learn how one forges a career making offbeat indie films. However, tea

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Hot Docs Review: ‘The Wall of Shadows’

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The Wall of Shadows (Poland/Germany/Switzerland, 94 min.) Dir. Eliza Kubarska Program: International Spectrum Every film festival seems to have an obligatory slot reserved for a “mountain movie.” The film can whisk audiences through BC’s Coastal Mountains, climb high through the Alps, or notably, do a free solo ascent of El Capitan. Most often, though, the mountain movies favour the Himalayas. Tales of Sherpas offer thrilling endeavours while stories of young Rinpoches provide a little wisdom in addition to picturesque views. Regardless of the principle subjects’ vocations, though, these mountain movies of the Himalayas increasingly capture a collision of cultures between East and West in films like Sherpa or Sing

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Hot Docs Review: ‘Love and Fury’

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Love and Fury (USA, 89 min.) Dir. Sterlin Harjo Program: Artscapes If one sits on a toilet and farts, can said flatulence be performance art? Such a question crossed this reviewer’s mind while watching Love and Fury. This eclectic look at a year in the lives of various artists includes some curious choices. One scene, for example, sees comedian Bobby “Dues” Wilson visit an English pub, sit on the loo, and detonate a bomb of noxious gases. The Brits admittedly had it coming given that Wilson’s excretion occurs in Plymouth shortly after visiting the site of departure for the Mayflower. Love and

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Hot Docs Review: ‘The Walrus and the Whistleblower’

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The Walrus and the Whistleblower (Canada, 89 min.) Dir. Nathalie Bibeau Program: Canadian Spectrum “Everyone loooooves Marineland!” The cheesy jingle for Niagara Falls waterpark Marineland is as reliable a staple of Canadian television as are Heritage Minutes. Unlike the legacy of the Underground Railroad, the Halifax explosion, or the link between burnt toast and seizures, Marineland won’t be fêted in Heritage Minutes. The dirty waters of Marineland receive an eye-opening exposé in Nathalie Bibeau’s The Walrus and the Whistleblower, a compelling character-driven story of a committed activist. The film is a contemporary David and Goliath tale as former Marineland trainer turned whistleblower Phil Demers

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