Reviews - Page 86

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

Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President Review: American Greatness

Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President (USA, 93 min.) Dir. Mary Wharton Bill Clinton often gets credit as the USA’s musical President since he plays the sax, but nobody rocked out like Jimmy Carter did. Mary Wharton’s film Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President argues that Carter’s love for music might have clinched the deal for his election. The film offers a rollicking look at the role of rock in shaping Carter’s image, humanising him, and making him accessible to a new demographic of Americans. Wharton’s doc illustrates how Carter used the power of music to break out of the shell of

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Outremont and the Hasidim Review: What’s the Yiddish Word for NIMBY?

Outremont and the Hasidim (Canada, 52 min.) Dir. Eric Scott What is the Yiddish word for NIMBY? A quick Google search doesn’t quite yield a perfect translation, but “schmuck” captures the term justly. NIMBYs, or “Not in my backyard” naysayers often cherry pick strange rules to preserve an idealised nature of their communities. Moreover, NIMBYism often entails dynamics of inclusion or exclusion. It flares up when demographics shift in a neighbourhood. NIMBYism, however, doesn’t quite adequately define the situation that Eric Scott observes in Outremont and the Hasidim. As the title suggests, the film chronicles a conflict between a Montreal neighbourhood and a specific

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Shared Legacies Review: United in Power

Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance (USA, 97 Min.) Dir. Shari Rogers In these divisive times, when political rhetoric has led to a rise in anti-Semitism and hate crimes, director Shari Rogers reminds us of what can be achieved when people come together. If history can provide a roadmap to a better future, then her documentary Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance aims to be the GPS that helps society get back on the right path. Focusing on the coalition between the African and Jewish American communities during the Civil Rights era, Rogers’ documentary explores how shared experiences of discrimination

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Herb Alpert Is… Review: Melted Butter

Herb Alpert Is… (USA, 113 min.) Dir. John Scheinfeld Baby Boomer nostalgia turns the dial up to 11 in Herb Alpert Is… This celebratory portrait of the famed trumpeter sits comfortably with the seemingly endless cavalcade of music docs about the greatest hits from the 1960s and ’70s. Director John Scheinfeld deserves ample credit for delivering a thorough overview of Alpert’s career. The film assembles a who’s who of music icons and Alpert’s peers to pay tribute to a man who outsold the Beatles in 1966 and reinvented himself in unexpected ways. Whether one knows every Alpert song by heart, or only

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Shadow of Dumont Review: A Goofy Voyage through Canadian Colonialism

Shadow of Dumont (Canada, 88 min.) Dir. Trevor Cameron The challenge of connecting personal history and collective history can be tricky. Director Trevor Cameron offers a feature documentary about his great-great uncle, Gabriel Dumont, a Métis leader in the 1885 uprising. Cameron says that he knows little about his ancestor and that Canadians more broadly know even less. When it comes to Métis culture, the history books are scant, so Cameron embarks on a road trip from Toronto to the prairies to learn more about Gabriel Dumont and, in turn, his family legacy and himself. What ensues is a comedic journey

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The Unseen Review: Cardboard City

The Unseen (Iran, 62 min.) Dir. Behzad Nalbandi In Iran, people refer to the homeless as “cardboard sleepers.” Knowing this name evokes a disquieting sense of melancholia, as we gaze out a car window at the urban landscapes of Iran’s capital, Tehran, reconstructed entirely out of cardboard in The Unseen, which received the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Animated Film. The city’s native artist and documentary filmmaker, Behzad Nalbandi, spent years fabricating the handmade set of his film entirely out of cardboard, glue, and ripped papers—or Kaghaz-Pareh Ha, the film’s title in Farsi. Driving past a bright billboard proclaiming that more

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Les Heures Heureuses Review: Attracted to Ghosts

Les heures heureuses (Our Lucky Hours) (France/Belgium/Switzerland, 77 min.) Dir. Martine Deyres Les heures heureuses is a time capsule that uses recently uncovered home videos to provide a stark if repetitive look over decades at the Saint-Alban hospital in the Lozère region of France. South of Paris, north of Marseille, the mountainous and secluded area has been like an island of seclusion for generations. It’s separated from cosmopolitan areas with residents living the bucolic life expected from such an environment. In the rolling hills and pastures, an asylum was built to house the mentally ill, and by the 1930s, it had

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Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You Review: Still the Boss

Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You (USA, 90 min.) Dir. Thom Zimny Bruce Springsteen shows no signs of slowing down at the age of 71. His new film Letter to You, which debuts alongside his album of the same name on October 23, proves the Boss as prolific and powerful as ever. Only one year after his film and album Western Stars, Letter to You shows a true icon who embodies the spirit of rock ’n’ roll and makes the most of a rich life, pursuing his passion well into the golden years. Letter to You follows a formula comparable to Western Stars as it features a complete

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Army of Lovers in the Holy Land Review: Chosen to Get Freaky

Army of Lovers in the Holy Land (Israel, 65 min.) Dir. Asaf Galay In 1993, I wandered into a Tel Aviv record store and was immediately drawn to an album cover festooned with four flamboyant characters. They were dressed in what appeared to be S&M-themed funereal garb while a giant Star of David flag loomed in the background. The 12” single included various versions of the song ‘Israelism,’ including mixes cheekily named “Kibbutznikblitzkrieg” and “Goldcalfhorahhorror.” For decades, I knew nothing specific about this band or its impact, yet thanks to Asaf Galay’s brief but compelling film, Army of Lovers in the Holy Land,

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