Reviews - Page 87

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

Totally Under Control Review: Trump’s Pandemic of Stupidity

Totally Under Control (USA, 124 min.) Dir. Alex Gibney, Suzanne Hillinger and Ophelia Harutyunyan Totally Under Control ends with a title card informing viewers that American President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 one day after the film’s completion. It’s the closest that an Alex Gibney film has come to delivering a happy ending. However, if this poetic justice is new information to anyone watching the documentary, they were likely born after October 2, 2020, or living in a cave for the past year. If, however, one spent January to September 2020 in hibernation and emerged like a yawning bear eager to

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Makongo Review: The Power of Good Grub

Makongo (Central African Republic/Italy/Argentina, 72 min.) Dir. Elvis Sabin Ngaïbino Traditional grub feeds a community’s future in Makongo. This quietly effective observational film by Elvis Sabin Ngaïbino explores two men’s desire to provide children with the access to education that they enjoyed. Ngaïbino follows the efforts of Albert and André, who are among the few members of their Pygmy village to have received formal educations. They recognize that the world is changing and that the children should enjoy proper schooling as well to ensure the survival of the community. Resources, however, are scarce, so Albert and André devise a fundraiser based

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Ecstasy Review: A Fragmented Tango of Ideas and Desires

Ecstasy (Êxtase) (Brazil/USA, 72 min.) Dir. Moara Passoni Director Moara Passoni conjures a tango between pleasure and pain in Ecstasy. As the film’s title suggests, one emotion overrides the other among the sensations felt by the protagonist. Ecstasy is a hypnotic and elliptical portrait of Clara, a young dancer with an eating disorder. She struggles with ideas of body image and starves herself into an idealised form of perfection. Although her malady overwhelms her body and reduces the physical strength that a dancer requires, it ensures a ballerina’s fine lines in her mind’s eye. Ecstasy burrows deep inside a young woman’s mind with an elusive

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Winter’s Yearning Review: The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Winter’s Yearning (Norway/Denmark/Greenland, 77 min.) Dir. Sidse Torstholm Larsen, Sturla Pilskog In 2007, when American aluminium giant ALCOA announced it was exploring plans to build a plant in Maniitsoq, Greenland, the venture was seen as the means of creating jobs and securing independence from Denmark. Archive footage of the countrywide celebrations open Winter’s Yearning but the inevitable delays result in the small fishing community being on standby for years. In order to get a better understanding of what life is like in Maniitsoq, the narrative is divided amongst three individuals: a young woman working in the factory, a social worker, and the town’s aluminium

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The Marriage Project Review: Is Love the Best Medicine?

The Marriage Project (Iran/France/Qatar, 80 min.) Dir. Atieh Attarzadeh and Hesam Eslami Several years ago, Iranian filmmaker Atieh Attarzadeh set out to make a film about love. Her goal was to document the joy and sense of freedom that her marriage brought her. As her ex-husband once told her, “love is the only thing that allows you to break the boundaries others have defined for you.” Although her initial cinematic plans derailed with the demise of the relationship, her latest documentary The Marriage Project, co-directed with Hesam Eslami, presents a complicated and riveting exploration of love within the confines of mental

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If It Were Love Review: Confessions on a Dance Floor

If It Were Love (Si c‘était de l’amour) (France, 82 min.) Dir. Patric Chiha Hot, sweaty, and hypnotic, If It Were Love stages an intimate seduction. Patric Chiha’s doc, which won the Teddy for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, observes the tour and preparations for Gisèle Vienne’s 2018 dance piece Crowd. The work features 15 dancers in a slow and meditative tribute to the rave scene of the 1990s. By chronicling the rehearsals and performances for Crowd, and the intimate encounters between dancers off stage, If It Were Love captures the collisions between art and nightlife. Chiha’s film is relatively simple by

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Meeting the Beatles in India Review: Photographing the Fab Four

Meeting the Beatles in India (Canada, 82 min.) Dir. Paul Saltzman Paul Saltzman grew up during a magical time, the Sixties, when the civil rights movement and the music of rock stars like The Beatles and Bob Dylan exemplified the insurrectionary attitudes of the baby boomers, who were ready to take on the world. Saltzman had already spent a summer helping to get Black voters to register in Mississippi—and getting punched out by the son of a notorious white supremacist for his troubles—before going in 1968 for the first of what would turn out to be many trips to India.

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Coral Ghosts Review: More About the Man than the Mission

Coral Ghosts (Canada, 90 Min.) Dir. Andrew Nisker Climate change is damaging the globe at an alarming rate. One just needs to observe the rapidly deteriorating coral reefs in the oceans for an example of this threat. As Andrew Nisker’s Coral Ghosts notes, coral reefs build the foundation for marine life. When they die, so do the eco-systems that depend on them. While the situation is dire, there are individuals like marine biologist Dr. Thomas J. Goreau racing against time to save the ocean life. Bringing greater attention to the underwater world that few rarely see is more than a passion project for

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Last and First Men Review: Swinton Makes Extinction Seem Grand

Last and First Men (Iceland, 71 min.) Dir. Jóhann Jóhannsson A highlight in the great world of parody Twitter accounts is the now tragically defunct handle @NotTildaSwinton. This take on the eccentric Oscar-winning actress perfectly embodies the thespian’s signature brand of cool strangeness. @NotTildaSwinton’s tweets are poetic ramblings about wigs made of yak wool or affectionate nods to “mother,” who takes the form of a comet or a cicada depending on the tweet. There’s just something weirdly and appropriately prophetic about the way she tweets about the world. @NotTildaSwinton might be the first Twitter parody account to receive a documentary portrait,

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Company Town Review: Compassion for Oshawa’s Auto Workers

Company Town (Canada, 2020) Dir. Peter Findlay Less than two years ago, in late November 2018, General Motors announced the closing of their automotive plant in Oshawa, ending a century-long commitment to Canadian workers and the company town that sprang up after the establishment of the auto factory. Canadians responded with anger and consternation to the news. It had only been a decade earlier that the federal and provincial governments spent billions to bail out GM and keep it in Canada. But, as the Canadian classic documentary The Corporation (2003) told us long before the bailout, you can expect nothing else from

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