Reviews - Page 98

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

Review: ‘Who Let the Dogs Out’

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Who Let The Dogs Out (Canada, 60min.) Dir. Brent Hodge Programme: Nightvision (Canadian Premiere) On first blush Brent Hodge’s Who Let The Dogs Out is a silly film about a silly song, tracing with great humour one man’s search for meaning from a ghastly pop hit with an infectious chorus. Along the way the film uncovers deeper veins that question the very nature of creativity itself, finding that shared experiences shape work in numerous ways, resulting in performances, all drawing from a common well, where questions of authorship and ownership become murkier the closer one gazes upon them. The film is based

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Review: ‘Advocate’

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Advocate (Canada/Israel/Switzerland, 105 min.) Dir. Rachel Leah Jones, Phillipe Bellaiche Programme: Special Presentations (Canadian Premiere) A heroic portrait of an Israeli lawyer who defends violent Palestinian offenders, Advocate is a lively exercise in documentary advocacy. The subject is Lea Tsemel, a 74-year-old political firebrand, who has dedicated her career to challenging Israel’s two-tier justice system, with different standards for Israeli citizens and Palestinians in the occupied territories. This self-described “angry and optimistic woman,” is a natural cinema verité performer, full of flashing energy, quick sardonic retorts and unselfconscious in her moral convictions. Known by opponents as “the devil’s advocate” or traitor to

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Review: ‘My Dads, My Moms, and Me’

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My Dads, My Moms, and Me (Canada, 85 min.) Dir. Julia Ivanova Programme: Focus On (World Premiere) In 2005, Canada became the first country outside of Europe to legalize same-sex marriage. This opened a legal way for many gay men to fulfill their dream of having children. In 2007’s Fatherhood Dreams, Julia Ivanova (Limit is the Sky) told the stories of gay dads Scott, Steve, Randy and Drew, on their emotional and challenging journeys to becoming fathers through adoption, co-parenting and surrogacy. Randy and Drew adopted baby Jack, Scott connected with a surrogate to have twins Ella and Mac, and

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Review: ‘The Edge of Democracy’

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The Edge of Democracy (Brazil, 112 min.) Dir. Petra Costa Programme: Special Presentations (Canadian Premiere) Petra Costa’s political documentary The Edge of Democracy is like none other, a work both intimate and grand in scope. Her incredible access to the political ruling class of her native Brazil results in a film, which truly tracks history in the making, tracing what may well be the dying throes of the country’s experiment in liberal democracy. It’s a film of sophisticated nuance and balance, showing the various factors that are contributing to Brazil’s current fractured state, resulting in the arrest and impeachment of its most

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Review: ‘River Silence’

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River Silence (Canada, 90 min.) Dir. Rogério Soares Programme: Canadian Spectrum (World Premiere) The New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis is an expert on “miserablism.” She has a keen eye for spotting this cinematic style and often identifies it in the work of emerging directors, like early Lynne Ramsay, Andrea Arnold, and pre-Birdman Alejandro González Iñárritu. Miserablism, as the term suggests, features bleakness piled upon tragedy, poverty, and heartbreak. It comes from a good place and can be especially productive in spotlighting stories from impoverished communities, but it’s pure hell to watch, yet often productive in creating empathy for stories that

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Review: ‘Always in Season’

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Always in Season (USA, 88 min.) Dir. Jacqueline Olive Programme: Special Presentations (International Premiere) Director Jacqueline Olive asks if lynching still exists in the USA in her provocative documentary Always in Season, but the film awkwardly strangles itself by having one narrative thread too many. There’s a searing true crime saga to be found somewhere within her interrogation of the case of 17-year-old Lennon Lacy, whose death was ruled a suicide when he was found hanging on a swing set near his home in Bladenboro, North Carolina. However, while making the case that Lacy’s death was a modern day lynching and a continuation

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Review: ‘Because We Are Girls’

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Because We Are Girls (Canada, 85 min.) Dir.: Baljit Sangra Programme: Persister (World Premiere) Because We Are Girls begins with three adult sisters, and a secret. Though we know something has happened to them, Baljit Sangra gives space for these women to be themselves, enjoying the company of family, before letting us know that they have come together for a much more dire reason. Having been sexually abused as children by a male cousin, they are taking him to court to seek justice and put an end to his ongoing crimes. Sangra’s film is definitely not enjoyable. With the harrowing details

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Review: ‘Behind the Shutters’

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Behind the Shutters (Belgium, 50 minutes) Dir.: Messaline Raverdy Programme: World Showcase At the start of her pregnancy, director Messaline Raverdy moves into her grandmother’s house. While there, she speaks to the older woman about her life, tracing her own maternal heritage, while interviewing the women who worked at her grandfather’s coffee factory. At the same time, she corresponds with a nun from a nearby Carmelite monastery. Considering the various roles women take on, Raverdy allows the richness of hidden feminine histories to unfold. Behind the Shutters has a certain whimsy to it. Vintage ads, wordplay, and cute songs pepper the

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Review: ‘Born in Evin’

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Born in Evin (Germany/Austria, 98 min.) Dir. Maryam Zaree Programme: Persister (International Premiere) Maryam Zaree opens her extraordinary film by narrating a Talmudic story that immediately bonds you to her and sets up the doc’s storyline. All children are born with a candle on their head, goes the story, signifying that they know everything. But an angel blows out the candle, and they forget all their knowledge. They spend the rest of their lives trying to get it back. In pre-revolutionary Iran, Zaree’s parents were dissidents who opposed the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s vicious autocracy. They continued their rebellion when

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