The cinematic fireball that is the Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival grew again this year, increasing both in size and scope. With over 68,000 patrons (a thirty three per cent increase over last year’s turnout) attending 200 screenings of 129 films at eight different theatres, the homegrown festival’s fourteenth incarnation garnered media attention from all over the globe-even CNN wanted a piece of the action this year. In addition to movies, the festival also featured industry panel discussions, filmmaker workshops and Docs of Schools, a series of special screenings that introduced a record 15,000 high school students to the art of the documentary. So without further ado, here are The Varsity’s picks for what was hot and what was not at this year’s Hot Docs.-J.B.
Let’s All Hate Toronto – Directed by: Albert Nerenberg and Rob Spence
I never lent much credence to the idea that people could legitimately hate Toronto. And after witnessing the sheer emptiness of Albert Nerenberg and Rob Spence’s “documentary” Let’s All Hate Toronto-which presupposes a national hatred for the nation’s real capital (whoops)-I’m not at all convinced. Traveling coast-to-coast on a supposed Toronto Appreciation tour is the self-proclaimed “Mister Toronto” (co-director Rob Spence), who quickly gives up on conducting any genuine interviews and instead resorts to coaxing other Canucks to retaliate against his clownish T-dot loving jive with some loathsome playacting of their own, all of which for some reason made its way into a documentary film festival. It becomes apparent that any hatred towards Toronto is really just a lazy ploy to grab attention, and the directors must subsequently resort to their own antics to keep the film going. Though Mister Toronto’s fodder works for cheap laughs, any serious examination of the subject is thrown out the window.-R.S.
Rating: VV
Manufacturing Dissent – Directed by: Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine
Taking on the cult of documentary-maker Michael Moore would be a pretty brave move, if filmmakers Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine weren’t so goddamn Canadian about it. Employing the structure of Moore’s 1989 Roger and Me, Melnyk follows the baseball-capped guru on his “Slackers Across America” campaign in pursuit of a sit-down interview that never seems to surface. Along the way, she does manage to interview a bevy of notable filmmakers (Albert Maysles), notorious leftists (Ralph Nader) and kitchen sink talking heads (Noam Chomsky) about exactly what Moore has contributed to documentary cinema and the anti-Bush movement. While some interesting revelations are made (it turns out that Moore scored not only one but two interviews with CEO Roger Smith, and majorly screwed over Mother Jones in his limited tenure as Editor-in-Chief), Melnyk seems to shy away from asking questions that might depict Moore as anything less than a mythological figure. Even when she finally gets her chance to speak to the man himself, all she can do is make sheepish references to her Canadian background and receive a lopsided hug in return. Blame Canada indeed.-C.L.
Rating: VVV
My Second Life/Dreamworld – Directed by: Douglas Gayeton/Jorien Van Nes
Can we get a second chance at life, even if it’s only on the Internet? Is it possible to fall in love with a pixel? And what exactly is the point of buying a virtual bed, if we’re never going to sleep in it? Two fascinating documentaries capture the bizarre intricacies of Second Life, an online domain that is increasingly superceding the realities of those who access it. My Second Life tackles the intrapersonal angle, chronicling the adventures of a Dutch man who decides to travel to Boston to hook up with his pixilated counterpart in person. (The post-coital interview is nail-bitingly awkward.) Dreamworld, touted as the only documentary ever to be filmed inside the Second Life world, goes farther, re-envisioning the realities of an emblematic character who chooses to traverse a landscape of falsified objects and dreams. While I found the latter to be a little heavy on the T.S. Elliot quotations, the existential aims of the project prove that truth can be discovered in a URL.-C.L.
My Second Life Rating: VVVV
Dreamworld Rating: VVV
Ghosts of Abu Ghraib – Directed by: Rory Kennedy
The media hoopla surrounding prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib was the War on Terror’s version of the notorious My Lai Massacre in Vietnam. Both saw photos of heinous crimes make their way stateside, to the dismay of both embarrassed bureaucrats and the outraged public, fueling anti-war sentiments. While the Abu Ghraib scandal was treated as an isolated incident by those in office, director Rory Kennedy’s clever, concise, and hard-hitting investigation, The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, begs to differ. Through interviews with a number of talking-heads-which include testimony from intellectuals, soldiers who actually had a hand in the event, and victims captured in the camera’s brutal close-ups-Kennedy’s film develops into a well-balanced essay on the decisions and conditions that made torture possible. What Kennedy discovers is the danger of a militant government that ignores the Geneva Conventions (since Iraq never signed them) and routinely exploits loopholes in the textbook definition of torture. The film is book-ended by archival footage of the famous Milgram Experiment, where human subjects were willing to electrocute others so long as they were relieved of the responsibility. A nice touch, considering that the experiment used to understand the Holocaust applies so well to current events.-R.S.
Rating: VVVVV
Lovable – Directed by: Alan Zweig
Canadian filmmaker Alan Zweig’s third film in a documentary series devoted to the fixated and self-effacing, Lovable tackles what might be the most controversial topic of all: loneliness. In a series of brutally honest interviews with long-time singletons, Zweig investigates what it means to be loved and why some people continue to remain alone. While this may sound a little morose, Zweig’s Woody-Allen-on-neurotic-pills delusions (entirely captured in the reflection of a tiny bathroom mirror) and the acid-tongued comments of the all-female cast, manage to create a charming and heartfelt work that truly articulates the meaning of loneliness in the bravest and hilarious of ways. The icing on your Future’s Bakery carrot cake as you call your mother afterwards: a killer Can-con indie soundtrack featuring Julie Doiron and Luke Doucet.-C.L.
Rating: VVVVV
The Bodybuilder and I – Directed by: Bryan Friedman
There certainly isn’t any impartiality in The Bodybuilder and I, considering that the subject of the doc is director Bryan Friedman’s own relationship with his long-absent father. Yet the Best Canadian Feature winner is a charmer nonetheless, precisely because of its stark honesty and personal warmth.
The bodybuilder referenced in the title is Bill Friedman, a deadbeat dad and former workaholic who-upon the collapse of his second marriage-sold his law firm and his mansion, and obsessively hit the gym to stave off a crippling bout of depression. At 59, Bill already has one world championship under his belt-in the geriatric division no less-and is going for another, all to the embarrassment of his 26-year-old son.
The relationship between father and son is about as tense as Bill’s flexed bicep. Compared to Bill’s bulk and brawny machismo, Bryan seems like the jilted, weepy, effeminate type. He’s a son who can’t comprehend how a father can pay so much attention to his abs, but none to his own children.
The Bodybuilder and I works not only as an insider’s look into the world of geriatric bodybuilding but also as a melodrama of Hollywood proportions. Never shying away from those embarrassing caught-on-camera moments, the film pays delicate first-hand attention to the inner workings of the family unit while refusing to trim the unflattering fat.-R.S.
Rating: VVVv
Yoga, Inc. – Directed by: John Philp
There’s more to yoga than Lululemon track pants and designer water bottles. But watching John Philp’s documentary on the burgeoning industry of all things downward dog, you’d never know it. The filmmaker decides to focus on Bikram Choudhury, a Trump-like despot of the yoga industry trying to copyright his Sun Salutations before independent owners can pay their rent. While the documentary covers a comprehensive span of industry proponents (subjects range from a lithe yogi searching for Nike sponsorship, 2 suntanned corporate types franchising yoga studios and a militant Lower East Sider merchandising “Fuck Yoga” yoga mats), it’s too fluffy to take as a serious exercise. Hey, kind of like yoga!-C.L.
Rating: VVv
Girl Inside – Directed by: Maya Gallus
Even though transsexuals are usually a mainstay subject of documentary festivals, director Maya Gallus finds a fiercely intelligent and fascinating character in Madison (formerly Matthew) as she goes through a 2-year long process of becoming a real woman. We’re with her in the O.R. as she gets throat surgery to remove her Adam’s apple, and we watch as she anxiously travels cross-Canada to reintroduce herself to her parents. She even finds love in an identified-straight partner who holds her hand through the final reconstructive surgery. However, the true star is Madison’s Appletini-swilling British grandma, who asks all the questions we were thinking (especially the dirty stuff) with a sense of humor and panache. Because the documentary is constructed realistically and with grace, we truly understand Madison’s search for “the girl inside”. This documentary makes a powerful statement about the underpinnings of gender and the difficulties of sussing out an identity when everything looks wrong below the belt.-C.L.
Rating: VVVv
Without the King – Directed by: Michael Skolnik
Winner of the Special Jury Prize for International Feature, director Michael Skolnik’s Swaziland doc, Without the King, teeters towards your standard bleeding heart for Africa fare with one crucial exception: this one has a beating heart at its centre in the form of a na’ve but hopeful princess.
While poverty and HIV rates soar in Africa’s last absolute monarchy, King Mswati III hopes to do the same in a new state-financed private jet with a price tag that is double the starving nation’s health budget. This is just one example of how out of touch the ruling class of Swaziland remains, purposefully keeping the wool over their eyes while their own people suffer a drought and sustain themselves on next to nothing.
Skolnik’s doc oftentimes resorts to a pounding and manipulative soundtrack to amplify the injustice, a regretful choice considering both the generic use of this device and how the truth behind the images really speaks for itself. However, the film has a centrifugal force in its focus on Mswati’s charming 20-year-old daughter, Princess Sikhanyiso. Pampered in a mansion that she herself says is up to the standard of MTV’s Cribs, the aspiring rapper courts the camera while blissfully ignorant of the state of her nation.
However, Sikhanyiso has an insight and a critical eye that is both emboldening and beyond her years, and Sklonik’s camera is there as her lack of knowledge gives way to guilt, depression, and an all-too-real concern for the future. Indeed, it is the princess herself who becomes the film’s most affected audience, and we get the privilege of witnessing how art can inspire change.-R.S.
Rating: VVV
