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09.13.12TIFF 2012 Capsule Reviews: ‘Stories We Tell’, ‘Reincarnated’, ‘The Act of Killing’, ‘9.79*’, ‘West of Memphis’STORIES WE TELL Dir. Sarah Polley Canada The first person, autobiographical documentary can go two ways. At the best of times it's an intimate and fearless examination of the human condition that explores universal themes which reveal something about ourselves. At the worst of times it's a self-indulgent, narcissistic opportunity for a filmmaker to legitimize their home movies by passing them off as cinema vert. I can't say I generally have much faith going into these films but Sarah Polley's 'Stories We Tell' was an exception. Her previous (fictional) effort, Take This Waltz, looked at the complicated and sometimes ugly side of love ...
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08.01.12TIFF 2012 Documentary Line-UpOnce again, TIFF is right around the corner and there's a TON of great films for those lucky enough to navigate and overcome their overly complex ticket lottery system. As usual, the festival's diverse line-up of non-fiction programming is of particular interest to myself (and likely you), so below is the current selection of films to dig through and fit into your schedule. I've embedded trailers where available, so have a look and start planning this year's festival with some awesome documentary screenings! Personally, I've got my eye on Room 237, Bestiaire, How to Make Money Selling Drugs, and Reincarnated. ...
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09.15.11TIFF 2011: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory ReviewBack in 1995, documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky flew down to West Memphis, Arkansas, to cover a murder trial that they thought would represent the callousness of today’s youth and the total deterioration of American values. Three teenagers had apparently decided to kill and decapitate three eight-year old boys on a whim. What they found, however, was something entirely different: a small town witch hunt, an incompetent justice system and mass hysteria. Despite a lack of complete lack of physical evidence, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelly were convicted and thrown behind bars before they could scarcely ...
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01.11.11Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams TrailerOne of the hottest tickets at TIFF last year was Werner Herzog’s 3-D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams (is it Cave or Caves? I’ve seen it spelled both ways). The film explores the Chauvet Cave of Southern France, which contains the oldest cave art known to man, dated at approximately 32,000 years old. Herzog was given special access to the cave and was allowed to shoot using lights that don’t emit heat so as to avoid damaging the drawings. A trailer has turned up online for the film this week, and although it’s difficult to get a feel for some of ...
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11.02.10The Documentary Blog Podcast Episode #5: (Guest: Ondi Timoner)Hello and welcome! It is time once again for another episode of The Documentary Blog podcast. This week we're lucky enough to be joined by the only filmmaker who has won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival twice, director Ondi Timoner. She joins us to discuss her latest film, Cool It, which premiered at this years Toronto International Film Festival (you can read my thoughts on Cool It here). We also talk a bit about her previous work, specifically her last film We Live in Public. On top of that, we talk about what we've been ...
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10.10.10Guilty Pleasures: Five Documentaries That Made Me Feel Dirty After Watching Them.I'm always cautious when using the term 'guilty pleasure'. It's an overused phrase often meant to describe those 'so-bad-they're-good' genre movies that just don't fit into any other critical description. I'm of the mind that if I like a film, I have no reason to feel guilty about it. That said, within the non-fiction world I do think there are films that could literally fall under this classification. They're those documentaries that push ethical boundaries, walking the fine line between exploitation and entertainment. This list looks at five films that I've found entertaining or fascinating in one way or another ...
