Hot Docs: Saturday, May 2

Reviews of screenings from the 2009 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Toronto, Canada.

Wow (Dir: Claude Jutra)

This 1969 film by seminal Canadian director Claude Jutra screened as part of the NFB programme. Certainly stretching the concept of documentary a bit, the movie is bifurcated between a series of black-and-white interviews with a group of teenagers interspersed with vivid and colourful sequences where they get to act out their dreams. The dreams range from the relatively prosaic (running naked down rue Ste-Catherine) to the symbolic (a nun defends her convent against invading soldiers) to the playful (a technicolour extravaganza involving flying carousel horses and nude trampoline jumping). The quality of the segments varies a bit, and there were a few dull patches, but this was a fascinating time capsule with some fantastic images. Definitely in need of new subtitles, though — the existing ones tended to paraphrase and leave out a lot, making for a frustrating distraction as I could sometimes get a better gist of what they were actually saying.

Rocks at Whiskey Trench (Dir: Alanis Obomsawin)

Alanis Obomsawin's final film investigating the Oka Crisis and its aftermath, here focusing on the community of Kahnawake and the notorious incident where a convoy of seniors, children and women leaving the community was shelled by a stone-throwing mob. We meet some of the people who were in the cars and feel the shock and hurt that they experienced. A bit awkward in its construction, the film loops from background to incident back to background, but as a portrayal of the community of Kahnawake it excels.

Best Worst Movie (Dir: Michael Paul Stephenson)

Telling the story of Troll 2, a film so awesomely bad that it has inspired a cult following, former child actor Michael Paul Stephenson revisits to the film that was not his break to bigger things. Happily, this transcends mere fanboy voyeurism by treating us to some genuinely astounding characters, including George Hardy, an Alabama dentist whose joie-de-vivre and ongoing perplexity at his place in the Troll 2 phenomenon give the doc its pulse and an Italian director slowly trying to come to terms with the fact that his self-proclaimed insightful social commentary is being appreciated ironically for its multitudinous failures. Other former cast members seem like damaged people who were affected to differing degrees by their brush with non-fame. A fun story made into a competent film, this screening also had a surreal moment when it included footage from a Troll 2 screening at The Bloor, a screening I had attended, and where we were now watching the documentary.