Hot Docs: Sunday, May 10

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

Encirclement: Neo-Liberalism Ensnares Democracy (Dir: Richard Brouillette)

A comprehensive and rigourous (read: long) examination of the implications of neoliberal capitalist economics, this 160 minute film is a testament to the Hot Docs audience — I was somewhat surprised to see a nearly full house for something that doesn't promise a thrill ride of excitement.¹ A black-and-white talking head documentary, mostly in French, about economic theory running two-and-a-half hours. I enjoyed it. But I was left wondering who the envisioned audience was: I could only think that most people willing to take the plunge were the sort who were already pretty well versed in all of this stuff. Still, however, this was enjoyable. The interview subjects were all engaging², and all were given time to fully lay out their ideas — no sound-bites here. One long burst in a theatre is probably not the way to watch this — a comfy couch and several breaks would enhance the experience, so worth looking for on television or DVD.

When We Were Boys (Dir: Sarah Goodman)

Nothing better than ending the festival with a good film, which may also be the most "local" of all the local films, taking place mostly at Royal St. George's College, not much more than a stone's throw from The Bloor where it was being screened. A verité portrait of private-school boys in grade 8 and 9, featuring a large supporting cast, but zeroing in on two subjects. A wonderful look at what it means to be a boy, it also serves as an eye-opening look at what life is like for the "privileged" kids, who are told not to merely "settle" for going to McGill and ending up as a doctor or lawyer. But overall, despite laptops and overseas trips, a lot of things about those years are still the same, and the movie was wonderfully evocative of the small gestures, tussles, and verbal sparring that boys go through. Added bonus: a very nice soundtrack with some ace local indie bands, assembled under the supervision of Jim Guthrie. At the start, we're thrown right into it, and it takes a bit for the immersion to move from overwhelming to intimate (and the sound in the theatre certainly left some things muffled and unheard), but this is a very good effort. Do see it.

---

¹ Although I'm guessing that some people came in without double-checking the length of this, as there was a slow stream of people pulling the plug from the ninety-minute mark onwards.

² Bernard Maris was a particular delight to encounter, and is now on my list for further investigation.

Hot Docs: Saturday, May 9

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

El Olvido (Oblivion) (Dir: Heddy Honigmann)

World documentary master Heddy Honigmann (who underwhelmed a little last year with the slightly thin Emoticons) returns with a film ranking in the top tier of her rich career. In Peru, presidents come and go, but working folk are always toiling. El Olvido takes us on a tour of Lima where we meet a variety of people working in the service industry — not only in the formal sense of waiters and bartenders (who we see being taught to always provide service with a smile) but also those in the vast informal service industries, such as street hawkers and entertainers who put on the quickest of shows in crosswalks during red lights and hope for change from the cars ready to stream by them. We learn how to make a Pisco Sour (the national cocktail) and see the proper way to don a presidential sash while seeing how the people who provide these services live. With her warm empathy, Heddy elicits the hopes and dreams of the people we see and also finds out what happened on the days the bigwigs stopped by. Her eye also catches the beauty — and the rough side — of Lima. This film in its tone and details recalls her 1998 effort The Underground Orchestra but this is by no means a rehash. A perfectly wonderful film. Hightly recommended.

Invisible City (Dir: Hubert Davis)

Following two young men in Toronto's Regent Park as they navigate their neighbourhood and high schools, trying to get over and trying to grow up. Against beautifully-lensed shots of Regent Park under a siege of redevelopment, Mikey and Kendell look for the path they want to take, with the appeal of the street competing against the imprecations of their hard-working moms and the few authority figures that look out for them. This is a very good doc (and festival award winner for best Canadian feature), sticking with its subjects over a long stretch of time, and giving us a chance to watch them grow up. Its only failing might be that it doesn't do enough to show us what the boys are up against — with their loving mothers' guidance and support and teachers like Ainsworth Morgan, as well as their own generally articulate self-reflection, we see the things pulling them to the straight and narrow, but the pitfalls are merely shadowy suggestions. That aside, this is well worth seeing. (Well-paired with Code of Silence, a student short directed by Chris Quigg that scratches the surface of the "stop snitching" phenomenon. Capably done, but it leaves a hunger for a more comprehensive treatment of the subject.)

A Hard Name (Dir: Alan Zweig)

Alan Zweig turns outward from the personal investigation of his previous Loveable to meet and hear the stories of a group of ex-cons. Zweig is an excellent interviewer, both a friendly presence good at getting people to open up, but also pushing a little bit and asking the questions that are also in the audience's mind: why'd you do what you did? Would you go back to crime if you knew you wouldn't get caught? The film's subjects show varying degrees of self-awareness and desire to change, and a range of articulacy. I left the screening slightly underwhelmed — perhaps it just didn't live up to my expectations. A bit hard to take in places — the folks on screen went through a lot of bad shit and, in turn, inflicted a lot of pain on others — but it's still worth seeing.

Recording: Vivian Girls

Artist: Vivian Girls

Song: Second Date

Recorded live at The Horseshoe Tavern, May 8, 2009.

Vivian Girls - Second Date

My notes for this show are here.

Gig: Vivian Girls / Crystal Antlers / Little Girls

Vivian Girls / Crystal Antlers / Little Girls

The Horseshoe. Friday, May 8, 2009.

Once again, headed down to the 'Shoe after the night's last Hot Doc screening. Made it in time to see the openers, local crew Little Girls, already drawing some attention even though this was merely their fourth gig. It's presumably a lack of material, then, that kept their set to a tidy seven songs in twenty minutes. What they did play was generally proficient, and showed off some potential. Their sound is perhaps not yet fully integrated, at the outset sounding like a certain sub-subgenre of mid-'90's bands playing distorted variations on Superchunk (Banned From Atlantis was the first name that came to mind, though that's arguably not a widely useful referent). Things shifted a bit when frontman Josh McIntyre set down his guitar, leaving a slightly sparer mix on a couple tunes that worked from a Joy Division template. McIntyre's yelpy vox were occasionally a bit buried in the mix, but it sounds like the band has a notion on how to construct a decent song. Worth seeing again, just to see how this develops.

Listen to a song from this set here.

Next up were Crystal Antlers, with whom I was not too familiar, having backed a different horse in the Great Crystal Band Race of '08.¹ The band came out six deep, organ and percussion augmenting the dual guit/bass/drums backbone. The org and perc at the edges of the stage served to create an interesting push/pull tension to the band's whirling, slightly psychedelicized sound, with the former integrating and smoothing things out and the latter adding an extra layer of frenzy. The real wildcard on top of it all was Jonny Bell's throat-shredding vox. All of it taken together gave the band its own unique sort of sound: "Trans Am playing Led Zeppelin," a guy beside me shouted to his buddy.² The band's early momentum was nearly stopped when Bell broke a bass string a couple songs in³, but a quick substitution was effected thanks to some timely intervention from the headliners, and the band covered with some instro-noodling while Bell tuned up and things moved along. I can't say the whole thing converted me, but the set was generally entertaining with some pretty good moments, including a final selection that actually rocked in a fairly convincingly menacing way.

A quick turnover for the Vivian Girls was negated by sound problems and a wayward instrument cable, which left the band standing around on the stage for ten-plus minutes before getting going, leading to some carping from the crowd — when some dick shouted "play a song already," the band lashed back like one of the tough girl-gangs they've based themselves on, Katy coolly uttering a quick "Hey, fuck you — why don't you come up here", while Cassie added "yeah, you play a song... asshole." Point to the band.

Once everything was set, they launched into a feisty "All The Time", and kept things going for forty-five minutes. I was curious to see what kind of chops the band had built up with some steady touring since they'd been in these parts at Fucked Up's Hallowe'en gig, when they were stuck with borrowed instruments and were fighting against broken strings and other problems. All things told, watching the band still feels like watching a tightrope act, as they occasionally teeter over the edge of shambolic recklessness. At the same time, there is more confidence here, and the band is even stretching out a bit. As Ali Koehler leaned into her kit, hunched over while pounding out the backbeat, Kickball Katy remained steady on bass, leaving room for Cassie Ramone's guit, including a few more solos this time round.

The room was not particularly full, giving a bit of elbow room which was fortunate for those standing near one Max Headroom-ish fellow who decided to start up a one-man pogo dancing party, lurching all over people's private space. His incursions somehow ended up with him getting a drink poured down his collar, which led to some shouting and shoving, but ultimately cooler heads prevailed. Meanwhile, the band was mixing up material from their album with cuts from their singles and some slated for the next long player. My impression was that things moved quickly from sounding together to being a bit off, and then back again — a bit of a wayward set overall. It's tough to get just that right level of things almost falling apart without things actually falling apart a bit now and then — this is the tension that both elevates Vivian Girls and threatens to undermine them completely. It remains to be seen how they navigate this as they grow in experience and confidence.

Still, they're fun to watch, and are putting on an entertaining show, banging their tambourines on their guitar necks and inviting the crowd along to the after party to hear them DJ. They ended with a lengthy instrumental jam, wherein the band all swapped instruments in mid-stream — Katy taking over the drums without missing a beat, Cassie picking up the bass, and Ali using her beer bottle as a slide on the guitar between swigs. It seems like this crew have more tricks up their sleeves, so I'm willing to stick around to see if they can take all of their compelling elements and consolidate them into a solid set firing on all cylinders.

Listen to a song from this set here.

---

¹ Crystal Stilts, for the record, which has caused no end to the rancour with J., with me at the gig, who is a Crystal Castles man.

² I'm not sure I'm 100% behind this assessment, but it saves me from having to come up with my own "X covering Y" comparison.

³ And the E string at that — you don't see that happen very often.

Hot Docs: Friday, May 8

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

Episode 3 - ‘Enjoy Poverty’ (Dir: Renzo Martens)

A political statement as art project, this doc attempts to deconstruct the power relations at play between impoverished citizens of the Congo, those "exploiting" them, and those "helping" them. Renzo Martens, playing a character named "Renzo Martens", tours the countryside with a generator and a large neon sign reading "Enjoy Poverty" (since, after all, it's the most abundant resource at hand). It's all a little artsy and conceptual, but there's a method to the madness, an attempt to step outside of the usual tropes of looking at this part of the world. Why does MSF show up when children are malnourished after an insurrection, but not when children are malnourished as a result of ongoing economic exploitation? Martens' gamesmanship cannot really get him outside of the loop, but it does create some space for an investigation to take place. Once all the navel-gazing is put aside, however, this is still an imperfect documentary — the first third or more felt more like the sort of "suffering Africa travelogue" that the movie was trying to criticise, and there were a few sequences that could have been trimmed or chopped out and not missed. And ultimately, although the movie was positioning itself as being bluntly controversial, it never like it had that much bite. In person at the Q & A afterwards, Martens was thoughtful and articulate, which improved the experience.

Old Partner (Dir: Chung-ryoul Lee)

Apparently the #1 all-time box office champ in Korea for documentaries, Old Partner is a story that may be almost universally appealing. Following an elderly farm couple and their equally elderly ox, time slows down as we watch farmer Choi work his land in the old fashioned, back-breaking way. There's a great wealth of observational material defining the triangular relationship, and many funny and sad moments as we watch everyone teeter on the brink of ill-health. Expertly crafted, this might sound slight or corny, but it is simply one of the best docs in the festival this year.

pereSTROIKA - reCONSTRUCTION of a flat (Dir: Christiane Büchner)

An utterly unique story: after the fall of communism, tenants were given ownership of their own rooms within shared flats, creating a giant marketplace of tiny properties. This film takes us inside one such flat and follows a real estate agent's efforts to convince everyone to sell at once, so that the flat can be resold at higher value as a whole unit. Complications ensue. The best element here is simply a window to see how people in contemporary Russia live — how much space they have, what kind of furniture they have. The plot (and the plotting) gets a little hazy and confusing at times, but this is a reasonably pleasant trip.

Hot Docs: Thursday, May 7

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

Lonely Boy / Sad Song of Yellow Skin (Dir: Wolf Koenig, Roman Kroitor / Michael Rubbo)

Another pairing from the "Spotlight on the NFB" programme, the gem here is the half-hour Lonely Boy, a verité portrait of Paul Anka in 1962, when he was like female Viagra dipped in crack. Anka croons, women scream, and we also get a few glimpses behind the scenes. Enormous fun, and the style's immediacy can still be felt today.

The second film, 1970's Sad Song of Yellow Skin is also immersive, taking us on an hour-long tour though Saigon. The war itself is mostly distant, but its effects are felt everywhere. Director Rubbo seems more interested in heading off the beaten path, and spends much of the film's time in two contrasting islands — a literal one occupied by a monk's peace camp, and a figurative one in the form of a slum. Atmospheric stuff, and an interesting time capsule.

The Jazz Baroness (Dir: Hannah Rothschild)

An intriguingly full house for this, a portrait of Pannonica "Nica" Rothschild, black sheep of the Rothschild family, long-time Jazz patron and companion to Thelonious Monk. There's some great stuff here, starting with a great love story, personal histories encompassing sharecroppers and royalty, and no shortage of fabulous music. That said, this is merely a good documentary. Suffering from that familiar problem of historical docs, there's sometimes a frustrating lack of primary material to draw from, leading to over-reliance on stock footage and some filler. Plus a somewhat awkward framing device, giving us the director's personal struggle to dig up the facts and put the story on the screen. All that said, this is such a fascinating story that it's worth seeing for anyone interested in Monk or the history of bop. Also: points for the deployment of Helen Mirren, reading Nica's letters and bringing her to life. It's rare that I say this, but this would be an excellent candidate for a feature film.

Mugabe and the White African (Dir: Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson)

Under the increasingly tyrannical leadership of despot Robert Mugabe, large farms are being seized for redistribution to the masses. On closer examination, it turns out that only white farmers are being targeted, regardless of whether they are good farmers, good employers, or good citizens. As the tension in Zimbabwe ratchets up, one principled farmer refuses to be bullied and stands up for the rule of law. Michael Campbell and his family decide to fight, taking their claim to an international tribunal for redress against a blatantly racist policy. As the government uses every delaying tactic possible, Zimbabwe, suffering through the aftermath of Mugabe's stolen election, becomes increasingly anarchic. A tense and powerful story that asks who the real exploiters are, and who counts as a "real" African. Gripping stuff, although despite the fact that the film ends on a positive note, one leaves feeling that the story isn't over, and that a happy ending is not inevitable.

Prom Night in Mississippi (Dir: Paul Saltzman)

In 2007, Charleston, Mississippi — a town where the high school wasn't integrated until 1970 — still held separate proms for black and white students. The wheels of change were set in motion by actor Morgan Freeman, a son of the local soil, who offered to pay for one prom for all. Following the students through the school year, we see the struggles required to make this happen. For the students, this mostly not a big deal — they've gone to school together all their lives. But division is hard-wired into this town. Not a deep doc, but very well made in telling a story of something that should have been dealt with decades ago. There are plenty fun moments, and it's generally a sweet journey.

Outrage (Dir: Kirby Dick)

This polemical doc focuses on a weird American political phenomenon — closeted queer politicians, mostly Republicans, whose hetero fronts include sponsoring rabidly anti-gay politics. Following a number of cases of varying notoriety and some of the activists who work to "out" them, the film aims to inform and arouse the audience's anger. Unlike, say, The Cove, where I left the theatre pumped up and ready for action, this left me shrugging my shoulders a bit, possibly because these issues seem distant from my time and place. It was enetertaining though, and the thesis (that self-hating queer politicians are one of the biggest dangers to advancing equal rights) is worthy of further reflection. Best of luck with figuring out that gay people don't have cooties, America!

Hot Docs: Wednesday, May 6

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

Rough Aunties (Dir: Kim Longinotto)

"Man are like babies... totally hopeless!" In contemporary South Africa, when the state is unable or unwilling to take care of the most vulnerable, who will? Kim Longinotto (at Hot Docs last year with the superb Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go) follows the women of Bobbi Bear, and organization helping victims of child abuse and rape. Getting to know these strong women, Longinotto is a master at unobtrusively putting us in intensely intimate situations. An excellent doc, but be warned: a total crier.

Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country (Dir: Anders Høgsbro Østergaard)

Telling the story of citizen reporters who risked their lives to show the world the events unfolding inside Burma before and during the 2007 uprising, this doc tells an important story and serves a useful function of weaving together a lot of the footage collected during that time. It also suffers from some technical limitations: the parts of the film not composed of the smuggled footage are often recreations, while the original material is shot on sometimes-grainy, always-concealed handicams, making for less-than-pristine cinematography, which often ends with queasy, shaky shots as the videographer flees the scene. All of which is perfectly understandable, but which also probably makes this film much more viewable on TV than on the big screen.

Antoine (Dir: Laura Bari)

A refreshing change of pace, Antoine takes us into the world of a blind six-year-old boy from Montréal. Resolutely sticking to Antoine's point of view, adults are huge and distant, and the realm of imagination (where Antoine is a private detective busily seeking out clues with his microphone) is no less real than school or home. Strongly evocative of that time when imagination is so powerful, we are pulled right into the world of Antoine and his play-mates in imaginative, colourfully vivid scenes. Not to everyone's liking — a good handful of people fled the theatre when they realized how dedicated to Antoine's imaginary world this film would be — this is anything but a conventional documentary, and all the more powerful for it. The last part of the film might bear some further trimming, but well done overall. (Paired with The Real Place, a five-minute animated short on Canadian author John Murrell.)

Robinsons of Mantsinsaari (Dir: Victor Asliuk)

Sometimes it's not the film's fault that it's not the doc you wanted to see. Set on a remote island with two dogs, a horse and two men who don't like each other, this is not a quirky, personality-driven story against a backdrop of isolation. In fact, the doc never gets around to telling us why these two old men are enemies. Instead, it aims to reveal character through meditative reflections on the island's geography. That last phrase is usually code for "dull", and this film just — just — misses that. Uneven access might explain that we spend more time with one of our characters and get to know him a little more. This is, over all, a bit too spare for my liking, and against a backdrop of other possible films to see, I would probably advise picking another. (My disposition going in might have been soured by the preceeding film, The Beekeepers, a 28-minute musing on the decline of the world's bee colonies. Inelegantly crafted as — I think — a post-apocalyptic dispatch, this film pressed all of the wrong buttons for me. Too arty by half and poorly executed.)

Hot Docs: Tuesday, May 5

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

The Red Chapel (Dir: Mads Brügger)

A Danish comedic theatre troupe heads to North Korea to try and expose the evil of that brutal dictatorship. Figuring that the authorities there are oblivious to sarcasm and unable to speak Danish, the crew mostly plays along with their handlers, waiting for chances to catch sight of some of the faultlines. As events unfold, we see different reactions to the doublethink required to maintain the façade: Brügger is fairly cynical and shameless in the depths he'll go to, while morally-centred disabled performer Jacob feels signs of the strain required. It's all darkly funny and manages to show some of the everyday steps required to perpetuate a total system of thought control.

Shadow Billionaire (Dir: Alexis Manya Spraic)

An utterly fascinating story about tycoon Larry Hillblom (the "H" in the courier company DHL) who is lost at sea on a routine flight. Why didn't he get a pilot's licence? Why didn't he write a will? Could there be any repercussions from his penchant for prostitutes? A story that gets weirder as more as revealed. Sadly, there isn't a lot of footage of Hillblom, and throughout there are some visual gaps where the filmmakers are forced to use filler: plenty grainy shots of beaches and sunsets etc. Fortunately, there are some great characters on screen, including a tenacious "rooster" of a lawyer who refuses to give up when faced against big suits and big money. This is an interesting doc, but would work fine to see on television.

The Way We Get By (Dir: Aron Gaudet)

The airport at Bangor, Maine is a major transfer point for troops entering and leaving the U.S. for Iraq. This film follows a group of senior citizens who have made it their job to give the soldiers the best send-off and welcome possible: getting off that plane, the soldiers are greeted by applause, handshakes and hugs. It's also a story about getting old and how folks deal with the physical infirmities and loneliness that the years bring. We follow three seniors from the group, and get to know them and see why this is such an important part of their lives. I'm a soft touch, admittedly, but I was teary for the length of this one. Greeted by enormous applause and a standing ovation, this is the best film I've seen at this year's festival so far.

The Cove (Dir: Louie Psihoyos)

"James Bond meets Jacques Cousteau" is the hook for this eco-triller doc, which looks poised to be a phenomenon when it hits wide release this summer. In a small Japanese fishing village, dolphins are herded into a natural harbour, and the best and plucked out for sale to aquariums around the world. The rest are taken to a hidden cove and slaughtered. Yet no one wants to buy dolphin meat — so what happens to it? Many questions are answered when a team of concerned activists and divers sneak behind the fences to reveal what happens in... The Cove. Expertly constructed for maximum emotional impact, this film also aroused a huge audience reaction. Quite excellent.

Hot Docs: Monday, May 4

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

The One Man Village (Dir: Simon El Habre)

Before the war, the Lebanese village of Aïn el-Halazoun had a church, store, school, oil press and forty or so families. Now, there is one man, Semaan El Habre, a farmer who enjoys the quiet life. Taking its pace from his calm, reflective life, the film follows him, giving us a sense for the feel of the place, and then slowly expands outwards, as we meet some of the town's former inhabitants, who now live elsewhere, but still come to tend to their land. Not only an excellent character study, but a quiet comment on the long aftermath of the displacement of war, this film was one of my faves of the festival so far.

Defamation (Dir: Yoav Shamir)

A first-person investigation into the contemporary faces of antisemitism as well as what might controversially be labeled "the antisemitism industry". Filled with surprising interviews, we meet people who might be good-hearted (but wrong), jerks (but right) or some combination of all the above. Also eye-opening is a thread of the film following a group of Israeli students making the trip to Auschwitz, who are told to expect antisemitism from every corner, and then manage to find it. This is the sort of film that could come with a Q & A session as long as the movie itself — a big subject, but Shamir carves it down into something relevant and meaningful.

Action Boys (Dir: Byung-Gil Jung)

The story of a group of classmates at a Korean school for stuntmen, this was a scattered and uneven work. There were some amusing moments showing them learning the craft, but as we follow some of the characters in and out of the small world of stuntmen, the storytelling became fractured and often confusing. It also had a disorienting made-for-TV feel, with invasive voiceover and manipulative music cues. And then it sort of limped along for the last half hour or so, the film-makers apparently waiting for something with enough gravitas to happen to give the movie a conclusion. Not recommended.

Broke (Dir: Rosie Dransfeld)

Although marred by some technical imperfections (like a wayward boom mike that managed to keep straying into the frame) and a lazy, clichéd music score, this doc still impressed simply by the strength of the characters on screen. Like a one-set play, the film follows Edmonton pawnbroker David Woolfson, a crusty pragmatist, as he deals with a customer base who have no other option than to pawn their goods to him. The film observes without explaining the complicated background of the customers and the strange relationship between Woolfson and Chris Hoard, a sort of voluntary unpaid intern who hangs around the shop. Generally compelling stuff. Paired with the six minute Man Behind the Log, a short portrayal of a homeless Vancouver artist.

Objectified (Dir: Gary Hustwit)

From the maker of past Hot Doc fave Helvetica comes another look at the ubiquitous things around us that we tend to overlook. This time the subject is the much broader idea of "design" itself, and that gives the film a bit of a sense that it has bitten off more than it could chew. Instead of focusing on one thing and using that as a window to broader ideas, this wants to cover everything and left me feeling less satisfied overall. Some of the interview subjects were certainly fascinating people, and the film moved towards some focus in the latter stages in discussing the shift to designers having to accept the environmental consequences of the things they create, but I left the screening feeling less than fully impressed.

Recording: The Thermals

Artist: The Thermals

Song: I Called Out Your Name

Recorded live at The Horseshoe Tavern, May 3, 2009.

The Thermals - I Called Out Your Name

My notes for this set can be found here.

Gig: The Thermals

The Thermals (Shaky Hands)

The Horseshoe. Sunday, May 3, 2009.

Coming down from a Hot Docs screening, I arrived in time to catch only about a song-and-a-half from Point Juncture, WA, so I can't evaluate them fairly. I did what I caught of their classic indie type of sound, but, small smaple size and all, I don't have enough of an impression to say anything other than I wish I'd caught more of 'em.

After a fairly quick turnover, Shaky Hands took the stage. They had a sort of classic rock/slightly boogified undercarriage¹ whose macho-ness was countered by Nicholas Delffs' quavering vox. I commented to J. that they sounded "grunge", in the way, like, TAD were grunge, but he doubted I was correct. So, maybe, "greasy" in the way Kings of Leon are (were?) greasy. After each of the first few songs Delffs would mutter, "We're just getting warmed up," and, indeed, the best of the set came with the rockers in the second half. I wasn't blown away, but they were okay.

And then, The Thermals. Not a band that I've had a long and deep history with, but I enjoyed their previous album ('06's The Body, the Blood, the Machine) — and their good rep as a live act — enough that I wanted to see them on their way through town. Taking the stage to a full house and warm cheers, the band acknowledged the crowd and launched into "Returning To the Fold", a song filled with their frequent themes of faith and worry. The punk-inflected power trio then proceeded to tear though song after song with a minimum of fuss, banter, or embellishment. Bassist Kathy Foster was the most kinetic of the band, bouncing up and down with a sly smile. Guitarist/vocalist Hutch Harris was more workmanlike.²

The songs from the just-out Now We Can See fit effortlessly into the set, and I fell instantly for "I Called Out Your Name".³ For just under an hour, encore included, the band kept up a sweaty momentum, nearly twenty songs deep, all brimming with hooks and energy. A plusgood show.

Listen to a track from this set here.

---

¹ The classic rock vibes were also due in part to the rhythm section's man-manes, freak flags flying in the breeze.

² If you were casting someone to play the part of "young Tom Verlaine", you could probably do worse than Harris.

³ A desperate love song, that, like so many classic soul songs, could be directed at either God or a more earthly lover.

Hot Docs: Sunday, May 3

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

Necrobusiness (Dir: Richard Solarz, Fredrik von Krusenstjerna)

An investigative journalism story filmed to feel more like a feature than a doc,¹ this digs up some shady dealings in the undertaking industry in Lódz, Poland. Not only are paramedics being bribed to favour certain funeral homes, but they may be taking it upon themselves to create more customers! Peeling back the scandal like layers of an onion, the doc mostly follows Skrzydlewski, the man at the top of the heap in this cut-throat game, as well as some of his former business associates. It dragged in a few places, but the story is so strange and compelling, with revelation after revelation that it is worth watching. The fact that Skrzydlewski is a colourful fellow, and the big cinematic look of the film are positives as well. Sadly, there was no Q&A to allow us to find out how the film-makers got such intimate access, including one scene where a prisoner receives the letter informing him of his trial's outcome.

Carmen Meets Borat (Dir: Mercedes Stalenhoef)

Tracking the aftermath in the Romanian village featured at the start of the film Borat, this doc starts just by observing life in the town of Glod. The name translates as "Mud", and in many cases, it doesn't actually seem that the film, which offended the townspeople greatly, stretched the truth all that much. But the film is also about Carmen, one girl who thinks that this town is too small for her spirit, and longs to get away, Featuring Carmen's ambitious father, a boy-next-door with an eye for marriage, and some oily lawyers that appear to help the town sue to recover its stolen dignity, all of these are played nicely against Carmen's own struggles. By turns hilarious and sad this is an above average doc that compares Hollywood dreams to the realities of life's real character arcs.

Flak / Dream Tower (Dir: Ron Mann)

A pair of mid-length films by Ron Mann, linked by their examinations of the aftermath of the failure of the '60's dreams of social transformation. First up was Flak, shot by the sixteen-year-old Mann in 1976, a semi-documentary following the lives of five young men deciding what, if anything they could do to stop the pollution emanating from the factory near their home. The film is raw and shows struggles against some of the technical limitations it was shot under, but is not without some interesting moments.

More accomplished was Dream Tower, the story of Toronto's infamous Rochdale College, established in the transformational zeal of the 60's as a new kind of educational institution based on radical equality and democracy. Rochdale, then, also became a metaphor for the death of that time's optimism, as the project sank into an un-self-governed den of drug use and communal indifference. On the other hand, Rochdale inspired a generation of creative minds and left its mark on the birth of some of the city's most important cultural institutions (including Coach House Press and Theatre Paisse Murialle). Narrowing the focus from the identically-titled book which inspired it, the doc tells the story well and has some excellent footage of life inside Rochdale.

---

¹ Including some giant crane shots that would surely make Johnny LaRue intensely jealous.

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.

Hot Docs: Friday, May 1

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

Jumping in with both feet. It's worth noting that although there's no "official" connection anymore, the b-side website still is covering Hot Docs this year, and their scheduling features are much better than those at the Hot Docs website.

Four NFB Films

Labeled by programmer Sean Farnel as an ode to labour, these four vintage NFB shorts were each striking in thier own way. Paul Tomkowicz: Street-Railway Switchman, a portrait of a soon-to-retire Winnipegger, almost feels like Engels Noir, shot in the dark Winnipeg night in the late 50's. Nails, with a jazzy soundtrack some crate-digger is probably busily sampling right now, is a beautifully choreographed meditation on the production line vs. the craftsman. The Back-Breaking Leaf, following an Ontario tobacco harvest, has a direct cinema feel bringing to mind the work of Richard Leacock. Neat stuff to see. Sort of the other side of a coin to a program presented at the Worldwide Short Film fest last year entitled "Accidentally Funny" (which included several NFB shorts of similar vintage whose earnestness were so over the top they edged into comedy), these shorts feel timelessly elegant.

Nobody Waved Good-Bye (Dir: Don Owen)

A Classic work of Canada's and Toronto's culture, it was a gift to see this on the big screen. Also notable as the first non-documentary screened at Hot Docs, the verité style of this is so true, it actually was treated in some quarters (and won awards)as a documentary when released. A story of youthful disaffection in the homogeneous prosperity of the mythical Toronto the Good, the improvised acting in this film works excellently in nearly every scene.¹ It's raw, unmannered style makes it feel as fresh today as classic works of the Nouvelle Vague. Also worth it to try and spot the local locations. Fun fact: our antihero shoplifts a book in a scene filmed at a Coles on Yonge and Charles Street — just a block away from the Bader theatre it was being screened in! Don Owen, all of twenty-five when he shot this in the early '60's, was in attendance and was a warm presence at the Q & A.

Incident at Restigouche / Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis Child (Dir: Alanis Obomsawin)

The first of a series of screenings in this year's tribute to Alanis Obomsawin. Leading off with the shorter film, a portrait of an Albertan Métis boy who committed suicide after a life shuffled between foster homes and state institutions. A quiet but powerful indictment of the system's failure to protect this child, the film also humanized (rather than demonized) the generally well-meaning non-native foster parents who were Richard's wards along the way.

Incident at Restigouche traced the story of a clampdown of Micmac fishermen in Québec in the early 80's. Some wonderful period footage, and great interviews with the local subjects powerfully expresses the "Indian viewpoint". The true centrepiece, however, was the interview with the Québec fisheries minister, who, after building his blithe wall of genteel power, has a strip torn off him by Obomsawin — which aroused a round of applause from the film's audience mid-film!

Obviously a quiet-looking exterior holding a powerful voice, I had to duck out before hearing Obomsawin in the Q & A, but look forward to seeing more of her films in the retrospective.

Cat Ladies (Dir: Christie Callan-Jones)

Screening with: Statistics (Dir: Solveig Melkeraaen)

Examining the legend of the "crazy cat lady", this doc followed five self-proclaimed members of the tribe. Varying wildly in age, status, and degree of self-awareness, the movie was generally sympathetic to the characters, but sometimes rode the fine line between laughing with and laughing at — and then sometimes made the laughs turn sour. This was a decent doc, but not earth-shaking.

Its short companion, the Norwegian Statistics, was an enjoyable and humourous look inside a call centre, following veteran employees and a nervous newcomer. Some of the cultural references might have slid by the audience, but it was full of good laughs and well done.

Fig Trees (Dir: John Greyson)

Given that the standard idea of a documentary is to put the "facts on the screen" and to be objective, any doc that upsets arrangement is often viewed with suspicion. And when combined with the structure of an open-ended Art Film that refuses to lay all its cards on the table or connect the dots for the viewers, a doc risks alienating its audience. I left Fig Trees unsure if I liked it at all, and woke up the next morning thinking it was good. Using Gertrude Stein's opera Four Saints in Three Acts as a jumping-off point, this film tosses out strands in all directs as it tells the story of two AIDS activists, in Toronto and South Africa. Although it felt to a certain extent like the director said "I'm fascinated with these five unconnected things, so I'll make a film about them and somehow it'll all make sense!", there are a series of connections to be made between all the strands. Filled with split-screens and playful subtitles, this is also a beautiful movie to look at, and although I'm not particularly an opera fan, there were some nice moments there as well. A bit of a challenge, then, but probably worth it to those who want to try and decode it.

---

¹ Also contains a fabulous turn by a young John Vernon, in a small role as a chiseling parking-lot operator.

Recording: Mountains

Artist: Mountains

Song: [End of Part 1]

Recorded at The Music Gallery, April 28, 2009.

Mountains - [End of Part 1]

My notes for this gig can be found here.