By: Addison Wylie Audiences were given Pompeii earlier this year, a sweeping epic that had Paul W.S. Anderson bumbling his way through a history lesson and throwing every type of overused trope he could think of towards the paying public. It was a boneheaded film that was calculated by people solely thinking of what mainstream audiences eat up, yet had no respected consideration towards those who endured Anderson’s mess. What Cinco de Mayo: The Battle…
By: Addison Wylie As I state in the interview, part of the reason I love Hot Docs is that I usually have the chance to sit down with people I wouldn’t have expected to talk to. Miss Cleo is someone who I grew up watching on TV during commercial breaks. The infomercial psychic movement she created with her catch phrase and bright on-screen personality is something that couldn’t be ignored. She became a nostalgic icon to…
Kung Fu Elliot (DIR. Matthew Bauckman & Jaret Belliveau) By: Addison Wylie Matthew Bauckman and Jaret Belliveau’s Slamdance favourite Kung Fu Elliot goes through three stages. First, there’s the ultra cheese. Elliot Scott (also known as “White Lightning”) is a martial arts expert and is set on being Canada’s first notable action star. He’s produced a few independent films to which he also peddles out. The films shine of lo-fi aesthetics, but it’s hard to not turn…
Matt Johnson’s impressive and ambitious feature film debut The Dirties is making its way onto Blu-ray and DVD after earning plenty of well-deserved accolades – including winning the Scotiabank Jay Scott Prize for the top emerging artist at January’s Toronto Film Critics Association Film Awards. The Dirties is an unsettling and unflinching look at bullying through a struggling perspective. The first-person view follows Johnson and his friend Owen (both using their real names, but taking on different on-screen…
The Last Season (DIR. Sara Dosa) By: Gesilayefa Azorbo It’s often said that there’s nothing stronger than the bonds of brotherhood forged between fellow soldiers. Regardless of place of origin or beliefs, the experiences that form one’s life as a soldier are often common across borders, with a mutual understanding that often transcends other differences. The Last Season is ostensibly a film about a mushroom hunt. The town of Chemult, Oregon, population 135, is also home to…
Sleepless in New York (DIR. Christian Frei) By: Addison Wylie There’s narration – nay – lots of narration in Christian Frei’s Sleepless in New York from lonely people who have been dumped. The voiceovers wear thin after a while, but they do serve a purpose. The doc is a film that gets “the break-up” right. Frei is fortunate to have received good applicants from his open casting call (street-laden flyers inviting heartbroken souls to participate), and those…
The theme of human connection has never been so prevalent. The latest technology seems to be fastening people away from face-to-face interactions, and Spike Jonze’s Her made it clear as to what path the human race could possibly fall into. Filmmaker Tony Shaff has made a documentary that tries to follow suit. But, can he stick his landing? Hotline (DIR. Tony Shaff) By: Addison Wylie Hotline has an intriguing dynamic. Tony Shaff’s documentary focuses on those conversations that…
Shield and Spear (DIR. Petter Ringbom) By: Parker Mott “Everything is political”, a group of South African artistes extol as mantra in Shield and Spear, which has its world premiere at Hot Docs. This saying is called, in conventional wisdom, “The Activist’s Argument”; it also resembles Ai Weiwei’s line that “art is politics” from his documentary Never Sorry (the latest documentary on the provocative Chinese artist, The Fake Case, is also at Hot Docs).
Just as other festivals offer a “Midnight Madness” selection, Hot Docs hopes to bring in the same crowd with its Nightvision screenings. These documentaries feature brazen topics and massive cult followings; films that are certainly unlike any other. An added bonus is the discounted price of films screening after 11:00 p.m. For a cool $7, treat yourself to some of these neat docs. If you’re into horror, you should give Alexandre Philippe’s doc a shot. Doc of the Dead (DIR. Alexandre Philippe)…
By Parker Mott It’s hard to watch The Other Woman without bringing into the equation James Toback’s remarkable 1997 feature Two Girls and a Guy, a talk-heavy, one-room dramedy about two women (played by Heather Graham and Natasha Gregson Wagner) who discover they are dating the same man (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) and then conspire to make him suffer for his cheating ways. The movie found ingenuity in the shameless rationale of its male…