By: Addison Wylie Who would’ve expected one of the most important movies of the year to come swooping into theatres during the final weeks of 2013? Lucky Canadians are currently able to catch Lucy Walker’s The Crash Reel at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox – and I highly suggest they do. The documentary addresses a number of issues worth talking about, but it all begins with the stellar success of snowboarder Kevin Pearce. Pearce was garnering…
By: Addison Wylie Regrettably, I haven’t seen 1981’s My Dinner with André. I believe there’s an unwritten law that states that this is a cinematic crime being in the film critic position that I’m in. This also meant that I wasn’t in tune with the work of the classic’s star and co-writer André Gregory. Gregory is his own renaissance man having taken on duties as a theatre director, an artist, and an actor. You may have caught…
By: Addison Wylie The conceptual idea of a philosopher (in this case, Slavoj Žižek) walking audiences through beloved and forgotten films and giving their outlook on the film’s ideological take has potential. The documentary, however, has to have competent direction and a confident mind at the forefront in order for the project to work. The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology has neither. Sophie Fiennes’ doc is hitting home runs with most movie goers (it currently holds an…
By: Addison Wylie Jason Osder has taken on an anti-talking heads format with his striking documentary Let the Fire Burn and it pays off big time. The filmmaker chronicles the societal shakes that took place in Philadelphia during the late seventies through to the mid-eighties initiated by MOVE. Members of MOVE would call the collective an organization inhabiting a peaceful, non-violent state-of-mind. Others wouldn’t hesitate to call MOVE a cult with harassing methods bordering on…
By: Addison Wylie Bridegroom is an expansion of a YouTube video titled It Could Happen To You. The story documented in It Could Happen To You is powerful with how uplifting it is as well as to how unfair it all becomes. Anyone who saw Shane Bitney Crone and Thomas Lee Bridegroom laughing together, holding hands, or embracing each other had proof that true love existed. It gave people confidence that two levelheaded people could…
By: Addison Wylie Rodney Ascher’s analytical documentary about Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is fascinating through and through. The narrated ideas and theories provided by featured fans range from being thought-provoking to farfetched over stretches; but the impassion behind each deconstruction cannot be faked. Some of the points are built on flimsy foundations, but because these committed fans of Kubrick’s adaptation have put a lot of time and work into proving their meanings (including freeze frames,…
By: Addison Wylie Filmmaker Sean Cisterna and executive producer Avi Federgreen reunite after their likeable road trip romp Moon Point to collaborate in new territory. With 30 Ghosts, Cisterna trails the paranormal investigating life of Kim Hadfield and the rest of her Halton Paranormal Group. The troupe head out on night long trips to capture suspicious spiritual activity hidden away in the looming shadows. When she’s not hitting up abandoned houses and taking video proof…
By: Addison Wylie There’s a lot of talk about “magic” in Muscle Shoals, a documentary about the influentially groundbreaking music that was produced in a small Southern city in Alabama. It’s understandable as to why one would think “magic” was in the air during recording sessions with such artists as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and The Rolling Stones. There was an essence that lingered within the walls of studios FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound that…
By: Addison Wylie Alan Zweig won top honours at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September for his documentary filmmaking with When Jews Were Funny – but, I needed more convincing. When Jews Were Funny – a doc on how a Judaic approach to comedy made its way into our funny bones – had appropriate subjects to interview, a proper conversational vibe about it, but its scope was too narrow. Zweig didn’t have enough…
By: Addison Wylie It’s neat to watch a subject take on an evolution people didn’t see coming. In Red Obsession’s case, that subject is wine – and it’s progression isn’t pleasing everybody. Documentary filmmakers David Roach and Warwick Ross capture a timeline that shows how wine went from something that was considered an art, to a product that is more of a business decision than anything. The price of wine keeps on climbing to a…