Mixing humour into a documentary about a serious subject can be a dicey move. American Cats: The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly, the second runner-up for the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award pulls off this challenge despite some close calls.
Ever since the the death of Leonard Watson in 2006, aspiring filmmaker Kurtis Watson has struggled to find closure and understand his Dad’s decision to commit suicide. It’s been an upsetting topic for his family, who are either still grieving or are more in the dark than Kurtis about the tragedy.
The Princess Diaries The Dark Knight The Secret Life of Pets Mission: Impossible – Fallout These are the four movies I’ve seen at Highlands Cinema in Kinmount, Ontario. Four completely different movies with a ubiquitous moviegoing experience; provided by the theatre, its staff, and owner Keith Stata. It’s only fair to present my bias before reviewing The Movie Man, Matt Finlin’s documentary about Stata’s legacy and the history of his DIY multiplex. Located in the…
They Shot the Piano Player is an animated docdrama that, ultimately, failed to connect with me. But, to credit filmmakers Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba (co-directors of the Oscar-nominated animated film Chico & Rita), the movie’s efforts are certainly not wasted.
On the Adamant, the latest endeavor from French documentary filmmaker Nicholas Philibert (The Land of the Deaf, Each and Every Moment, Nénette), is an almost deceptively subtle film. Following staff and clients of a psychiatric day centre on a floating structure in the Siene River in central Paris, On the Adamant combines slow, languid shots of the river (and the city that surrounds it) with interviews and scenes of the centre’s daily activities where patients paint, play…
Anonymous blogging activist-turn-New York Times best selling author Aubrey Gordon is a joy to listen to. Her opinions regarding her size, as well as the personal experiences that have tangentially spawned because of her weight, have led to outlets allowing Gordon to discuss being fat. Her career path has also opened opportunities to educate others about various biases and complexities that come from inconsiderate assumptions and soured good intentions.
By: Trevor Chartrand The town of Quartzsite, Arizona hosts an eclectic mix of wanderers each winter, from senior snowbirds in RVs to homeless nomads, from drug addicts to nudist bookstore owners. You’d think the locale, with its bizarre amalgamation of citizens and a variety of worldviews, would be a melting pot for an inevitable conflict. However, as filmmaker Ryan Maxey demonstrates in his doc One Road to Quartzsite, the town is surprisingly tranquil – peaceful…
Tunisia’s harrowing Oscar nominated documentary Four Daughters is a trip in the sense that you never know what to expect from it. It’s a sympathetic filmmaking experiment that aims to work as closure for its subjects but, along the way, rediscovers old family wounds that also need to be addressed.
Actor Saffron Cassaday (Pete Winning and the Pirates: The Motion Picture) gives audiences an up close and personal perspective of her experience with ulcerative colitis and invites the viewer to tag along on her biohacking journey in her documentary Designer $hit.
The smoke sauna tradition of Vőromaa, in southern Estonia, is nearly a thousand years old. On UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage of the world, smoke sauna practices include the building and maintenance of saunas, smoking meat, making bath whisks, and bathing and cleaning rituals.