Jean-François Caissy’s look into the Canadian Armed Forces’ intensive training program is a slice-of-life style treat for those especially interested in modern military training practices. First Stripes follows a 12-week course in French Canada, from the time recruits are being told the rules of the facility and getting in shape to performing mission simulations and learning how to use their weapons.
1999 (DIR. Samara Grace Chadwick) A hauntingly dreamlike style of documentary and exploration of memory, Samara Grace Chadwick’s 1999 is artistically-conceived though low on information.
Playing Hard (DIR. Jean-Simon Chartier) Jean-Simon Chartier’s behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of video game development is engrossing, informative, and unexpectedly full of tension and drama.
The Artist & The Pervert (DIR. Beatrice Behn, René Gebhardt) Beatrice Behn and René Gebhardt’s The Artist & The Pervert tells the story of composer Georg Friedrich Haas and author/activist Mollena Williams’ dominant/submissive relationship, as well as the public’s response to it.
Kings is an incomplete film with a 90s backdrop of Los Angeles, weeks before the city’s infamous riots. Centred around Rodney King’s public beating, the trial, and the controversial verdict that followed, Millie Dunbar (Halle Berry) accepts youth into her foster family as she observes the racial divide between South Central’s black community and the LAPD.
The Cleaners (DIR. Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck) Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck’s The Cleaners is a documentary that claims to be one thing, but is really about another topic.
Everyone’s weird, and there’s nothing wrong with that. At least, that’s the message driving Kyle Rideout’s outrageous Canadian teen comedy Adventures in Public School.
Golden Dawn Girls (DIR. Håvard Bustnes) Håvard Bustnes’ Golden Dawn Girls is a feature-length interview-of-sorts with several female relatives of Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the head of the far-right, Greek “social nationalist” party known as Golden Dawn.
Before making Kodachrome, filmmaker Mark Raso directed Copenhagen and screenwriter Jonathan Tropper wrote This Is Where I Leave You. Both of those were modest movies with family drama and pleasant dynamics. Kodachrome is more of the same from these two men, which is good for Netflix audiences looking for an easy watch, but slightly disappointing for movie goers expecting more than unchallenging schmaltz.
