4-25-2008
Uh oh.
Very late tonight, it was announced that the Toronto transit system
would be shut down at midnight as all its union members would be
walking off the job and striking. Immediately. This does not bode well
for attendance at HotDocs, which will no doubt drop, but also for
me...since it limits my access to screenings. I may wind up movie-less
on Sunday. For now, though, a recap of today’s films:
My first film of the day was The Black List (7/8), a
fantastically simple and simultaneously complex documentary made up of
a series of interviews with prominent black Americans reflecting on
race as it applies to their own experiences. Culling subjects from the
world of politics, the arts, sports, literature and music, director
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and interviewer/producer Elvis Mitchell,
create what feels like an amazing, insightful, poignant and funny
lecture series condensed into about 90 minutes. What I loved most about
the doc was its clean, basic execution: each subject sits, facing the
camera, against the same slate background... just talking. Occasionally,
archival photos are inserted, but otherwise it’s just a one-sided
conversation (Mitchell is never seen or heard on camera) without
needless bells or whistles. The weight of words is more than enough in
this case, and I was thrilled that the filmmakers wisely decided on
this creative uniformity.
An
interesting footnote: I met Elvis Mitchell at TIFF several years ago,
chatting before a screening. At the time, I had no idea who he was – I
just thought he was a really friendly, funny guy with a cool name.
Turns out (I discovered later), he’s actually a well-known film writer
and media personality in the U.S. So, when I saw him around the fest
earlier this week, I figured he was here covering the fest.
Instead, he was here to present his own film and, in what can
only be described as blissful HotDoc serendipity, the moderator for his
Q&A was the equally delightful Myrocia Watamaniuk. It was a great,
spirited, relaxed post-film session as a result... with him being goofy
and self-deprecating and gracious, and her moderating as only she can.
Hooray! That’s the kind of Q&A I love.
Up next was An Island Calling (6/8), the story of the
murder of a prominent gay couple in Fiji in 2001. Directed by Annie
Goldson and based on the book Deep Beyond the Reef by Owen Scott
(brother of murder victim John Scott), the film presents a brief
history of colonialism in Fiji alongside the political unrest there in
recent decades, as well as the personal history of the Scott family,
and John’s life up until his untimely demise at the hands of a young
Fijian man who was later found guilty by reason of insanity. The film
was not unlike an extended segment on Dateline NBC, where a
high-profile case gets the investigative-report treatment, but Goldson
(in my opinion) makes the smart choice not to feature any
interview with the killer. However, for me, there was a tiny bit too
much time devoted to the Scott family’s more distant past – less about
the patriarch’s infidelity and perhaps more about homophobia amid the
police investigation would have been my preference. But it’s not my
film, so that’s just a personal choice.
Unfortunately for me, my film-going day ended with the double bill of
The Apology Line (5/8) and the ironically titled
Anatomy of Failure (2/8). In the case of
Apology...—which features actual voice messages left on an
anonymous phone-in line where people can apologize for misdeeds, big
and small – a good idea was marred by technical shortcomings. (You can
actually watch the film here.)
A number of the messages were so garbled that I couldn’t make out what
the person was saying, save for the odd word, which made watching the
film a little frustrating. Subtitles would have been a HUGE help.
But my issues with that film pale in comparison to those I had with
Anatomy of Failure, which was (in my opinion) a giant,
self-indulgent, pointless waste of time. Filmmaker Minou Norouzi came
onstage beforehand and told the audience that, if we’re unable to find
what we’re looking for in the film, she hopes we discover something
else. (Read: “If you think my film sucks, try to find something in it
you like anyway.”) Sadly, I found nothing I liked, save for a couple of
moments of neat cinematography. What was touted in the program book as
a film about the disappearance of five women who’d been involved with
writer Carlo Castaneda was, instead, some kind of freaky,
directionless, experimental film devoid of structure, narrative or
explanation. Had I not read the program notes, I would have had no clue
whatsoever what this movie was intended to be about. I wasn’t familiar
with Castaneda’s work (if that makes me a philistine, so be it) or the
case of the missing women or anything, and this film does absolutely
nothing to inform me about any of it. No one interviewed on camera is
ever identified – who ARE these people??? Castaneda’s relatives?
Friends? Disciples? Locations are not identified. The case is never
outlined. Nothing. It felt like the longest, most confusing 53 minutes
(thankfully, it was only a mid-length doc!) of my life.
Cut to the post-film Q&A. My film-going pal (who was just as
disappointed as I was) and I decided to stay just to hear what Norouzi
could possibly say about her film, and what the audience would ask.
Imagine our surprise (not) when she revealed that she wasn’t really
interested at all in Castaneda or the case, but that the film was meant
to mirror what was going on in her own life at the time of the
filmmaking. Yeah, NO KIDDING. She made a joke about possibly making a
follow-up film if new information ever surfaces about the missing
women, but I guarantee you I will not be getting a ticket. I wanted to
raise my hand and ask a question: “ Hi. Um, who at HotDocs loved this
film enough to program it, and who wrote the wildly misleading program
notes?” (I also wanted to take Norouzi to a pay phone and make her call
the Apology Line.) My friend said she sat in the theatre waiting to see
the movie that she was promised based on its description. I concur.
And then I got home to the news of the TTC strike. This doesn’t impact
my films tomorrow so much as it seriously messes up my screening plans
for Sunday. I wonder if Saturday will be my last day of HotDoc-ing...?
