Hot Docs: Recessionize! For Fun and Profit! [2011, Jamie Kastner]

recessionize!

Toronto – Recessionize! For Fun and Profit! is light hearted look at the worldwide recession and how people worldwide are dealing with it. Shot in 15 segments, director Jamie Kastner travels the world and visits some people who have a unique approach to dealing with the recession. We meet a goat herder in California, hamster hotel owners in France and a brothel in Germany among others. Each person has unique approach on how to make it in tough times. While the spirit of the documentary might be to let the viewers know that the recession isn’t that bad, I find that the director James Kastner often seem to take an almost condescending look at his subjects, presenting them in a “look what we got here!” tone. Maybe he wanted to present the documentary with a dose of humor, but when the humor is at the expense of the subjects of your documentary, then I’m not quite sure.

Recessionize! For Fun and Profit! is a breath of fresh air for most part. Most documentaries about the financial crisis are rather depressing and so it’s nice to see a documentary that sees the lighter side of things.

Screenings
Thu, May 5 9:45 PM @ The ROM Theatre
Sat, May 7 6:30 PM @ TIFF Bell Lightbox 2

Posted on by Ricky in Hot Docs

About Ricky

Britpop lovin Chinaman, consumer of all things irrelevant. Toronto Raptors fan.