Toronto – The show started out on a good note, but then after the first song, it went down hill fast. The first song was Saviour which Murray Lightburn sang as he walked from the back of the club to the front through the crowd. It was pretty cool.
Their set list was really heavy on material from Missiles, with nothing played from End Of A Hollywood Bedtime Story. The tracks they played from No Cities Left lost my interest half way through because they lacked what I love about them. The Dears used to have a certain sense of theatrics and drama at their live shows. Like when you went to their show, it was much more than just a rock show. On this night, every song was basically guitars and drums with more guitars thrown on top. Their traditional orchestral dark pop sound was replaced with rock pop. There was no cello, no horns no nothing. I realize that they aren’t the same band they were even two years ago and that I shouldn’t expect the same, but by knowing what the Dears used to sound like live, I was really disappointed. I really enjoy their latest release Missiles because there is quite a bit of that orchestral pop on it, but played live, it didn’t translate.
Man Behind The Log – John Lehmann, 6min
This shortie is about a man in Vancouver who lives behind a log on the beach and is able to sell his artwork for thousands of dollars at a local gallery. The story is told through still photos and video. The photos and video were very crisp and sharp, obviously done in HD. The medium that a story is told in is a very important piece of the puzzle. Here is a story about a broken down homeless man and it looks perfect. It is obvious that John Lehmann is a talented photo journalist, but for this story, I couldn’t get past how perfect the imagery was. Had he shot this film using a Polaroid 600 or on Super 8, I think it would have been much more effective.
3/5
Screenings
1:30, Thursday, May 7 @ Cumberland 2 with Broke
9:45, Sunday, May 10 @ Innis Town Hall with Broke
Pockets – James Lee, 3 min
This movie is three minutes of pure bliss. People carry odd things in their pockets, often very personal things. Hearing the stories behind all these personal objects is really fun. Simple, personal and beautifully shot.
5/5
Carmen – Larry Young, 6 min
A story about a woman who takes care of her sick husband 24/7. It plays out as a story about commitment and true love. It left me with a lot to think about. Here is a woman whos’ life revolves around taking care of her husband. When the movie ended I was left thinking about how much her husband is dependent on her, but also that she is possibly just as dependent on him as he is of her. Hmmmm.
4/5
No more screenings
Steel Homes – Eva Weber, 10 min
After doing some research on Eva Weber I was pretty jacked about seeing Steel Homes. Her pervious work includes The Intimacy Of Strangers, a doc constructed by overheard cell phone conversations. Steel Homes never really got off the ground for me. There were some cool, sterile shots of storage units and all that, but my interest in the subjects and their personal stories never developed.
2.5/5
Screenings
2:00, Wednesday, May 6 @ Cumberland 2 with Diary of a Times Square Theif
7:30, Sunday, May 10 @ Innis Town Hall with Diary of a Times Square Theif
Ma Bar – Finlay Pretsell, Adrian McDowall, 11 min
An older man and his goal to bench press a crap load of pounds, I mean kilos. Powerlifting is a petty popular sport. It was very interesting watching the powerlifter get ready for his lift. The routine, preparations and then finally the lift. Again, another beautifully shot piece where I didn’t connect with the subject or understand why I am supposed to care.
2.5/5 No more screenings
Cat Ladies. The title says it all. This doc gives us the inside scoop on four crazy cat ladies. Well maybe they aren’t all crazy, but they do all have issues. We all have problems in our lives. Some of us drink, some of us collect cats. What can you do?
The four characters featured in this doc all have varying degrees of cat lady syndrome. The story follows a good arc, keeping you interested until the end and answering the questions in your head as they pop up. It was produced in partnership with TVO, so it did have that made for TV feel, which really didn’t take away from anything.
One of my favourite parts was seeing Tre Smith…again. If you don’t know this guy, he is everywhere when it comes to animal protection issues in Toronto. If there is a raccoon stuck in a fence or dog with only three legs, you can count on Tre coming to the rescue and being the face of the Humane Society. He first got his start on the Toronto based reality show The Lofters (2001), where he lived in a downtown loft with Jennifer Hedger (TSN) and Arisa Cox (E!Online). You may also remember him from an incident last summer when Tre, a Humane Society Inspector, found a dog in the back seat of a car that had its windows cranked shut. After Tre busted out the cars window to rescue the dog, the dogs owner returned. Tre then handcuffed the guy to the car and took the dog to get medical attention. Bystandards then knocked out three of the dudes teeth and pelted him with stones as he stood handcuffed to the car. It was a pretty big deal at the time. Some paint Tre as a villain, I would say he is more of a hero. Anyway, Tre is in this movie, much to the delight of the single female animal loving population of Toronto.
Schedule *Screens with Statistics
6:30 PM, Friday, May 1 – Cumberland 3
9:45 PM, Saturday May 9 – The Royal Cinema
9:00 PM, Sunday May 10 – Cumberland 3
Wow, a documentary about Borat! Who said documentaries were boring? As the story goes it is common knowledge that Sacha Baron Cohen took advantage of poor villagers in Romania when he filmed his movie. I thought that this doc was going to be about how the villagers rose up and stuck it back to Sacha through a lawsuite. Well, that isn’t exactly how this one panned out.
The movie mostly focuses on 17-year-old Carmen who works in her father’s bar, waiting on layabouts, watching Spanish soap operas, and planning a life far, far away. As Carmen searches for a husband in her small village of Glod, big city lawyers come to town and convince her father to file the lawsuit against Borat for the way the villagres were portrayed in his movie. As the whole lawsuit thing happens, we keep watching as Carmen deals with her life as a 17 year old girl in her village.
I have been trying to connect the two distict story lines in some type of metaphorical way, but I can’t. The whole lawsuit story line is kind of a let down and the Carmen story line is what it is. The only common thread that I could find was:
(1) Borat goes to Glod and takes advantage of poor villagers so that he can profit.
(2) American lawyers go to Glod and try to take advantage of poor villagers with the promise of a big settlement so that they themselves can profit
(3) Documentary makers go to Glod, and make a movie about it all. Documetary makers are poor, but they likely will profit from this movie too, or at least they got paid to make it.
(4) Glod continues to get screwed.
Schedule
6:30 PM Saturday, May 2 – Bloor Cinema
4:30 PM Sunday, May 3 – The ROM Theatre
9:30 PM Sunday, May 10 – Cumberland 2
