hot docs

Hot Docs Review: China Heavyweight [Yung Chang, Canada, 2012, 89 min]

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Fighting is such an interesting topic. The sheer brutality of it already lends itself to high amounts of drama, but often more interesting are the people behind it. The fighters, the trainers, the families – all have multiple things (ego, health, reputation, pride) at stake with each fight. It’s no coincidence that we’ve seen multiple features (Warrior, The Fighter) and multiple documentaries about the sport in the past few years.

China Heavyweight is the follow up effort by Montreal documentary make Yung Chang whose last effort “Up The Yangtze” made him a critical darling. This time, Yung takes us to rural China where we follow the lives of three people – a past champion wanting one last shot, an arrogant young fighter wanting to be Mike Tyson and his best friend, an equally talented fighter who is dealing with. confidence issues. Over the course of the film, we’ll see follow these characters through both success and failure, all against the backdrop of an ever developing China, where anything now seems possible.

Much like his previous effort, China Heavyweight looks absolutely gorgeous. There are beautiful shots of the landscape and cities of the Sichuan province. The experience is fully immersive for the viewer and much of it has to do with the cinematography. The film nicely balances between the three characters the internal and physical conflicts they face. Those looking for some sort of deep metaphor regarding boxing and say, China’s massive modernization might be disappointed. Instead, look at this as an artistic ode to a sport that everyone seem to be both obsessed and appalled by.

China Heavyweight screens:
Thu, May 3 2:00 PM @ TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
Fri, May 4 9:30 PM @ Fox Theatre

Hot Docs Review: Charles Bradley – Soul of America [Poull Brien, 74 minutes, 2012, USA]

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There are many rags to riches stories in the world of music.

There are none like this one.

Charles Bradley is a 62 year old soul singer currently packing concert halls all around the globe after his critically acclaimed debut album No Time For Dreaming was released last year.

Strickened by poverty and plagued by personal tragedies, The story of Charles Bradley is one that goes from heartbreaking to heartwarming. The film follows Charles for about half a year, starting with his birthday (where he performs as a James Brown impersonator), going through to his record release and subsequent record release show and shortly there after. A lot of good happens to Charles during this time, and it’s great to see the easily excitable man get some enjoyment in his life after the hardships he had endured.

It’s a documentary about finding your own voice, preservering in times of trouble and never giving up.

It’s one you should probably watch.

Much like Being Elmo from last years festival, it is nice to stumble upon a film that is celebrating the tiny pleasures of life rather then focusing on the many troubles of society. Charles’ tale is an extraordinary story featuring a one of a kind man. The music is great too, check it out.

Charles Bradley: Soul of America screens again Sat, May 5 6:30 PM @ Cumberland 2

Hot Docs Review: Downeast [David Redmon and Ashley Sabin, May 1, 2012]

Posted on by Gary in Everything, Hot Docs, Reviews | Leave a comment

Baltimore – We are all familiar with the disappearing agricultural facet of our society: the youth-drain in farming and fishing communities, the increasingly jarring difference between reality and our idea of food production/consumption, and the inevitable social movements that follow that uncomfortable thought. More and more, agriculture recedes into the background and becomes an autonomic part of our?consciousness. The arithmetic of a small population of agricultural workers and a tanking capitalist economy can’t be pretty. Downeast is the account of the drive of a Boston-based businessman to start a lobster packaging factory in the ashes of a shut-down sardine packing plant.

The film starts out very simply – Antonio Bussone, an Italian-immigrant, has been carefully amassing the funding to build and operate a lobster plant in Gouldsboro, Maine. He wants to take over the abandoned Stinson sardine plant, under this very laudable reasoning: the community has been devastated by the economic ice age, and he wants to help. There are few young workers left and the aging population knows little else, the federal government is willing to offer subsidy, and there is still room among fast-growing Canadian competitors in the lobster packaging market. It sounds like the perfect, win-win pitch. But alas, the town selectmen (councillors) does not agree with him. In fact, not a few of them are wholly against the idea. So, without the town council’s and the federal government’s blessing, Antonio tries his best to push through the tough waters, meeting financial woes and unfriendly locals head-on, to a not-surprising end of what could have been a great business as well as community-saving adventure.

What really struck me the wrong way was not the unnecessary bureaucracy during such a difficult time, or the conservative banking behaviors. Frankly, I expected the cheques to bounce, the payment to lag behind labor, the banks to freeze their business accounts, and the pitiless investors to withdraw at the first sign of weakness.?It was the prideful, xenophobic and short-sighted display from the town selectmen that really perplexed me. Antonio really never had a chance, because these men had vested interest and liked nothing better than nepotism and scorched-earth tactics. I found it totally bewildering that a councillor has the wherewithal, especially in a small town where the lives of each person is by definition so much more interwoven with another’s, to deny the spoken will of the people he claimed to represent. And to do so in directly in front of his constituency. Of course, it helped that the directors had contrasted this with Bussone. The “American by choice” spoke humbly about a will to make things better for everyone, banked with his own house on credit, and should practically be beatified when compared to the business stereotypes. It is an interesting explanation as to why some of these communities have folded easily while other thrive despite troubling-times. “Help me help you” is sometimes tougher than it sounds. I recommend watching this if you don’t care that I have basically dissected it tail, claw, and knuckle like a lobster.

Downeast will be screened again on May 5th, 11AM @ the ROM.

Hot Docs Review: Dragan Wende – West Berlin [Dir: Lena Müller/Dragan von Petrovic, 90 minutes, Germany/Serbia, 2012]

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The following review is written by our friend and fellow documentary lover Joe from Mechanical Forest Sound, check out his blog for Hot Doc reviews, exceptional live recording and probably a helluva lot more thought out writings

Every historical change creates winners and losers. The collapse of the Iron Curtain is generally considered as a positive historical moment, but there are those who prefer things the way they used to be. Some people adjust to historical changes, and others semi-willingly become living anachronisms, to whom “West Berlin” is still a walled city and “Yugoslavia” an undivided country.

From his childhood home in Yugoslavia, Vuk Makismovi? always thought that his uncle (the titular Dragan Wende) lived a life of romantic intrigue in the clubs and restaurants of West Berlin’s famous Ku’damm. When, as an adult, Makismovi? makes the trek to Berlin he finds things are more banal then he imagined. The nightlife has gone downhill since the wall collapsed, and Uncle Dragan now works as a hustler and security guard outside a bordello, living in a cramped apartment with a piano that Liza Minnelli might have played once. Still, Makismovi? followd his uncle around, watches him work and meets his friends while trying to get to the core of all the stories of the glamourous (and occasionally shady) decades gone by.

The problem here is that Uncle Dragan isn’t nearly as interesting as Makismovi? wishes he was — and Makismovi? himself, who spends a fair amount of time on camera, isn’t particularly compelling either. Although there might be an interesting documentary to be made reflecting on the high times on Ku’damm during the Cold War, this isn’t it.

Some occasional newsreel-style historical segments are intrusive (and a little cheesy) and don’t help matters. There are a few moments where things come to life a bit, especially when Grandpa Mile (Uncle Dragan’s father) comes to Berlin to collect a pension for building a city he feels no affection for. Another anachronism, he pines for the days of Tito and a united Yugoslavia while castigating the younger generations for being lazy. But overall, this drags along to the point it wears out its welcome. The film-makers commented that the cut being shown here was still something of a work-in-progress, so some trimming might improve things a bit. But as it stands, Dragan Wende – West Berlin‘s not recommended.