DON’T SLEEP ON… You Can Call Me Bill, One Life

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

You Can Call Me Bill (USA, 2023): William Shatner is a complex character. He is both a hammy actor and sci-fi icon; avuncular know-it-all and problematic figure (he’s a supporter of Autism Speak, on organization detested by many in the autistic community); environmental activist and corporate shill. Given the many angles available, I doubted documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe (78/52) would be able to fully capture the Shat in 96 minutes of footage, more so since he would be the only interviewee. Nobody to challenge his perception of himself or his surroundings.

You Can Call Me Bill covers a lot more ground than expected. Philippe allows Shatner to talk at length about his passions (space, the environment) and concerns (loneliness, insignificance) and in doing so, reveal plenty about himself. Extraordinarily sharp at 93, William Shatner is more self-aware than he lets on and his vision of a world in peril is unimpeachable. Sure, a bit more pushback would have been welcome, but the film is interesting in its own right. 3/5 stars.

 You Can Call Me Bill is now playing in theatres.

One Life (UK, 2023): When was the last time you ugly cried at the movies? I had a clean record for many years… until I watched this movie.

You’re probably familiar with the story: Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker, successfully got 669 Jewish children out of Czechoslovakia in the early days of the Nazi occupation. Not one to brag about his actions, his story only came out to light over fifty years later. Consumed by the memory of the ones he couldn’t save, he failed to realize the impact of his efforts… until a TV show came calling.

While the direction by James Hawes (Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation) is rather unremarkable, One Lifebenefits of strong turns by Johnny Flynn (Beast) as the younger Nicholas Winton and Anthony Hopkins as the older. Hopkins is superb and the emotional center of the film. When he finally breaks down, you break down with him. 3/5 stars.

One Life is now playing in theatres.

THIS WEEK IN MOVIES: High and Low - John Galliano

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

High and Low - John Galliano (UK, 2023): Few careers have come to a more abrupt ending than House Dior’s artistic director John Galliano. After dominating the fashion industry for nearly two decades, two antisemitic tirades in 2011 (one captured on camera) got him kicked out of the industry he helped transform and in hot water with the French justice system.

The documentary High and Low covers the incidents, but also the before and after to one of the greatest designers to notable effect. Director Kevin Macdonald (Whitney, Marley) isn’t here to condemn or rehabilitate Galliano. Instead, he tries to understand what caused the meltdown and whether he should be considered rehabilitated.

The top half of the film is dedicated to Galliano’s rise. A terribly compelling figure, it’s hard not to like the scrappy kid who oozes talent, but has no nose for the business aspect of fashion. His creations are impractical, operatic, hypnotic. Models like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Amber Valleta are happy to work for free for the couturier, and finds champions in Vogue’s denizens André León Talley and Anna Wintour.

With success come responsibilities and, by the time of his fall from grace, Galliano was in charge of 32 collections per year. The level of stress and the need to tap into his creative side constantly led him to abuse alcohol and other substances. It’s not out of the question Galliano chose to commit social suicide, overwhelmed by it all.

John Galliano is at hand to discuss his life, triumphs and tragedies. He’s forthcoming about everything except the root of his antisemitic tirade. When asked, he’s cagey and seems confused by all the fuss. Director Macdonald lets us make our own mind and to me at least, he seems more sorry about getting caught than about what he said.

Worth mentioning, Galliano “did the work”, got sober and put himself under the tutelage of rabbis who taught him about the Holocaust. Yet he didn’t apologize to the victim of his rant, still pained by the experience, and kind of dressed like a Hassidic Jew for kicks.

High and Low is fascinating for multiple reasons. You can come for the clothes, the scandal or the so-called redemption arc and feel satisfied by the end. A slam dunk. 4/5 stars.

High and Low - John Galliano opens Friday 15 at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto and VIFF Theatre in Vancouver.

The Surrounding Game Is No Pastime

When you think of Go, think of chess in steroids.

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

THE PLOT: A documentary about the oldest board game in the world, The Surrounding Game focuses on Go as much as on the players. In theory a very simple game (the goal is to surround and eliminate your rival’s stones), Go allows by far more variations than chess. Because of the number of possibilities, you can only plan to a limited degree and thinking on your feet is encouraged. Go is detail oriented, but the board is large and keeping an eye on the big picture is key to win.

Unsurprisingly, Go incites obsession: The more you know, the least educated you feel. Far more popular in Asia than in the Western world, the film zeroes on a handful of American players trying to break into the upper echelons of the circuit.

CRITIQUE:  Terrifically entertaining, you don’t need to know how to play Go to enjoy it (in fact, it’s very likely you’ll want to give it a shot after the doc ends). The Surrounding Game straddles the line between special interest documentary and crowd pleser. The film tries to cover the many crooks and bends of the Go culture (history, competitions, rankings) and for the most part, succeeds.

The movie’s biggest flaw is structural. Because of the all-encompassing approach, it feels episodic and the pieces don’t quite come together. A tournament to determine the US’ first certified Go professional gives The Surrounding Game a spine of sorts, but is not as interesting as the many detours the film takes. Given the magnitude of the endeavor, it’s a forgivable misstep.

WHAT WORKS:

* The interviewees are chosen wisely: The young Americans trying to break into the big leagues, the number one player who sees the game as art, the nonagenarian content with having spent big chunks of his life playing Go. All compelling.

* The film is very didactic and gets every point across with relative ease.

WHAT DOESN’T:

* The film’s top half is far more interesting than the rest. Watching other people playing Go it’s not exactly riveting.

* Similarly, the cinematography opens strong, but can’t keep it up.

RATING: ***

RATING (CANADIAN CURVE): ***½

The Surrounding Game will play this Saturday, June 10th (11.30 AM, at TIFF Bell Lightbox) as part of the Canadian Sport Film Festival.

HotDocs Film Festival - Day 9: Donkeyote

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Donkeyote (UK/Germany, 2017): Finding documentaries that make you feel good about the human condition is often challenging. Donkeyote is one of them: Manolo, a septuagenarian farmer, enjoys days-long walkabouts across Southern Spain alongside his donkey, Gorrión. His dream is to one day walk the 2200-mile Trail of Tears in the US, but not only it’s expensive, bringing Gorrión is a whole other thing.

The film follows Manolo in his efforts to put the trip together, but the campaign is just an excuse to spend time with a compelling figure, an uncomplicated man who embraces life with gusto, but slowly realizes the world may have passed him by. Donkeyote could have used a sturdier structure (towards the end, the movie feels aimless), but it’s a guaranteed good time.

3/5 stars. Donkeyote will play Sunday 7th at the Scotiabank Theatre.

HotDocs Film Festival - Day 8: Ramen Heads

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Ramen Heads (Japan, 2016): A man with a cause can be a powerful force, even if that cause is to create the best bowl of ramen eight dollars can buy. The figure in question is Osamu Tomita and he is as obsessive as a Michelin-anointed chef.

Tomita believes strong flavors can be balanced, so his broth is as thick as mud He is as picky with the noodles, the ingredients and the service. The outcome is memorable. I tasted it.

Ramen Heads doesn't entirely focus on Tomita, but he is the star of the show. The film covers the history and entire process of making ramen in dynamic fashion. The utterly dry narration manages to add more flavor to an already well seasoned dish.

3.5/5 stars. Ramen Heads will also play May 5th and 6th at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and the 7th at the Hart House Theatre.

HotDocs Film Festival - Day 6: PACmen, Integral Man, Recruiting for Jihad

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

PACmen (USA/Australia, 2017): Of the many dramatic threads to emerge from last year’s election in the US, Dr. Ben Carson provided one of the weirdest. On the strength of a single speech, Carson was jettisoned to the Republican presidential race and for a brief moment, the neurosurgeon gave Trump a run for his money… until he opened his mouth. Unsubstantiated claims about his childhood and bizarre statements (the pyramids were built for storage purposes!) quickly derailed his candidature.

PACman focuses on the two super-PACs formed to support his candidacy: “Run Ben Run” and “Extraordinary America”. As a man of faith, Carson attracted a number of Christian-conservatives who struggled to understand how other Republicans could fall for a rube like Trump. As Carson continued to fall on the polls, increasingly desperate supporters could only blame the media and find solace in prayer.

The film is somewhat reminiscent of Weiner, with the major disadvantage that Carson’s downfall wasn’t nearly as entertaining as the former NY representative’s. PACmen offers very little new information on how Super-PACs operate and even less on the Carson’s campaign (well documented by the media) to justify its existence. It is, however, dryly amusing.

2/5 stars. PACmen will also play May 3rd at the Hart House, the 5th at TIFF Bell Lightbox and the 6th at the Fox Theatre.

Integral Man (Canada, 2016): The most published mathematician since Euclid, James Stewart was a man of many passions: Gay rights, music and architecture. His success allowed him to build a residence with very particular specifications: Heavy on glass and wood, mostly curve. The outcome -Rosedale’s Integral House- would go on becoming a sanctuary for classical music and benefit events.

More than a documentary, Integral Man is closer to architecture porn. Despite being barely an hour long, most of the length is used on repetitive shots of the residence. There is some input from the team that designed the house that’s neither illuminating nor insightful.

It’s unfortunate, considering Stewart’s considerable legacy. His contributions to calculus are barely paid lip service, let alone his activism (judging from the footage alone, all he did was hosting dinners). First-time feature director and landscape architect Joseph Clement does the very minimum (the house, the house at night, the house in winter, the house empty, the house with people) and failed to venture outside his zone of comfort, at the expense of the subject.

1.5/5 stars. Integral Man will also play on May 3rd at TIFF Bell Lightbox and May 5th at the Fox Theatre.

Recruiting for Jihad (Norway, 2016): There is a fundamental problem with this doc about a Jihadist connecting radicalized young men with the Islamic State: In order to gain access, the filmmakers gave the recruiter decision power regarding content. The film is illuminating, but comes short in showing the mechanics of the process.

2.5/5 stars. Recruiting for Jihad will play one last time Saturday 6th at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

HotDocs Film Festival - Day 5: The Workers Cup

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

The Workers Cup (UK, 2017): Much has been said about the brutal conditions foreign workers must endure while building stadiums for the 2022 Qatar World Cup (high temperatures, excessive hours, disproportionately low wages). Their plight has seldom been documented: Press access to worksites is severely restricted.

Director Adam Sobel takes advantage of a PR move to gain access to the workforce. The embattled contractors have organized a soccer championship to show concern for the wellbeing of their employees: The Workers Cup. The overworked personnel fails to see the tournament as a publicity stunt and happily become involved.

The harsh realities of being a foreign worker in Qatar seep through the supposedly wholesome competition. Unsavory situations like being unable to leave camp at will, or a man getting stabbed by his roommate so he could be sent back home pepper the daily lives of the migrant workforce.

Much to the film’s credit, The Workers Cup treats its subjects as individuals with agency and not as victims, which makes their plight much more relatable. Their story has only started to unfold

3.5/5 stars. The Workers Cup will play one last time on Sunday 7th at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Hot Docs Film Festival - Day 4: The Road Forward

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

The Road Forward (Canada, 2016): A blend of musical and documentary too ambitious for its own good, The Road Forward attempts to tackle First Nations’ most significant struggles of the last century (the Native Brotherhood, the Constitution Express, residential schools, missing aboriginal women) via information and music. The outcome is so scattered, it’s hard to become fully immersed in the film.

As if recent history wasn’t enough, The Road Forward dedicates a fair amount of time to the performers’ own battles. Their stories are compelling in their own right, but become lost in a bombardment of minutiae, particularly in the top half. Five years ago, the stylistically similar The Art of Killing succeeded by limiting its scope.

The rise of Canada’s first indigenous newspaper -The Native Voice- gives the film a vague framing, but the outcome cries for structure. The music comes close to provide one (“Indian Man” is so catchy it should transcend the film), but the result is far from cohesive.

 2/5 stars.

The Road Forward also will play May 1st and May 6th at the Scotiabank Theatre.

Hot Docs Film Festival - Day 3: City of Ghosts, Shiners

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

City of Ghosts (USA, 2016): Documentaries don’t get any timelier and pressing than director Matthew Heineman’s follow-up to Cartel Land. The filmmaker chronicles the struggle of a group of Syrians who, as a response to ISIS taking over their city, started the site called “Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently”, which would go on to win the Freedom of the Press Award.

Unless, let’s say, America’s citizen journalism (often an angry white guy with a blog and a lot of venom to spew), the RBSS journos risk their lives even outside Syria. The Islamic State has put a price to their heads and there is no shortage of fanatics willing to go hunting.

The footage is brutal and often hard to watch (the executions are horrifying and the indoctrination of children is plain sinister). The film excels at portraying the danger the reporters face and the value of the information they get out of the country. Anyone who wants to find out what’s at stake in Syria should look out for this doc.

4/5 stars. City of Ghosts will also play May 6th and 7th at the HotDocs Ted Rogers Cinema.

Shiners (Canada, 2016): This terrific doc takes on a trade that exists around the globe -shoe shinning- and uses it to shed light on different cultures and the way this activity is perceived. The formula is simple: Five different cities, one or two shiners per town.

In New York and Toronto, shoe-shinning is a hipster trend, a craft practiced by people who find the occupation soothing. In Tokio, it’s a science: The main practitioner has learned everything there is to know about leather and delivers footgear that looks better than new. In Sarajevo, it’s a matter of pride: A shoe shiner’s father never stopped working, even in the midst of war, and the son wants to honor him by continuing the tradition. In La Paz, there is shame involved, to the point shiners must wear masks to avoid recognition and possible discrimination.

The film is both illuminating and touching. Every subject has a compelling story to tell, even the clients. One only wishes a sixth city could have been included so the film could beat the ninety-minute mark.

3.5/5 stars. Shiners will also play April 30th and May 4th at the Hart House Theatre. 

Hot Docs Film Festival - Day 2: Mermaids, Blurred Lines, Brimstone & Glory

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Mermaids (Canada, 2016): A fascinating phenomenon per se, women who find personal fulfillment by becoming “mermaids” are a lot more common than expected. Mermaids focuses on three of them, each one going through a challenging journey: A transgender woman, a grieving sister and a bipolar Latina coming to terms with a history of abuse. Each one has discovered that rubber tails free them from all their burdens, however briefly.

Mermaids does a good job humanizing a potentially ludicrous practice: Midway through the film, director Ali Weinstein digs deep on what makes this women tick and finds gold. The documentary could have used some professional insight, but as it stands, it’s quite entertaining.

3/5 stars. Mermaids will also play Saturday, April 29th, at the Isabel Bader Theatre, Monday, May 1st, at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and Friday the 5th at the Scotiabank Theatre.

Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World (Canada, 2017): This academic doc by Barry Avrich (Stratford Festival’s mainstay director) is a good example of a compelling topic comprehensively researched. The matter at hand is the business of art: Billions of dollars change hands with little regulation and often with merely speculative purposes. The result is a mercenary market that shapes artists’ output and not for the best.

Avrich spares us any lecturing about how art and money are mutually exclusive. The filmmaker puts together an impressive array of interviewees, including contemporary figures like Marina Abramovic and Julian Schnabel, collectors, consultants, gallerists and museum directors. You won’t find any dealers, but there is a good reason for that. Blurred Lines benefits of a visually enthralling subject and delivers an agreeable experience, if a notch sterile.

3.5/5 stars. Blurred Lines will also play Saturday, April 29th, at the HotDocs Ted Rogers Cinema and Sunday, May 7th, at the Isabel Bader Theatre. 

Brimstone & Glory (USA, 2017): There isn't a better format to register collective madness, in this case, the National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico. The entire town lives for this event, even though very few have the education to create fireworks (most of the instructions come from tradition and trial and error) and many have lost limbs, if not their lives.

The event itself is at a whole other level of crazy. Most of the fireworks go off at eye level and in the middle of the crowd. Embers landing in people’s eyeballs are a common occurrence. Not surprisingly, the film is visually enthralling (director Viktor Jakovleski uses traditional and GoPro cameras to capture the action), although it could have used more research or characters to follow.

3/5 stars. Brimstone & Glory will also play Saturday, April 29th, at the Scotiabank Theatre and Saturday, May 6th, at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

HotDocs Film Festival - Day 1: Bee Nation

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Bee Nation (Canada, 2017): The definition of a crowd-pleaser to kick off this edition of HotDocs, Bee Nation revolves around an event with tension, drama and personal achievement ingrained in its DNA: The First Nations Provincial Spelling Bee competition. The first ever for aboriginal community.

It’s Documentary 101: Director Lana Slezic pics a handful of kids from different First Nations communities in Saskatchewan and shows their lives and how they prepare for the event. The approach allows some distressing information to seep through, like the fact schools in reserves receive considerable less money per student and, forcing administrators to make some hard decisions regarding their curriculum.

The children Slezic picks as main subjects are all overachievers, but they have a personality of their own (for William, failure is devastating; Savannah is a model of personal drive). In each case, their parental figures see education as a way out, a chance to see a world beyond the reserve. Heartbreak is unavoidable (the winners of the provincial chapter head to Toronto to compete against private school kids with tutors), but makes for great cinema.

Bee Nation is a bit stately (it’s presented under the CBC Docs banner), but is worth your attention.

3/5 stars. Bee Nation will also play Friday, April 28th, at the HotDocs Ted Rogers Cinema, and Saturday, May 6th, at the Isabel Bader Theatre.

HotDocs ’16 - Day 8: Bobby Sands: 66 Days

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Bobby Sands: 66 Days (Ireland/UK, 2016): This sprawling documentary about IRA member Bobby Sands’ hunger strike not only covers every day of his protest, but also his background, the organization’s history, the political context and the deterioration of his body. It’s precisely the desire to cover every nook and cranny of Bobby Sands’ brief but remarkable existence that hinders the outcome.

Some context: In 1981, Sands led a hunger strike to complain against the elimination of the Special Category status in Northern Ireland prisons, a classification that separated IRA members from the general jail population. The Thatcher Government remained steadfast in their refusal to acknowledge them as political prisoners, despite public and international pressure.

There are many angles in Bobby Sands: 66 Days that could have become a documentary in their own right: Bobby’s election to Parliament in absentia, the historical relationship between Irish insurrection and hunger strikes, the physical effects of fasting are just a few. The film’s insistence in combining all these issues leads to an overstuffed product that bombards the audience with facts that fail to register. The recreation of Sands’ days in jail is borderline cheesy and adds little to nothing to the narrative. 2/5 stars.

Bobby Sands: 66 Days will also play on May 7th.

HotDocs ’16 - Day 7: Life, Animated

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Life, Animated (USA, 2015): An interesting approach at depicting autism without delving on the cause, Life, Animated is smart enough to limit its scope to one individual and avoid generalizations.

The documentary revolves around Owen Suskind, a 23-year old preparing to move on his own. Owen has a moderate autistic disorder and although functional, he is easily overwhelmed by his surroundings. As a child, Owen was on the verge of shutting down, but his parents noticed he used Disney movies to understand emotions and took advantage of it to open channels of communication with him.

Now an adult, Owen still pop animated features regularly, but more as a source of comfort than as a map of the world. As his reality grows more complex, the once reliable Disney movies don’t quite cut it and Owen find himself in uncharted territory.

Using the fly-on-the-wall strategy and animation (Owen came up with a script of his own, populated exclusively with Disney sidekicks), the documentary delivers a positive portrait of living with autism, a rarity as of late. It takes a village and loving parents, but the result justifies the effort. 3.5/5 stars.

Life, Animated will also play on Thursday, May 5th and Saturday, May 7th.

HotDocs ’16 - Day 6: Under the Gun

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Under the Gun (USA, 2016): The Katie Couric-Stephanie Soechtig team seems hell-bent on exposing America’s malaises. In Fed Up (2014), they exposed the role of the food industry in the US obesity epidemic. Now they are going after a bigger fish (if possible): The gun lobby.

Using the many mass shootings down the border –particularly Sandy Hook and Aurora- as starting point, the documentary dissects the relationship between congressmen and the gun lobby, the NRA and weapons manufacturers, trade shows and crime, and gun owners and the organization that allegedly represents their interests.

There is nothing intrinsically new about American society’s trouble with guns, but the documentary presents the problem with remarkable clarity. Manufacturers develop close ties with the National Rifle Association; the NRA promotes a paranoid agenda (“the government is coming for your guns!” even though is legally unable to do such thing); people run to buy more weapons. The fact most gun owners would support background check legislation changes nothing. Or so it seems.

Not surprisingly, no NRA representatives, congressmen or gun-makers would speak on camera (to do so would be acknowledging there is a problem), but it doesn’t matter. Rationally, Under the Gun makes an ironclad case for the need of legislation. Too bad most people react emotionally to the matter. 4 ½ / 5 stars.

Under the Gun will also play Thursday, May 5th and Sunday, May 8th.

HotDocs ’16 - Day 5: Ants on a Shrimp/De Palma

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Ants on a Shrimp (Netherlands, 2016): Much like documentaries about climate change, after a while all food-centered docs start to look the same. There lies the brilliancy of filmmaker Maurice Dekkers, who cares more about discovering what makes his subject tick than cater to foodies.

Dekkers’ subject is a doozy: Chef René Redzepi, the man behind the best restaurant in the world, Noma. In 2015, Redzepi moved his entire team from Copenhagen to Tokyo for a few months to build an entire new menu and serve Japanese patrons for a few weeks. There were 58,000 people on the waiting list.

Far from the neurotic autocrats in most cooking shows (looking at you, Gordon Ramsay), Redzepi is soft-spoken and unflappable. How does he stay at the top of his craft? He challenges himself consistently. He doesn’t care for adapting Noma’s menu to Japan. Redzepi rather discover what’s unique about his new surroundings and turn it into a dish.

Redzepi’s capacity to think outside the box leads to spectacular discoveries (scallop fudge, deep fried fish sperm). More than a mere doc about food, Ants on a Shrimp presents us a genius at work at the peak of his powers. 4/5 stars.

Ants on a Shrimp will also play on Wednesday, May 4th.

De Palma (USA, 2015): For a movie about one of the most interesting American directors, made by two renown indie filmmakers –Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow-, De Palma is a letdown. Outside of voluminous amounts of trivia (the kind you could find in IMDb), there is little insight about what makes De Palma tick.

The documentary goes through De Palma’s filmography movie by movie. While it’s undeniably entertaining to find out that Sean Connery had to be begged to do another take of his death scene in The Untouchables, the fact De Palma barely pays lip service to his Hitchcock connection indicates Baumbach and Paltrow didn’t quite press the director into revealing more substantial information.

Without any other testimony, De Palma feels like a glorified interview, with top notch archive footage, but minimal production effort. Heck, even the framing is off. 2/5 stars.

De Palma will also play on Tuesday, May 3rd and Friday, May 6th.

HotDocs ’16 - Day 4: Tower/The Apology/Aim for the Roses

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Tower (USA, 2016): A gripping mix of animation and archive material, Tower is an oral recount of the events in Austin in 1966, in which a gunman killed 16 people and wounded over 30. Thanks to abundant footage (the shooting lasted over an hour and a half, allowing considerable coverage), director Keith Maitland reconstructs the entire standoff. Every blank is filled with animation, a strategy that translates into growing tension and uneasiness.

The film is anchored by a pregnant woman who was shot early on and left bleeding in plain sight. Nobody could approach her as the sniper would have had a clean shot of any good Samaritans. While every POV in Tower is riveting, this one in particular is the clincher. The parallels between the events from fifty years ago and today’s mass shootings are not lost on anybody. The “good guys with guns” trying to take down the shooter ended up endangering those with the skills to do it successfully. 4.5/5 stars.

Tower will also play on Monday, May 2nd, and Friday, May 6th.

The Apology (Canada, 2016): During the Asia-Pacific portion of World War II, Japanese troops regularly kidnapped female teens to use them as sexual slaves (“comfort women”). The despicable practice has never been officially acknowledged, despite some mild international pressure.

The documentary follows three survivors (or Grandmas, as they are known in their countries of origin) from Korea, China and the Philippines. Their lives were defined by the actions of the Japanese army, and two became barren as a result. Now in their eighties and nineties, they still haven’t found peace: While one is a resolute activist who visits the Japanese embassy weekly to demand an apology, another is still gathering courage to tell her family about her past.

The Apology does a superb job depicting these women’s lives and how they cope with what happened to them. It’s not nearly as effective from a journalistic perspective, as there is little effort put on explaining Japan’s refusal to admit any wrongdoing, let alone looking for a path that would force the government to apologize. 3/5 stars.

The Apology will also play on Sunday, May 8th.

Aim for the Roses (Canada, 2016): A tale so bizarre it can only be true, Aim for the Roses tells the story of two men with a soft spot for gonzo spectacle. First we have Ken Carter, the foremost Canadian daredevil who in 1976 decided he wanted to jump the St. Lawrence river. Yearning to leave a mark in history, Carter was consumed by this obsession. He didn’t have the best technicians or engineers to support his dream, but that wouldn’t stop him.

Three decades later, musician Mark Haney created a concept album for solo double bass inspired by Carter’s escapades. Just to make his task harder, Haney translated the numbers related to the jump into music, and turned ads into lyrics.

I won’t tell you about the outcome of either undertaking (although some may be privy of the info). Suffice to say it’s rather unexpected. Director John Bolton mixes archive footage, first-hand testimonies and an in situ staging of Haney’s opus of dubious quality. The combination somehow works and provides one of the best times you’ll have in HotDocs this year. 3/5 stars.

Aim for the Roses will also play on Monday, May 2nd, and Friday, May 6th.

HotDocs ’16 - Day 3: Gulistan, Land of Roses/Spaceship Earth

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Gulistan: Lands of Roses (Canada, 2016): Proof that a great subject doesn’t necessarily make for a good documentary, Gulistan, Land of Roses has numerous opportunities to rise above the genre and squanders them all. In theory, the film is about female Kurdish squads battling ISIS, but you never see any fighting taking place. This is not necessarily a problem if the portrait of the guerrilleras were fascinating enough. Unfortunately, director Zayne Akyol never comes close to discover what makes these women tick beyond boilerplate answers.

Some morsels of valuable information do come across: The battlefield helps the female fighters avoid their expected fate in Kurdish society (subservient, hopelessly dependent). Another source of motivation is that if ISIS soldiers are killed by a woman, they’ll never get to (their idea of) heaven. These valuable bits of info get lost among a lot of waiting around, training sequences and pointless dialogue. The virtual absence of a dramatic arch seals the deal: Gulistan: Land of Roses is a bore. 1/5 stars.

Gulistan Land of Roses will also play on Wednesday, May 4th, and Sunday, May 8th.

Spaceship Earth (Canada, 2016): The problem with climate change documentaries is that after a while, they all look the same. The “we are doomed” narrative has become so repetitive is not actually helping the cause any longer. Spaceship Earth tries to distinguish itself by using the Marshall McLuhan metaphor of the planet as a shuttle and us as the crew, but it’s not enough.

While the film covers a fair variety of issues (melting glaciers, water acidity, the Koch brothers), it all comes down to energy. Sustainable sources cover less than 2% of the population’s needs (coal is still 30%!) and lack of political will is stalling progress on this area. Spaceship Earth is filled with interesting data presented in a cohesive fashion and in a pretty package, yet it misses the “wow” factor that would have allowed the film to break from the pack. 3/5 stars.

Spaceship Earth will also play Sunday, May 1st, and Saturday, May 7th.

HotDocs ’16 - Day 2: Weiner

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Weiner (USA, 2016): Right before the scandal that all but destroyed his career, Anthony Weiner was a force to reckon within the Democratic Party. Passionate and eloquent, there were more than a few who saw him as a presidential card.

This documentary covers Weiner’s run for Mayor of New York in 2013, after the photos of his junk hit Twitter, but before the sexting scandal. The film is a portrait of a smart, well-intentioned man with two fatal flaws: His libido and his ego. Instead of disappearing into the shadows after the original snafu, the politician went back to the trenches at the first opportunity, despite the fact his family was still reeling from his previous indiscretion.

Even more fascinating than Weiner is his wife, Hilary Clinton’s advisor Huma Abedin. A very compelling figure, here is a woman trying to save her husband career without jeopardizing hers. As for the marriage’s healthiness, the jury is out: Abedin may stand behind Weiner, but no gestures of genuine affection are captured on camera.

The access filmmakers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg got is remarkable. There are plenty of profoundly uncomfortable moments on display. Credit to Anthony Weiner for allowing such scrutiny. He may have wronged his family and blown his career to smithereens, but there are plenty of public figures that have done much worse and gotten a free pass. 4/5 stars.

Weiner will also play on Saturday, April 30th, and Friday, May 6th.

HotDocs ’16 - Day 1: Chasing Asylum

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

For the next few days, I’ll be posting reviews of the most relevant films to be shown in the current edition of HotDocs, the Canadian international documentary festival taking place in Toronto between today and May 8th. The event is the biggest of its kind in North America and will include over 200 docs.

I may get to twenty.

Chasing Asylum (Australia, 2016): Compared even to USA and Eastern Europe, the treatment of refugees in Australia is shameful. Those captured in boats on their way to the subcontinent, never get to set a foot there. Most end up in camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru without a procedure in place to apply for refugee status, or at least a return date. The Australian government pays these smaller island-nations to keep the prisoners there, but provides very little insight on what to do with them.

This relentlessly grim doc makes smart decisions allocating resources. Outside statements by the refugees, NGO volunteers and administrators, the film features secretly shot footage from inside the detention centers. It’s overwhelmingly depressing, but drives the point home.

Chasing Asylum does a good job balancing the emotional component with data-fueled context. As it often occurs in documentaries of this nature, a list of the authorities who refused to speak on camera bookends the movie. This is all well and good, but given how important would have been to comprehend their reasoning, merely mentioning them doesn’t cut it. Sometimes, there is value in door-stepping someone. 3/5 stars.

Chasing Asylum will also play on Friday, April 29th, and Sunday, May 8th.

HotDocs '15 - Day 7: Welcome to Leith/The Bolivian Case

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Welcome to Leith (USA, 2015): In a foreboding corner of North Dakota you’ll find the town on Leith. The small, tight-knit community had no idea what was coming when a cantankerous, lonely man moved in. It wasn’t just a regular Joe trying to get away from it all, but militant white supremacist Craig Cobb, who soon enough started to buy land for his fellow neo-Nazis.

The excellent Welcome to Leith chronicles the legal battle that ensued between Leith inhabitants -who grew tired of Cobb’s antics very quickly- and the xenophobe himself, backed up by the NSM. Provocation was the name of the game for Cobb (who claimed his revolting hate speech was protected by the First Amendment), but miscalculated the endurance and commonality demonstrated by the townsfolk.

Many of the documentaries featured in HotDocs are bound to provoke a reaction from the audience, but Welcome to Leith was the first one that actually upset me. The tactics of Cobb and his fellow white supremacists are troubling, but since they have enough awareness to remain within the law, they get can get away with a lot (harassment, distress), more so in a place as isolated as Leith.

The film is a must watch. The storytelling is strong and the imagery will give you pause. Here is hoping for wide distribution. Four and a half stars.

The Bolivian Case (Bolivia/Australia, 2015): The story The Bolivian Case tries to cover is a fascinating one. Three Norwegian girls vacationing in the South American nation are caught trying to smuggle cocaine out of Bolivia. One escapes with the assistance of the Scandinavian consulate, the other two land in jail… until one of them becomes a celebrity of sorts in Norway and leaves the country with the assistance of a magazine while on bail (!). Furthermore, other members of the smuggling ring are on trial in the European country.

This is a story that oozes sex, race and media issues. Unfortunately, director Violeta Ayala chooses to address them directly instead of letting these wide and complex matters emerge organically from the narrative. Furthermore, The Bolivian Case has some structural issues in which the first half has all the strength and the second (focused on the dull judicial process in Norway) limps to the finish line. The material is there. The scenes inside the Cochabamba jail are fascinating: The place operates as a citadel, to the point the two incarcerated girls become pregnant during their stint in prison. Re-editing would benefit the film greatly. One and a half stars.