Thursday, April 5, 2007

Souvenirs

by Jay Kerr on April 5, 2007

in Doc Soup,Documentaries,Film Festivals

Souvenirs
Editor’s Note: Doc Soup is a monthly doc­u­mentary screening pro­gramme run by the good folks at Hot Docs. It gives audi­ences in Toronto (and now Calgary and Vancouver!) their reg­ular doc fix each year from the fall through to the spring, leading up to the Hot Docs fest­ival itself.

Souvenirs (2006, Directors: Shahar Cohen and Halil Efrat, Israel): This doc­u­mentary had its Canadian premiere at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto tonight. Souvenirs received a Best Documentary Award at the 2006 Doc Aviv Festival.

37 year-old Shahar Cohen went to film school for five years. Two years ago, he was unem­ployed, living in Jerusalem and wanted to make a film. The sub­ject? His 82-year-old father, Sleiman, who had served in World War II with the Jewish Brigade.

The angle? His father had a few girl­friends in Holland and it’s pos­sible that he might have left behind some “souvenirs” — chil­dren by two Dutch women.

So, father and son go on a road trip through Europe in search of lost lovers and sib­lings. What tran­spires is a charming and funny adven­ture where Sleiman and Sharar get to know each other better. The film also explores the role of the Jewish Brigade in the British army during the war.

I enjoyed Souvenirs a lot. Sleiman and his son aren’t very close but by the end of the film they make a con­nec­tion that strengthens their rela­tion­ship. You also gain some insight into life during the war through Sleiman’s many stories. And of course there are a few sur­prises along the way as Sharar tries to find out if he has any brothers or sis­ters from his father’s Dutch girlfriends.

Shahar Cohen was on-hand for a Q&A after the film. I was sur­prised to find out that he had written a script for his doc­u­mentary film! The script was com­pleted before filming but only used as an out­line for how Shahar wanted the film to unfold.

At times Shahar and his co-director Halil Efrat “manip­u­lated” Sleiman by get­ting him worked up to make a few scenes more dra­matic. They also filmed a lot of inter­views of Jewish Brigade mem­bers to trick Sleiman into thinking that the film was about the Brigade and not focusing solely on him.

I’m sure that their are some doc­u­mentary pur­ists who would frown upon these Michael Moore-like tac­tics, but it does make for a more inter­esting film.

More inform­a­tion on the film

Tagged as: doc-aviv-festival, family, fathers-and-sons, israel

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Idiocracy

by James McNally on April 5, 2007

in DVD

Idiocracy

Idiocracy (Director: Mike Judge, USA, 2006): After hearing how Fox bungled the the­at­rical dis­tri­bu­tion for this film (much the same way as they did for another Mike Judge film, Office Space), I was hoping to find an undis­covered gem. But it’s only a pass­ably good film.

Army Private Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson) is a com­pletely average Joe, so the army decides to freeze him in an exper­i­ment in order to wake him up in a year. Instead, he’s brought back 500 years in the future, in an America that has been com­pletely over­taken by stu­pidity and cor­porate branding. Now this “average joe” is the smartest man in the country and the gov­ern­ment recruits him to help solve the country’s mounting problems.

Before I note my cri­ti­cisms, I have to say that there were lots and lots of funny moments, and that Luke Wilson makes a very appealing Everyman. I loved that the number-one tele­vi­sion show is called “Ow! My Balls!” And that the greeter at Costco says, in a mono­tone voice, “Welcome to Costco, I love you.” And that the crops are watered with sports drink. There are lots of quot­able lines that will prob­ably be repeated by, dare I say it, people the film is actu­ally sat­ir­izing (much like Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head).

Yet all of the rather broad swipes didn’t really amount to much of a satire. The comedy was just too obvious, and the pres­ence of the over­bearing nar­rator from dozens of “ironic” beer com­mer­cials was overkill. As well, the film’s low budget shows in too many places.

Maybe this film will find its audi­ence on DVD, like Office Space did, but it’s just not as good a film. Mike Judge is a gifted sat­irist, when he keeps it small. In this case, his reach has exceeded his grasp. I’m giving it an extra point for ambi­tion, though.

7/10(7/10)

Tagged as: satire

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