Thursday, October 30, 2008

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

by James McNally on October 30, 2008

in Documentaries,Film Festivals,Hot Docs

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008, Director: Kurt Kuenne): Messy and unapo­lo­get­ic­ally manip­u­lative, Dear Zachary feels quite a bit like the grieving pro­cess itself. Equal parts schmaltz and rage, it accur­ately reflects the feel­ings of its cre­ator, still coming to terms with the loss of his child­hood friend.

Kurt Kuenne’s ori­ginal plan for the film was to doc­u­ment his friend Andrew Bagby’s life for Bagby’s young son Zachary. Andrew, a prom­ising young med­ical doctor, was gunned down by an ex-girlfriend and col­league, Dr. Shirley Turner, who then fled to her native Canada to avoid pro­sec­u­tion. Some time later, she revealed that she was preg­nant with Andrew’s child. If that bizarre setup wasn’t enough, the tale soon becomes even more strange as Andrew’s grieving par­ents move from the US to Newfoundland to be near their grandson, hoping that they’ll be able to obtain cus­tody when Turner is even­tu­ally con­victed of the crime.

To say that things don’t go as expected would be a huge under­state­ment. By the end, the film will leave you emo­tion­ally drained, angry, and grieving, along with Kuenne and Andrew’s amazing par­ents. This is an intensely per­sonal film, with a few warts, but it’s heart­felt and honest, and as a tribute to his friend, is some­thing that Kuenne can be proud of.

UPDATE: I had the hardest time writing about this film back when I first saw it at Hot Docs in the spring. I wanted to bring your atten­tion to it now that it’s get­ting a the­at­rical release. Watch for it in New York City tomorrow, October 31, with a rol­lout to some other US cities in the weeks to follow. No word on a Canadian release yet.

Official site for the film

Interview with dir­ector Kurt Kuenne

6/10(6/10)

Tagged as: #hotdocs08, crime, murder

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Roger’s Rules of Order

by James McNally on October 30, 2008

in Critics

The legendary Roger Ebert has posted a lengthy but hil­arious diatribe in the form of his “little rule book” for film critics. I nervously glanced through to make sure I hadn’t com­mitted any of the sins men­tioned, and can truth­fully tell you that (so far), I’m still fairly right­eous. Though it’s a funny piece, it does have a ser­ious intent behind it:

“We can’t be too careful. Employers are eager to replace us with Celeb Info-Nuggets that will pimp to the mouth-breathers, who under­line the words with their index fin­gers whilst they watch television.”

Luckily, or unluckily, I don’t work for anyone, so I’m in no danger of being replaced. But I do want to main­tain my self-respect, which is why secretly I think I avoid set­ting up inter­views with the actors and dir­ectors whose work I love in fear of coming across like a fanboy.

(via Karina, who dishes up some dirt on the target of Ebert’s sermonizing)

Tagged as: karinalongworth, rogerebert

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