Author Archive for James McNally

Beyond Our Ken

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James McNally
on April 20, 2008
in Documentaries, Film Festivals and Hot Docs
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Beyond Our Ken

Beyond Our Ken (2008, Directors: Melissa Maclean and Luke Walker): I knew this was going to be an interesting screening when I started to see leaflets in the hands of some of the audience accusing the filmmakers of slander and the film of being a fraud. The subject of Beyond Our Ken is an Australian religious movement called Kenja, founded in 1982 by Ken Dyers and his wife Jan Hamilton (the name is a combination of their first names). Now, any movement that inspires intense personal loyalty to one person will often be labelled a cult, and Kenja is almost always referred to in this way in the Australian media. Over the years, the group and Ken Dyers in particular have also been the subject of investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse. Directors Maclean and Walker, fresh out of film school, wanted to show the world what Kenja was really about. Was it a cult? What do members actually believe and practice? Remarkably, they were able to gain intimate access to the group and conducted many interviews with Dyers and Hamilton. They also interviewed many former and current members to see if the allegations had any merit.

What struck me immediately while watching the film was how similar the culture, beliefs and practices of Kenja sound to Scientology (including the practice of “energy conversion” which takes place in private sessions between two people, and the use of vocabulary such as “processing,” “clear,” and “attached spirits”), and lo and behold, according to Wikipedia (granted, not authoritative), Dyers was a former Scientologist. His life and work had many parallels with the life of L. Ron Hubbard, including a spotty military service record which was later exaggerated for patriotic effect. The directors make no mention of these parallels, perhaps out of fear of stirring up another organization, but I think it would have been interesting to see what relationship exists between the two groups.

Kenja claims to teach a technique for ridding a person of negative thoughts and the body of “attached spirits” leading to a general state of well-being. But toward the end of the film, we witness a complete meltdown by Dyers in which he rages about having to defend himself against charges and allegations for more than ten years. The master seems not to have learned from his own techniques. Tragically, after a fresh series of sexual abuse allegations surfaced, Dyers took his own life in July 2007, just around the time the film was being completed.

Far from being slanderous, the film actually seems to go out of its way to give Dyers, Hamilton, and other Kenja practitioners time and space to explain themselves. Clearly, however, they were not happy with the final film, and actually flew two of their members to Toronto to not only hand out leaflets, but to conduct their own information session. It will be held Thursday April 24th at 7pm at the OISE Building, Room 2-211, 252 Bloor Street West. I’m hoping that the directors show up to that since the Kenja people were at the screening. In my recording of the Q&A, Luke Walker lets them ask their questions at the end and I wish it had been able to go on longer. It’s a bit funny, too, that all the protests from Kenja members will probably just pique people’s interest in the film and give it a wider audience.

Here is the Q&A with directors Melissa Maclean and Luke Walker from after the screening:


Duration: 16:14

Official site for the film
Trailer

Kenja’s response to the film. The trailers for their own “mockumentary” seem particularly bizarre.

8/10(8/10)

Nursery University

Published
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James McNally
on April 20, 2008
in Documentaries, Film Festivals and Hot Docs
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Nursery University

Nursery University (2008, Directors: Marc Simon and Matt Makar): Marc Simon and Matt Makar are both single, childless lawyers who have made a film about the competitive process that parents in Manhattan face getting their children into the best nursery schools in the city. My wife and I went to see this together, and were expecting to be very annoyed with the subjects. You see, we’re also childless, but after more than a decade together, the issue is far from resolved for us, and we both have strong opinions about parenting. Though Toronto isn’t Manhattan, we do have a similar culture of older professionals having children for the first time, and the parents’ general sense of entitlement is nauseating. As well, they’re driven by both guilt and fear to try to give their children every advantage in a very competitive culture. This type of environment usually leads to overscheduled and stressed-out children and parents, and doesn’t necessarily lead to the desired results of fame and fortune for the little ones.

But Simon and Makar have a light touch, and even though the parents ranged from middle-class bohemians living in Greenwich Village to an obviously super wealthy couple living on the Upper West Side, all of them were sympathetic characters, with the possible exception of one couple who could serve as the poster children for “entitled”. All of them knew how ridiculous the process looked, but felt powerless to opt out for fear of putting their beloved child at a disadvantage. And remarkably, all of the children seemed bright and, at least in the final cut, well-behaved.

The strength of the film was that it was not just parent-focused. Administrators and teachers from all of the top schools were persuaded to take part, most at the insistence of the remarkable Gabriella Rowe from the prestigious Mandell School. The pressure on these school directors is enormous, with 15-20 applicants for each available space. The situation has been driven by what the directors refer to as a “post 9/11 baby boom” that has driven tuition rates as high as $20,000 per year and created a market for “admissions consultants” whose services can also cost a family several thousand dollars. The administrators in this film sympathize with the parents, but laughingly dismiss their worries that not getting into the right pre-school will affect their child’s chances of getting into the right college one day.

Though we were prepared to hate these people, my wife and I found ourselves wondering what we would do in their shoes. In Canada, at least, our public school system is still relatively healthy, so we don’t have to worry about which nursery is the right “feeder school” for the primary school we want our child to attend. Large cities like New York also face a tangle of regulations that make starting a new school difficult, not to mention the price of real estate. For the foreseeable future, getting a child into school in the city is bound to be a stressful and expensive proposition. Many couples end up forced to move to the suburbs, despite their desire to raise their children in the cultural richness of New York City.

The film was also careful to balance the stressful process with the reasons why parents endure it. There are many images of the riches of Manhattan, and many more of the joy and delight these children bring to their parents. In the end, these people do it because they love their children and they love their city, and they’ll do whatever they can to ensure that they can keep both. Good luck to all of them.

Here is the Q&A with directors Marc Simon and Matt Makar from after the screening:


Duration: 13:43

Interview with director Marc Simon in the Wall Street Journal’s Law blog

8/10(8/10)

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Published
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James McNally
on April 17, 2008
in Documentaries, Film Festivals and Hot Docs
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Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008, Director: Sacha Gervasi): I knew within five minutes of the film that I loved these guys, and it took about another five minutes for me to decide I was buying a CD from them (NOTE: Available from either of the two links below). That’s not an easy sell. You see, I grew up here in Toronto, Anvil’s hometown, during the 1980s, when the band had its closest brush with success. “Metal on Metal” was played on the radio here, and it’s quite possible I watched some of the archival television coverage (some of it featuring news anchor John Roberts, then known as J.D. Roberts) when it wasn’t archival. But I was no metalhead. I was into punk, and then new wave, and the metal “hair” bands of the 80s just seemed embarrassingly uncool to me. In this film, that uncoolness has been turned into charm. But it’s been a long hard road for Anvil.

Director Sacha Gervasi actually met the band in London in 1982, and then decided to work as a roadie for them on a cross-Canada tour. He lost touch about 1985, and then, 20 years later, decided to look up his old friends on the internet. What he discovered amazed him. They hadn’t given up. In fact, they were still making records and playing bars, even if it was only to crowds of 100. Gervasi, meanwhile, had travelled far from his metal roots. After attending law school, he got involved in the film business, recently writing the script for the Tom Hanks film The Terminal. He knew immediately he wanted to make a film about the band, and his personal connection with Anvil makes the film a loving tribute.

Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner were two Jewish kids growing up in Toronto in the 70s. They bonded over a love for the music of Black Sabbath and Grand Funk, and were soon writing songs together. More than 30 years and several lineup changes later, they’re still making music together. The film is as much a portrait of a lifelong friendship as it is about the cruelty of the music business. Through all the ups and (mostly) downs, Lips and Robb are like brothers. Gervasi picks up the story around 2005 when guitarist Ivan’s new Italian girlfriend Tiziana offers to arrange a European tour for them. Her passion overcomes their reservations about her inexperience, with predictable results. Transportation problems abound, and the crowds are always smaller than anticipated. Local promotion doesn’t come through, and the band are rarely paid. Despite that, Lips remains upbeat, happy to be touring at all.

After their return to Toronto, Anvil are ready to record their next album. They decide to approach engineer Chris Tsangarides, who recorded them early in their career, to see if he’s interested in working with them again. To their surprise, he’s interested, and after borrowing money from friends and family, the band fly to England to record their 13th album, cleverly entitled “This is Thirteen.” Another round of conflict between Robb and Lips ensues, but all ends in tearful hugs and the album is finished. Lips buzzes that the band has never sounded as good. Despite that, they can’t get any record companies interested in releasing it, so they decide to go direct and sell it themselves.

Throughout it all, Robb and especially Lips come across as incredibly open-hearted and even sweet guys. One memorable scene has Lips, in an attempt to earn some money, working as a telemarketer. He doesn’t last very long before he confesses that he’s just too honest. His somewhat goofy face may be the reason that the band never achieved the success of bands like Metallica or Anthrax or Slayer, but he’s incapable of being anyone else. Now in their 50s, Robb and Lips still haven’t cut their thinning hair, and though they look a bit out of place among their brothers and sisters, their families (especially their long-suffering wives) have been incredibly patient, if not always supportive.

The film ends with a lovely grace note. After receiving a call from a concert promoter in Japan, Anvil are invited to open a metal festival in front of a potential audience of 20,000. Gervasi poignantly inserts footage from the Super Rock tour of Japan the band played in 1984, and I swear that the goofy grin on Lips’ face is even wider now than it was then. When the lights came up, I was sporting my own goofy grin, as well as a small lump in the throat.

If there was anything missing from the film, it might be the absence of two of the three members of the unholy trinity of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Despite a reference early on from Robb about having to throw away his drugs during a border crossing in Europe, we never see any of the partying for which bands in general, and metal bands in particular, were legendary. These guys can still rock out, clearly, but it would have been interesting to see if they still party like young guys.

Just as an aside, during Anvil’s brief heyday in the early 80s, I was into a rockabilly-punk band from Hamilton called Teenage Head. Their career has had a similar trajectory, with lots of missed chances at fame, and an enduring legacy as “also-rans” among bands with arguably much less talent. Though I was never a roadie for them, this film has me thinking of making “Teenage Head! The Story of Teenage Head.” Frankie and Legs, get in touch!

Here is the Q&A with director Sacha Gervasi and the band from after the screening:


Duration: 12:10

Official site for the film
Official site of the band

9/10(9/10)

A Necessary Death

Published
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James McNally
on April 16, 2008
in Film Festivals and SXSW
. 0 Comments

A Necessary Death

A Necessary Death (2008, Director: Daniel Stamm): This was the last of the screeners I was sent for films showing at SXSW this year, and to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t looking forward to watching it. In fact, I’d been putting it off for weeks. Here’s why: the concept is that a graduating film student chooses as his thesis project to create a documentary following a suicidal person from their initial decision to the final act of taking their own life. I don’t think it will spoil the film for you if I tell you that this isn’t a real documentary.

Instead, director Daniel Stamm films in a documentary style as his brash student director Gilbert gathers his crew and starts sorting through responses to the audacious ad he’s placed in the newspaper: “Suicidal individual wanted for documentary. Project will follow individual from first preparations to final act.” I don’t want to say too much more about plot, but I was consistently impressed and surprised by how unscripted and natural the film felt. Even after I knew it wasn’t “real” I was still tense as “the end” approached. Great performances highlight a smart script that explores many of the ethical issues that surround documentary filmmaking. Does a filmmaker have the right to manipulate his subject? How about befriending him? Is the film more important than the relationships formed? Many documentarians struggle with these issues only after beginning what they think is a straightforward film, and Stamm perfectly captures that sense of losing control of the story.

Stamm can’t avoid having one of the film’s conceits break down early. He’s supposed to be a friend of documentarian Gilbert, but it doesn’t really make a lot of sense to film a documentary about the making of a documentary. Nevertheless, this conceit is essential to portray Gilbert’s character in the fullest way. I certainly didn’t feel cheated or fooled by the faux-doc approach. In fact, I was relieved that Gilbert’s audacious experiment wasn’t real. It didn’t lessen the impact of the film, and I’m sure I’ll take many of the ideas explored here into my coverage of the Hot Docs festival, which begins here in Toronto this week.

Official site for the film
Trailer

8/10(8/10)

Hot Docs 2008 People Schedule

Published
by
James McNally
on April 12, 2008
in Film Festivals, Hot Docs and Web Sites
. 5 Comments

Before (or instead) of publishing a list of films I want to see, I thought I’d take the brave step of posting a list of names of people I want to meet from the world of film blogging. Since I have press accreditation again, I was able to see the full list of accredited media, so I know the following people will be in Toronto. If you see your name, drop me an email or comment and let’s try to meet up. Your first Hot Docs drink is on me.

And here’s a separate list of Toronto-based bloggers and film industry folks (a few of whom I’ve met already) who I’d like to spend some time with:

If I’ve left you out, and you’re in town and want to meet up, let me know. This is partially a reaction to my utter failure to connect with anyone from the film community at this year’s SXSW. Here’s hoping I’m a little more socially adventurous on my home turf. Even if I do have that day job to wake up early for.