Tag Archive for 'fathers-and-sons'

The Bodybuilder and I

Published
by
Brooke Smith
on April 24, 2007
in Documentaries, Film Festivals and Hot Docs
. Closed
Editor’s Note: In addition to Jay and myself, from time to time we’d like to feature some guest reviewers who can help us cover even more films than we can on our own. Brooke Smith is a professional journalist and movie buff, and best of all, she’s my wife. Hopefully, I can convince her to post a few more of her reviews.

The Bodybuilder and I

The Bodybuilder and I (Director: Bryan Friedman, Canada, 2007): I was looking forward to this documentary as I have been known to do a few bench presses at the gym. But bodybuilding was simply the backdrop for this very personal journey for a son and father.

Bill Friedman had been a bad husband, a workaholic and an absent father. But after a second divorce and a bout of depression, he quit his job at the law firm, headed to the gym and started pumping iron. In fact, he became a competitive bodybuilder.

Knowing this information from reading the synopsis gave me a bias. I didn’t like Bill. He was obnoxious, gruff and…well, let’s just say I felt for his son, director Bryan Friedman. I took Bryan’s side against an absent father who never had time for his kids, who was only looking out for number one, perhaps someone who didn’t deserve a son.

Yet, at a turning point in the film, when Bryan and Bill discuss the past, I realize that it takes two people to create animosity. Bryan has to let go of his anger. Ah, Bryan, get over it. Stop whining and blaming your dad for your problems.

As father and son journeyed to self-discovery, I journeyed with them. And I think that’s what makes the film very strong. Their feelings come right off the screen. The all-business dad and the woe-is-me son are human. And in between more comedic sections: Bill practicing his routine (for the bodybuilding competition), tanning or trying on his costume, the relationship is starting to develop through the bodybuilding, the sweat and the inevitable tears.

The father/son message comes through: although you can’t make up for lost time, life is too short to hold grudges. Forgive and forget and start anew. And that’s what Bryan and Bill are doing.

9/10(9/10)

UPDATE: The film was awarded Best Canadian Feature Documentary at the Hot Docs Awards ceremony held on April 27. Congratulations to director Bryan Friedman and everyone involved in the film.

Protagonist

Published
by
James McNally
on April 23, 2007
in Documentaries, Film Festivals and Hot Docs
. Closed

Protagonist

Protagonist (Director: Jessica Yu, USA, 2007): I am SO tired right now, but I’m also glad that I made the effort to see this film. This was my third film of the day, and I had a gap of about three hours before it which made it very tempting for me to just go home and miss this. I’m very glad I didn’t.

Protagonist grew out of a meeting director Jessica Yu had with the two producers, who wanted her to make a film about the Greek playwright Euripedes. Intrigued by the idea, but not quite sure how to bring it to life, Yu read all of Euripedes’ plays over a summer, and came up with the idea of relating a recurring story arc through the telling of four modern-day real stories. She chose four men from different backgrounds who seemingly have nothing in common, and then as their stories unspool, she weaves them together with some dialogue from the plays, acted by specially-made puppets and using the original Greek language (with subtitles of course), and some innovative animated intertitles. If it sounds daring, it certainly is, but it works completely.

The four men are all “formers”: a former terrorist from Germany, a former kung fu fanatic, a former bank robber, and a gay former evangelist. Though I found myself wondering why she picked these particular men, they are all excellent storytellers, and as the film progresses, we see that their stories are all exploring common themes.

In each of the men’s stories, there was an effort to overcome their fragility as human beings in order to transcend what they considered their weakness. They aimed to be saints or supermen, and in all cases, they failed. The idealistic young political activist became involved in a botched terrorist operation that killed three people. The evangelist had himself convinced that his gay thoughts were gone forever. The abused child who took revenge on his father liked the feeling of power so much that he began to terrorize others. And the kid everyone picked on became powerful by following a martial arts teacher who taught violence by demonstration.

At some point, each of the men realized they were on the wrong path, and that their real selves had been fragmented or suppressed in some way. Despite their thrill-seeking behaviour, they had not transcended themselves, but only lost themselves. Each had to learn what manhood really meant, and in all cases, it meant humbling themselves and admitting that their previously-held certainty was a lie.

This was a somewhat challenging viewing experience, and trying to put all the threads together demands some work from the audience. It requires one to use a few parts of the brain that average documentaries don’t reach. You could say it’s a very artistic film, and I was impressed at how Jessica Yu is pushing the documentary form into new shapes, all the while maintaining the core value of telling interesting stories in an interesting way. Protagonist has been the high point of the whole festival for me, so far.

Here is the Q&A with director Jessica Yu from after the screening:


Duration: 13:18

Hot Docs programmer Myrocia Watamaniuk interviews Jessica Yu

Podcast interview with Joel Heller on Docs That Inspire

Official site for the film

10/10(10/10)

UPDATE (11/4/07): There is a trailer posted now on Apple’s site. As well, the film has a distributor (IFC Films) and a new poster (below). It opens on November 30th in some cities.

Protagonist

Tell Them Who You Are

Published
by
James McNally
on April 16, 2007
in DVD and Documentaries
. Closed

Tell Them Who You Are

Tell Them Who You Are (Director: Mark Wexler, USA, 2004): Oscar-winning cinematographer and director Haskell Wexler is a man who is invariably praised as brilliant, but he has just as often called “a pain the ass to work with.” This portrait by his son Mark Wexler delves beneath the accolades to find out what sort of man, and father, he really is. It’s a painful and awkward journey at times.

We get a standard series of talking heads, including actors, directors and other cinematographers who have worked with Wexler. We learn a few things: that despite all the accolades as a director of photography, Haskell Wexler suffers from colour blindness. Also, that he thinks he could have done a better job of directing every film he ever worked on as a cinematographer. The difference in a few of these interviews is that Mark is often asking them for advice on getting closer to his dad, with whom he’s had a complicated relationship. The fact that Mark chose to enter the same line of work as his dad may be the cause or the effect of this alienation.

Mark Wexler is clearly not the gifted cameraman that his father was. And he has spent years trying to emerge from his father’s enormous shadow. Which makes his decision to make this film an odd one. In trying to decipher his relationship with his father, he has made the film he will be remembered for. And it’s a film in which Mark again fails to emerge from his father’s enormous shadow. It’s not that it’s not a powerful film. It’s just that the force of Haskell Wexler’s personality, even into his 80s, crowds out his son.

Both father and son express many times during the film their desire for the project to bring them closer, and by the end, perhaps it has, but I’ve often found it a particularly male issue that our most intimate interactions with each other have to be mediated in some way. Many times in the film one or the other of the Wexlers are behind a camera while trying to express some awkward emotion.

In some ways, the fact that this is a very unpolished film works both for and against it. It’s certainly not neatly resolved by the end, which is a strength, but on the other hand, Wexler Jr.’s very artlessness as a filmmaker comes across as a weakness. This is the source of a lot of humour in the film, since Haskell is often crankily dispensing advice to his son behind the camera

Not in the film itself, but in one of the extras, we see Haskell’s reaction to the finished film, and it’s extremely emotional and cathartic to see him praising his son’s work, maybe for the first time in any substantial way. It’s not a perfect film, but I suppose as an emotional document of two people reaching toward each other, it’s perfect enough.

Official site for the film

8/10(8/10)

Souvenirs

Published
by
Jay Kerr
on April 5, 2007
in Doc Soup and Documentaries
. Closed
Souvenirs

Souvenirs (Directors: Shahar Cohen and Halil Efrat, Israel, 2006): 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

The Squid And The Whale

Published
by
James McNally
on September 14, 2005
in Film Festivals and TIFF
. Closed

The Squid And The Whale

The Squid And The Whale (USA, director Noah Baumbach): This film contained the best ensemble acting I’ve seen this year. Based on the autobiographical experiences of writer and director Baumbach (co-writer of Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic - Anderson serves as producer on this film), The Squid And The Whale is about the family dynamics of a family of four going through a divorce in the mid-eighties. Father (Jeff Daniels) is a writer whose best days are behind him, yet he remains an unrepentant snob. Mother (Laura Linney) is also a writer, about to have her first novel published. When her multiple infidelities emerge, the parents decide to divorce. Their sons Walt and Frank are thrown into turmoil. This is not original stuff. But the writing is of such high quality, and the performances so genuine, that I found myself drawn right in.

The film is obviously told from the sons’ perspective. Walt seems to be like his father, snobby and self-righteous, while younger Frank seems more sensitive, though also more self-destructive. Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates’ son Owen Kline is a revelation in this role. His sister Greta also appears briefly in the film. You might remember these two from The Anniversary Party, but this is really a breakout role for Owen, and I hope he’ll continue acting.

The film makes it painfully aware how people hurt each other when they can’t talk directly about their feelings. Daniels is excellent as a man whose intellectual pride and snobbery hide his deep insecurities and the pain of rejection by his wife. And Laura Linney is able to make even an unsympathetic character a little less blameworthy. The only issues I had the film are probably related to its miniscule budget. The handheld camerawork is often a little bumpy, and the film feels a little unpolished. But after hearing how Baumbach had a 23 day shooting schedule, and took five years to obtain the funding for the film, I have to give him credit for producing a smart and moving piece of cinema.

Just as an aside, I was pleasantly surprised when the end credits rolled that the beautiful titles I’d been noticing were designed by Torontonian Leanne Shapton, who was art director at Saturday Night magazine for a few of its most visually exciting years (circa 2000-2001). I’m glad to see she’s finding new places to bring her great eye for design.

9/10(9/10)