Following his widely celebrated video essay Room 237, Rodney Ascher returns to the world of the occult with The Nightmare, a hybrid doc centering around eight interviewees speaking about their experiences with sleep paralysis, and an even stranger connection with shared dreamscapes. The phenomenon of sleep paralysis inflicts a strange state of being on its victim, causing them to be… Continue reading Terrors of the night abound in THE NIGHTMARE (Hot Docs Review)
Category: Reviews + Previews
Finding Salvation in Family and Films: THE WOLFPACK (Hot Docs Review)
Among family profiles in the documentary genre, THE WOLFPACK is surely one of the most bizarre. Locked away in a cramped apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Crystal Moselle finds room to explore the Angulo’s – a clan of seven children – upbringing at the hands of a repressive, merciless father. Despite their… Continue reading Finding Salvation in Family and Films: THE WOLFPACK (Hot Docs Review)
The silver lining of sadness in TIG (Hot Docs Review)
On August 3rd, 2012, comedian Tig Notaro got on stage at the Largo nightclub in Los Angeles, announcing that she had cancer to a stunned audience of regular patrons and close friends. What transpired was considered by many to be a breakthrough, as Notaro channeled her pain into a now legendary stand-up set, which brought her widespread fame… Continue reading The silver lining of sadness in TIG (Hot Docs Review)
Small town sadness abounds in Kyle Thomas’ THE VALLEY BELOW (2014)
First-time feature director Kyle Thomas’ The Valley Below is an ensemble drama of relentless compassion, situated around the concepts of love, family and the fragility of the human condition. Set around four seasons in the small town of Drumheller, Alberta, the film is divided into four segments, operating with equal amounts of delight and despair… Continue reading Small town sadness abounds in Kyle Thomas’ THE VALLEY BELOW (2014)
Documenting the struggles of adulthood in SAM KLEMKE’S TIME MACHINE (2015)
The latest technology doc from Australian filmmaker Matthew Bate (Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure), Sam Klemke’s Time Machine documents the personal journey of its titular figure, over nearly four decades of personal progress. A selection at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, premiering a year after Richard Linklater’s Boyhood was praised for its encapsulation of childhood and adolescence, Bate’s film focus… Continue reading Documenting the struggles of adulthood in SAM KLEMKE’S TIME MACHINE (2015)
Albert Shin’s sophomore feature IN HER PLACE (2014)
Canadian-Korean filmmaker Albert Shin’s In Her Place is first and foremost an intimate character study, revolving around three female characters locked into an arrangement beset by compassion. Shot and set mainly in rural South Korean farmland, it follows the lives of a mother (Kil Hae-Yeon) and her young pregnant daughter (Ahn Ji-Hye), who agree to… Continue reading Albert Shin’s sophomore feature IN HER PLACE (2014)
Vampires are funny again in Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (2014)
The writing-directing duo of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi have done what many believed to be impossible, through bringing humour back to the vampire comedy with What We Do In The Shadows – a horror-mockumentary profiling four centuries-old creatures who live in suburban Wellington, New Zealand. Taking on the guise of a production made by “The New Zealand Documentary… Continue reading Vampires are funny again in Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (2014)