The We and The I (2012) – Michael Gondry

Micahel Gondry films always seem to garner attention, since Eternal Sunshine On the Spotless Mind people have been following him and wondering what’s next. There was The Science of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind and then, well The Green Hornet. So when I first saw the trailer for his new film, The We and The I, I…

Room 237 (2012) – Rodney Ascher

When I first heard about this documentary from Rodney Ascher, it was coming to TIFF, and I very much wanted to see it, I love the ideas of secrets and conspiracies hidden in movies. Both the opportunities I had to see it fell through, and I was a little bummed. Then I heard it was returning to…

Hot Docs: Teenage – Matt Wolf

Using Jon Savage’s Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture as a launching point, Wolf’s film, which screened at the Lightbox yesterday, serves as a perfect companion piece to Savage’s work. Through the use of varied voice overs from the UK, the U.S. and Germany, the film charts the growth of a new creation, that of adolescence at…

Hot Docs: The Great North Korean Picture Show – James Leong & Lynn Lee

Wednesday evening, I got a look inside the world of acting and film in North Korea. What I found was an entertaining film, that despite being heavily monitored by the secretive state’s government (they reviewed all the dailies before they were allowed to be used, and some material couldn’t be used due to faults, according to them,…

Hot Docs: Alphee of the Stars – Hugo Latulippe

  There was a scene that nearly broke my heart as I watched Alphee of the Stars last night at the Lightbox. Hugo Latulippe is sitting across from his daughter, Alphee as they are travelling via train through a snow-covered Switzerland, and in a scene completely played in silence you can see as he watches…

Hot Docs: Shooting Bigfoot – Morgan Matthews

I want to believe. I’ve always wanted to. I like the idea that the legends and stories of monsters and creatures of unknown origin can exist in our world, it adds mystery and excitement to things. Growing up I would read about UFOs, aliens, Loch Ness, ghosts, and bigfoot. These ideas fascinated me, and from time…

Hot Docs: Maidentrip – Jillian Schlesinger

Laura Dekker wants to sail around the world. Alone. She’s 14. (When I was 14 I had a ridiculously early curfew – RIDICULOUSLY(!) – and wasn’t allowed to do a lot of after school activities, and we were living on a 23 square mile island!) 519 Days, 27,000 nautical miles. Alone. No support crew, no follow…

Hot Docs: Good Ol’ Freda – Ryan White

I became a Beatles fan in 1988, my junior year at Mt. St. Agnes academy, and I voraciously hunted down the albums on vinyl, I read books, and watched Help! and A Hard Day’s Night repeatedly. I had the music books for everything they recorded, but even then I knew I wasn’t the biggest fan,…

Hot Docs: Our Nixon – Penny Lane

Oh Mr. Nixon. Last night the Royal screened Our Mr. Nixon by Penny Lane, and it proved to be an entertaining, occasionally angering, and often humorous look at one of the most infamous of all American presidents. After the Watergate scandal the federal government seized over 500 reels of super8 film and kept it locked away for…

Game of Thrones Exhibit at the Lightbox

Yup, sometimes being here in Toronto is pretty cool. It also helps to have some awesome friends who offered me a free ticket to take in the Game of Thrones Exhibit being put on at the Lightbox, the home of the Toronto International Film Festival. I have to say that I like the Lightbox, and I keep…