Stories We Tell

Secrets and Lies                            
by Zac Ryan

As memories of past lives are passed down through generations, the truth can be distorted or changed to protect certain indiscretions. In Stories We Tell, director Sarah Polley turns the camera on her father, her siblings and friends of the family to recount the stories and memories of her mother, Diane Polley.

Sarah Polley was a film and television actress during the 80s and 90s, but moved to the other side of the camera during the past decade, directing notable films that explore crisis points in human relationships, such as Away from Her and Take This Waltz.

Since Sarah's mother passed away when she was only eleven years old, she feels she never truly got to know her. All she had were the stories that others would tell her over the years.  Several inconsistencies started to pop up. So to find the proper answers, she decided to look to those who were close in her life, spending five years in exploration of both the good and the bad.

Diane Polley

In the beginning we meet Sarah's father, Michael Polley, who, like her mother and herself, is an actor. She sets him up in a booth to record the narration for part of the film, so while this is Sarah's film, it has many poignant moments for him, as well. He has his own memories of Diane, and like others, they are both good and bad.  As he recounts his stories, you can see the deep love he felt for her, even if it wasn't returned equally.

Michael Polley

To go further really gives away most of what Sarah was able to explore and dig up, and those moments are best experienced through the film. As the story unfolds, the film sometimes feels like a movie within a movie. The imagery presented of Diane through old home movies and photos starts to show a different side of her than the truth. Then again, she was an actor, so maybe most of her life was just one big role.

My only complaint is that I wish Sarah was on-screen a little more to see her reactions, instead of just hearing her inquisitive voice asking questions from behind the camera.

Sarah Polley

Stories We Tell was recently awarded the Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary award at the 2013 Genie Awards, Canada's version of the Oscars. The film is currently playing in limited release.

Room 237

Signs and Interpretations                
by Zac Ryan

It has long been known that Stanley Kubrick was a perfectionist, sometimes calling for hundreds of takes with the same line read over and over, just to get the right nuance and emotion from the actor. To say everything that ends up on the screen was meticulously planned and planted by the iconic filmmaker may be a stretch, but Room 237 goes into great depths to bring to light several conspiracy theorists and lovers of The Shining to highlight the little nuances that indicate there may be something deeper there than an adaption of the best-selling Stephen King novel - an adaptation that the author hated so much that he made sure the film was remade into a less-than-stellar, but more faithful miniseries adaptation.

In this day and age of the internet, there are countless conspiracy theorists with a forum to tout their ideas to the public. Several years ago on the web,  I first came across the documentary's craziest of assertions, that Kubrick used the film as a confession that he was hired by NASA to fake the first moon landing. Clues validating that theory can be found by watching the film with an obsessive eye through countless viewings. Even that theorist, one of the many disembodied voices of the documentary, claims that while what we saw on television was faked, NASA did in fact land on the moon. It may be a crazy pill to swallow, but this obsessive viewer isn't the only one to find a deeper meaning in Kubrick's film.

Room 237 is filled with accounts of what Kubrick may have been trying to say, and if he were alive today, he may have been filled with glee to see so many different interpretations, only to stay mum about why the film diverges so far from King's original novel. Two of the doc's other subjects feel Kubrick was trying to deliver a message about genocide. One find clues behind the Calumet powder cans on the Overlook Hotel's supply shelves, with their depiction of a native American on the label, and believes that Kubrick was trying to bring to light the demise of the American Indian. Another theorist sees a deeper message in the recurrence of the number 42, along with different divisions and multiplications of that number, as a sign of the Nazis and a reference to the holocaust.

The last of the conspiracies goes into great detail about the layout of the hotel, including the patterns in the carpet and how Danny's ride on his tricycle is totally impossible. It is one of the most plausible and interesting of the takes. But honestly, anyone who has ever worked on a film set knows that everything cannot align perfectly or make total sense spatially. Films are filled with countless continuity errors, usually missed by everyone on set, including the director, that aren't noticed until the film is watched several times. Every film's page on IMDb will have at least one of these errors listed, but with Kubrick's madness, could there be any meaning beyond that, or were they just mistakes? We may never know.

Rodney Ascher doesn't bring anyone on to counter his subjects' asinine ideas and theories, but the film still works. Each theory is given in voiceover, without identifying the theorist, and it works. Scenes from The Shining and other Kubrick films are shown over and over in detail, with occasional stock footage or alternate film scenes, to clue us in on what might be seen. Maybe they're right, or maybe they're nuts, and that's why we don't want to see what the theorists look like. Their appearance will not cloud our perception.

Room 237 takes obsessive culture to a new realm, and even if the film does drag on a bit in its 100+ minute runtime, I immediately wanted to watch The Shining again to see if I could find any other tidbits that Kubrick may have hidden or mistakes in continuity that weren't meant as anything more. Cinephiles, Kubrick fans and those who like dissecting conspiracy theories will dig the film, but outside of that small demographic, viewers may be left wanting a little more.

Posted with Blogsy

Side by Side

 

The Old vs. The New                     
by Zac Sanford


For over ten years the industry has bemoaned the end of celluloid..  Those who are for the photochemical process of filmmaking point out the shortcomings of the newer technology.  The filmmakers and DPs who have already jumped on board will spout off the countless benefits to the digital process.

In Side by Side both positions of the argument are given their fare share of screen time.  And before the casual viewer scoffs at a film about the filmmaking process and the merits of the changing technology, don't let the film's subject matter scare you off.  How can you be afraid of such a subject when the person conducting the interviews is none other than Keanu Reeves.  Yes, Bill of Bill and Ted sits back and lobs softball questions at such luminary directors and below-the-line talent that any layman can grasp the discussion at hand.

The documentary has such heavyweights as Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, George Lucas, Danny Boyle and James Cameron, who have all been on board with the digital revolution for over a decade.  On the other side of the argument, Christopher Nolan is probably the most vocal about the downfall of cinema and is backed up by the always entertaining Wally Pfister.  Countless other Directors and cinematographers go into deep detail of the digital age, from the first CCD camera developed by Bell Labs in the 60s to the latest in technology from Red and Arri.

But the documentary doesn't just cover the film production, but delves deeper into the digital revolution, helping filmmakers from pre-production through post.  The talking heads continue through an array of special effects gurus, editors, colorists and even a little bit about exhibition and distribution.  The only lacking area is the shift into digital distribution on the web and VOD, but that may be better left to a different documentary - one that isn't littered with so many Hollywood staples.

In the end, the film (can we even call these films anymore when they're not shot on that format) covers both sides evenly, including throwing in some of the newer generation of filmmakers who may never know what it is like to shoot on film. But they all do agree on one thing. There is limited time left on the film format.  It is just that no one knows when that day will come.  As Robert Rodriguez put it best, right now film may be above digital overall, but film can never be improved from its current state.  Year after year, new cameras are released and the technology improves, it is only time before digital surpasses the film format.

Side by Side is currently playing in Los Anggeles.  The film will open in New York City and additional cities next week and launches on VOD platforms on August 22nd.