This film was actually a Norwegian TV series that was slightly abridged for a theatrical release in the rest of the world. (Unfortunately I watched the abridged version.) It’s a typical Peter Watkins approach to a documentary about a historical subject – filmed as if the film crew had travelled into the past.
Tag: Docudrama
The Courier (2020, Dominic Cooke)
This is a well-made spy thriller based on real events. It’s apparently a well-known story in the UK (where it was a TV miniseries back in the ’90s) but is not a story I was aware of. In North America, all we here about is the Kennedys and their decision making during the Cuban Missile …
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020, Aaron, Sorkin)
Until the ridiculous final season, I was torn between this and Chicago 10. For the most part, this is a better film than Chicago 10, it’s live action, it’s well-acted, and it’s nowhere near as ADD. (Though it’s clearly inspired by that film.) The ridiculous final scene of this film shook my confidence in that …
Snowden (2016, Oliver Stone)
I’m not really sure why this movie exists, except that some people believe that people won’t watch documentaries, but will watch Hollywood films starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. If you’ve seen Citizenfour – and you should see it – you don’t need to watch this.
Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach (1968, Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub)
I’ve spent much of my adult life cultivating an interest in movies made before I was born and so I have a high tolerance, for someone my age, for the slower rhythms of past films. (I have watched so many old movies in part because i really want to know where things come from, but …
Christine (2016, Antonio Campos)
This is an excellent film about the person behind an infamous moment in US television history. It’s a drama with a great sense of place, an excellent cast and a really strong lead performance. I recommend you watch it but I also recommend that if you are interested in watching this film and don’t know …
Vice (2018, Adam McKay)
With some slight reservations, I called The Big Short the most important film of its year. So, when this trailer came out, I literally said “YES!” out loud. It felt like my catnip. I normally don’t like reading much about a movie I really want to see, because I worry about how expectations affect my …
The 2019 Toronto International Film Festival
Once again I only saw 5 movies this year. As with previous years, the reason for that will become apparent in a month or so. But, as usual, we managed to do a pretty good job picking movies and only saw movie I wouldn’t recommend seeing, which is a pretty good ratio.
Incitement (2019, Yaron Zilberman)
This is a nearly flawless dramatization of the radicalization of the man who assassinated Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. It is apparently the film time a film has been made about the assassination, likely because of how raw the wound still is 25 years later. But I would say that this is absolutely the film to …
Deepwater Horizon (2016, Peter Berg)
Peter Berg excels at a kind of hyper competence, where his films are technically extremely well made and impressive but which lack subtext or critical thinking. I often hate his films even though I have to grant that they always have exceptional production values. But this one is (a little) different. I think this is …
Casino Jack (2010, George Hickenlooper)
There are two things you need to know about this movie before you think about watching it: there is a pretty good documentary about this story that exists already and Kevin Spacey is the star.
Carlos (2010, Oliver Assayas)
This is one of those innumerable high end European miniseries that got transformed into a movie in North America, both in its full version and in a shortened version. I watched the full version because I really don’t get why we should be satisfied with cuts that are just a little bit more than a …
Carmel (2009, Amos Gitai)
This is one impressionistic film. Impressionistic films deserve your attention and concentration, they should not be watched while you empty the dishwasher and work on your podcast. Alas, that’s how I watched this film, so my appreciation of it, or lack thereof, is coloured by my wavering attention.
Cadillac Records (2008, Darnell Martin)
From the opening scenes of this docudrama about history of Chess Records, things feel a little off. The attempt to balance the stories of Leonard Chess and Muddy Waters feels a little wonky and the pacing definitely seems off. A man just walks up to Muddy in a field and says he’s Alan Lomax and …
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013, Lee Daniels)
Yes, seriously, Lee Daniels’ The Butler is the name of this movie. Even though this movie is ostensibly “based on a true story,” the director is responsible for it. The title is actually a clue: the filmmakers have so altered the story as to completely alter it. This is, in effect, the Black Forrest Gump.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007, Yves Simoneau)
My country was founded in genocide, as was our neighbour to the south. This is a fact that we still haven’t dealt with as evidenced by how many Canadians and Americans would find my initial statement controversial – even offensive – despite its truth. I was born in the last fifth of the 20th century …
TIFF 2017: Omerta (2017, Hansal Mehta)
What a mess. Where do I begin?
Tiff 2017: The Death of Stalin (2017, Armando Iannucci)
Iannucci’s new film is, as I understand it, a bit of a left turn for him: it’s an adaptation of a graphic novel based upon the real event of the title. Though I had no such fears, one could be understandably trepidacious about Iannucci turning his satirical eye to something historically accurate.
Bronson (2008, Nicholas Winding Refn)
There are probably two types of people: people who think Winding Refn is a genius and people who think he is ponderous, boring and way too interested in style over substance. You can count me among the latter. Despite all the praise over Valhalla Rising and Drive, I found both movies to be flawed. I …
93 Days (2016, Steve Gukas)
After watching an absolute mess of a film the night before, my expectations about Nigerian films had perhaps been lowered so much that I was kind of astounded by this film. I think it’s safe to say that, had I seen this movie before Just Not Married, I might have liked both less.
The Big Short (2015, Adam McKay)
Let’s get this out of the way: this is not a perfect movie. It has what you might call ‘formal’ flaws; inconsistencies in style, in tone and in perspective. It is meta in a way that you might find obnoxious. But I think it might be the single most important film made about the 2008 …
Bernie (2011, Richard Linklater)
This is one of those films that is played so straight you aren’t sure whether or not it’s a comedy. It’s also rather unique in the sense that, though it is a fictionalized version of a true story, it’s not only partially told as if it was a documentary, but it features interviews with numerous …
Battle in Seattle (2007, Stuart Townsend)
This film is an attempt to produce an alternative version of the infamous Seattle WTO protests than the one produced by the mainstream media at the time, a version that was decidedly anti-protester and pro-WTO, pro-State of Washington, pro-Seattle. There’s an all-star cast – I mean, seriously, look at that cast – and the film …
Show Me a Hero (2015)
I have to say I sort of screwed myself here; my expectations were sky-high.
12 Years a Slave (2013, Steve McQueen)
This may seem a weird thing to say but I think this is McQueen’s least difficult material to date. Obviously, slavery is a difficult subject – this is not an easy film to watch – but it is not morally difficult subject, at least for most of us. Hunger may not have been morally difficult …