Jack Henry's Year in Film - Week 9
Over the next two weeks I will be reviewing films from the TRUE/FALSE Film Festival. TRUE/FALSE is a documentary film festival that takes place in Columbia, MO every year, over the first weekend in March. This is the second time I’ve had the opportunity to attend the festival and it’s such a great experience. Most of the films I usually spend my time with are fictitious so it’s quite refreshing to be able to spend a weekend watching new documentary films from around the world. I know it says that I watched one film per weekday but in all actuality all of these were viewed over the course of a three day weekend. To be totally transparent though, most of the films I’ve watched this year don’t actually fall on the exact day of the week. Anyways, it was an incredible weekend made better by the fact that I got to hang out, eat good food, and watch films with my good friend, Asher.
Here’s Part 1:
WEEK 9 or TRUE/FALSE Film Festival: Part 1
MONDAY (2/26) - American Animals - Bart Layton
I start off my reviews for the documentary film festival with a film that’s not really a documentary (little did I know this would become a consistent theme). It is the “true” story of four college students that attempt to steal priceless books, specifically Audubon’s The Birds of America, from the private section in their college library. The reason this film is playing at a documentary film fest is because the actual people the movie is based upon do the narration of the film, and do a bit of cool interaction with their characters. The movie starts off very stylistically heavy in the titles for the film and it’s really quite engrossing. Unfortunately, that style seems to disappear until the second half of the film which makes the first half drag. The film does make some references to other heist films like Ocean’s 11 and Reservoir Dogs but in a way that calls them out for their unbelievability and whimsicality (Ocean’s specifically; I wouldn’t call Reservoir Dogs whimsical). It does a relatively good job of exploring the reality of the people involved in the robbery, both the robbers and their victims. This film does lack in it’s use of the actual people involved which is unfortunate because some of the best scenes in the film involve the narrators interacting with their actor counterparts. Overall, I really enjoyed this true story, however “true” it may be.
MY RATING: 8/10
TUESDAY (2/27) - Lovers of the Night - Anna Frances Ewert
Lovers of the Night does an excellent job of portraying the sweetness and simplicity of monastic life in Ireland. It follows the monks as they go about their day to day life. The brothers love peace, love, Jesus, and especially rugby. It is well shot and the direction of the film is quite good. Really my only qualm with the film is in the music. I think they could have either used monastic music or simply no music at all. This was definitely one of my highlights this year.
MY RATING: 9/10
WEDNESDAY (2/28) - Bisbee ’17 - Robert Greene
In the summer of 1917, over 1,000 residents of Bisbee, AZ were illegally deported during a mining strike. One hundred years later the current residents remember the history of their town by reenacting the event. Bisbee ’17 is incredibly interesting. It spends much of its first half interviewing residents, some the descendants of those involved and some that had never even heard of the event, building tension until the reenactment scenes. The documentary has pretty impeccable style but it loses a lot of its substance in that. First off, it’s too long, or at least feels that way due to its lack of focus on the entire community of Bisbee. It focuses a little too heavily on one specific kid when it could have branched out into the community with better effect. It does do a good job of showing the impact though. Much of the town becomes involved in the reenactment and it was very interesting to see the different viewpoints of the citizens (some sympathize with the miners, some believe the Bisbee government was justified) and the impact it had on the town on a grand scale.
MY RATING: 7.5/10
THURSDAY (3/1) - Gabriel and the Mountain - Fellipe Barbosa
Gabriel and the Mountain is another non-doc at the documentary film festival. It’s the story of the filmmaker’s friend, Gabriel, who perished during his travels through Africa. Fellipe Barbosa, the director, recreates the events prior to his friend’s untimely death using most of the actual people that Gabriel met on his travels. The only actors used in the film are the two that play Gabriel and his girlfriend. It’s incredibly interesting to see Gabriel’s actor interact with the people that the actual Gabriel met on his journey. The film is shot beautifully, painting the richness of the African landscape and it reminded me a lot of Into the Wild, not just in plot but in style. My only problem with the film is with its ending. It felt a little rushed and I think it lost a lot of its impact. Overall, I really liked this film.
MY RATING: 8/10
FRIDAY (3/2) - Taming the Horse - Tao Gu
I’m still not quite sure how I feel about this one, although my current feeling is less than impressed. Taming the Horse follows the filmmaker’s childhood friend, Dong, a jobless man seeking social freedom, as he travels back to his hometown in China. The film is incredibly chaotic and depressing at times, which lends itself thematically to the poverty stricken Chinese setting, but it does a poor job of showing it’s characters dealing with these things. The film feels very long because it’s messy and unfocused. Overall, there are some good things this film does but they’re heavily outweighed by the bad.
MY RATING - 5/10
As I will have to watch a little over 250 movies this year I would greatly appreciate some suggestions. Feel free to leave some in the comment section. Or if you want a recommendation don’t hesitate to ask.