The Kids Grow Up

The Kids Grow Up. It's a documentary filmed by a father telling a story of his daughter, Lucy, and how he's coming to terms with the fact that she's grown up and soon to be leaving home to go to college. It's totally up my alley.
I watched the trailer on the official website after the fact. The trailer is really well done. It's a good overview of the main issues in the film.
I liked this film. I think I also started to get a little bored towards the 2/3 mark of the film. I blame a headache that was developing from watching two docs in a row.
I don't know if I'll ever become a parent, but parent-child relationships are challenging to navigate (as, I guess, any relationship is). I mean, it was challenging as a child. I can't imagine going through another set of challenges being on the other end.
There was a Q&A with the director/cameraman/father, Doug Block. Nothing too profound. He would have liked his wife to come along with him to do press and talk at the Q&As, but she was on another continent with other commitments. Lucy is a Junior in College and is studying in Buenos Aires for the year and definitely couldn't make it. I wondering if she would have enjoyed joining her father to tour the film. Apparently she's seen a couple rough cuts of the film that had more content than the final version, but he was vague about whether she's seen the final version. It's interesting to watch the relationship between Lucy and the camera change over the years. It's sometimes difficult to tell where the line between the camera and her father lies. He mentioned that he would like Lucy to sit in a screening with an audience.
As he's now in the stage of his life where the kids have flown the coop and he's able to redefine his relationship with his wife, he mentioned that he's working on the third part of a seeming trilogy (51 Birch Street being the first and this film being the second) where he will be examining husband and wife relationships. He used to do wedding videos, so he wants to get in touch with couples that he made videos for and find out about their lives together as well as, I'm sure, examining his own marriage.

This film screened with Time’s Up, a pretty unmemorable short about a couple's lead up to their baby being born and their exploration into the best use of their time and how to be most efficient. I think it's one of those artsy films that I can sort of appreciate for what it is, and laugh at the light hearted humour of it, but didn't really leave a lasting impression. I did appreciate listening to German for 15 minutes. I could pick up a couple words here and there, so that made me happy.

- picture courtesy of hotdocs.ca

Boo...

I was going to see my last Hot Doc this morning. Fail. So, unless I bail on some of my other commitments or spend some hard earned cash, I'll stand at a grand total of three measly docs for this year. Double boo.
It's too bad because I really really wanted to see today's doc: Kings of Pastry (official website here). I mean, who wouldn't want to watch a doc about chefs competing in a dessert competition?
None of the other shows that I saw were rush when I arrived to the box office the day of to snag a ticket...of course this one was. The box office at the venue doesn't open until an hour before the first screening of the day, and as this was the first show, I didn't have the advantage of extra time before the screening to wait for rush tickets. As I arrived in time for the box office to open, I saw the rush line already snaked around the block. This was a rush line of TIFF proportions. Heck, this rush line was of TIFF ticket holder line proportions. I joined the end of the line knowing my chances were slim, but I figured that I was there, I could bask in the sun and get some reading done at the same time.
I'd say, between 20-40 rushers ended up getting into the screening. I was probably at 75-100. In total, there were between 150-175 rushers hoping to snag a seat.
The consolation for not getting into the showing was a voucher for a free ticket for any daytime screening. Great gesture, and I'm wondering why they did it. I mean it's our fault that we didn't buy tickets in advance. That's the whole point of a rush line. You know you're taking a chance and may not be getting into the screening. Seeing as how it won't come in handy, if someone wants to have the voucher, let me know ASAP.
Should I be happy that I now have two extra hours in my day? Nope. I wanted to watch that doc! And I also want to eat pastries. Super whammy.

Space Tourists

The second documentary that I watched was Space Tourists (official website here). The documentary is about space travel based in Russia and some of the different groups that are effected or involved in the scene. As I watched the documentary, I wondered what the point of the film was. I couldn't figure out what the take home message. After sitting through the end credits, I'm left thinking that there isn't a main message. It's more of a documentary weaves together different vignettes so that you have a better understanding of the subject matter and different points of view that can be had. The themes were: an abandoned space centre in Kazakhstan, Anousheh Ansari’s journey to the International Space Station as a space tourist, local citizens scavenging and selling charred parts of discarded rocket that dropped from the sky or even using the parts in their daily lives, a team from Romania competing to win a contemporary space race, and the rigorous training of space tourist Charles Simonyi.
I think it would be really cool to go into space. It seems like something I would totally enjoy. I'm pretty sure that I'll never get up there. I'm sure if I put my mind to it, there could be a chance that I could get closer to that goal (if not achieve it), but I have other priorities. If I acquire a bazillion dollars, I may become a space tourist, but otherwise, I don't want to turn my attention from my other pursuits.
Oh yes, I really liked the incidental music for this film. It thought it was well suited to the themes examined and well timed with certain visual moments on screen.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a Q&A after the film. It's always my favorite part of the screening and I could see it being quite enlightening for this doc.

- picture courtesy of hotdocs.ca

Candyman: The David Klein Story

I decided to do Hot Docs this year on the cheap. As such, I was limited to films that were showing before 6pm. There were still tons of docs to choose from, but for some reason, there weren't as many sticking out to me for definite viewing. Nonetheless, there were enough docs to keep me busy.
The first doc that I saw was Candyman: The David Klein Story (official website here). It's the story of David Klein, the man who invented Jelly Bellys. The doc highlighted his journey in the candy industry as an entrepreneur and inventor and his unwavering loyalty to those whom he worked with. This quality, unfortunately, allowed others to take advantage of him or allowed others to prosper where he continued to face some struggles. The biggest scandale, basically being wiped out from Jelly Belly history and loosing out on a ton of profit money.
There was also a component with his son, Bert Klein which I enjoyed. It talked of their relationship and we were able to see the story from a different point of view.
There was a Q&A with Costa Botes (the director), and David and Bert Klein. The questions were fairly mundane and didn't really provide any great responses. Although Bert was wearing the famous sparkly shirt/coat and David danced in wearing the matching hat, the Q&A didn't provide as many fun lighthearted moments as their entrance and David's presence in the doc would suggest. As I was watching the documentary I thought that he would be a great guest speaker talking to youth about good values, creativity, living life to the fullest and so much more. I was actually surprised by David's seemingly snide quips about Jelly Belly and big corporations. I mean, his comments were justified, but I really thought that he would be the type would wouldn't use this opportunity to rant and just quietly project positive vibes no matter how frustrated and hurt he may have felt. Maybe I misread something.
Anyway, another nice touch at the screening was the little baggies of Jelly Bellys that audience members received on the way into the theatre. I would have liked the little legend to tell me the flavours, but thanks to the internet, I don't need a hard copy.
I have to admit, that probably about 45-60 minutes into the doc, I started to get bored. I hope that it wasn't an indication of the doc, as I can't remember the last film that I saw that I didn't feel the same way. Perhaps more of an indication of my attention span.
One doc down, a couple more to go!

- picture courtesy of hotdocs.ca