Hot Docs - Inocente with The Quiet One

For Both Films: ****

Filmmakers Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine do the incredible in Inocente, they made a bright and positive film out of the struggles of one young homeless girl’s quest to find something in this world to believe in. That’s not to say that Inocente doesn’t have its fair share of drama, but despite the titular subject’s circumstances – homelessness, being an illegal immigrant, personal struggles with her single mother – there’s always a bright side, and the world still manages to be a beautiful place at the end of the day.

Inocente and her family struggle. They are not truly homeless, as Inocente points out. Homelessness does not mean you are sleeping in an alley or a park, it might just mean that you don’t have a permanent home. Inocente’s family is continually on the move, mostly because they get evicted from the places they stay when Inocente’s mother, an illegal immigrant whose work options are limited, can’t make-up the rent. Living in San Diego, Inocente goes to school with some of the richest kids in the country, but despite all her troubles, Inocente keeps a positive outlook, and focuses on the thing that makes her happiest: her art.

I think rather easily Inocente could have become a dark and depressing effort, and it’s not that the issues that affect Inocente’s life aren’t serious, but I think the filmmakers were right in taking the lead from their subject and trying to stay on the sunny side. Inocente’s no naïve, pie-in-the-sky dreamer. She knows the odds are staked against her, she knows she’s going to have to work three times as hard to get half as far, but she’s bound and determined to make it, and make it through her art. You cheer for her successes and you feel for her disappointments. The documentary works exceptionally well telling its tale from Inocente’s point of view.

Inocente is a charming documentary that manages to prompt more than a few smiles, and given the tough issues involved that is a surprising approach to the story. Inocente herself, meanwhile, has a bright future ahead of her; the hero of her own story that breaks the bounds of what’s possible as much as any of the fantastic visions that come out of her paint brush. Inocente is a wonderful, life affirming story.

The Quiet One, the documentary that accompanies Inocente, is another immigrant story. This one is in Sweden and follows six-year-old Maryam, who’s come to the northern European country with her family of Iranian refuges. Maryam struggles to not just learn the language and culture of her new home, but to fit in with the class of native Swedish kids, who with their near universal blonde hair and fair complexions make Maryam stand out all the more.

But despite the educational and cultural differences, what struck me was that underneath it all, kids are all the same. The other kids in the class run hot and cold with Maryam, sometimes they’re all friends and sometimes they tease her. But after every fight, there’s a brief period of calm where the kids are all friends again, introducing Maryam to the strange new world of snow suits and tobogganing. After her first trip down the hill, Maryam lays in the snow and smiles; she’s proved her metal to her classmates, and maybe for the first time she feels more at home in this strange new land than ever. If only it were so easy for all of us…

Hot Docs - Dragonslayer

Rating: ****

Although it sounds like an 80s fantasy movie, the documentary Dragonslayer has very little to do with dragons or slaying. At the heart of the film though is a lone hero, always on the move but seemingly lacking in ambition and direction. In California’s Orange County, where the bursting of the housing bubble was created no shortage of abandoned houses with empty pools a perfect ground is created for the opportunistic skater looking for his next challenge. It’s perfect ground for a young man named Josh "Skreech" Sandoval.

Filmed as a kind-of expanded, day-in-the-life-of style film by Tristan Patterson, a friend of Skreech’s making his first movie, Dragonslayer can be a disjointed and unflinching looking at the under-inspired, the under-employed, and the less than passionate. Scratch that, because Skreech is actually very passionate, just about skateboarding, getting high and chilling out with friends. Or in the immortal words of Jeff Spicoli, “All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine.”

To most of the audience, I imagine it’s hard to see yourself in the shoes of Skreech. He has no prospects, a son that he has to help care for, and a semi-pro career as a skater. You could say that he’s couch-surfing, but just as often his accommodations are a tent in someone’s backyard. Why would someone want to live like this? How can they? Is there no greater ambition than just to keep skating and doing as little as possible?

Despite that, there is something admirable about Skreech. As much as you can admire someone for living their life without compromise or apologies, you can admire Skreech. And Patterson’s cameras aren’t flattering; the drug abuse, the living conditions, and the ennui are captured for all their glory, if that’s really the turn of phrase you want to use. It’s not that Skreech is not smart, it’s not that he’s not charismatic, but this is the life he’s chosen, and in a society full of people telling you what to do and who to be, you can’t help but admire the one guy that refuses to conform.

There’s something weird about Dragonslayer in that it follows a protagonist who could generously be called a slacker, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of real motivation or goal, but the movie is still rather hypnotic and engrossing in the telling. What happens now to Skreech? Where is he going? What will he do? Those questions almost seem superfluous in the asking. Dragonslayer captures the moment. The moment comes, and the moment goes, and really, isn’t that all there is?

A Single Man

Rating: ****

Earlier this year we had A Serious Man, which despite its rather solemn sounding title was actually rather droll. Now with A Single Man, which under different circumstances might sound like a silly romantic comedy, we get one of the most finely acted dramas of the year. What’s more is that this is the directorial and screenwriting debut of Tom Ford, the fashion designer that turned Gucci into a billion dollar company. Well I don’t know much about fashion, but it’s certainly pleasant to see a man step far outside his artistic comfort zone and succeed with astounding skill. A Single Man, the adaptation of the 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood, is an involving and well-acted bit of drama thanks to Ford’s eye and the tremendous skill of lead Colin Firth.

The film follows George (played by Firth), a college professor living in 1960s Southern California. The story takes place during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as George continues to cope with the accidental death of his long-term partner Jim (Matthew Goode) several months earlier. George is practically a ghost in his own life, but in a rare moment of zeal he gives an exuberant lecture on the nature of fear to one of his classes, sparking the interest of student Kenny (Nicholas Hoult) in more ways than one. As George diligently makes plans to dine with his old friend Charley (Julianne Moore), he also looks to putting his affairs in order. But will this be one of those nights that changes George’s point of view, or will it push him further to give up on the life he doesn’t believe in anymore?

Staged with the precision and thoughtfulness of live theatre, A Single Man captures and arrests you with provocative performances, and its deliberate but seemingly natural pace. Firth as the gravitational centre is engrossing, one of the most genuine and visceral portrayals of a grief-stricken man that I’ve ever seen on screen. Firth plays up a bit of mystery as well since you’re never quite sure for the first half of the film how exactly it’s all going to play out. Like a beautifully drawn picture book, every turn of the page offers more detail, while allowing you the time to appreciate all that detail. It’s Firth performance that keeps things personal and almost intimate. A true leading performance, he’s in every scene and almost always shoulders the emotional weight in every exchange.

But it would nonsense to say that Firth is alone on screen in his dedication to the film. Probably second for screen time (and marquee name value) is Moore, who’s Charley could have been the usual pathetic, two-dimensional drunk divorcee archetype, but with Moore’s talent one can appreciate something deeper underneath. Newcomer Hoult, who’s perhaps best known for his work on the British drama Skins, also shows a lot of depth as Kenny’s youth and optimism plays well against George’s resignation and pessimism. And though he plays but an apparition, Goode is quite excellent as George’s lost lover Jim. The loss George feels, as conveyed by Firth, is palpable, and the two actors easily make you feel as if they’ve been together the better part of 15 years. That’s not a high-five for two straight actors playing gay men, just that they have the chemistry between the two of them to really make it believable.

This emphasis on acting makes the film, but that’s not to discount the technical merits. The aesthetic of the production design and the soft lighting of the cinematography create a feeling of a film not just set in the 60s, but one that almost feels like it was shot in the 60s. Ford is to be commend for his attention to detail and for immediately setting himself out as an “actor’s director.” I honestly can’t remember a director’s debut that’s been this impressive, or at least a first-time director that seems this together. This was not an easy film to make, I think. From the emotion of the characters to recreating the early 60s setting to the unconventional direction of story, Ford should be commend for tacking this material, and more than that, tackling it beyond expectations. Firth and Ford make A Single Man a must see. A great and greatly acted film.