Love Arranged

Another good movie at Hot Docs.

Two modern women are seeking a husband in India, a country steeped in tradition.  They try out the online dating sites.  So much for modern.  They also approach a traditional Indian matchmaker.  They're not about to be dictated to in the choice of a husband, but they place high priority on their family getting along with their husband and his family.  It's basically 'parental-facilitated matchmaking' rather than arranged marriages.

The two women are complete contrasts.  Divya, who came to India from Canada two years ago, is a sassy, glamorous, highly flirtatious party girl whose career is arranging weddings.  Neha is more traditional, a plump graphic artist who loves animals.  As the movie ends, neither woman has found Mr. Right.

The director, Soniya Kirpalani, fielded several questions from South Asian women asking about the relative merits of arranged marriages and how to get started.  But the fun doesn't end there.  Soniya's on the lookout for a husband for her daughter.  Before leaving for Canada, she asked her if a Canadian boy would do.  Her daughter thought that would be fine, and handed her mother the contact information for a man who just might do.  Soniya made contact, hit it off with his parents, and brought him up on stage to be introduced.  Whatever other qualities he might have, he is certainly a good sport.  

But Soniya is not content yet.  She introduces her Director of Photography, a single man that she describes as 'a great catch, girls'.  There were clusters of people with follow-up questions in the lobby after the movie.  Who knows if any of them were marriageable women?

Unraveled

New York lawyer Marc Dreier's massive fraud came unravelled in, of all places, Toronto.  

Dreier craved the high life.  Sponsoring big charity events was his ticket to hobnobbing with the rich and famous.  Alas, his law firm could not support this style. 

So Dreier orchestrated a fraud scheme, starting with paper forgeries and escalating to brazen impersonations.  His final, unsuccessful, impersonation at the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund led to his exposure and arrest.

Dreier was granted bail while he was awaiting sentencing.  Unraveled follows the unrepentant Dreier during that month, at his luxurious New York penthouse.  In his discussions with his lawyer, he forcefully argues that his wasn't such a horrible crime (especially in comparison with Bernie Madoff) and he should be granted a short sentence, close to New York so his kids can visit him.  Although he shows a stunning lack of remorse for his crime, he claims to regret the damage to his family.  But his interactions with his son wouldn't support his claim of a warm relationship.

This Hot Docs movie was a very interesting character study.  While Dreier wasn't a sympathetic character, it was fascinating to see his attempts to minimize his crime and shift the blame to events like his divorce.

Hand To Toe

Hand To Toe focuses entirely on feet, the dirty, ill-kempt feet of homeless people in Yellowknife who turn up once a week at the Salvation Army to receive the lovely attention of volunteers there who clean, and care for these feet and wrap them up with warm socks.  

This short film celebrated some very caring people, who treat all their 'clients' with respect and care.  Hot Docs double features are great.  This movie was paired with Family Portrait in Black and White.  It's probably a movie that wouldn't get seen much if it weren't for the Hot Docs double feature.

Draquila - Italy Trembles

We've all heard the scandals and allegations surrounding Berlusconi.  The film Draquila - Italy Trembles documents the aftermath of an earthquake which hit the city of Aquila, killing 300 and displacing 120,000.  It is also a scorching condemnation of Berlusconi's actions.  

According to filmmaker Sabina Guzzanti, the earthquake is viewed more as an opportunity than a tragedy by Berlusconi.  Firstly, it diverts attention from the sex scandal swirling around him, and secondly, it offers the a golden business opportunity to call for new housing to be built, with the contracts awarded to his political buddies.  Much is made of the few people who are moved into the new housing, ignoring the plight of the majority who don't get housing.  Berlusconi makes multiple trips to the Aquila area, every one of them a golden photo op.  There's even an accusation that the people in the temporary tent cities awaiting rehousing were essentially incarcerated - they couldn't leave, and journalists were not allowed in.

I found this a good but not a great movie.  

Bobby Fischer Against The World

Another good film.  A sort of blast from the past, remembering the intense worldwide, and particularly US, interest in the chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.  I attended with my daughter and she was laughing hard at chess matches getting first place on news report against other significant world events.

Fischer was an extraordinary chess player, winning the US championships from the age of 14.   At the height of the Cold War, beating a Russian at chess for the world championship was a really big deal.  Fischer was unforgivably erratic leading up to the big match in Iceland, delaying the beginning of the match, losing a match by default, unsettling his opponent with his vexatious demands.  However, he was not to be denied the victory, after playing brilliantly, and, in at least one game, in a totally unorthodox way.  


Except for that brilliant flourish of the championship, Fischer's life was dismal.  His childhood was spent with his single and distant mother.  After winning the championship, his behaviour grew more and more eccentric as he faced escalating mental health issues.  A sad ending for a brilliant mind.

Buck

Another must-see biographical film at Hot Docs, Buck documents the life of Buck Brannaman, the model for the character in the movie The Horse Whisperer.  

Calm, soft-spoken, with a wry sense of humour and a droll way of dispensing philosophical wisdom in his laconic drawl, Buck is acutely sensitive to the horses he works with, and passes on that wisdom to the many people who attend his 4-day clinics.  The degree to which he focuses on the horse is exemplified by this quote from the description of the clinic:  "Many people have questions as to just which class is right for them - and more importantly - which is right for their horse."  He recognizes that sometimes the horse's problem is rooted in the owner's problem, and tells the owner to look within themselves at those issues. 


Buck grew up with an extremely abusive father, whose abuse escalated after the death of his mother.  We read about how common it is for children who are abused to become abusive parents.  Buck veered in the opposite direction, towards a mild disposition, with a good dash of sensitive discipline thrown in.  


This film was the audience award winner at Sundance.  No wonder.

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life

Carol Channing at 90!  What a force of nature.  And what a good movie about her life!  Carol Channing's exuberance leaps out of the screen at you.  She's as ebullient in her personal life as she is on stage.  

Channing devoted her life singlemindedly to the stage. She did more than 5,000 performances in Hello Dolly, without missing one.  She persevered through a bout of ovarian cancer. She breathed life into the character Dolly Levi - in fact, she was Dolly.    She starred in a revival of Hello Dolly in 1995 at the ripe old age of 74.

The other theme in this movie is the love story between Channing and her boyfirend from when she was 14 years old.  Channing married Harry when she was in her 80's, after both she and Harry had had very long marriages, Harry's ending in widowhood, and Channing's in bitter divorce.  However, the romance was clearly still fresh.  Their infatuation is almost indecent.

There are more screenings of this movie - go see it!

When does a nerd turn into an autistic?

That was a priceless line from Temple Grandin's TED talk as she argued that autism is a continuum. Grandin gave us a glimpse into how her mind works: "I think in pictures", she stated in her brusque no-nonsense manner. Where normal people (her term, not mine) see the big picture, she sees the detail.

This focus on visual detail has been crucial in her career of working with animals. She has seen, where others haven't, what spooks an animal. To most people, a person walking and a person sitting on a horse are conflated to the same thing. But not to an animal. And not to an autistic with a focus on the detail rather than the big picture. Such insights have been the key to Grandin's successes in humane livestock handling.

It was interesting to see Grandin talk quite soon after seeing her interviewed in the movie The Horse Boy. To my chagrin, I'd missed the movie at Toronto Hot Docs, where it was known as Over The Hills And Far Away. The movie chronicles the story of an autistic boy Rowan Isaacson, for whom being with animals was about the only thing that could soothe him. His family takes him on a pony trek in Mongolia to visit shamans, after which he reaches a new level of behavioural calmness.

Grandin's also the subject of an autobiographical movie, named simply Temple Grandin, that aired recently on HBO. Must keep an eye out for that one. It got great reviews.