Day 268. Not Impressed

Into every life a little rain must fall.  Both literally and figuratively, in my case.  Monday was nasty, weather-wise.  Damp, cool, grey and raining.  More like fall than late spring.  And the sun hasn’t been shining all that brightly on my HotDocs experience so far, either.

Before I go too much further, I just want to say that instead of writing this post this morning, I wrote it yesterday, for posting today.  This is a crazy busy day for me, and I wanted to make sure I delivered.  My promise is, after all, a post every day.

So as of yesterday morning, Tuesday, August 30, I’d seen five films.  Seven, really, if you count two short films before a couple of main attractions.  So I’m halfway done.  I’ve loved one (Anita).  I’m ‘comme ci comme ca’ about another (Ballerina).  One was very charming and I enjoyed it (Cutie and the Boxer) and the rest, well …

Day 266. First Three

You remember I mentioned I’d be seeing ten films at this year’s HotDocs? Well, I’ve now seen three of them. “Ballerina”, “Anita” and “Tough Bond”. With the exception of Anita, I can’t say I loved all of them. But I am happy I saw them.

Does that make any sense at all? Probably not. It does to me, though. Because there was something in all three I found worth seeing.

“Ballerina” was, perhaps, the biggest surprise. Why, I’m not exactly sure.

Maybe because I’ve seen several films on dance and dancers over the years, so now I have pre-conceived notions. And a couple of years ago at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) I saw “Pina”, an absolutely magnificent Wim Wenders documentary about Pina Bausch, a famous German performer of modern dance, choreographer, dance teacher and ballet director.

Shot on 3D it has, for me, forever changed my expectations for this genre of film.

So maybe it just wasn’t ever going to be possible for me to love “Ballerina”. Maybe I was just unable to appreciate it, on its