Advanced Style
(USA, 72 min.)
Dir. Lina Plioplyte
Programme: Next (World Premiere)
Get in line for Advanced
Style if you’re a fan of the 2012 Hot Docs fashionista film About Face. The fashionable old ladies
of Advanced Style are a hoot and this
vibrant doc is fabulous. The film takes a cue from New York fashion
photographer Ari Seth Cohen’s popular blog Advanced Style on which Cohen profiles New York’s most stylish seniors. The
philosophy of Advanced Style, both
the film and the blog, says that a lady in her golden years never goes out of
fashion. Vintage threads remind us that style is forever, so getting on in years
doesn’t mean one has to sport mom jeans.
The subjects of Advanced Style range from 62 to 95, but they strut their stuff with more gusto than a hot young thing. The film shows the difference between aging physically and aging mentally as the style icons walk the sidewalks of New York like fashion runways. Outrageous hats and vibrant colours provide the perfect accessories to the stories behind each of the style mavens as they tell how staying en vogue keeps them young.
The social element of fashion, for one, keeps them youthful.
The hilarious camaraderie between a boutique owner and her co-worker inspires
shoppers of vintage threads with the sassy advice that sparkles in their
working relationship. Another vintage hat-fan embraces the pleasure of being
seen and admired for her clothes as she bikes around the city lifting peoples’
spirits with her style. A thrifty stylist teaches viewers how to look good with
toilet paper rolls while an operatic beauty keeps her elegance as she gets on
in years and passes her style on to her granddaughter. Most inspiring, though,
might be the story of a nonagenarian who keeps busy as a singer and makes her
eyelashes with her own hair. Each piece works on its own, but in staying true
to good taste, Plioplyte and Cohen fashion the stories into a fetching
ensemble.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Please visit www.advancedstylesfilm.com for more information on the film.
Screens with:
You Won’t Regret That
Tattoo
(Canada, 13 min.)
Dir. Angie Bird
Programme: Short Films (World Premiere)
 |
| This is Maria Melnik. She got her first tattoo, a magic mushroom, in the 80s. |
You Won’t Regret That
Tattoo is one of the better shorts at Hot Docs this year. The film offers
the perfect opening act for Advanced
Style, for it also tells a story of expressing oneself with style in the
later years. A series of stylishly composed interviews see a host of seniors
sport their tattoos and tell the stories behind their ink. Rather than conform
to the old adage of “You’ll regret that when you’re older,” which people often
say when they see tattoos, the tattoos of this doc offer permanent stamps
things people want to remember as they age. The tattoos are reminders of
character and sources of inspiration. Like the memorable wardrobes of Advanced Style, You Won’t Regret That Tattoo offers a fun chorus that teaches
viewers to embrace their individual styles.
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Advanced Style and
You Won’t Regret That Tattoo screen:
-Saturday, May 3 at 1:30 PM at The Regent
-Sunday, May 4 at 1:30 PM at the Isabel Bader
Bugarach
(Spain/Germany, 90 min.)
Dir. Ventura Durall, Salvador Sunyer, Sergi Cameron
Programme: International Spectrum (International Premiere)
“Is this based on a true story?” A person once asked this
question when my brother and I were exiting a screening of the apocalyptic
disaster pic 2012. (This is not a
joke.) The Mayan doomsday prophecy has so far proved to be fiction—it’s no
truer than blockbuster crap by Roland Emmerich—but it’s fun to revisit the
superstition in retrospect.
Amidst the chatter leading up to December 21, 2012, is the
story of Bugarach. Bugarach, a small village in France, was said to be the site
of humankind's salvation. Why this village of 200-odd French people were reported
to be the chosen survivors of the Mayan prophecy is a mystery that Bugarach unfolds.
Bugarach gives a
bizarre peek into this small mountain town as the villagers muse upon their
newfound celebrity. The film follows a handful of characters--and true
characters they are--including a hippie with a fried brain, a young boy who
wants to be a magician, and said boy’s parents who want to exploit the media
presence to launch his career. There's also the mayor of Bugarach who both
loves and hates the attention, a mad prophet who speaks to the aliens believed
to be residing in the mountain, and a handful of elderly ladies who couldn't
care less about the end of the world so long as the local charcuterie truck
sets up shop until everything goes kaboom.
Bugarach
captivates with its mysterious sense of pending doom as it shrouds this ambiguous
village with an air of mysticism to match the Mayan forecast. An eerie score
adds a layer of impending doom while the exceptional cinematography by Cyprien
Clement-Delmas and Ivan Castineiras adds a distinctly cinematic character to
this enigmatic setting. The complexity of the engaging visuals transforms the
town into a surreal character. The mystery of Bugarach is a marvel even though
the outcome of the Prophecy is clear. The end of the world might not be inevitable,
but the film shows a kind of death as human gullibility reaches its biggest
peak since Y2K. A documentary about something one knows to be false can be far
more interesting than a documentary about something one already knows to be
true, and Bugarach unfolds like a nightmare one has already dreamed, but cannot
escape.
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Screens:
-Friday, May 2 at 4:00 PM at Isabel Bader
Keep on Keepin’ On
(USA, 84 min.)
Dir. Alan Hicks
Programme: Next (International Premiere)
Could the Tribeca Film Festival’s Audience Award winner Keep on Keepin’ On pull a one-two punch
with Hot Docs? This toe-tapping doc inspires roaring applause, so a high
balloting from Hot Docs fans could easily name it the best of the fest. This
jazzy symphony of a film by Alan Hicks (who makes an impressive debut with this
doc) is an inspiring ditty about the life and legacy.
Keep on Keepin’ On
walks into the home of legendary jazz trumpeter Clark Terry, now 93, who still
keeps a beat with the youngsters he inspires. The film gives an efficient
overview of Terry’s invaluable contribution to music. Excerpts of his past
performances show his spectacular rhythm and technical skills, but the
emotional cadence he makes with the trumpet shows why he’s a master. The
interviews with Terry’s contemporaries aren’t really necessary, for Keep on Keepin’ On affords a strong
sense of Terry’s mastery simply by giving the audience a feel for his music,
but the accounts with Quincy Jones and other prolific musicians whom Terry mentored gives invaluable insight into how Terry’s contribution goes far
beyond playing music.
The interviews also bridge Terry's story with that of his
latest mentee, Justin Kauflin. Kauflin, who also composed the terrific score
for the film, is a young and blind pianist of exceptional talent. Keep on Keepin’ On watches Terryand
Kauflin riff and discuss music into long hours of the night—sometimes until
four in the morning—and their late night powwows convey an indefatigable love
for music. It takes this kind of passion to play as well as they do.
The amity between Terry and Justin gives an insightful
portrait of the teacher-student relationship. Making it to the top of the music
scene takes more than a feel for the keys and, as Kauflin’s study sessions and
friendly conversations with Terryfollow him to the hospital as Terry undergoes some serious health battles, their jovial riffs give Keep on Keepin’ On the heart and soul
that Justin seeks to invest in his music. Keep
on Keepin’ On entrances with its jazzy rhythm and excellent soundtrack, but
the film hits its highest note by showing one master pass the torch on to
another to keep the spirit of jazz alive.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Please visit www.hotdocs.ca for more information on this
year’s festival.
