(Canada, 87 min.)
Dir. Suzanne Crocker
Programme: Canadian Spectrum
(Toronto Premiere)
 |
| Family relaxing by campfire in the bush - late Fall |
Filmmaker Suzanne Crocker gets the same urge to unplug in All the Time in the World as she and her family escape their busy schedules and move out to the bush in the Yukon for a full year. They live without phones, Internet, running water, and electricity (except for the cameras...) for one year. They seem to love it.
All the Time in the World finds the lost
pleasure of spending time with loved ones and living in the moment as Crocker
and her three kids get back to basics and enjoy pioneer living without any
concern for time or schedules. A year is an awfully long time to go without a
trip to Starbucks, but the family does remarkably well without the luxuries
that we’ve come to see as necessities. All
the Time in the World shows that true connection that still exists on the
planet, as opposed to depersonalized mediated conversations that substitute for
connection nowadays. The film is sweet and poignant as Crocker emphasizes the
time spent with family as a lost art.
Roughing it the woods yields conventional storytelling and rudimentary production value, but audiences are nevertheless bound to be
inspired by the film, especially by the spunk of Crocker’s three kids. The
scene-stealer of the film, however, is James the cat (the family brings its two
cats and its dog Max along for the year) who pokes around the cabin with
adorable curiosity. This cat sticks his nose into everything—he even ventures
out onto the ice—and seeing this domestic feline thrive in the woods
hilariously underscores the pleasure of escaping busy city life.
A late scene in the film,
however, leaves one wondering how much the family learns during its holiday.
During the spring thaw, a black bear visits the family and pokes its nose
around the camp. This bear seems perfectly harmless—it’s just as inquisitive as
James the cat is—but the family becomes fearfully threatened by the bear simply
for its presence. Almost hysterically so. They shout at the bear and emphasize
their safety and their property as they throw rocks and wield a shotgun. I
wouldn’t want to be within a literal stone’s throw of a bear myself, but the
family’s reaction shows that they took with them the human-centric way of
living that has led to the overconsumption, industrialization, and
overconnectivity that they sought to escape. Shouldn’t a year in the bush
produce a better harmony between man and nature? On the other hand, the scene
shows a basic human reaction that occurs when people can’t whip out their
smartphones and Google the best course of action.
Not everyone has the luxury to
unplug and walk away from life, though, and Crocker somewhat neglects that this
escape simply isn’t possible for everyone. Class, income, and social situation
leave some people forever tethered to an electronic leash as they work to pay
the bills, and the overall mechanization of daily life is something we all have
to deal with whether we like it or not. How to adapt to the daily grind in a practical
way is a fine art that increasingly escapes us. All the Time in the World presents an idealized solution, albeit it
does so with sentimental sweetness.
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
All the Time in the World screens again on May 2.
Please visit www.hotdocs.ca for
more information on this year’s festival.
All the Time in the World screens in Ottawa at The ByTowne May 9-12
and at The Mayfair June 19-23.
All the Time in the World screens in Ottawa at The ByTowne May 9-12
and at The Mayfair June 19-23.
