Stories We Tell
Sarah Polley

She moved us with Away from Her and divided us with Take this Waltz, now actor turned director Sarah Polley brings her most remarkable film to German shores. Using documentary as her toolkit and pivoting her story on interviews with her family and the eloquent, heart wrenching narration of her nurturing dad Mike, Polley sets out to finally determine who her biological father is but instead finds something stranger. A devastating, beautiful film about fatherhood and memory, Stories We Tell picks apart the documentary rulebook before opening a window to that most endearing of bonds.

Tracks
John Curran

Mia Wasikowska gives a windswept, organic central performance in this walkabout film that stays light on its feet while sidestepping many of the pseudo spiritual pitfalls these types of self discovery adaptations tend to take.

She plays Robyn Davidson. An Australian woman who in 1977 set out with her dog Digitty- and four Camels whom she had personally trained- to walk from Alice Springs to  the west coast, a journey of roughly 1,700 miles. She tells us she’s sick of the pessimism of her class, sex and generation. We also learn that she lost her mum. To fund her trip she accepts a deal with the national geographic for a concluding article on her journey and for a photographer (played by rising star Adam Driver) to join her at certain points along the way. He seems to represent everything she’s trying to escape and yet, the two form a bond.

Expressing such raw free spirited emotion on an often populist and, let’s be honest, capitalist medium can prove awfully tricky. Pretention seems to lurk at every corner and yet director John Curran looks to have pulled it off. He keeps things grounded and natural while capturing all of the skin tones, hues and shades which his native outback has to offer. Worth the journey.

A Long Way Down
Pascal Chaumeil

Jesse, Jesse, Jesse… What happened bitch? A mere six months after the Breaking Bad curtain rapturously closed, co-star Aaron Paul finds himself in the cinematic wilderness. His latest subpar outing is a Nick Hornby adaptation (a wandering cinematic beast all its own) which finds four would-be suicides (autopilot Pierce Brosnon, misused Toni Collette, irritating Imogen Poots) on the roof of London’s fictional Toppers House on new year’s eve. The group form a pact to keep themselves intact till Valentine’s Day and worthless schmaltz ensues. Do us all a favour and jump.

So what did 2013 at the movies really feel like?

Spielberg went to Cannes but the Palme stayed at home. Bertolucci went to Venice and saw the Gold Lion stay there too but a Romanian took the big prize in Berlin. Haneke met Arnie before heading to the Oscars (lol) where the race looked rich but the winner was poor. Hollywood continued to churn out the sequels and remakes to varying degrees of enjoyment as London shadowed Manhattan as the blockbuster capitol and Matthew McConaughey swung his career into a dramatic U-turn.

 An old master bored us with To the Wonder, a young apprentice tripped with At any Price, Cormac McCarthy wrote a sex scene with a car and Sophia Coppola slipped ever further away. Ulrich Seidl delighted and disgusted with his Paradise series while Thor, Iron Man and the Furious team offered strong entries in theirs. Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel did not.  With Monsters University, Pixar lost a little more sheen but Frozen’s gags and songs gave us a shock Disney treat. In documentaries, Joshua Oppenheimer went to Indonesia and changed the game while Sarah Polley stayed at home and broke our hearts. Soderbergh delivered two great films then threw in the towel. Philip French left the Observer after 35 years of service and Roger Ebert left our planet after 70 years of life. We also lost the young Paul Walker, the wonderful Joan Fontaine and the great Peter O’Toole. Richard Linklater closed (for now) his unique trilogy, Woody Allen returned to the States with a return to form as quietly out east, Hirokazu Kore-Eda laid claim to Ozu’s crown. J.J. Abrams gave new hope for 2015 and Alfonso Cuaron took us to space before Steve McQueen brought us all tumbling down.

Are we facing the death of cinema? Will 3D, digital or downloading wreck the place? On this evidence it would seem not. We all love it too much.  

It was also the first full calendar year in which this humble writer attempted to carve his route into that world so many thanks to anyone who had a quick read, it means a great deal. From a mouldy coffee at a 9am screening of G.I. Joe Retaliation to meeting Werner Herzog I’ve loved the lot.

My top 10 films will follow shortly.

Sarah Polley’s third feature after 2006’s deeply moving Away From Her and last year’s puzzlingly drab Take This Waltz is a fascinating and emotional look at family life and the choices and random occurrences which ultimately make us who we are.

A candid- warts and all- documentary, Polley creates a collage of different mediums and perspectives to tell us the story of her family’s past and her own unique place in it. Through the story of her deceased mother, a vibrant and charismatic woman, we discover much about Polley’s upbringing and the fascinating story of how she came to be. Interviews from her various family members and associates are mixed with super 8 home movie, an ever enduring tool. Her family are a bright and lively crowd and the interviews flow with ease. They are funny, endearing and insightful. Not convinced by the clarity of memory, Polley attempts to show a balanced and fair portrayal of the past by giving everyone involved a chance to have their say and fight their corner. An effort which she admits is ultimately in vein given her eventual power in the editing room.

As the cast of interviewees flows by the real star emerges in Polley’s father, a retired actor and a real gent. His interviews are strong and their relationship is the most significant but his narration is what drives it all home.  Elegantly written and wonderfully delivered as his daughter sits recording. It lifts the film to a different level and shows us a window to that most endearing of bonds.