'STORIES WE TELL': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley wrote and directed this documentary about a long kept family secret. She interviewed several family members and close friends and had her father Michael Polly narrate the movie (by reading from his memoir). Polley also recorded reenactments of significant events in her family's history, with a Super-8 camera, making the video appear like old home movies. She cast actors as key players in the scenes; like Rebecca Jenkins as her mother Dianne (who lost a battle to cancer when Sarah was just 11). The whole film revolves around her mother and a possible affair she had, which may have led to Sarah's conception. I found it to be well made and somewhat interesting but not overly involving or emotionally fascinating.
The movie is presented sort of like a 'making of the documentary' film as much as an actual documentary. Polley records her father reading the narration and includes a lot of the commentary and dialogue they had between takes (often highlighting moments when she'd ask him to repeat a line). The interviews are shown with outtakes included as well and I at first didn't realize the Super-8 footage was fake but the film includes 'behind the scenes' video of that too. I think the methods Polley used (of presenting a story) are interesting and unique; they also definitely distinguish it (quite a bit) from similar documentaries.
The movie got rave reviews and is actually one of the best rated films of the year (by critics). Despite this it failed to secure an Oscar nomination for 'Best Documentary'. I haven't seen most of the films nominated in that category (this year) but I don't think this is up to par with what I usually expect from a 'Best Documentary' film. It's filmed in an interesting way but it doesn't quite grab the viewer and impact them emotionally the way the filmmakers want it to (at least it didn't for me). Still it is a good documentary that's worth seeing though.
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