I remembered that Stories We Tell received press and hype at a previous TIFF and to be honest, that was the only reason why I chose to watch this movie/documentary. Well, that and the movie selection on the AC flight to Seoul was pretty lackluster.

This wasn’t my type of my film because it dealt with a “people-story” and wasn’t an easy-to-consume blockbuster, but I was pleasantly surprised that it captivated my attention and kept me engaged more than the other movies I watched on the same day. It is a documentary so I’m not going to be too careful about spoiling it – the film is about Sarah Polley’s discovery that she in fact had a different biological father than her siblings. More than half the film was devoted to describing her mother (died to cancer 20 years ago) and the vibrancy of her life; told through personal interviews with family and friends. Towards the end, there is a “twist” in that the message the movie wants to deliver is not just the story itself, but the idea that a memory of an event is different depending on who tells it.

While I see the intent (you’re kind of beaten over the head with it), I felt the argument is weak because the defining moment that we’re supposed to see that illustrates how everyone’s perspective is different is the foggy memory of who is actually Sarah’s dad. I don’t think it was controversial that Sarah had a different father, and it’s not like there were a lot of answers beyond speculation and guesses.

However, I found the actually story telling and look into Sarah Polley’s private life to be interesting and worthy enough to give this movie a 3 out of 5 stars.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: canadian, moviereview