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What's up, docs?
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Portraits of the man behind Cosmos, Kim Campbell and Cuban boxers at the WFF
by SCOTT C
With Man of Grease, filmmaker Ezra Soiferman (Tree Weeks) has crafted what will undoubtedly be a huge hit with Montrealers. He's taken a local character, Tony Koulakis, and made an hour-long documentary about him.
And Koulakis is such a colourful character that he makes Man of Grease work beautifully, from the scenes in the popular restaurateur's greasy spoon to a visit to his native Crete. Koulakis, we learn in the film, has been running his tiny breakfast-all-day spot since '67. The film gives us closeups of various culinary creations, and they all look equally heart-attack inducing. In fact, at one point one of the regulars recounts that Koulakis actually advised him not to eat at Cosmos every day, due to the food's high cholesterol and fat content.
The film reveals the very public Koulakis, a gregarious proprietor, but also shows the downside of his work. The man easily puts in 70 hours per week, and one of his sons, recognizing this, expresses his disinterest in continuing on with the family biz. And the film doesn't shy away from his principle vice: a chainer, Koulakis has been smoking for some 33 years. He's no poster boy for Participaction, that's for sure.
Soiferman's lack of formal innovation doesn't really hurt Man of Grease. The director sensibly realized that his subject can easily carry the film. The film emerges as a solid hour-long doc, a funny and poignant tribute to a true Montreal character.
Kim Campbell!
A different kind of character can be found in Kim Campbell Through the Looking Glass, a feature-length NFB entry about Canada's first female prime minister and what the hell happened that made her campaign for election such a disaster. Various opinions are bandied about, with the information being doled out in the most straightforward, by-the-books manner. There aren't really any formal risks here, but I suppose it could be argued that the film's style matches Campbell's no-nonsense--and frankly, rather banal--approach to things.
Now the Canadian attaché in Los Angeles, Campbell defends her record and still expresses some dumbfoundedness about why the '93 election was so severe (reduced from a healthy majority to a mere two seats in the House, the results constituted the worst defeat for a ruling government in the history of western democracy). Which may also leave the audience a bit dumbfounded. Didn't Campbell think it was a wee bit stupid to entertain the idea, so bluntly and publicly, that double-digit unemployment would almost certainly be a reality for quite some time? Campbell shrugs her shoulders in retrospect, saying she was just stating the facts. Wow, Kimmy, I wonder why you fucked up so completely and thoroughly? With political savvy like that, I'm kind of amazed that you didn't go on to graduate from Canadian politics, become the first woman Pope, and then, after exuding yet more brilliant common sense, you didn't move right on up to become God. Go figure.
Cuban dukes
Guantanamera Boxe is a gorgeous doc, which will ride well on the recent Cubamania which is sweeping the north, thanks in large part to the albums and documentary Buena Vista Social Club. This film also shares something with Hoop Dreams, in that it looks at a number of young men who are aspiring athletes. In this case, they are duking it out in Cuba's boxing industry, second in popularity only to baseball among Cuban sports fans. As with the African-American kids in Hoop Dreams, boxing presents a crucial opportunity for the young men--and their entire families--to get ahead in a have-not country. The sport is well-captured here and while the filmmakers are clearly fans, they never gloss over the rough stuff these kids must face.
More World Film Fest stories
These documentaries run throughout the World Film Festival. See schedule for showtimes and places
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