January 30, 2008

Slamdance. Dear Zachary: a letter to a son about his father.

Dear Zachary Dear Zachary: a letter to a son about his father is "one of the best documentaries I have ever watched in my entire life," writes Erik Davis at Cinematical. "And here's a note to any programmer from any fest reading this review: Play this film. And here's a note to anyone looking to purchase a doc to distribute and whatnot: Buy this film."

"Excuse the hyperbole, but Dear Zachary is one of the most alarmingly forceful documentaries in years," writes Eric Kohn at indieWIRE. Let's back up: Kurt Kuenne's "childhood friend, Andrew Bagby was shot under mysterious circumstances in 2001. Kuenne initially sets out to create a collage of testaments to Bagby's virtues so that his newborn son has a record of his lineage. A late act twist, however, upsets the innocence of Kuenne's intentions, darkening the tone and transforming the film from a cinematic scrapbook into an effective activist plea."

Much more at the site.

Posted by dwhudson at January 30, 2008 2:26 PM

Comments

Until I manage to get my blog fixed, I might have to just take to sharing my thoughts on some of these films here in the comments! I agree with the assessments above, but I'd also like to add that this film really challenged my stance on the ethics of subjectivity. This is a deeply subjective film - to a fault - but given the nature of the content, I'm having trouble coming to terms with whether it's as mistaken an approach as I initially thought it was. If a filmmaker goes way out of his way to liberally paint someone as a monster (complete, in this case, with 'stinger' sound effect when she pops on screen), I usually cry foul. But in this case, I'm not sure if this jaundiced, deeply shaded perspective isn't in fact appropriate.

It's definitely worth seeing.

Posted by: David Lowery at January 31, 2008 8:47 AM
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