Stories We Tell

I saw this film as part of a month-long series of documentaries at my local public library. Throughout the film, I was struck by the seeming incredible luck that the director had in having access to so much timely and relevant Super 8 movie footage of the family in their younger days. That all became moot when, near the end of the closing film credits, it is revealed that every single member of the family in past and present was portrayed by an actor. In effect, it is not a true documentary at all but the very well written and directed retelling of someone else's family story. The audience at the viewing I attended had much the same reaction--thinking that we had just been taken for a very elaborate ride.

I saw this at the Canadian top Ten Film Festival at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto in early January of 2013. It was preceded by a "Mavericks" Q&A featuring Director Sarah Polley with the Festival's Artistic Director. Polley is best known in the USA as an actress in films such as Splice. This is her third feature as director, all of which have been chosen for the Canadian Top Ten. Even though it is a documentary about her family, it is quite riveting, with more than a few surprises. The interview style, camera work and narration are both innovative and effective. One of the interviewees asked her if she has any idea what she is doing, and she said no. After you see this, I think you will disagree. Sarah Polley is one to watch . . . as a writer-director.

Sarah Polley continues to become one of the most innovative and inventive directors working today and its proved by what she spills out on the silver screen in her newest endeavor Stories We Tell. A compelling and personal documentary about her own life, Stories We Tell blends and fuses the magic of non-fiction with the imagination of the cinematic mind.

Telling the story of her own inception, family life, and personal struggle with her own sense of being, Sarah Polley invites the audience into a world that otherwise would seem shameful and dreary but ends up rising triumphant and inspired. While documentaries often take a very serious, somber, and issue-driven approach, Polley's film proves that real life can be just as magnetic without an epiphany of theatrics or cheap camera tricks. Stories We Tell takes cinematic risks that pay off tremendously in both execution partnered with Iris Ng's stunning cinematography. This is one of the best things that the movies have offered this year yet.

When one takes on a personal subject like their family, you always run the risk of starting your film with a wall between you and the audience from the first frame. Family is one of those things that you can only appreciate when you're a part of the madness. If I sit here and tell you countless stories of brothers and sisters bickering, falling in an apple ditch, or simply the origin of our creations, a disinterest may become prevalent because what makes my story any more real than yours? Unless we have some extraordinary circumstances, family is all relative and subjective. Polley's family feels real. While there are painstakingly clear alignments between my family life and hers, the film goes beyond anything that documentaries have offered viewers before. It's not too often you grow to care about members of a family in a 108 minute stretch unless your last name is Brady, Seaver, or Winslow. It's amazing to watch one story, told from different perspectives, yielding different results and emotions. Why Polley decided to do it, I'm not so sure. Maybe it was her own way of making sense of her unfortunate hand that was dealt or perhaps it was a way of release, living with so many unanswered questions, possibly still until this day. I'm grateful she let me in to tell her story. We should all be grateful.

There are surprises, innuendos, and things that the film embraces that must be saved for anyone on the first viewing. All I can say is, Polley has likely set a new precedent and encouragement for filmmakers to do similar experiments in the future. A film such as this that follows the life of people like Jack Nicholson or Angelina Jolie would definitely build an anticipation for many to see. Stories We Tell is kind to soul and heartwarmingly relevant. A film to be remembered. The film played at this year's Montclair Film Festival and is scheduled to be released May 17, 2013.

STORIES WE TELL is a quietly thought-provoking exposé of how difficult it can be to clarify even the simplest truths regarding human relationships and how "truth" can vary a great deal according to who you talk to, even when everyone's doing their honest best. The extended family in this documentary film is a most interesting one, and each individual member is a fascinating character in her or his own right, in spite of, perhaps because of, the fact that there is nothing truly weird about any of them. The extensive use of home video footage from the 60s, 70s, and 80s really carries the film. The small details--e.g., the father's musing on the lonely fly on the wall--are also significant, as are certain fine points in the dialogue between Director Sarah Polley and the family members she "interrogates."

Some true surprises occur during the course of the interviews; STORIES WE TELL goes deep in its own subtle, quiet way. Still, at the risk of sounding like a vulture, I was hoping for some darker--or at least more unusual or startling--revelations. While it's easy to understand why the real substance of the film--I don't want to give away the specifics--is critical stuff for Sarah Polley, it's nothing the average person hasn't seen or read in other works, factual or fictional. STORIES WE TELL also takes too long to show what it has to show. While the multiple perspectives are intriguing, they become ponderous and repetitive after a while.

In any event, this film functions well as a simple yet meaningful think-piece. Those who want a lot of variety, excitement, layers & twists, etc, however, may be a trifle bored by it.

Actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley decides to make this film about her family history, with a particular early focus on her mother who died many years prior. In building the story of her family she draws on all those alive who were involved and this is probably as much as you want to know. Many others have put too many details in their comments without warning and I think this is unfair as this is a film that is better when you come at it without knowing everything. Polley tells this story in a way that is engaging and interesting. Early in the film one of the contributors asks "who would want to know about our family" and it is a fair question since, although it has famous members – they are really not that famous. In reality though the film is structured and delivered in such a way that, while you may not have an interest in this specific family, their story is engagingly told.

On this level I liked the film and I thought it worked well, but I have to disagree with the comments made by many in regard what it else it does. Many have praised the film for showing how stories get fragmented and twisted and how perspectives etc influence their telling and indeed Polley herself lays this out as the goal for the film when she is asked towards the end. Perhaps it is because she said it so clearly that some assumed she'd done this and perhaps it is also the reason why it stood out to me that she didn't, even though I liked what she had done with it. The problem with this goal is that, while the story over the past few decades may have been half-told, twisted and gradually revealed with different people knowing or thinking different things, in the film this is not the case at all. Indeed the thing that makes the story so engaging is that it is so well structured to be gradually delivered, be clear and be interesting on its impact on the family. Everyone contributing knows the full story and while they may have different opinions on small things or motivations of others, there really isn't something like Rashomon here where the same thing is different from different angles. There are no questions left, no doubt at any point really – we get introduced, follow the story quickly and efficiently and are left at the end with everything neatly done.

The irony is that for me the film works well like this. I enjoyed the story and how well told it was and I found the contributors to be honest, human and engaging. It is a very personal and human film and this was the quality I took from it. I still had no reason to care about this specific family over any other, but it worked nonetheless. To me it is almost a shame that Polley laid out this alternative goal because she really doesn't get anywhere near achieving it and indeed if she hadn't said anything about it I would never have guessed such an objective was ever on the table.

It works for what it is, but in terms of its own goals it is unsuccessful – but it still worked for me.