Stories We Tell

Outstanding and original documentary!
STORIES WE TELL is a difficult movie to describe in a way that will make it sound interesting. So I'll focus mostly on what the movie ultimately explores and illuminates in exciting ways...rather than on the mundane sounding "what happened was."

It's a documentary constructed by actress/director Sarah Polley (DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, GO). Essentially, she mixes interviews with family members and friends along with home movie footage, to tell the story of her deceased mother and the secrets she had. Polley is ostensibly searching for her identity (and that's all I'll say)...but the movie has ever so much more on its mind.

First, it is an exploration of how the things that happen to us become the stories we tell to others and that few experiences are really FACTS, but are interpretations of those FACTS or events. While no one differs enormously on the details of the mother's life or other family events...the feelings about those details, the impressions DO differ,...
Different lives, different truths: "Was it Tom, or Wayne, or Jeff?"
"Stories We Tell" (2012 release from Canada; 108 min.) is the third film from Canadian writer-director Sarah Polley (after "Away From Her" and "Take This Waltz", both excellent). But this is her first documentary, and not just any documentary: this movie looks at the life and times of her parents, and also whether her dad is really her biological father. Her mom Diane comes across as a person who fills the room with energy, whereas her dad Michael is the more introverted type. Nevertheless the two strike up a romance leading to marriage, and eventually kids. Sarah was the third and youngest. At some point in her childhood she is getting teased about not looking like her dad at all, and it becomes sort of a running joke, until it isn't a joke anymore. Sarah eventually decides to investigate the rumors, and gathers all the characters for interviews: her dad (we learn that her mom has passed away many years ago), but also her siblings including two more from a prior marriage that Diane...
Magnificent mix of documentary and feature film
Sarah Polley, a 34-year-old Canadian movie director, delves into a dark family secret in this mesmerising blend of straight documentary and feature film. At the start she says her family had one of the first hand held cine cameras, and this statement appears to explain all the flickering coloured shots of various scenes such as weddings, children playing in the garden etc. It's only half way through that you stop and think "Hang on, how could this particular scene have made it into the family's archive of Super 8 fim?" and then you realise actors have to be involved and then you question whether any of the home movie scenes are real. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, because this is a really thought-provoking work which knocks you off balance in a subtle way. At one point Polley's father tells her she is merciless and I must agree she comes across as more of an inquisitor than a daughter. I only managed to see this once before I had to return it to the rental store and...
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