This week in movies you missed: A movie star airs her family’s dirty laundry on film.
Thing is, the star in question is Canadian — not to mention the talented director of Away From Her and Take This Waltz. So Sarah Polley’s documentary is considerably more tasteful and thoughtful than my initial description makes it sound.
What You Missed
A young woman ushers an older man into a recording studio and asks him to read a lengthy narrative he’s prepared. We soon learn this is Polley and her dad, British-born actor Michael Polley. Most of the other interviewees we see her settling in front of the camera are members or friends of her Toronto family, too.
These interviewees begin to talk — mostly about Diane Polley, the director’s deceased mother. A gorgeous, vivacious, larger-than-life woman, Diane made headlines in the ’60s, when she and Michael appeared together on stage. We see her in real Super 8 footage, and then recreated in fake Super 8 footage by actress Rebecca Jenkins. Meanwhile, the interviews begin to hint at a family secret to be revealed.
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