Sat, Jun 9 / 7 pm
Directed by Denis Côté
2017, Canada, 93 min
Introduction and Q&A with Denis Côté.
An open exploration of the daily lives of six men consumed by their passions: performance, discipline and overcoming the body’s constraints.
Shot in formally precise compositions that evoke both the intimate and the uncanny, the film approaches the strongmen with a genuine sense of curiosity and compassion, and reveals the complexities of balancing their workout rituals — and the careful meting out of food and vitamin supplements and practicing their elaborate poses (whether for a camera, a girlfriend or a mother!) — with their personal lives, which, in some cases, are adversely affected by the constant pressures of their physical and mental upkeep. As the proportions of the men’s bodies are “observed, evaluated, and analyzed” (to quote from a life-drawing teacher’s instructions), Côté crafts a droll and tender portrait of these modern-day gladiators, whose personalities and sensibilities are fascinatingly distinct, driven as they are by a mutual idea of physical perfection. – Andrea Picard, TIFF
Presented by WNDX Festival of Moving Image (wndx.org).
