As an avid lover of documentary films, I see quite a lot of them. And as with any genre, the more you see, the more difficult it is to see one that truly sticks out after awhile.
This is one such film.
The story concerns the film's director, Alex, going to Minnesota to do an episode of his show "Provincial Puzzlers", which takes on a small town mystery each week. The episode in question is going to focus on a mysterious hole in the otherwise frozen North Long Lake that appeared one winter. He shows up in town and heads to the lake. That's where things get complicated, and it's only about 2 or 3 minutes into the film.
That's all I'd like to say. I can think of relatively few films where the enjoyment stems from a complete lack of knowledge at what you are about to see. In fact, they are all horror movies or thrillers (Memento and Blair Witch are some examples where the less you know the better, IMO). Not the case here. This is a comedic drama in documentary form, and just as entertaining, perhaps more so, than any other comedy and/or drama you'll see for quite some time.
Highly recommended, and not just to documentary fans. In fact, I feel that this is one of those documentaries that could help to elevate the genre above the stereotypical documentary trappings unfairly associated with them (small indie theaters with bad popcorn, pretentious audiences, etc.) to a place where you can find them playing at the local multiplex throughout the year alongside all the other genres.
This is one such film.
The story concerns the film's director, Alex, going to Minnesota to do an episode of his show "Provincial Puzzlers", which takes on a small town mystery each week. The episode in question is going to focus on a mysterious hole in the otherwise frozen North Long Lake that appeared one winter. He shows up in town and heads to the lake. That's where things get complicated, and it's only about 2 or 3 minutes into the film.
That's all I'd like to say. I can think of relatively few films where the enjoyment stems from a complete lack of knowledge at what you are about to see. In fact, they are all horror movies or thrillers (Memento and Blair Witch are some examples where the less you know the better, IMO). Not the case here. This is a comedic drama in documentary form, and just as entertaining, perhaps more so, than any other comedy and/or drama you'll see for quite some time.
Highly recommended, and not just to documentary fans. In fact, I feel that this is one of those documentaries that could help to elevate the genre above the stereotypical documentary trappings unfairly associated with them (small indie theaters with bad popcorn, pretentious audiences, etc.) to a place where you can find them playing at the local multiplex throughout the year alongside all the other genres.