True Stories

STORIES WE TELL (B) - There's a fine line between meta and manipulative. The fact that Sarah Polley has expressed surprise that many of us don't catch on to the camera tricks she employs in her amber-drenched family memoir goes to show that she's truly descended from show people with a flair for the self indulgent.

Polley, whose segue from acting to directing ("Away From Her" and "Take This Waltz") has been impressive, turns the camera on her family history, which revolves around her captivating mother, a sometime actress who died young, about 25 years ago, and left behind a secret that goes to the heart of Polley's very existence. As she grills her father (and employs him as a narrator using his own memoir), siblings and family friends, it's all rather fascinating.

Until you realize, or don't, that Polley starts mixing in re-creations -- albeit scratched and grainy -- with the archival footage. A glimpse of a key character with a perfectly sad, heartbreaking expression on his face while he sits lost in the back pew of the mother's funeral, might elicit gasps of emotion -- but then leave you miffed while the credits roll and you realize it was staged. (I thought it was odd that there would be so much footage from the funeral, but then, as I said ... Show People!)

Polley's point is that we each have a version of the past. I'm with her on the theory that most of our memories are not legitimate; we'd be shocked to watch an actual reel from the past and discover how much we'd been deluding ourselves. I'm just not convinced that this was the way to make that point and tell this story. It seems like more of a crutch (for lack of footage) than an intentional strategy. Polley's final sin is an excessive running time. She sets us up for an ending at least three times before (re)winding up for another big finish, on her way to a bloated 1:48 running time.

While I loved seeing this film (and might re-view it and have a different perspective), I was reminded of a more effective (and experimental) attempt at a similar subject -- Jonathan Caouette's harrowing "Tarnation." Despite its re-enactments, that documentary felt achingly real. And it clocked in at a tidy 88 minutes.

BONUS TRACKS

Compare trailers for "Tarnation" and "Stories We Tell"