Hot Docs 08 Day 4 – Sunday April 20/08

Sunday at Hot Docs was a nice and relaxed day. The weather looked like it might give us a bit of rain but it held off and the clouds eventually passed along their merry away. I only checked out one film on day 4, so let's get right to it.


(The Rise and Fall of Grumpy Burger: Marshall Sfalcin and director Matt Gallagher)

Rise and Fall of the Grumpy Burger, The
Dir: Matt Gallagher
Canada

This film was really high on my list of films to see for a few reasons. First, the premise of exploring the history of fast food chain that predated McDonald's was interesting. Second, it's a documentary about making a film. Third, I couldn't make the screening it had at Cinematheque. Add to all of that it's Canadian. What's not to like? Well the audience sure did like it, as it received many a giggle especially as we see Marshall Sfalcin making his Ten Dollar Tale's films, which we saw a lot of. But, at about 25 minutes into this 84 minute film, I was wondering when we were going to start hearing about Grumpy Burger and the whole fast food documentary idea. It does get there but it feels like the focus of the film wasn't so much about that as it was snippets of life during that period of time which included a lot of arguments, swearing and frustration. The screening did have a lively Q&A with hilarious questions including shout outs to Windsor locals.


(left to right: Bob - Eternal Sunshine of the Logical Mind, James - Toronto Screen Shots and Me)

One of the really fun things about Day 4 was meeting up with some fellow film fans for a drink and discussion about the festival so far and film in general. It was a great time! Of course, now I have so many more films that I want to add to my list to see!

Hot Docs runs from April 17-27/08 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada