"A false music cue or an overworked script can turn the most powerful story banal. You don't find those slip-ups in Sundance as often as they occur in other places-all five of the current nominees for Best Documentary at the Oscars premiered at Sundance-but the festival also isn't immune to those missteps either. In this dispatch are three works from the US Documentary competition"
"The documentary is a cradle-to-the-grave work, so it follows a standard chronological structure, taking us from Engressia's lonely childhood, spent alongside his blind sister, to his rebellious college years, when he began his search for autonomy amid an environment hostile to people with disabilities. Director Rachael J. Morrison's presentation of Engressia's story features considered aesthetics and a rich sonic language. She shares Engressia's perspective through his home recordings, which often sound as if they were spoken into a telephone receiver."
Creative choices such as music cues and scripting can determine a documentary's success or failure. Sundance exhibits fewer such slip-ups than other venues, with all five current Oscar Best Documentary nominees having premiered there, but the festival is not immune. Three films in the US Documentary competition attempt to pair purposeful styles with consequential subjects, and only one aligns completely. Joybubbles offers a modest, sincere portrait of Joe Engressia, a blind Floridian whose whistling connected him to a larger world. The film follows his life chronologically, shows his search for autonomy amid hostile environments, and uses considered aesthetics, rich sonic textures, home recordings, and a black static-filled frame to match his sly humor and reveal underlying trauma, including sexual abuse and ambitions for independent living.
Read at Roger Ebert
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