DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER (2008) (****)

8 01 2009
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I hope no other filmmaker ever has an opportunity to make a film like this one. When you hear this devastating story you’ll understand why. Kurt Kuenne is an independent filmmaker whose been making fictional films ever since he was a kid. His best friend Andrew Bagby acted in every one of his amateur productions. Then he got a call that changed everything. Andrew had been murdered by his ex-girlfriend, who turns out to be carrying Andrew’s child and has now fled the U.S. for Canada. So Kuenne decided to travel the U.S. and England to capture the thoughts and memories of all the people Andrew touched so that his son, Zachary, would have an idea what his father was like.

This devastating film uses home video, news footage, photographs and interviews to combine elements of a personal doc with a memorial and a crime story. From the dozens and dozens of friends and family interviewed for this film, Andrew made a strong impression. As we discover, he was a lot like his amazing parents David and Kathleen. Of course in a memorial film as this one, people are going to make Andrew look like a saint, but there are details that back up the praise. He had been or would have been the best man at dozens of friends and family members weddings. His memorial service drew hundreds from various countries. He was portrayed as a good doctor who cared about his patients. As the saying goes, calculate the greatness of the man by the number of his friends. By that standard, Andrew was a great man.

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MAN ON WIRE (2008) (****)

8 01 2009
Check Out the Trailer
Check Out the Trailer

This true-life story plays like a great heist movie. However, Philippe Petit didn’t steal anything… well maybe he stole some folks’ imaginations. He committed a crime that harmed no one… well maybe harmed the pride of some security guards and policemen. His performance was a precursor to David Blaine’s large public tricks mixed with a more French and less crude Jackass stunt and Christo scale artwork. His caper was comedic, risky and beautiful. It was something that most people would not understand just how beautiful until they saw it.

Petit was a street performer who was self taught in wire walking. When the World Trade Center was being built, he believed he was destined to walk the two hundred feet between the towers on a wire. Because the stunt was illegal, extremely dangerous and seemingly impossible made the attempt all the more exciting. He had previously worked between the towers of Notre Dame cathedral and the Sydney Harbor Bridge, but the WTC was a whole another challenge. He meticulously planned the stunt from how they would get into the building to how they would get the wire from one tower to the next. While the young Petit comes off as juvenile, he was a total professional when it came to his art.

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