David & Me
Canadian Spectrum
An admirably well intentioned but highly scattershot human rights doc, it feels bad ragging on this story of a friendship between a man in Toronto and a wrongfully convicted Brooklyn inmate, but there’s just too little focus to sustain even 70 minutes.
Ray Klonsky is a reformed fake thug kid from Toronto who has (through his father and the very recently deceased Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, in what will likely be his final on camera appearance) struck up a friendship with David, a 45 year old man who has been in prison since being coerced into admitting to a 1985 execution style shooting he never committed.
David and his situation are interesting and sometimes inspiring (his patience is unparalleled), but Ray isn’t nearly as intriguing and his crusade to help David feels like self promotion because aside from banging down doors and trying to conduct man on the street interviews, there’s not much that could be done. Following around David’s new lawyer would have been a more interesting film, but that takes more time and focus than Ray can offer. It feels rushed. Even the aesthetic of the film moves wildly between the flashy and the ill advised and ugly. It knows what it wants to accomplish, but it has few ideas how to go about doing that.
Screens
Sunday, April 27th, Isabel Bader Theatre, 9:00pm
Monday, April 28th, TIFF Bell Lightbox 3, 3:00pm
Saturday, May 3rd, Isabel Bader Theatre, 4:00pm
