Squicky Reality TV
http://www.belltownmessenger.com/032010/77-mondoculture-o.html (http://www.belltownmessenger.com/032010/77-mondoculture-o.html)
This setting up of instant intimacy has frequently left me feeling uncomfortable. Especially now that people are increasingly picking up cameras to document the drama in their own lives. Is it really necessary to have to share everything about your life? Are there some stories that shouldn't be told?
All these thoughts kept going through my mind as I watched the documentary Prodigal Sons, which played SIFF last year, and will play SIFF Cinema March 5-7 and 10-11. The film tells quite a story. It recounts director Kimberly Reed's journey back to her childhood home in Helena, Montana. The first twist would be sufficient for most films: Kimberly used to be Paul, a star quarterback in high school. But Prodigal Sons goes further. Though home movies show then-Paul and his brothers growing up in an all-American setting, it turns out there's much more going on beneath the surface than one would guess.