I was excited to review this film for Hot Docs because I’d heard of and was mystified by ‘hobbyhorsing’ and needed to know more about it.
Hobbyhorsing is a lot like the horse competitions you’re used to seeing on TV, or in Olympic events. Dressage, an equestrian sport, is the highest expression of horse training. In the events, you’ll watch horse and rider perform a sequence of events from memory, including piaffe (a special kind of trot), and pirouette (a 360 degree turn). In the obstacle event, the horses will jump over poles. Horse and rider are judged on how smoothly they go through the movements, and how willingly and with minimal cues the horse performs.
In hobbyhorsing, the competitions are similar, except – NO SHIT – performed with a fake horse. A hobbyhorse: those toys for small children which consist of a horse head on a broomstick.
Hobbyhorse Revolution is a documentary that sheds light on this burgeoning community, and on the people who compete (they’re older than you’d think).
Competitors “train” extensively, but don’t forget it’s their own two feet doing all the work. The ‘horses’ get off pretty lightly but are still given starring roles. Their ‘riders’ talk about them as though they are real: this one is ‘energetic’, this one ‘well-schooled.’ They are ridden with whips and put away with stable blankets. You know, in case they get fake cold.
The teen-aged girls interviewed for the film are almost all troubled in one way or another and I can’t believe that’s a coincidence. Playing make-believe with toy horses is a blatant extension of childhood. In this light, hobbyhorsing is perhaps not simply a curiosity but a disturbing trend – 10 000 “hobbyhorseists” in Finland and growing. Unfortunately, the film maker fails to answer that most obvious of questions: why? What is happening to these girls that they’ve left their peers and retreated to the safe but immature world of racing fake horses? Interesting but superficial, Hobbyhorse Revolution is a hollow look at a surprising new safety blanket.
[Between you and I, I can’t really watch a 17 year old young woman prancing around with a stick between her legs and not wonder if it’s somewhat sexual. Or entirely sexual. Either way, something here is messed up.]
Film maker Chris Kelly follows three people over the course of 6 years to get a grip on their experiences. Toul Srey Pov and Tep Vanny are two young mothers who allowed their land on the Boeung Kak Lake to be measured by the government, supposedly to receive accurate land titles. Instead, the government leased their land to a private company, Shukaku, which “happens” to have ties to the Prime Minister. Shukaku is dumping sand into the lake, flooding the streets of Boeung Kak, forcing people from their homes. These women are too poor to abandon their homes. The compensation offered by Shukaku is laughable, insufficient to start over elsewhere. But those who stay risk their lives – already 3 have died by electrocution alone.
pilots behind on the tarmac and would use their own pilot; the border was just 15 minutes away and the plane would be empty save for those wishing to escape. Anat’s parents never made it onto the plane, caught by the KGB mere steps from boarding. Her mother was sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag. Her father received a life sentence. This is their story.
who have very little else going on. In a tanking economy, middle aged men find themselves with poor jobs, little money, and even less confidence. It’s no wonder they’ve stopped dating real women and have shifted their fantasies toward little girls, who run no risk of rejection. The Idols host “meet and greets” where their fans will of course pay a lot of money to have a minute’s worth of childish conversation and a handshake – in a culture where the handshake still has a sexual component to it, having been completely taboo between the sexes until only a few decades ago.
the age of 91. With teachers unable and parents unwilling to discuss sexuality, there’s a huge chasm of ignorance in India, and Dr. Watsa is still doing his best to fill it.
Sunday Beauty Queen examines these workers, and the pastime they enjoy in their very limited time off: beauty pageants. Every Sunday they gather in events they organize themselves, strutting their stuff in costumes equal portions prom dress and cardboard accoutrements.
sent to Auschwitz. Philippe Mora is an artist of all mediums; while he did not direct this particular documentary, he did write and illustrate the graphic novel of the same name.
Mayonnaise, both the comic and the film. Director Trevor Graham films the madcap artist as he careens around the world, meeting up with heroes, villains, and the ordinary people still alive today because of his father’s efforts – teamwork improbably involving Marcel Marceau – smuggling Jewish children across the border.
sister also got one, a brunette named Valerie, which I felt was unfair because she’d done nothing to deserve it besides poop and scream and steal my parents’ love.
this stuff at the time, but I have certainly been aware of them in retrospect. These bubblegum comic artists tapped into a vein of childhood rebellion and ended up making lasting work.
He’s got a bag of rice, and a bag of flour that looks almost identical to the bag of rice. How these are fun toys I have no idea. We usually pile them on Lightning McQueen and race. But Brady’s own counter culture is already budding at 5 years old: Shopkins are parodied by the Grossery Gang, the same basic shitty toy, but disgusting (ie, mouldy cheese). I don’t get it, but adults aren’t meant to. It’s kind of cool that he’s got his own little act of rebellion, but if you’re in the mood for some throwback rebellion, here’s a hint: the Garbage Pail Kids are back.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 