Review of Stories We Tell (2012) by James J — 05 Aug 2013

Stories We Tell is one of those documentaries that gets lost within itself, sometimes becoming a documentary about the documentary. One thing is for sure, is this is not meant to be a typical informative documentary, it's meant more to play around with the idea of a documentary and see what it can do.

I get that feeling mostly because it doesn't follow a narrative most people are going to find interesting at face-value. I've watched shit documentaries just because I was interested in the people or events they were following before.

Stories We Tell is a completely personal narrative, so this requires some good film-making and introspect in order for it to be interesting to the viewer. The good news is, it accomplishes that for the most part.

In a kind of pseudo-Rasohomon fashion, it triggers mixed feelings towards how different people hold different truths by following the story of a promiscuous mother's life. Aside from the "omg so meta" storytelling, you might actually enjoy learning more about this family's story and end up wanting to know more about it.

It's well worth your time if you get the chance to see it.