Review of Stories We Tell (2012) by Gabriel D — 01 Jun 2013

This film is getting amazing reviews, and I thought it was alright, but I'm gonna voice my complaints here: Firstly, I just didn't think it was that interesting. You can only spread the story of an affair out so far, and the film just felt too long and not that compelling.

Secondly, whatever secrets the film holds, and I applaud Polley for playing with convention, seemed pretty obvious to me from the beginning and I just wasn't satisfied with that aspect. Thirdly, I felt the theme Polley was going for fell short - the whole idea of everyone having their own specific memory and the story changing between storytellers just didn't come together that well for me because, between the different narrators, their stories didn't conflict.

They all showed different parts of a woman's life, sure, but there wasn't any contradiction, as if they were different perspectives. They just happened to recall a woman at different times. It's decent, and I appreciate how honest and open Polley and her family are, but I don't think this film is the revolutionary doc it is being hailed as.