'Stories We Tell' A Review

Stories We Tell is a documentary from Sarah Polley about memory, family, and truth. The film starts out ostensibly about the mystery of Sarah's parentage but then morphs into a much more complex story. Polley interviews her father, her biological father, her siblings, and her mom's friends. She uses her father's written account of his life as narration throughout the film. Along with the talking head interviews she intercuts super 8 footage of her parents as well as recreated super 8 footage of past family events.

The film emerges as Polley's attempt to reconstruct her mother who died when she was 11 and as a loving tribute to the father who raised her. She includes candid moments before, after, and during interviews making it very clear she is making a movie. She is constructing this narrative, however she does endeavor to synthesize everyones memories in order to get at some kind of truth. To answer the question: how do we define the past?

The film is full of touching, deep, profound moments. It's rich and lyrical and thought provoking.

Don't Miss It.