SUNLIGHT – ★★★☆

Low budget film about a monkey (or at least a woman in a monkey suit who wants to be identified as such) and a suicidal man who has an Airstream RV. It begins a buddy/road trip type flick when the monkey saves the RV owner from death in order to pursue her dream of escaping her life and opening a business on a lake in Colorado. Plenty of odd humour going on here, but it grew on me as it went, after initially not engaging much with it. In some ways it kind of reminded me of Dirt from MIFF from 20+ years ago with its odd humour, though I didn’t enjoy this one as much.

THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN – ★★★★

Documentary about a young man with muscular dystrophy who died in his mid-20s. His parents were of the belief that he died being lonely and disconnected from society, but only after posting on his blog about his passing did they come to realise a the connection with community he had via online engagements through World of Warcraft. A touching film, possibly somewhat predictable in story, but interestingly presented. I’ve believed for decades that despite the dark, dangerous, and unkind nature of the Internet, that it’s also had the extraordinary benefit of building tribes/villages for those that might otherwise not have them (in good ways, that is). It was wonderful to see someone who was accepted and celebrated by a community when in the real world, he mightn’t have been able to experience the same.