Hot Docs 2008: Wesley Willis's Holy Shadow

Shadow Of The Holy Book (4:00 p.m., Cumberland). So here's the deal. There's a weird dictatorship in central Asia called Turkmenistan. It was run until recently by Saparmurat Niyazov, who wrote a sort of religious text/propaganda piece called the Ruhnama that everyone in the country has to learn. And if you want to trade in the (oil and gas rich) country, translating the book into your own language guarantees big contracts, something the new president for life, Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow, is continuing. Okay, we've now officially told you basically everything you can learn from Shadow Of The Holy Book. The entire rest of the film is just director Arto Halonen and journalist Kevin Frazier completely failing to learn anything else by calling various international companies and trying to speak to someone about the Ruhnama. Occasionally they turn up at their offices, but as they actually manage to be less charismatic than Michael Moore, this isn't particularly funny or interesting. The occasional shots of the ridiculous and empty capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, were intriguing, but the film is only going to irritate anyone hoping to finding out more. 1/5

Wesley Willis's Joy Rides (11:45 p.m., Bloor). Wesley Willis was a schizophrenic outsider artist who drew amazing cityscapes and made bizarre and repetitive (but hilarious and oddly clever) music, and Wesley Willis's Joy Rides (pictured above) is simply a portrait of the man across the latter period of his life. The film's strongest point is that it accurately brings across the joy that Willis brought to his fans and friends (a line which often blurred) and similarly shows how much savvier Willis was as an artist than many people, who would otherwise dismiss him as exploited, might think. As a result, however, it doesn't go deep enough into ways Willis may have been exploited or otherwise let down by people, leaving the film without an "edge" that might have enriched the otherwise uplifting story of a creative but troubled man who, against all odds, created an astonishing body of work and will be remembered for many years to come. 4/5

The rest of today's picks:

1:30 p.m. – 20 Seconds Of Joy (Cumberland)
4:30 p.m. – Junior (Innis Town Hall)
4:30 p.m. – Corridor #8 (ROM)
9:00 p.m. – Garbage! The Revolution Starts At Home (Al Green)
9:30 p.m. – Full Battle Rattle (Cumberland)
9:30 p.m. – Carny (Innis Town Hall)