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Recessionize! For Fun and Profit!
Jamie Kastner (Canada, Workers of the World!)
Thursday, May 5, 9:45 p.m.
The ROM Theatre (100 Queen’s Park)
Saturday, May 7, 6:30 p.m.
TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West)
Ugh. Pondering what’s more grating, Jamie Kastner or Jamie Kastner’s film, proves a bit of a chicken-egg game. Because Jamie Kastner—bopping through his insubstantial documentary on how the upper-crust has been affected by the recent economic recession with a snarky, faux-naif lilt—is super annoying. And Jamie Kastner dominates Jamie Kastner’s film, which makes Recessionize! For Fun and Profit! super annoying.
Beginning by debunking the myth that all those bankrupted bankers committed suicide by diving out of high-rise windows during the Depression, Kastner sets about tracking how Americans are actually responding to the present-day economic crisis. Some teach capitalism to kids, others revamp their high-end stores to offer “lifestyle clothing” instead of single-use party dresses. An insufferable couple charges big euros for homeless-inspired bed-wear. If it just sounds like some smirking, glib guy taking the piss out of the rich, it’s because it pretty much is. Some of the people he happens across are pretty interesting (one woman thins out California wild brush with a herd of goats), but the film’s whole tone rankles as much as Kastner’s own condescending cadence.
Like basically everyone, Kastner appears to have no idea how the economy actually works, why recessions happen, or how you can actually respond to one in a meaningful way (beyond selling pillow covers designed to resemble concrete). It’s obvious he thinks capitalism is silly. And probably people too. And while this can make for a few amusing interludes (the investment bankers who take up the sport of chess-boxing are pretty funny), there’s no brains behind all the low-blows. This is what happens to documentary filmmaking when people mistakenly confuse Michael Moore for a major talent.