Hot Docs 2019 Reviews: The Book of the Sea and Mystify: Michael Hutchence

May 05, 2019- Permalink

Mystify: Michael Hutchence

It’s the last day of the 2019 edition of Hot Docs and I opened my day with Aleksei Vakhrushev’s The Book of the Sea. It tells the story of the Inuit and Chukchi hunters along the Bering Straight as they walruses, seals and whales. The beautiful film blends actual footage of hunters working together with animation that illustrates the folklore that spiritually binds these hunters to the animals they hunt in a northern circle of life. A gorgeous and mesmerizing documentary.

My last film of the festival was Mystify: Michael Hutchence by director Richard Lowenstein. Aussie band INXS was huge in the 1980s and 1990s and their frontman was both a showman and an enigma. Through home movies, concert footage and interviews with friends, family and lovers, we learn that he was outgoing and introverted, fearless and shy. He was a loving figure until a violent encounter with a taxi driver started a spiral that finally led to his suicide in 1997. It’s a doc that shows the artist that was and the spark that was extinguished too soon. The concert footage and sound is great and the home movies and comprehensive interviews give us a glimpse of the enigmatic and charismatic artist.