SHINERS (Stacey Tenenbaum, Canada).78 minutes. Rating: NNN
All around the world, people need their shoes shined. Stacey Tenenbaum‘s doc introduces the people who do the shining – in Manhattan, Toronto, Tokyo, La Paz and elsewhere – through a series of interwoven vignettes.
It’s a pleasurable and mildly inspirational documentary, if one that never really digs into the ideas and themes that occasionally surface, like the class divisions between the labourers and the affluent people who use their services.
It also feels like Shiners is actively massaging at least one of its narrative threads for maximum emotional impact. While all cinema is essentially manipulative, that manipulation could be executed a little more gracefully. Still, if you’re looking for a movie about shoe shining, this is certainly that.
Apr 29, 7:30 pm, Isabel Bader Apr 30, 1 pm, Hart House May 4, 9:30 pm, Hart House
