AS SLOW AS POSSIBLE (D: Scott Smith, Canada). 60 minutes. Some subtitles. Friday (April 18), 9:30 pm, Royal Tuesday (April 22), noon, ROM. Rating: NN
It’s never enjoyable to watch a documentary lose its grip on a compelling story, but that’s exactly what happens in this overlong DV travelogue. Scott Smith ‘s camera tags along with Vancouverite Ryan Knighton, who at 31 is losing the last of his vision to retinitis pigmentosa and making a pilgrimage to the German village of Halberstadt to witness the changing of a note in the 639-year-long performance of a John Cage composition.
That’s a powerful moment, but Smith’s digressive, shambling structure buries it in a series of encounters between the convivial Knighton and random strangers he meets on his trip.
Norm Wilner
