CARNY (D: Alison Murray, Canada). 75 minutes. Saturday (April 19), 9:45 pm, Royal Monday (April 21), 11:55 pm, Bloor. Rating: NN
Carny culture is intrinsically fascinating, and its main characters have terrific stories to tell. But this plodder of a documentary doesn’t quite capture that. It follows various personalities — an unusual threesome, a sweet dyke and others — as they make their way to carnival sites in the U.S. We get some sense of the community, its transient nature and willingness to embrace outsiders of all kinds. But the visuals — which should be spectacular — are bland, and there’s no essential narrative arc. A wasted opportunity.
