The AFI/Discovery Channel Silverdocs documentary film festival gets underway tonight with a screening of the multi-director collaborative adaptation of Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s book, Freakonomics. We’ll have coverage of the opening night festivities tomorrow, but in the meantime, here’s the first in a daily roundup of reviews of films screening in the festival tomorrow.
Kaleo La Belle’s ‘Beyond This Place’Kaleo La Belle wants answers. He wants to know why his father, Cloudrock, signed so many letters “I love you,” but then only managed to see him twice when he was growing up (when he was 6, and then later 17). He wants to know why personal freedom and a quest for enlightenment through psychedelic drugs seemed to matter more to Cloudrock than a relationship with his son.
In a search for answers Kaleo, now 34, combines his passion for film-making with his father’s love of cycling. Kaleo pieces together, as writer and director of Beyond This Place, footage of his cycling journey with his father to Spirit Lake at Mount St. Helens, along with interviews with family and friends (from former members of the Hawaiian commune where Kaleo spent his first 3 years, to his homeless half-brother in Maui, to even his own mother) to examine a complicated and yet tender father-son relationship. Cloudrock’s out-there responses to Kaleo’s questions are often maddeningly frustrating to both Kaleo and the audience, and definitely support Cloudrock’s statement that he’s been “stoned for 40 years.” How can Kaleo expect accountability from his father when Cloudrock asserts that children choose their parents (while on their spirit journey), and that parents don’t choose their children?
But as the father-son cycling trip progresses, so does the conversation, and both men work to get the other to understand him. While Cloudrock defensively argues for his son not to judge him, Kaleo struggles to find a place where even if he can not understand his father, he can at least accept him. The documentary weaves together old photos from hippie days gone by, beautiful wilderness footage, and the hauntingly beautiful music of Sufjan Stevens to create a contemplative and interesting film.
Premieres tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. in the AFI Silver Theater 2, and screens again on Thursday at 4 p.m. in the AFI Silver Theater 3.
