{"id":4226,"date":"2009-05-04T12:56:48","date_gmt":"2009-05-04T16:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T15:08:04","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T20:08:04","slug":"hot-docs-invisible-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Docs: Invisible City"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The street-length rush line awaiting my arrival outside the Royal testified to the amount of buzz Hubert Davis’ \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible City<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has been getting (making it quite possibly the hottest Doc in the festival after Baichwal’s “Act of God”). A title-riff on Ralph Ellison’s portrait of alienation, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible Man<\/a>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Davis’ piece follows two high-school kids\u2014 Kendell and Mikey \u2014 as they grow up in Toronto’s Regent Park. This housing project, the oldest of its kind in Canada, is in the process of a huge redevelopment<\/a> that holds a very uncertain future for the community. These parallels \u2014 between the unrelenting evolution of urban form and community \u2014 are powerfully explored throughout the film.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible City\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reminds me a lot of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Killer of Sheep<\/a>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Charles Burnett’s masterpiece portrait of Watts, Los Angeles, in the 1970s.\u00a0 Both explore black communities in urban centres with a special ability to capture their vividness \u2014 a sun-dappled tree-shadow across a cracked courtyard \u2014 within a city that has half-forgotten they exist. The cinematography throughout \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible Cities\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is beautiful; Davis is especially deft at capturing the expressiveness of his subjects \u2014 the avoiding glances, dismissive smirks and wide grins \u2014 as they deal with quiet frustrations and unexpected challenges. Mikey is shy and cerebral; he wants to take an advanced math class but also deals crack and skips curfew. Kendell is handsome and athletic; a natural with little kids who gets in trouble for fighting and skipping basketball practice. Both are supported by single mothers who seem always exhausted and yet are completely dedicated. \u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I love him bad,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mikey’s mom says. These interactions seem to become more and more compelling as the story grows.<\/p>\n

Fortunately there is also Ainsworth, a former pro-athlete who has returned to the neighborhood as a school teacher. \u00a0Ainsworth understands his role as surrogate father to these kids \u2014 one extends far beyond the class room. He lectures them in the parking lot, invites them over for family dinner, jokes with them in the hallway. Three years of high-school life unfold against the rhythm of Regent’s wrecking ball deconstruction<\/a> \u2014 a backdrop which mimics the helplessness of change that each boy is confronted with. Mikey dreams of getting out of Regent, of seeing of the world, but the pull of neighbourhood is strong. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It’s all right here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says, pointing toward the playground where he grew up. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All my memories are right here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

And then? And then the movie ends. The lights go up and there they are, in the audience with family and friends. Kendell, Mikey, everyone is invited to the stage for an audience Q & A. Mikey and Kendall are still in high-school, it turns out, finishing off some final credits. Their mothers are still working overtime to support them. Mikey’s mom is still worried about Mikey’s attitude. And when Kendall’s mom gets the microphone, she makes a powerful appeal for absentee fathers to man up, just like she did in the movie.<\/p>\n

Some people in the audience were chuckling as this was going on; others were not. It was hard to know how to react, because if one thing was certain, it’s that this story isn’t finished. This chapter isn’t even finished. \u00a0Not that it is has to be: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible City\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is an exceedingly honest work, and it would appear false to just assume a portrait of community with so much looming just overhead could just be tied into a little box. But why end the story now? What about the mothers \u2014 so self-effacing they aren’t even given names in the film\u2014 what is going to happen to them? We sat watching Kendall and Mikey field questions on-stage about their \u00e2\u20ac\u0153future\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u2014 their half-grins no doubt betraying some embarrassment at the bizarreness of the whole exercise. It was a strange coda to the performance of the documentary form; taking as it did, the visible scaffold of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible City\u00e2\u20ac\u009d right off before our eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The street-length rush line awaiting my arrival outside the Royal testified to the amount of buzz Hubert Davis’ \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible City\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has been getting (making it quite possibly the hottest Doc in the festival after Baichwal’s “Act of God”). A title-riff on Ralph Ellison’s portrait of alienation, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible Man,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Davis’ piece follows two high-school kids\u2014 KendellContinue reading “Hot Docs: Invisible City”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4068,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,21759],"tags":[457,12035,231,12036,12037,12040,460,12034,61,12039,12038,19],"class_list":["post-4226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-features","tag-canada","tag-charles-burnett","tag-hot-docs","tag-hubert-davis","tag-kendall","tag-killer-of-sheep","tag-los-angeles","tag-ralph-ellison","tag-reviews","tag-scaffold-of-aeoeinvisible-cityae","tag-school-teacher","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHot Docs: Invisible City - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hot Docs: Invisible City - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The street-length rush line awaiting my arrival outside the Royal testified to the amount of buzz Hubert Davis’ \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible City\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has been getting (making it quite possibly the hottest Doc in the festival after Baichwal’s “Act of God”). A title-riff on Ralph Ellison’s portrait of alienation, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible Man,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Davis’ piece follows two high-school kids\u2014 KendellContinue reading "Hot Docs: Invisible City"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-04T16:56:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T20:08:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3664\/3498177470_17c5625752.jpg?v=0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Max Ritts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Max Ritts\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/\",\"name\":\"Hot Docs: Invisible City - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3664\/3498177470_17c5625752.jpg?v=0\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-04T16:56:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T20:08:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8f37d386947929a933c5d6b20d81e406\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3664\/3498177470_17c5625752.jpg?v=0\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3664\/3498177470_17c5625752.jpg?v=0\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hot Docs: Invisible City\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8f37d386947929a933c5d6b20d81e406\",\"name\":\"Max Ritts\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c3d59493e6f28ac584a10ff411b1d009?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c3d59493e6f28ac584a10ff411b1d009?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Max Ritts\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\/wire\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/max\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hot Docs: Invisible City - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hot Docs: Invisible City - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"The street-length rush line awaiting my arrival outside the Royal testified to the amount of buzz Hubert Davis’ \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible City\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has been getting (making it quite possibly the hottest Doc in the festival after Baichwal’s “Act of God”). A title-riff on Ralph Ellison’s portrait of alienation, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Invisible Man,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Davis’ piece follows two high-school kids\u2014 KendellContinue reading \"Hot Docs: Invisible City\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2009-05-04T16:56:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T20:08:04+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3664\/3498177470_17c5625752.jpg?v=0","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Max Ritts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Max Ritts","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/","name":"Hot Docs: Invisible City - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3664\/3498177470_17c5625752.jpg?v=0","datePublished":"2009-05-04T16:56:48+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T20:08:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8f37d386947929a933c5d6b20d81e406"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3664\/3498177470_17c5625752.jpg?v=0","contentUrl":"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3664\/3498177470_17c5625752.jpg?v=0"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/05\/04\/hot-docs-invisible-city\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hot Docs: Invisible City"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/8f37d386947929a933c5d6b20d81e406","name":"Max Ritts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c3d59493e6f28ac584a10ff411b1d009?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c3d59493e6f28ac584a10ff411b1d009?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Max Ritts"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\/wire"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/max\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4226"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39564,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4226\/revisions\/39564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}