Whether it be my extreme selectivism this year as a consequence of time and just film fatigue, I feel especially lucky to have liked so many films from LFF 2014. One that certainly gave my emotions a thoroughly good work out was the poetically ethereal POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS

Edwyn Collin’s dreamlike documentary about his post-stroke recovery is visually striking as it is personal. Following the frontman of Orange Juice (you must know this infamous track), and his wife, Grace Maxwell’s experiences after his stroke in 2005. Through intriguing voiceover by the couple and gorgeous imagery we join the journey of Edwyn’s slow recovery and tentative return to music. The film is really remarkable for the way in which without the slightest hint of exploitation or intrusiveness we get see the true physical and mental toll a devastating event such as stroke can have on not just the stroke victim but also the people’s closest to them. Elements of experimental cinema including images of vast empty land and being underwater add strength to the emotional truth of what both Edwyn and Grace went through in 2005. But it’s not all sadness and desperation. The film pulses with strength and hope as the title, Possibilities Are Endless gains more meaning as the film progresses. On the surface, the film’s title is succinct in that in the immediate aftermath of Edwyn’s stroke, he could only utter four things: “yes”, “no”, “Grace Maxwell” and “the possibilities are endless”.

By the film’s end it’s evident that the soul of the film is that mantra. Once we join Edwyn and Grace as they embark on a small tour, with Grace strumming the guitar with her right hand while Edwyn holds down the cords with his left, you truly discover that through love, the possibilities are truly endless. That might sounds extremely saccharine and sentimental, and in a world of cinema when love is used as an hackneyed solution to plots that have hit dead-ends (I’m looking at you sci-fi cinema of the last ten years), Possibilities Are Endless demonstrates with utmost honesty and zero emotional manipulation that love is indeed a powerful tool to be used for good. To watch what has to be most happiest couple ever on screen, to celebrate two people who have found their muse, inspiration and hearts in the other managed to even make this old cynic have hope. I couldn’t recommend this film enough.

Continuing the intended theme of love my next recommend which became one of my favourites of LFF is the contagiously upbeat KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON. As a complete sucker for social/biographical documentaries, nothing gets my head in a spin more than stumbling upon a film about somebody I’ve never heard of and then becoming so fascinated with the person on screen that I immediately want to buy every piece of literature, music, film that has anything about them. This doc about Jazz legend Clark Terry is a shining example. Now my knowledge of jazz is elementary at best, beyond Miles Davis, Dizzie Gillespie, Duke Ellington and all the other big names, I’m ignorant about the whole shebang. I had never heard of this man Clark Terry who had both directly and indirectly responsible for much of the music I do listen to. One major influence was his one of his first prodigies, Quincy Jones, who produced this documentary about his great mentor. What a mentor this man is.

Narratively loose in structure, Keep On Keepin’ On follows Terry over four years as he mentors young, blind pianist prodigy Justin Kauflin as Kauflin prepares for an elite international jazz competition. The documentary is very lucky to have two mesmerising figures to hold audience’s attentions. It is a treat to watch two guys, of different generations and backgrounds (Terry is 89 years-old while Kauflin is 23) indulge in their love of music, quite often into the early hours of the morning, building an unbreakable bond.

However as a documentary on it’s own, it’s a sloppy piece of work. There is no real sense of narrative structure and at times, quite unlike Possibilities of Endless, there was a sense that lines were being crossed and common decency towards privacy was being ignored in favour of exploitation to unnecessarily elicit tension/emotion from the audience. I’m sure that because Quincy Jones produced the doc, and his long withstanding relationship to Terry who mentored him from a boy to his success as music producer allowed him permission to film when it might have been more ethical to do otherwise, I couldn’t help but still feel unease at the sense of voyeurism created. Many including myself would argue, documentary and cinema in general is a form of voyeurism but when it seems the subjects are being exploited it becomes something unpalatable and quite unpleasant.

Luckily, the film never strays too far over the line, although it has its moments and the pure energy and charisma of Terry and Kauflin, in particular with Terry helps to make the film actually thoroughly enjoyable. So enamoured with him, it would have been an excellent documentary just to sit in and listen to their jam sessions and talk through the night a la Shirley Clarke’s remarkable Portrait of Jason. Keep On Keepin’ On doesn’t need its exploitative elements to showcase the magnificence of the talents on screen. Get past those moments and you too will have discovered a gem.