Stranger Than Fiction Docs

Tribeca 09: Racing Dreams

by Raphaela Neihausen

Despite a cold slowing me down over the first few days (not the swine flu, I promise!), I finally hit my stride and caught a bunch of great docs at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Marshall Curry’s RACING DREAMS was a delightful surprise. I don’t think there is a subject I care less about than NASCAR racing, so I approached this film with a dose of skepticism. Yet from the moment the film started, the next 95 minutes raced by as I became swept up in the film’s characters. Curry’s film is about more than racing (which I admit I have a higher appreciation for after watching the film). He also captures the fleeting transition from childhood to the teenage years in all its awkward glory. He was joined by the film’s three subjects for the Q&A – who unanimously agreed that he did an excellent job showing what it was like for them.

April 26, 2009