TIFF notes, continued:
Spellbound. My happiest viewing of the festival. It's
Hoop Dreams for the dictionary set: a documentary which traces the path of eight participants to (and in) the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. What perhaps sounds like the recipe for a snoozefest, turns out to be fascinating and surprisingly suspenseful.
There's a touching faith in the tenets of the American/Immigrant Dream (success comes through education, hard work, making the most of your opportunities, and having a bit of luck), but for the most part the faith seems justified. The film doesn't explore the Stanley Spector (from
Magnolia) phenomenon - of unwilling kids being pushed by parents, although a recent NYT article on the Spelling Bee touched on one example of this.
It's a joyous and inspiring glimpse of a little world ruled by the possibilities - and pitfalls - of those twenty-six letters.
-copywright, who double-checked the spelling in this post.
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