TIFF 2016 : Our Review Of ‘Mostly Sunny’

Posted in Festival Coverage, Film Festivals, Movies, TIFF 2016 by - September 06, 2016

TIFF DOCS

 

Sex: It makes the world go round. Unless you’re amongst the infinitesimally small percentage of the population conceived through other means, it’s how most of us came into the world. Sex is natural yet sex is sinful. Sex sells yet sex is shameful. Director Dilip Mehta’s latest documentary, Mostly Sunny, examines the intersection between sexual pride and sexual shame. The film focuses on Bollywood star, Karenjit Kaur Vohra, better known to the world as porn star, Sunny Leone.

Leone rose to fame as an adult film actress before crossing over and achieving mainstream success in Bollywood. Calling Leone a former porn star is selling her career short; she is one of the most Googled porn actresses ever. Mehta traces Leone’s Canadian roots back to Sarnia Ontario. From there, Leone offers a first-hand account of her life as a small-town girl with big-city aspirations. Despite her off the charts affability, her story is rarely compelling.

The film does get interesting when Mehta takes his crew halfway around the world to India, a country with modest social mores stemming from British colonialism. Shockingly, Leone is more beloved by strangers in India than her own family back in Sarnia.

Leone has a magnetic presence, the camera loves her, and she has charisma for days. However, those traits don’t necessarily equate to a profound documentary subject. Even with the film’s colourful subject matter, Mostly Sunny comes off as drab.

 

  • Release Date: 2016
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Victor Stiff is a Toronto-based freelance writer and pop culture curator. Victor currently contributes insights, criticisms, and reviews to several online publications where he has extended coverage to the Toronto International Film Festival, Hot Docs, Toronto After Dark, Toronto ComiCon, and Fan Expo Canada. Victor has a soft spot in his heart for Tim Burton movies and his two poorly behaved beagles (but not in that order).
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