About this event
Performance Art“[The Store] captures customs and ceremonies … The film acts as a kind of litmus test of that most indigenous of American behaviours — shopping.” —Mary-Lou Weisman, The New Republic
A new monthly series in partnership with Hot Docs, bringing visionary documentary filmmaking from around the world to Toronto’s East End.
It’s Christmastime in Dallas, Texas, and Neiman Marcus’ flagship store is preparing for its annual frenzy of holiday shoppers. Gleaming escalators whisk customers to different corners of the department store where sable jackets and diamond necklaces are opulently on display. With its recurring motif of mirrors and polished surfaces, Wiseman’s first colour film finds an ideal focus in its lavish portrait of consumerism. As an extension of the director’s previous film, Model, The Store represents a departure from Wiseman’s early work that concentrated on institutions of the oppressed and instead considers how the doctors and lawyers who run the institutions in his other films spend their money. The Store invites viewers to see themselves in the documentary, offering a looking glass to consider the machinery underlying American materialism and desire. Critically panned after its release for focusing on the world of the elite, the film has become one of Wiseman’s most celebrated works for its entertaining and vital depiction of excess wealth.