A portrait of one working class family living in north Philly over the course of nearly a decade, Jonathan Olshefski’s debut, Quest, strives to demonstrate the power and inner workings of an engaged community through the perspective of the Rainey family, but the documentary’s framing device is both its greatest success and biggest failure, giving the film a scattershot focus despite its ambitions. Quest couldn’t be more relevant to national conversations about poverty and gun violence in its empathy for marginalized communities, and boots-on-the-ground understanding of the effects of shootings, but as a whole, it lacks the context to be able to effectively communicate the scope of these problems beyond a personal level.
At its best, Olshefski’s film delves into the lives of the Rainey family with an intimacy that can only emerge from years of filming. The camera listens intently to the Rainey’s hopes for their future,...
At its best, Olshefski’s film delves into the lives of the Rainey family with an intimacy that can only emerge from years of filming. The camera listens intently to the Rainey’s hopes for their future,...
- 1/31/2017
- by Michael Snydel
- The Film Stage
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