National Post (National Edition)
Novitiate is a quiet, remarkably moving story.
Dina
After watching the trailer for Dina, I did a little digging to make sure this was in fact a documentary as advertised. It is. In even won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance festival in January.
But it looks so — slick. Co-directors Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles frame their movie like an indie rom-com, with supporting characters, pop tunes on the soundtrack, and b-roll footage away from its protagonists, as well as camera setups (long shots, looking into the car from the hood, etc.) more common in the realm of fiction.
Then again, if this were fiction we’d meet the main couple before they’d met each other. As the film opens, Dina Buno and Scott Levin are in the process of moving in with each other, and looking forward to their engagement party and, shortly after, the wedding.
They’re an odd couple, but who isn’t? Scott has Asperger’s syndrome, while Dina is developmentally disabled and has a dark episode in her past that will become shockingly clear late in the picture. (She makes an oblique reference to an ex-boyfriend as “the psycho,” but again, who doesn’t?)
The camera follows them everywhere, including into the bedroom, where not much happens. Dina craves physical intimacy; the less experienced Scott is skittish.
This gap is sometimes heartbreaking, occasionally funny and most often both. Take the scene on the Ocean City boardwalk in New Jersey, in which she presents him with a copy of The Joy of Sex. “I could learn,” he offers meekly, although his first reaction is: “Twelve million copies; that’s a lot!” Then as they embark on a frank discussion of self-pleasure some young kids wander into the frame, just out of earshot, I hope.
The film doesn’t mention this, but Dina has known Sickles for many years, which helps explain her openness in front of the camera. In return, the directors treat their subjects with warmth, respect and compassion. You could walk past these two on the street and never think twice about them. What a treat to be invited into their world. ∂∂∂∂ Dina opens Nov. 3 in Toronto, London and Ottawa; and Nov. 17 in Halifax and Uxbridge.