The Closer We Get
AROUND 40 people turned out to a screening of Karen Guthrie’s creative documentary The Closer We Get on Tuesday night, followed by a Q&A session with the director.
Described as a “powerful and bittersweet” portrait, the film takes the viewer “under the skin” of her family’s household.
Filmed over four years, mainly at Largs, Guthrie tells the story of her family’s survival after her mother suffered a devastating stroke.
Photographer Austin Taylor, who was at Tuesday night’s screening, said he thoroughly enjoyed the 90-minute long movie for the strong story but also “for its absolute presentational difference to what we usually see in the cinema”.
“It told of how this family didn’t communicate very well, yet portrayed a family life to the outside world that hid layer on layer of mystery and deception, all brought sharply into the siblings world by Karen’s mum’s stroke.”
During the Q&A session Guthrie revealed that the film had inspired a project with the NHS to help people learn about and come to terms with debilitating illness and better understand the role of and pressures on carers.
The Closer We Get was premiered at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, Canada, this April, where it won the prize for best international feature.
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