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The Bodybuilder & I
Description
Every June, 59-year-old Bill Friedman waxes his body, strips down the
smallest bikini shorts imaginable, slathers himself with bronzing spray and
then struts his way across a stage where he flexes his impressive muscles and
gyrates before a crowd of hundreds. Bill is a competitive bodybuilder - a
former world champ in the age 50-60 category. And now he's determined to win
his title back.
Documentary director Bryan Friedman is 26. Bill - Bryan's dad - hasn't
been around since Bryan was a baby. Over the last two decades, the two have
spent virtually no time together. Bryan's feelings are complicated - but
mostly negative, with a deep dose of embarrassment over Bill's muscle-bound
body and single-minded bodybuilding obsession.
Now, Bryan is chronicling his dad's attempt to make it back to the top.
And somehow - between bench presses, tanning sessions, costume shopping and
the occasional furtive cigarette - the two men are coming to know, and maybe
even sort of understand, each other.
Told with humour and sensitivity, The Bodybuilder and I
is a feature documentary about success, failure, shame and family. It is a
journey into the strange subculture of geriatric bodybuilders and into the
life of a man who is determined to regain his status as champion. And it is
the journey of an estranged son trying to discover who his father really is -
in hopes that he can learn to love and respect him for the first time.
2007, 85 min 48 s
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