By Matthew Moorcroft

Solid Recommendation

• Directed by Kurtis Watson
• Not Rated

My Dad’s Tapes is a difficult work to review because I’m not really sure it’s meant to be “reviewed” in the traditional sense. It would frankly be like reviewing or critiquing somebody’s own personal emotional therapy or the old home movies one made to escape from reality; it’s one thing to be critical, it’s another to be actively cruel and dismissive. I even debated not reviewing My Dad’s Tapes at all, as ultimately the point of the piece is less about it’s quality but more the message it sends and I don’t wanna take away from that.

The important message of the film, something that first time feature filmmaker Kurtis Watson is deeply concerned about and has many opinions on, is something worth discussing. The deep stigma around men’s mental health and the general, pervasive feeling of toxic masculinity in society that allows this sort of thinking is a relevant, deeply resonate topic for many, even Watson who spends the first 5 minutes of the picture finding himself on the same wave length of his own father. We, ultimately, become like our parents in the best and worst ways.

With hundreds of hours of tape footage at his disposal, My Dad’s Tapes is at it’s best when examining both it’s filmmaker and his father from these tapes. The grainy, sometimes hard to read footage tells so much more then any interview probably ever could – as well as give more heartache and pain. My Dad’s Tapes is exceptionally effective at pulling on your heartstrings, and it never feels manipulative either, mainly cause it’s difficult to not feel some kind of empathy when you actually do see the footage. It’s frankly impressive on how much Watson is able to actually get out of it and the sheer amount of footage he navigates – shown in great detail here in his editing process in-film – is alone a tremendous feat of perservation.

That’s really only half the film though, and much of the rest of the picture is dedicated to bringing his family members together for what is essentially a long awaited, gestating family therapy session through the eyes of a movie camera. Some of these sequences are remarkably effective, particularly one where Watson himself goes to the place where his father passed away and the camera quality turns into that of his dad’s tapes. It’s a great moment of visual connectivity while also giving the sense of Watson’s own head space without doing much and from a clear first time filmmaker like this it’s great ingenuity. And by being such a personal project – he even comes out on screen for the first time to his sisters – it’s sense of authenticity is really unmatched in that regard.

The pitfalls of first time filmmaking are everywhere here though, and it’s impossible to deny that. Watson has stated that the film was initially supposed to be a short film but it expanded into a bigger project once he learned more and saw the amount of footage, and it has the bones of one for sure. It’s ultimate thesis, as important as it is, doesn’t have much meat on it and does ultimately fail to mention systemic stigmas (likely to keep the focus on the personal over the societal). And while I do like the somewhat “home movie” vibe of the piece, I do wish it leaned more into that and maybe stayed away from narration for much of it’s runtime.

But it’s easy to like My Dad’s Tapes, frankly, and it’s difficult to justify not. It’s as personal as one of these kinds of projects get and it’s message is important in the long term and it was clearly cathartic for it’s lead filmmaker and his entire family. If anything as well, Kurtis Watson shows great promise as a filmmaker in terms of making films that are personal as they are self-reflective, and I hope he continues on that path cause I suspect something even better is coming his way. Good, heartfelt stuff here.