Something Right
2009 · 4m · Canada
Directed by Tracy McLaren
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
Daniel, who has lost custody rights to his children, paints with intense dedication in hopes that his daughter will one day be able to describe him proudly as an artist.
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It's structurally orthodox—estranged father, redemptive art, quiet catharsis—the kind of earnest biography that usually puts me to sleep, but McLaren's refusal to sentimentalize the custody wound keeps it from collapsing into uplift.
A formally restrained portrait that sits comfortably in the lineage of contemplative biographical shorts, with the painter's hands and studio becoming a studied meditation on legacy and witness—precisely calibrated emotional restraint.
The singular choice here is the paintings themselves: McLaren lets the work speak without ever showing us the daughter's face or reaction, trusting the visual evidence of his labor to do all the emotional heavy lifting in four minutes.