Dina *** ½ / *****
Directors: Antonio Santini & Dan Sickles.
Featuring: Dina Buno, Scott Levin.
You may think you know what kind of film Dina is going to be from its opening moments, but you’re likely wrong about it. The film is about the impending marriage between Dina and Scott – two adults in their 40s, who come into their relationship with their own problems. Scott has Asperger’s, and still lives at home with his parents – although he is independent in other ways, holding down a job for example. Dina has Asperger’s as well – although not as severe – but a “smorgasbord” of other issues, as her mother describes them. Dina has been married before, Scott hasn’t. Dina would like to have sex, but Scott isn’t so sure. She gives him a book – The Joy of Lovemaking” – and the two share a frank, honest discussion about sex – which is about the only kind of conversation they have. Their conversation sound formal, sometimes even stiff – but the love between them is undeniable. This probably makes Dina should like a typical inspirational documentary, about people living with disabilities – the type of film I normally don’t respond much to. Those types of films seems engineered to uplift and inspire, and come across as disingenuous at best, and patronizing at worst. Dina is none of those things – it is an open and honest look at these two people, who clearly love each other, as they move through their various challenges.
The film doesn’t always look like a typical doc – it often sits back, and takes a longer view of its characters, and cross cuts between them as they hang out with their various friends and/or family – showing different sides of the characters. The filmmakers don’t really interview Dina or Scott – but instead, just sit back watch them, albeit in a more stylized way than most docs. The film remains focused on these two as people – both separate, and together as a couple. The movie is sweet in its depiction of their relationship.
The film doesn’t back away from the darkness either. There is a violent incident in Dina’s past – involving someone she just calls “the psycho” who had to go to jail after he hurt her (the film shows the scars on her back – in a matter of fact, not voyeuristic way) – although we don’t really find out the details until very late in the film, in one of the most stunning moments in any doc this year as a 9/11 calls plays over an image of a deserted beach. It’s a powerful moment – and one that reminds you that these people are complicated, and have their own issues. Many times docs like this do not portray its subjects as anything more except vehicles to inspire. Dina goes deeper, in ways that are sometimes uncomfortable – but always interesting.
