Piece Comment

Review of call to canada


This is a great piece. Ultra-clever concept. This piece would make a great segment on a larger program or magazine show.
The piece follows the course of a phone call to inquire about emigration to Canada from the US. It criss-crosses the boundaries between the real and the surreal, and bounces back and forth between sincerity and aloofness. Kind of like a smart, earnest prank phone call. It's both a graceful protest and humorous narcissism. The piece shows that being creative and clever doesn't require a lot of technical whiz-bang and that political commentary doesn't need heavy-handed preaching or factual recitation to make a strong point.
My only criticism is that it's about twice as long as it should be. There is a phenomenal, award-winning, 8-minute segment here with about 7 minutes of material that could fall away without diminishing the piece.