DVD Review: Shelter Island

STUDIO: TDC Entertainment | DIRECTOR: Michael Canzoniero
DVD RELEASE DATE: 5/13/2014 | PRICE: DVD $24.98
BONUSES: short film by Alex Olinkiewicz, montage of Harald Olson’s paintings
SPECS: NR | 77 min. | Documentary | 1.78:1 widescreen | Dolby Digital 5.1

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

 

Michael Canzoniero’s documentary Shelter Island tells the story of artist Harald Olson and his patron Jimmy Olinkiewicz who reside in the titular island town at the Eastern end of Long Island. Jimmy owns a gas station/convenience store that he allows Harald to use as space to express his artistic abilities. Harald scours the recycling dump for painting supplies and manages to turn other people’s trash into amazing pieces of artwork.

Artist Harald Olson in Shelter Island

At first, it seems to be a simple story about Harald and his intensive focus on painting while Jimmy tries to sell what pictures he can in order to earn some extra money for Harald. Ultimately, the film becomes an uplifting story about the kindhearted friendship between Jimmy and Harald. Once the audience learns that Jimmy’s son Alex has Asperger’s Syndrome, the viewer has a better understanding of why Jimmy identifies so easily with Harald. The father/son relationship becomes a parallel story.

The one fault with Shelter Island is the lack of background details about outsider artist Harald. Small comments throughout the film help piece together some history, but I like to have more background about people when they are featured in a documentary. This was only a minor irritation as I was so involved in watching someone with no formal training create amazing art.

David Rankin, a sculptor who also resides on Shelter Island, noticed Harald’s art and helped to secure a gallery showing for him. The audience becomes expectant of the art show to see what happens when they get to New York, and the “art world” encounters not only Harald’s personality, but his work as well.

Overall, Shelter Island is a fascinating film about the true compassion that can be found in humanity and the inspiration of Harald’s artwork.

The DVD extras include a Youtube video Alex made about being a teenager living with Asperger’s, along with a montage of Harald’s artwork.

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