True/False Films

The Order of Myths

In person: director Margaret Brown.

Margaret Brown, who brought Be Here to Love Me about Townes Van Zandt to T/F in 2005, has returned to her childhood home in Mobile, Alabama, to tell a stylish tale of two cities. The backdrop is Mobile's Mardi Gras, the oldest in the United States. It's a source of pride for this southern city, but also a stew of racial issues that start with the historic slave trade and run right up to the still-segregated celebrations, complete with separate royalty and rituals. Rather than being heavy handed, Brown's observational style brings us into the thick of the baroque preparations, revealing the playfulness and dignity in each royal court, and introducing us to nuanced characters that burst off the screen and make us examine our relationship with other races. Melding European aesthetics to an American knack for story and punchiness, The Order of Myths is gloriously assured filmmaking and a touchstone of contemporary documentary. (PS) (Presented by the University of Missouri)