Continous Motion
From the Archives
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12-Jan-2018
In Saint Cloud, Minnesota, former doughnut baker Pete Holt chases his own American Dream by designing and manufacturing a workout machine that keeps the body in continuous motion. Whether driven by optimism or delusion, Holt envisions a workout that stays fun for 21 minutes by changing body positions and offering Coca-Cola reward breaks. Director Catherine Orchard (whom we previously featured in 2015 with her charming "Pet Therapy") is successful in her restrained profile of an eccentric Midwestern man because she exudes a listening quality, rather than a judging one. To be sure, this type of profile video is often derailed by an elevated sense of importance, a melodramatic weight given to a life or pursuit. "Continuous Motion" doesn’t suffer here; instead Orchard portrays a real sense of the ordinary. The film isn’t out to evaluate whether his idea is a good one, but rather to sit with him and listen to his story, a story that includes a near-death experience at the age of 11, a late life divorce, and an unlikely transition from baker to inventor. It’s a valuable document of a man and his single-minded resilience.
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