Sundance NOW Review: Bending Steel

While I’ve only seen a small handful of the roughly two-dozen documentaries featured in this year’s festival, this year’s program offers further proof of Tribeca’s importance as a nonfiction showcase. Take Bending Steel, which is more than just a story about the return of an “old-school strongman,” as aspiring steel-bender Chris Schoeck (rhymes with Shrek) calls himself. While Dave Carroll’s sensitive debut film could fall into a line of sports documentaries about individuals overcoming the odds—which are in abundant supply at Tribeca thanks to its partnership with ESPN Films—Bending Steel is a subtler observational film, with an astounding unforeseen arc[...]