Ion Cinema review: Bending Steel

It turns out that being an old time strongman has less to do with bulging muscles, leopard skin leotards and handle bar mustaches than it does with carrying on tradition and achieving the seemingly impossible. For Chris Shoeck, contorting bodies of solid steel is more than a niche hobby – it’s a personal relationship in which all of his angst and frustrations are converted into physical force and positive vibes. Director Dave Carroll discovered Shoeck and his throwback obsession when his dog wandered into the aspiring strongman’s dungeonesque practice cage in the basement laundry room of the building where they both live. After an awkward first encounter, Chris, who has spent most of his life avoiding human interaction by either bending, boozing or burying his nose in a book, found Carroll to be incredibly easy to confide in. Shoeck’s inspiring transformative journey that’s solidified within Bending Steel is a bravely personal journey of trust and triumph that nods to sideshow history with solemn respect.[...]