Documentary
7 Episode playlist

First there's John.

We rented a loft from him for several years and thus had ample time to study his way of life. Every time he visited the building it was like witnessing a hurricane passing through and he often left us flustered, angry or laughing. As time went on we learned more and more about him; he owns a company called MACHINECO that sells and rents various industrial machines to customers all over the world. He is also the owner of many buildings in Montreal which he both rents and sells. In addition, he is suing and being sued by numerous people and represents himself in court. He now has extensive legal knowledge, and wins more often than he loses.

Then there's Robin.

John shares this chaotic lifestyle with his brother Robin Doak. We frequently encountered them frazzled, covered head to toe in dirt, running on no sleep, and announcing catastrophe. Be it a burst pipe, flooding, fires, theft, tenants not paying rent, lost machine shipments, problems with Revenu Quebec, or more than ten court cases in process, we never ceased to be fascinated with their stories. From our perspective, the interaction occurring between them while working together is extremely interesting. Visually they look alike, and watching them argue is highly entertaining. Despite that, they appear to intuitively understand each other and have continued working together with an almost mysterious harmony for more than 25 years.

A few words from our subject:

Sometimes our office is a control tower for crashing opportunities, in effect planes trying to all land at once, flying low, in a fog, to a mountain landing strip, but the radar and ground approach are down. Worse, we’re taking sporadic enemy fire. Most outsiders, seeing typical messy desks and some old computer screens, would never guess what goes on! What you see is an all—too—accurate reflection of daily life. All shooting was live, with no plot, no script whatsoever and no rehearsals. Five years ago, after trooping over here religiously on the 1st of the month, (as tenant), @vachemorte often encountered the unusual high-stress “office action” and he asked “can this madness [and intensity] be real?”. @vachemorte and @juliakponsford seem to have reversed the corollary rendering a sow’s ear into a silk purse demonstrating amazing production values, considering the budget; but of course that is up to the eye of the beholder. I congratulate producer/director @vachemorte and @juliakponsford, on their video series. (especially considering the subject. :-) Best regards, John Doak

Hanging around with John and Robin, while we were filming, was not an easy task but through this experience we have gotten to know John on a more profound level and we discovered that he has a flair for drama and could just as easily be an actor as a machine salesman. There is a reason why we decided to film them and do a documentary. We became fascinated by their lifestyle, their adventures and incredible stories. We are not alone, everybody we meet that knows them personally agrees and always has an amazing story to tell. They are some kind of legend in Montreal.