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 FESTIVAL REVIEWS I ROTTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL 2018 I DI GIOVANNI OTTONE I 2018
ROTTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL 2018
LIST OF SELECTED NEW FULL LENGTH FEATURE FILMS
AND DOCUMENTARIES FROM ROTTERDAM INT. F. F. 2018
Di GIOVANNI OTTONE
"Anna's War", Alexey Fedorchenko
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L’International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)
(w. p.= world première; i. p.= international première; e. p.= european première) ( 1° = first film; 2° = second film; ….)
Section Hivos Tiger Award :
"The Widowed Witch", Cai Chengjie |
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The Widowed Witch (China, 2018, w. p., 1°), 120’, by Cai Chengjie. Dark satire with surrealistic elements: a blend of wry cynicism and matter-of-fact mysticism with mordant humour. But also an excellent and truthful description of a context full of greed, mistrust, superstition, opportunism, moral vacuum, strong prejudices and violence against women in Heibei province, an impoverished part of deep rural northern China. Portrait of a woman in her 30s who travels around in a motor home after losing her home and husband. The credulous locals decide that Er Hou is cursed. So, in order to survive, she pretends to be a shaman who can rid villagers of evil spirits. Almost very good and intriguing film. Best Film Award
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The Reports on Sarah and Saleem (Palestine / Netherlands / Germany / Mexico, 2018, w. p., 2°) 127’, by Muayad Alayan (Love, theft and other entanglements, 2015, w. p. at Berlinale). Almost excellent. Convincing existential and social drama, with political thriller elements, that depict the tensions between West and East Jerusalem, showing how societal forces prevent any form of normalized relations between Israelis and Palestinians. A simple affair between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, springing from a need to let off some steam, becomes twisted by security services on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian. Almost excellent, very well written and quite honest about both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, prejudices and dirty tricks (it recalls, in a certain way, Omar, 2015, by Hany Abu-Assad). No didactic patterns, but “moral dialectic” on the path of Asghar Farhadi’s cinema. Significant is the presence of quite a few Israeli actors in a Palestinian film with zero Israeli funds attached. Special Jury Award for the screenplay by Rami Alayan. Hubert Bals Fund Audience Award
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"The Reports on Sarah and Saleem" Muayad Alayan
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"Piercing", Nicolas Pesce |
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Piercing (USA, 2018, i. p., 2°, W. P. at SUNDANCE F. F. 2018), 81’, by Nicolas Pesce (The Eyes of my Mother, 2016, w. p. at Sundance F. F. 2016). Almost very good. Intriguing psychosexual thriller and horror film with a seam of black comedy lying under the surface. Detached and expressive mise en scène, with effective suspense and tension and wry and very dark humour. It offers a sadomasochistic two-hander and dares viewers to figure out who's on top at any given moment. Based on a novel by Ryu Murakami, who wrote the source material for Takashi Miike's Audition and several other movies, the film balances revulsion with allure and all its action against the question of who knows what and when. It recalls De Palma’s cinema and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, but without copying.
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Section Bright Future
All You Can Eat Buddha (Canada, 2017, e. p., 1°, W. P. at TORONTO F. F. 2017), 84’, by Ian Lagarde. Very nice black comedy set in an imaginary tropical resort in a Caribbean or South American island. Original mise en scène with strong surrealistic hints. Mike, an enigmatic and corpulent tourist in his 50s, enjoys the routine in the resort and then decides to stay there forever: till bizarre events occur. The film unfolds into deadpan, Zen-like, unnerving visions and slowly draws us into a melancholic dreamscape. It recalls some films by Ulrich Seidl or by Jeunet and Carot and even by Marco Ferreri
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"All You Can Eat Buddha" Ian Lagarde
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"Azouge Nazaré ", Tiago Melo |
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Azouge Nazaré (Brazil, 2018, w. p., 1°), 80’, by Tiago Melo. Nice comedy set in Nazarè da Mata, a small town in the agricultural cane-sugar region near regional capital Recife, in nordeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco. It dramatizes the conflict inside the community between boisterous tribal-ritual spectacles and evangelical Christianity. On one side there are the Afro-Brazilian people very fond of Maracatu, a dance and music popular spectacle related to carnival, with roots in the era of slavery. On the other side there is a local evangelical pastor, bad-tempered and lecherous hypocrite, who considers this local heritage inspired by the devil. Despite some flaws in the narrative and in the mix of realistic and documentary portraits and supernatutal elements and touches, the film, built around a sympathetic cast of mostly non-professionals actors, is quite effective in terms of cinematic language and vision, casual charm, good humour and anthropologicalobservations. Bright Future Award: Best first feauture-length film
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Balekempa (The Bangle Seller) (India, 2018, w. p., 1°), 103’, by Ere Gowda. Excellent existential drama set in a rural village in southern Indian Karnataka state. The daily routine of a couple: Kempala, a village bangle seller, and his younger wife. The couple’s inability to conceive a children is a concern of the whole extended family and a matter of village gossip. An intriguing minimalist approach that confronts hidden secrets and desires of the protagonists with extreme refinement, together with an exceptional unobtrusive camera work and a very genuine performances of non-actors from the village. FIPRESCI Award
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"Balekempa" Ere Gowda
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"August at Akiko’s", Christopher Makoto Yogi |
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August at Akiko’s (USA, 2018, w. p., 1°), 75’, by Christopher Makoto Yogi. Good and intriguing existential drama, told in an almost matter-of-fact way, with a melancholic and fairy-tale atmosphere that is reminiscent of Asian art-house films of the late 20th century. Having lived abroad for a long time, thirty-something old musician Alex Zhang Hungtai returns to Hawaii. He meets Akiko, an old woman in her 70s who takes him under her wing and teaches him to handle 'ha', the spirit that links him to his birthplace.
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Blockage (Sade Ma’bar) (Iran, 2017, e. p., 2°, W. P. at FAJR F. F. 2017 in Iran, then PUSAN INT. F. F. 2017, Best film Prize in New Currents section), 82’, by Mohsen Gharaei. Excellent portrait of a context of corruption, hypocrisy and life choices that, through an increasing tension like a thriller, drives to a marriage dissolution. The nerve-racking plot development implies an implicit, but clear, social and political critic to the Iranian current regime. Qassem, an enforcement official at Tehran Municipality has to combat illegal street hawking in Tehran, but he mainly uses his position to extort money from traders. who cracks down on street vendors in Tehran. However, he is an impulsive and hot-headed character and is to be fired because of some covert deals with selected vendors. He knows there’s a lot of money in recycling, so he wants to buy a truck using his father-in-law’s bequest as a down-payment. His wife wants to spend the money on buying a house, so they won’t have to bother her sister’s family any more, but, behind her back, Qassem presses on with his risky plan. |
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"Blockage (Sade Ma’bar)" Mohsen Gharaei
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"Jonaki", Aditya Vikram Sengupta |
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Jonaki (India / France / Singapore, 2018, w. p., 2°), 95’, by Aditya Vikram Sengupta (Labour of Love, 2014, w. p. at Venice F. F. 2014). A new masterpiece by A. V. Sengupta. A dramatic female portrait drawn with an exciting personal cinematic language: a fascinating and meticulous aesthetic approach which creates a special esoteric trance. Jonaki, an eighty-year-old woman, finds herself in a decaying world of nostalgia. She relives moments of her life with a strangeness that churns up feelings buried deep in her soul. Her memories surface in dream-like modes in which the line between real and surreal blurs. The echoing space of this fascinating meditative journey gently and carefully confronts us with a possible moment of transition between life and death. Special painted images suggest a temporal and spatial void inhabited by a less immediate kind of time.
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Poisonous Roses (Ward Masmoun) (Egypt / France, 2018, w. p., 1°), 70’, by Ahmet Fawzi Saleh. Excellent existential drama concerning the terrible condition of the low class in Egypt. Set in Cairo, it offers a very realistic portrait of the terrible conditions of the workers in the grubby tanners’ district. The story of a controversial relationship between brother and sister. Saqr (22) works very hard in a tannery and wants to flee from his poor and unhealthy condition. His sister, Taheya (28), is a toilet cleaner and is dedicated to him: every day she brings Saqr freshly prepared lunch, implying that without her care he shall starve. She wants to keep Saqr with her at any cost. Ahmet Fawzi Saleh’s documentary approach is simple and very effective, avoiding psychological detours and usual dramatic clichés. |
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"Poisonous Roses" Ahmet Fawzi Saleh
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"Respeto", Alberto Monteras II |
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Respeto (Philippines, 2017, i. p., 1°, W. P. at CINEMALAYA: PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT F. F. 2017), 96’, by Alberto Monteras II. Very good coming-of-age film set in Manila’s Pandacan slum. A realistic portrait of the sub-proletarian condition and way of survival and also a gritty, realistic examination of the complex relationship between hip hop culture, underground rap battles and inner city violence. Hendrix (17), is forced to deal drugs by his sister’s companion, but he prefers to walk around with two pals and occasionally steals goods, facing the current state-inflicted terror. Then they meet Doc, an old bookstore-owner, once a radical poet, and it happens a striking parallel between the days of dictator Marcos and the present. The past is the key to the present and the present is very much rooted in the past. A mature mise en scène, a dynamic camera, a convincing dramatic pace marked by the beats and rhymes in the Tagalog language and a very good cast.
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The Return (Denmark / South Korea, 2018, w. p., 1°), 87’, by Malene Choi Jensen. Good and very personal existential drama: almost a full-blooded documentary, but also a genuine portrait about a painful identity searching. Thirty-something Karoline, a Danish-Korean adoptee, return for the first time to the country they were once born in. She discovers she is not the only one who wants to know where her roots are. Other fellow adoptees from Europe and the United States are trying to fill the black holes of their childhood. She knows where she was born and has a name, but more is needed to find her birth mother. The film is partially based on director Malene Choi's personal experience as well as stories shared by adoptees that she encountered in Seoul while shooting the film. Bright Future Special Mention |
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"The Return" Malene Choi Jensen
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Section Voices :
"The Guilty", Gustav Möller |
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The Guilty (Denmark, 2018, e. p., 1°, W. P. at SUNDANCE F. F. 2018, Audience Award in World Cinema Dramatic section), 85’, by Gustav Möller. A good thriller which joins an illustrious line of films centering around one or more phone calls, but develops a true tension because it’s completely set on real-time. A police station somewhere in Denmark. Police officer Asger Holm is taking the emergency calls tonight. His shift is almost over. This isn’t his normal job. To his chagrin, he’s been sentenced to it whilst awaiting a court case. Then he answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is suddenly disconnected, the search for the woman and her kidnapper begins. A clever script, despite some detours not very convincing, few actors, a single space and a wonderful talent in managing effective twists. IFFR Audience Award
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Father to Son (Van Pao-te) (Taiwan, 2018, w. p., 3°), 115’, by Hsiao Ya-chuan. An excellent family drama, almost a masterpiece. Hsiao Ya-chuan sketches a circle of evolution and development: stories from the past hide in the future, or maybe the future actually lies within the past. On his 60th birthday, Van Pao-Te, a shop owner and inventor of hydraulic devices, is told that he is seriously ill. But instead of going to Taipei for treatment, his illness leads him to Japan. Together with his son, he goes in search of the father who abandoned him 50 years ago. At the same time, a young man with a mysterious connection to Van's past is travelling from Hong Kong to Taiwan. Hou Hsiao-hsien's influence is palpable in the calm and well-thought-out style of Hsiao Ya-chuan: he interweaves this family story with subtle elements of Taiwanese history. |
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"Father to Son (Van Pao-te)" Hsiao Ya-chuan
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"Tiempo compartido (Time Share)", Sebastián Hofmann |
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Tiempo compartido (Time Share) (Mexico / Netherlands, 2018, e. p., 2°, W. P. at SUNDANCE F. F. 2018), 96’, by Sebastián Hofmann (Halley, 2012, w. p. at Morelia Int. F. F. in Mexico, 2012). Very good brash satire about both Mexican low middle class and corporate ambition. It recalls both Buñuel’s cinema and Brothers Coen’s films, but displays enough originality and intrigue. Hofmann invests a surreal, gaudy satire with unsettling elements of horror, grief and paranoia. Sustained by an enthusiastic score that jauntily skips from the comic to the sinister, the film is constantly captivating and works hard to encourage the viewer to always assume the worst. Thirty-something Pedro and Eva and their kid Raton arrive to all-inclusive holiday paradise resort Vistamar. Unfortunately, their luxury apartment has been double-booked. Eva decides there’s nothing else to do but share their rooms with another exuberant and invasive family. But Pedro is bent on recompense and becomes increasingly entangled in the incomparable rhetoric of the cheerful hotel’s staff. On his warpath, he encounters the frustrated Andres. Their joint paranoia assumes worrying proportions.
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The Bold, the Corrupt and the Beautiful (Taiwan, 2017, e. p., 3°, W. P. at PUSAN INT. F. F. 2017, then TAIPEI GOLDEN HORSE F.F. 2017, 4 Awards, Best Feature Film, Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Audience Choice Award), 112’, by Yang Ya-che. Impressive tragic drama that offers a very dark portrait of the Taiwanese upper class’s corruption during the 1980s. A labyrinthine tale of high-level corruption. Lying, deceiving, making underhand deals and appeasing the Taiwanese elite: these are just some of the talents of the hard-hearted matriarch fifty-something Tang Yue-ying. Apparently she is a modest-looking widow with important relationships, but in fact is the leader of a shady syndicate profiting from illegal land speculation schemes. She colludes and mediates between the government and the private businesses and is ready to do anything to maintain and extend her power and wealth. She certainly needs these talents when she is connected to a scandal about the purchase of a piece of land. Especially when her two daughters, the rebellious Ning and the obedient Chen, indirectly become involved in the gruesome slaughter of a family of friends, a massacre that also seems to be related to the corruption case. Ambition, desire and lust eventually change Tang's relationships with her own daughters forever. A fascinating mix of thriller and soap opera in which women rule the roost and the sets and costumes are stunningly beautiful. Some off-putting Brechtian sequences feature two traditional Taiwanese musicians who offer commentaries from an ominous-looking TV studio that appears to exist in a different reality. |
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"The Bold, the Corrupt and the Beautiful", Yang Ya-che
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"Fátima", Joăo Canijo |
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Fátima (Portugal / France, 2017, i. p., 10°), 153’, by João Canijo. Very good atypical road movie that offer a genuine portrait of the current popular sub-culture in Northern Portugal. A quite realistic chronicle of 11 women pilgrimage to Fátima, a journey of 400 kilometres across Portugal. Mostly of them are forty-something or even older and are performing the same tusk every year since longtime. But the spiritual, 10-day journey by foot does not necessarily bring out the best in the group. Exhaustion, continual rain and differences of opinion cause increasing tensions and quarrels in the initially closed ranks. The film focuses above all on the dynamics between the women, each of whom has their own motivation and spiritual baggage as they embark on the journey. The camera closely follows the walkers and their blisters along the long roads the women follow, sometimes in silence, sometimes singing and sometimes squabbling, and also when they arrive exhausted after a long day. The spiritual aim seems to fade further into the background and the question is whether they will manage to reach the holy spot as a group.
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Silent Mist (China / France, 2017, e. p., 4°, W. P. at PUSAN INT. F. F. 2017), 101’, by Zhang Miaoyan. Very good thriller based on true events and still unsolved crimes. And, at the same time, an effective portrait of the context of greed, individualism and moral vacuum in contemporary China: a shocking picture of a country where especially the men seem to grab what they can. A vicious portrait of a small town by the riverside, where everyone sees everything but no one says anything. What does matter is to find the culprit in a series of rapes in which women were dragged at night into the shadows. But the local policeman only seems to want to act when he is paid, while the parents of one of the victims don’t seem to care. Zhang’s typical tracking long shots and scarce dialogues, depict a silent protest against the inhabitants looking the other way.
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"Silent Mist", Zhang Miaoyan
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"A Tiger in Winter", Lee Kwang-kuk |
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A Tiger in Winter (South Korea, 2017, i. p., 4°, W. P. at PUSAN INT. F. F. 2017), 107’, by Lee Kwang-kuk. Good dramatic comedy about a thirty-something man, frustrated because he failed to become a novelist. A wonderfully-acted characters’ study. The tone is again humorous, melancholy and filled with compassion for the roaming souls inhabiting Seoul in winter. On a winter day, a tiger escapes from the zoo. Gyeong-yu, who was living with his girl-friend, does not understand why she decided to leave him. Gyeong-yu is a freelance chauffeur and he must face clients who are exigent, not very serious and even dishonest. By chance, he meets his former girl-friend Yoo-jung. She now writes novels, which is what he himself dreamt of. Unlike Gyeong-yu, she has managed to realise her literary ambitions, even if it hasn’t made her any happier. They eventually could tie a new relationship. However, Yoo-jung feels lousy and is unable to write: so she makes a strange offer to Gyeong-yu. It’s quite evident by the premise that the film walks a thin line between pragmatism and surrealism with the second part leaning towards the latter. The tiger is our fear of failure. In other words, is the fear of not living up to expectations, others and ours.
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What Will People Say (Norway / Germany / Sweden, 2°, W. P. at TORONTO F. F. 2017), 106’, by Iram Haq. Almost very good. A compelling coming-of-age drama, about a first-generation Norwegian teenager clashes with the traditional values and expectations of her Pakistani émigré parents. Sixteen year-old Nisha lives a double life. At home with her family she is the perfect Pakistani daughter, but when out with her friends, she is a normal Norwegian teenager. She goes to parties, hangs around with her friends and has her eye on a nice boy. Nisha has to do all of this in secret, because she is being brought up according to Pakistani traditions. When her father catches her kissing his sweetheart, Nisha's two worlds brutally collide. To set an example, parents decide to kidnap her and place her with relatives in a small town in Pakistan. Here, in a country she has never been to before, Nisha is forced to adapt to her parents' culture. Hiram Haq develops the father-daughter relationship visually as well as verbally, showing the action from both their perspectives. Good narrative, with authenticity and immediacy and without didactic and sensationalistic elements.
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"What Will People Say", Iram Haq
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"Neomanila", Mikhail Red |
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Neomanila (Philippines, 2017, i. p., 3°, W. P. at Q CINEMA INT. F. F. 2017, in Quezon City, in the Philippines), 101’, by Mikhail Red. Almost very good. A dark, sobering thriller set in Manila’s slums. The context is new President Duterte's war on drugs which has turned Manila into a hunting ground where extrajudicial executions take place daily. Shady criminals do the dirty work for the cops and leave the victims in the road with the accusations written on cardboard. Toto, a homeless teen, gets caught between a rock and a hard place when the police arrest his older brother. To get him out, he has to betray a drug dealer thereby risking revenge from a street gang. Contract killer Irma takes him under her wing, but also tries to make Toto, who has never killed anyone, her understudy. With loyalties tested and unexpected acts of violence burning the bridges behind him, the end result becomes less predictable. With great realism and viewed through the eyes of those immediately involved, this film reveals how fear and violence determine the complex relationships in the urban labyrinth. But is also set in a milieu where tenderness and violence coexist, and this delicate balance is illustrated by Red's tactful use of melodrama.
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La nuit a devoré le monde (The Night Eats the World) (France, 2017, i. p., 1°, W. P. at PREMIERS PLANS D’ANGERS F. F., in France), 94’, by Dominique Rocher. Good and quite original zombie movie. An adaption of Pit Agarmen's novel, this film the intimate with the supernatural. Under the guise of an inventive genre film, Rocher portrays a philosophical portrait of modern loneliness in major cities. By choosing minimalism, isolation and psychological survival behind closed doors, and by focusing on a character who becomes a kind of Robinson Crusoe in the heart of Paris, in a beautiful Haussmann building, while the streets below teem with zombies. Maintaining dramatic tension on a relatively tenuous thread, the film relies on the genre's classic resources (the suggestibility of sound, among others) without overexploiting them (zombies are always filmed during the day, in wide shots), not just looking to scare, but rather to reflect the inner evolution of the main character. |
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"La nuit a devoré le monde ", Dominique Rocher
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"Ajji", Devashish Makhija |
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Ajji (India, 2017, 2°, W. P. at PUSAN INT. F. F. 2017 ), 104’, by Devashish Makhija. Very good revenge thriller set in an Indian urban slum. The ongoing struggle with violence against women is at the heart of this low-key but quietly affecting drama. 9-year-old Manda is found raped and dumped in a trash heap near her slum. Her parents are more concerned with survival than dignity. The cops are powerless to help as the rapist is a local goon whose father runs a huge business. But Granny (Ajji) won't accept what happened to her grand daughter: she decides to get justice nevertheless and makes a detailed plan. Most of the scenes are set during the night with strong realism, and the skilfully created atmosphere of dread along with the masterful, dynamic camera movements, through small alleys, not only bring out the tension in the slum but also the darkness of the characters. There is no didactic message, but the film turns a grim light on the institutional and cyclical poverty, violence, inequality, indifference and entitlement that still plague India. Devashish Makhija avoids identifying the location because it could be absolutely anywhere in India, stating rape and violence are so endemic in the country.
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Anna’s War (Voina Anny) (Russia, 2018, w. p., 6°),75’, by Alexey Fedorchenko. Good. An interesting fairy tale that deals with the tragedy of Holocaust in an unusual, naïf and poetic way. The story is set in Ukraine, in 1941. Alexey Fedorchenko modestly, empathically tells the true story of six-year-old Anna, who views the war from her hiding place (in a chimney) in a building taken over by the Nazis. She dares to explore the building only during the night, when it is deserted, looking for food and water to drink, but the threat of discovery is constant. Her ingenuity, the items left behind by the slowly alternating visitors and the treasures she discovers in the adjacent rooms help her survive, simultaneously creating some absurdist, theatrical moments. The film, shot in an interestingly subjective manner, offer moments of stark visual power, despite the leap of logic in many situations. |
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"Anna’s War ", Alexey Fedorchenko
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Section Perspectives
"The Fortress", Hwang Dong-hyuk |
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The Fortress (Namhan Sanseong) (South Korea, 2017, 4° ), 139’, by Hwang Dong-hyuk. Very good period film. A powerful epic drama that displays an intriguing characters’ study. Based on both real events and a novel by Kim Hoon. In 1636, during the Second Manchu invasion of Korea, led by General Ingguldai, King Injo and his retainers sought refuge in the fortress located in Namhansanseong. The film retraces the steps of the doomed stand of Korea’s Joseon kingdom against the Qing dynasty, which had recently been established and demanded fealty from Joseon. Korean people, despite finding themselves surrounded and increasingly cold and hungry, decided to stand firm against the Qing army. In Dong-hyuk’s retelling the Joseon officials bicker amongst themselves over everything, believing that any willingness to negotiate would just be seen as weakness. It’s the ramifications of these political debates that is the focus of the film, and the result is a high-stakes game of persuade the king and appease the enemy.
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Taramami (India, 2017, i. p., 3°), 150’, by Ram. Almost very good. A love story that put together melodrama, without the usual clichés, defying characters’ study and social and cultural elements. Set in Taramami, the corporate hub of Chennai. Althea, an Anglo-Indian independent straight forward woman in her 30s, single mother of a little boy, and a successful HR professional working in an IT company, comes across brooding loner and jobless Prabunath, a quite honest guy who is wasting away his life because his former girlfriend dumped him. Prabhu and Altheya fall for each other, then he becomes increasingly possessive of her. Ram depicts their complicated relationship, separation and their redemption journey to know the importance of true love. Through the steps of this love story Ram uses his whip-smart writing and witty voice over to portray the city's developing modern culture and the true colors of the different characters. The film also delves deep into ‘complex’ issues like ego, desire, greed, lust, hypocrisy, compassion, frustration, male sexuality and chauvinism, unbridled urbanisation, police brutality, demonetisation and more. Narrative is sometimes convoluted but is strong and effective, avoiding unnecessary psychological detours. |
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"Taramami", Ram |
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"Resurrection", Ram |
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Resurrection (Peranbu) (India, 2018, w. p., 4°), 148’, by Ram. Very good. Existential drama centered on the relationship between a forty-something man and his daughter, affected from birth with spastic cerebral palsy. Amudhavan, after many years of work in Dubai, comes back to India and must take care of his 14 years old daughter because his wife left him. He faces any kind of prejudices and boycott, including a confrontation with local mafia that forced him to sell his cottage, till an unexpected help by a kind woman who is a transgender. An uneasy portrait of life on the edge that soon turns into a drama with political undertones. Clever screenplay and mature mise en scène
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Documentaries :
Angkar (France, 2018, w. p., 1°), 71’, by Neary Adeline Hay (born in 1981, in Cambogia, she grew up in France). Almost very good, touching and very interesting. The filmmaker, who was born from a forced marriage at a village of detention during the Khmer Rouge regime, has for a long time nurtured the desire to explore and better understand this period of Cambodia's history marked by violence and repudiation. A personal journey back in time, in the company of her father Khonsaly, who meets his former Khmer Rouge persecutors in the obscure intimacy of the village in which they lived together as prisoners for four years. Between past and present, identities are revealed, the forgotten spectres re-emerge and the story, face-to-face, is finally told. The film stands as a testimony of survival, raises the question of memory, and shows the vital importance of narrating the past: a tangible document which contributes to the reconstruction of the memory of a country.
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"Angkar", Neary Adeline Hay
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"Homogeneous Empty Time", Thunsa Pansittivorakul and Harit Srikhao |
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Homogeneous Empty Time (Thailand / Germany, 2017, 103’, by Thunsa Pansittivorakul and Harit Srikhao (documentary makers and activists for human rights). Very good. The documentary was shot between the 2014 military coup and the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October 2016, as the military leaders consolidated their grip on society and countless political opponents were imprisoned. The film depicts the causes of rising nationalism in Thailand without comment. Various groups are observed, from military cadets to Buddhists, Muslims and the pupils of a Christian boarding school. Their opinions vary wildly on many subjects, but what unites them is boundless confidence in the monarchy. An interesting and genuine portrait of the current contradictions in Thailand.
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The Image You Missed (Ireland / France / USA / U K, 2018, w. p.),73’, by Donald Foreman. Very good, almost excellent.An Irish filmmaker grapples with the legacy of his estranged father, the late documentarian Arthur MacCaig (1948 – 2008, an American based in Paris), through MacCaig's decades-spanning archive of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Drawing on over 30 years of unique and never-seen-before footage, the film is an experimental essay film that weaves together a history of the Northern Irish 'Troubles' with the story of a son's search for his father. Both make films, both emigrated to another country, albeit in opposite directions: from America to Europe and vice versa. But it’s the differences that stand out: Foreman moved back to Dublin, while MacCaig had preferred to film in divided Belfast. In the process, the film creates a candid encounter between two filmmakers born into different political moments, revealing their contrasting experiences of Irish nationalism, the role of images in social struggle, and the competing claims of personal and political responsibility
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"The Image You Missed", Donald Foreman
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47. ROTTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL 2018
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