Jan Troell/CPH:DOX 12
I was at the Film House tonight to meet Jan Troell, the 77 year old Swedish master, who right now experiences big international success with his latest feature, ”Maria Larssons evige Øjeblik”. English title is ”Everlasting Moments”. A whole evening programme was set up with Troell and his wife Agneta Ulfsäter Troell, from whose family the story about Maria comes. I was there for the first part of the evening, a well structured meeting with the director.
This first part opened with the film about Troell, ”Troell’s magic mirror” by Swedish Thomas Danielsson. Sympathetic it is – even if it sometimes feels a bit messy as it wants to have too much information conveyed within the hour it lasts. But you love every little word Troell says, this modest lyrical observer of the world we live in. Troell talked afterwards about his work, with many references to his old, late friend and inspiration source, the photographer Georg Oddner, that he made a brilliant documentary about, ”Presence”.
Playful Troell showed four of his small homemade films to the audience after ”Reflexion 2001” from the NY twin towers, a filmic requiem with music of Arvo Pärt. Joyful were the short film about ladybirds having sex and the one about a snail on a lunch table. Satirical was a film about animals getting a yellow tag according to EU rules. The absolute climax, however, came with a short film about some older men and women with rackets in their hands, but without any tennis balls, caught in their more or less silly movements and interesting facial expressions by the camera of Troell, their documenting tennis partner!
http://www.dfi.dk/english/Danish+films/Directors/DirectorFact.htm?DirID=9917
http://www.cphdox.dk/d1/front.lasso
