Michael Glawogger: Megacities

Renata Medero, documentary film student at Zelig, Bolzano, Italy, writes this review of a neo- classic:

Unforgettable images… whether you like it or not.

Some films deliver images to never be forgotten, some beautiful, some not. But – what happens when the ugliness is so hypnotizing that one cannot stop watching? “Megacities” is a unique film because it brings toghether issues that by themselves seem irreconcilable. The worst of the megalopolis is brought together: dehumanization, cruelty, despair, all wrapped in a glossy and luxurious manufacturing, which makes the film as beautiful as mercyless.

The aesthetization of the poverty is not a new tendency in some films of the international scenario, but “Megacities” is tricky. Has a spotless photography, where the flawless and somewhat mysterious composition of images forces the spectator to keep watching the movie even when he might not want to.

And then, the big lettered question: Do I have the right to see this? What right did the director had to film it? And there is still another ethical issue to deal with: a group of russian street kids reveal that they were paid to be filmed. Does that mean that they were paid for showing the inhuman condition in which they live? How maquiavelic could such an idea be? In any case this film is not advisable to animal right activists, good consciences and weak hearts!

I think it is a masterpiece, because it achieves the impossible even though I don’t agree in some of the director’s views of the situations.

1998, 90 mins.

http://www.filminstitut.at/  

Thierry Paladino: At the Datcha

Holiday. The family goes to the countryside, to the datcha. We don’t know if it is far away, probably not if you judge from the condition of the car, that has severe problems in getting started. It can not have gone far! 

Mother, father and son have a good time. Father (deaf) is organising all the time, not with big talent, but he is constantly busy with the repair of the datcha or with the playing or teasing of the dogs. Mother is walking around in her black underwear enjoying the good weather, she sits in the white plastic chair and the son is helping out the father as well as he can. Actually nothing is really happening. Holiday time for all temperaments. A lesson in How-to-do-it-yourself!

And the filmmaker? He conveys beautifully the atmosphere with love for his characters and with great talent for situations and moments of absurdity. And he uses with talent the short film documentary observational language in a film practically without words.

Thierry Paladino: At the Datcha, 2006, Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing, 30 mins.

http://www.deckert-distribution.com/films/deckert_237.htm

http://www.wajdaschool.pl/4

Original Documentaries… Vehkalahti

A quote from DOX Magazine 74 (www.edn.dk), page 16, from a discussion between Neelima Mathur and Iikka Vehkalahti on “Universality vs Diversity”. Vehkalahti from YLE Finland writes:

… perhaps it is that in the genre of cinéma vérité – as creative and wonderful as it is, too often the camera just records what takes place in front of the camera (of course I know that every shot, angle, direction is already a choice and at best a personal choice) but still, somehow, there is the idea of non-interference, to be objective in the obvious subjectivity.

But in how many films do you feel and see that the creator of this documentary sees the world differently, very differently, in a way that nobody else is seeing? … I visited MOMA in NY and went to those exhibition halls, where you have old masters of modern art. How recognisable they all are – Léger, Kandinsky, Picasso etc. Or even films of Aki Kaurismaki? I need to see only a litle and I know. How many documentary films have that kind of originality?

See the comment from Iikka to the right under “seneste bemærkninger”, Danish for latest comments. 

At begynde forfra, hver gang

Interessant og relevant diskussion. Personligt glæder jeg mig meget til at se, hvad der kommer ud af NDS’s på papiret meget spændende planer, og jeg forestiller mig de involverede tv-stationer overbyde hinanden i iver over at de mest eksperimenterende film skal over på konkurrentens tv-station – hehe.

For ja, vi er tvunget til at arbejde med tv, selvom man ofte har lyst til helt Villy’sk at bede dem om at skride af helvede til. Jeg mindes, da jeg lavede mit første dokumentarprogram på DR for år tilbage, hvor redaktøren gerne ville ha’ de bedste scener op i starten (altså den avis-journalistiske idé med, at man kan skære fra bunden, hvis nødvendigt), og hvor jeg indvendte, at jeg ikke var indstillet på, at mit program skulle blive dårligere og dårligere, som minutterne skred frem. Nu er trenden den, at en dokumentar skal have “en historie” og opfylde de klassiske dramaturgiske regler, hvilket sådan set bare øger risikoen for, at det hele bliver mere skematisk og forudsigeligt. Det virker nogle gange som om, at man ude i branchen blandt redaktører og film-lærere m.fl. tilsyneladende mener, at nu har man fundet frem til, hvordan film skal laves, og det anser jeg for direkte absurd.
De mest interessante film (og det uanset, om udgangspunktet er journalistisk eller kunstnerisk) er efter min mening dem, der tør starte forfra og se på, hvordan nu det her stof kan skæres – og ikke først og fremmest ser det som fortælling, og derefter finder de “rigtige” virkemidler, men hvor man kan mærke, at farverne, de flyvske tanker, lydene, følelserne og sågar de indbyggede idiosynkrasier har været vigtige i frembringelsen. Er det ikke Werner Herzog, der har sagt noget i retning af, at han påbegynder hver ny film, som om han aldrig har set en film før. Dét er en tiltalende tanke, og jeg håber for dokumentarfilmens fremtid, at NDS får held med sine ideer, og at tv faktisk bliver glade for at vise de film, der kommer ud af det.

Og hermed stiller jeg tilbage til jorden – haha.

Hele diskussionen om tv-stationerne og Det Danske Filminstitut, om journalistik og filmkunst findes i kategorien polemics, som klikkes frem fra forsidens venstre spalte.

Flying is Hell

A good title for a documentary? At least a title that calls for sympathy for the one flying? And for some experience shared by other people:

A man comes to the airport. He wants to check in, goes to the desk and hears that the flight is cancelled. But, Sir, we have booked you on a plane four hours later… No way, says the man, I must reach a train in Munich, where he was supposed to go to.

He ends up on another flight to Zürich, with a very short connection, 15 minutes actually, for the next flight going to Munich from Zürich. The man, not 20 years any longer, runs like a madman… reaches a security check, undresses again, to run one more time with belt and jackets over one arm, gets his plane, completely in sweat.

Gets on a bus in Munich, goes to the Hauptbahnhof, eats a quick meal and ends up in civilisation, on a train, with no delay. A happy ending, absolutely, 4 hours through the Brenner pass for Bolzano, where he teaches at the Zelig Documentary film school. F… SAS and poor me!

Jon Bang Carlsens samlede værker

Det ser ud til at være helt rigtigt! Her i foråret udgives en dvd-box med Jon Bang Carlsens Sydafrikatrilogi, Addicted To Solitude, 1999, Portræt af Gud, 2001 og Blinde Engle, 2006. Det er første del af en planlagt udgivelse af alle Bang Carlsens film. Forhåbentlig er også de – hvad skal jeg skrive, når det nu er hans film, der er tale om ?? – de egentlige spillefilm (sådan i bureaukratisk forstand), forhåbentlig er de også med i boxsættet? Jeg glæder mig..

De kan stå ved siden af Jørgen Leth og det er en begyndelse til noget stort. Hvem bliver den næste?

Jon Bang Carlsen: Den sydafrikanske trilogi, 1999-2006. Dvd-Box, distrbution: Art People http://www.artpeople.dk/Nyheder.54.0.html Her boxen dog endnu ikke nævnt, men den kan fås i hvert fald i Filmhusets boghandel, vil jeg tro http://www.dfi.dk/boghandel/videoshop.htm Og snart vel også på bibliotekerne. De tre film vises i Cinemateket 4., 6. og 7. maj.

Gensyn: Baby Doll

På DOK2008 forleden bebudede Morten Udsen, efter han havde fortalt om dvd’ernes dramatiske skæbne og mulige fremtid, at der ville komme en box med fire eller var det fem Jon Bang Carlsen film. I forbindelse med premieren på Purity Beats Everything 23. april i filmhuset vistnok.. Til salg i boghandlen i huset vistnok.. I hvert fald et godt valg. Art People står for distributionen http://www.artpeople.dk/  Men der er god grund til at fortsætte eftersøgningen af instruktørens tidlige film, lige nu opleve værkets fulde udstrækning, for utålmodige jeg ved godt, at det kan have lange udsigter med finansieringen af den planlagte fortsættelse, hele Jon Bang Carlsens værk på dvd-boxe. Og jeg er i hvert fald bange for, at det ikke lykkes at få spillefilmene med.

I 1988 blev Ofelia kommer til byen (repriseanmeldt her på filmkommentaren.dk) efterfulgt af Baby Doll, hvor alt samles i et kammerspil, i køkkenet mest, på en vestjysk gård. En kvinde alene med sit nyfødte barn møder helt alene de dæmoniske kræfter, vi rummer i vores fortrængte erindring, og overgiver sig lettet efter sej kamp til dem og går som Ofelia ud i vandet. Mette Munk Plum gennemfører alene, stort set, denne timelange tour de force. Grethe Møldrup har roligt klippet thriller-kurven i smukke afsluttede scener, som man ikke kan ryste af.. Munk Plum spiller dem igennem lyrisk, men med dramatiske udbrud, med kortere og kortere intervaller fornemmes det, udbrud af vrede først, derefter apati, så angst og endelig overgivelse og hengivelse. En kurve som Deneuves i Polanskis Repulsion, men genkendelig og således farligere. 

For i modsætning til Alexander Gruszynskis mytologiske Bovbjerg, som Ofelia og hendes Hamlet færdes i, har Björn Blixt fotograferet moderen Eva og hendes barn i et dokumentarisk skildret landskab, klitten og stranden er lys lys, og i interiører, som er er nøgternt præcise billeder i en scenografi, der som kunstgreb har gjort sig usynlig i en genkendelig realisme. Dørkarmenes farve, gulvenes fernis, hændernes og de nøgne fødders berøringer så taktilt virkelige..

Og alt er også genkendelige Jon Bang Carlsen billeder. Portrætterne på væggen, penduluret, tørresnoren, et blåt klæde, som pludselig dækker scenen af. Og ude gårdsplads og indgang og trappesten som disse huskes. Grusvejens slyng i landskabet. Både Mols og Vestjylland. Det lange filmværks sammenhæng.

Jeg har en indvending til lyddesignet, en bestemt overdrivelse, som rammer min ideosynkrasi, men det er fuldstændig ligemeget nu efter de mange år. Alt det vigtige er så lykkeligt bevaret.

Jon Bang Carlsen: Baby Doll, 1988. Crone Film Produktion. DVD: www.on-air-video.dk Lånt på Randers Bibliotek, fjernlån. Køb (VHS): DVDCITY http://dvdcity.dk/?52X31X3531XA735353

East Beats West

A Love Affair – and a small follow-up on the review of “Blind Loves”: 

It all started around 1990. Even though I had been working for the National Film Board of Denmark since 1975, my knowledge was very limited when it came to documentaries from the Eastern part of Europe. Of course I had seen films by masters like Kieslowski, Herz Frank, Jerzy Bossak and Mihail Romm. But otherwise, the general talk and writing about documentaries worldwise had always been referring to the English and American.

It is still like that – this lack of balance is wrong and will not last. The Eastern Europeans are getting so much better to promote their contribution to the world documentary cinema, so read my lips: East Beats West.

One day the recognition will come because of: High Quality. Compelling Stories. Artistic Competence. Multi-layered Theme Approach. Humour.

Back to 1990-2000 where I had the chance to watch carefully the development of the documentary in Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. At the Balticum Film/TV Festival on Bornholm in Denmark.

I saw minimalistic and conceptual humanistic masterpieces by Sergey Dvortsevoy (Bread Day) and Viktor Kossakovsky (Wednesday) from Russia. I watched the intelligent cultural etnodocumentaries (Miss Saarema)  by Mark Soosaar from Estonia. The powerful non-journalistic interpretation of the fall of USSR by Juris Podnieks (End of Empire), student of Herz Frank from Latvia, as well as Ivars Seleckis warm collective portrait of people (Crossroad Street).  

The most significant revelation, however, were the films from Lithuania. I got to know a whole school of poetic filmmakers headed by Audrius Stonys (Antigravitation) and Arunas Matelis (Ten Minutes Before the Flight to Icharos). Not to talk about the unique philosophical film of Polish Marcel Lozinski (Anything Can Happen), who lets his small son run around in a park asking all kind of questions to old people. Pure beauty and so far from the mainstream of formatted predictable rationality that is poured out on Western tv stations night after night called documentaries.

I still follow the Baltics closely, but I also moved south in my discovery of Eastern European documentary cinema. Through the IDF (Institute of Documentary Film) team and EDN I got closer to the Czech and Slovak situation. There is still a whole world to discover for me, in retrospect, but you should know much better the masterpieces of Dusan Hanak (Pictures of the Old World) and Mira Janek (Unseen). They are true masters of the humanistic documentary. And then there is this strange character Jan Gogola, an excellent dramaturg, who talks about documentaries and the challenge to make ”open structures” and who has helped obvious world class original talents like Filip Remunda and Vit Klusak (The Czech Dream) and Peter Kerekes (66 Seasons).

Further to the South lies Hungary and the name of Peter Forgasz is already well established and his latest film (Miss Universe) is simply superb. As are the films of Bulgarian Andrey Payanov (The Mosquito Problem) and Romanian directors Florin Iepan (Ceaucescus Decree) and Ileana Stancalescu (The Bridge). I will get back to the Serbs, the Croatians and the Macedonians on another occasion.

Foto: Juris Podnieks (1950-1992)

Juraj Lehotsky: Blind Loves

I saw this beautiful film sunday morning in Vienna during the Ex Oriente first session ( www.docuinter.net ).

The director Juraj Lehotsky took the short way from Bratislava to show us a feature length, four chaptered (following the loves stories one after the other) hybrid (observation/arrangement) style documentary about love between blind people.

When the end titles reached the screen, the warm applause started and went on as if it would never come to an end. A masterpiece it is, full of love and beauty.

The director had known the blind couples for years so it was easy for him to establish a relationship with them when the film was to be made. He told us that he developed the situations together with the blind having observed their routines again and again. He asked them to talk or do ”something like this as you often do”, at the same time as he and his cameraman, Juraj Chlpik, worked on a scenography (room, perspective, camera angle, colour) that reflects what it means to live in darkness.

Juraj Lehotsky himself said that the long shots were very much inspired by Austrian Ulrich Seidl – I would add to this: with that very important note that Seidl is a misanthrope and Lehotsky all the way through almost caresses his characters.

The screening was an international sneak preview of a film that is now in the Slovak theatres, waits for an answer from the Cannes Film Festival and will be a hit in festivals all over the world in the next couple of years. And why not in theatres in big cities like Paris?

Juraj Lehotsky: Blind Loves. 77 mins. 2008. 35mm. More info at www.blindloves.com www.arteleria.sk and www.autlookfilms.com

Journalistik og filmkunst

Kommentarer om filmfolk og journalister og deres forskelligheder, om samarbejde mellem filminstituttet og tv-stationerne, om støttepolitik og tv-indflydelse. Ved Dola Bonfils, Jakob Høgel, Niels Pagh Andersen, Tue Steen Müller. Se hele diskussionen ved klik på kategorien Polemics.