IFFR 2011 Film Blog 3 LIVING: RAW CARBON BLOW

The raw Russian Tiger Award-winning film LIVING, by filmmaker and theater director Vasily Sigarev, hits like a sledgehammer. It tells the story of an older woman who loses two young daughters and cannot accept their deaths. A boy who has a ruthless bitch of a mother who treats him badly. Her new boyfriend, who has repressed his father, is also aggressive towards him. In any case, I always find it difficult to see characters suffer in a film, but for children who are treated cruelly, that is even more true. Then there is a boy and a girl in their thirties who have just gotten married, and the boy is brutally beaten to a pulp by a gang of boys on the subway. He had even lent one of them some money, mind you. A pitch-black film, and it hits particularly hard because the acting is so incredibly strong on all fronts. Of course, life is much harder in Russia compared to our Western welfare state, but the point of such an extremely pessimistic film escapes me.

Also not cheerful, but made with a few more sparks of hope, is the French-Canadian film NUIT #1 by Anne Emond. Also a debut film. It is about a boy named Nikolai, who attended art school and lives a reclusive life in his messy flat. He immerses himself in classical literature but rarely finishes a book. One evening, he meets Clara, a pretty girl with an inscrutable face. They are attracted to each other, and she ends up in his bed. Later, it turns out that this is not her first one-night stand; during the day she works as a teacher, and at night she picks up boys to have sex with. Because that way, at least, she feels alive. After making love, Nikolai falls asleep, and she disappears like a thief in the night. But he wakes up, calls her back, and a conversation ensues revealing that both are deeply uprooted and lonely. Anne Emond, according to the IFFR catalogue, explores this deep form of alienation that cannot be combated with sex, and not even with love, according to the director.

IFFR was a decent festival. Of the nine films I saw this year, most were reasonable but not unforgettable, with the formidable L'HIVER DERNIER (see Filmlog 2 earlier) by Brussels-based American John Shank as a major positive standout. Naturally, these 9 films are not representative of the festival as a whole. This film, distributed by Cinéart, hits theaters on May 31st. Here is a characteristic quote from John Shank in the Daily Tiger newspaper: 'It is precisely our connection with others, with people, places, and ideas that defines our identity.'

Jaap Mees

Tiger Awards 2012:

• Egg and Stone Huang Ji (China)
• Clip by Maja Milos (Serbia)
• The Juevesa Domingo by Dominga Sotomayor (Chile/NL)



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