Notes on Cine Europa 15

It has been a decade since I went to Cine Europa, the European Union’s annual festival of films from its member-countries. That is why there was a mixture of excitement and anticipation when I finally decided to once again attend this year’s edition of the film festival. What even made this year’s festival more exciting was that whereas before only about ten member-countries were included in the festival, this time it showed films from eighteen member-countries! European countries which had been never represented by a film in the festival before now had films shown in this year’s fest – Romania, Slovakia,  Czech Republic, Bulgaria.

I only wish I was able to see ALL the twenty-one films shown (which would be actually impossible, work- and health-wise). Nevertheless, I was really glad that, even if only a handful, I was able to see films from this year’s fest. This piece is meant to share my two-cents’ worth of thoughts on each of the films that I watched. However, allow me first to say that, with probably just one exception, none of the films that I saw could be considered groundbreaking, radical or provocative, which are the strong qualities of any European film. Whether intentionally or not, majority of them were geared to be “crowd-pleasers”, which is not really a bad idea. After all, for all its claims to art and wisdom, a film is also an economic product, something to be “consumed” by the viewing public.

Now with the films:

“The Rest is Silence” (Romania, dir.: Nae Caranfil)

I just wish that I was able to see this film before being immensely exposed to the films of the Romanian New Wave (the works of Cristian Mungiu, Cristi Puiu, Corneliu Porumboiu, Radu Muntean), then probably I could have enjoyed more this Romanian take on the art and business of filmmaking. No matter how hard I tried, I could not help setting the film against the radical standards laid down by the movement. The movie was bursting with energy and euphoria that every now and then, I was hoping that it would take a “moment” to compose itself and reflect, to stay still and be disciplined amid all the chaos. If there was such an instance, the film’s ironic title could have probably gained more impact. After watching it, I decided to take a “breather” by finally seeing another Romanian film – “Tuesday, After Christmas”, Radu Muntean’s rigidly formal and hauntingly bare study of infidelity and marital crisis.

“Lidice” (Czech Republic, dir.: Petr Nikolaev)

In some ways, this film evokes Elem Klimov’s utterly shattering “Come and See”. But the comparison just stops there. Not to completely ignore and belittle the horrors and sufferings of the Holocaust, one could not still get rid the feeling of being de-sensitized by being offered “another” film on the historical tragedy. It does not help at all that Nikolaev’s film borders on melodrama, bathos and the obvious, attributes which Klimov’s film – or, for that matter, any superbly vivid film about the Holocaust – expertly tones down to create a truly haunting masterpiece. Nevertheless, for the sake of being historically acquainted with the little-known tragedy that befell a small Czech town during World War II, “Lidice” is still worth-seeing.

“In a Better World” (Denmark, dir.: Susanne Bier)

It is not hard to see why this film won this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film. It has those qualities which the Academy never fails to recognize:big themes and big moments that immediately grab the viewers’ attention. It is like the “serious” film for the general viewing public. No wonder that “Melancholia”, another (and in my opinion, much better) film by Bier’s compatriot and fellow Dogme ’95 member Lars von Trier, was completely ignored in this year’s Oscars, not getting a single nomination even in the acting category for Kirsten Dunst’s radical performance! It is the kind of serious film that “turns off” the general viewing public. Still, “In a Better World” was one of the better films in this year’s Cine Europa. It is a melodrama alright, but a serious and superb melodrama, featuring astonishing and poignant performances by the two child actors. Their portrayals are painful to watch that one can only wish that the disturbing climax could not have aggravated more their troubles.

“Everlasting Moments” (Sweden, dir.: Jan Troell)

This was not only one of the masterful films that I saw in the fest, but also one of the technically marvelous, featuring a number of bewildering images and an alternately expressionistic and impressionistic cinematography that befits the quality of a nostalgic photograph, it being the central motif of this Swedish film. It was also nice to find out that this year’s Cine Europa featured a work by one of Swedish Cinema’s venerable filmmakers, along the ranks of Victor Sjostrom and Ingmar Bergman (though in my opinion, Bergman is still the most towering of them all). Troell gave us the acclaimed epics “The Emigrants” and “The New Land”;his contemporary film “Everlasting Moments” reflects the concern of those two classics – the plight and day-to-day life of the working-class, with its central focus on Maria Larsson, a real-life working-class mother whose lottery-won camera became a powerful tool in asserting her authority and individuality. Viewers were also blessed to witness two indelible and insightful portrayals from the film. One from the titular mother (the title translates in Swedish as Maria Larsson’s Eviga Ogonblick) – her characterization evokes the kind being showcased by the late great Nida Blanca, subdued but radiating with myriad of emotions. And the other from the father (Maria’s husband) – just when we were starting to hate this “villain” for being abusive and insensitive to Maria, there suddenly comes up a moment where his tenderness and vulnerability as a  father, as a husband and ultimately, as a human shine through.

“2 Days in Paris” (France, dir.: Julie Delpy)

First-time director Julie Delpy’s being a disciple of Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunset” and “Before Sunrise” markedly shows in this film, with its perpetually chatterbox couple (portrayed by Delpy and Adam Goldberg). Though she one-ups the tempo of her film by being more whimsical, freewheeling and even chaotic at times, something that is more akin to the sensibilities of Jean-Luc Godard’s groundbreaking “Breathless”.  Still, Delpy’s film is only “almost there” when it comes to approximating the qualities of Godard’s influential classic. While “Breathless” is  peppered with cinematic and pop culture references, the humor of Delpy’s “anti-romantic comedy” is grounded on the most rigid archetypes (or stereotypes?) of being French and being American. It is like saying that these two powerful, yet culturally divergent, nations would always have a love-hate, opposites-(un)attract relationship (just a random look at the cinema of these two nations may help prove the matter). Nevertheless, for all its tendency towards being a hard-headed and envelope-pushing romance, it is not hard for the film to be a sure-fire crowd favorite (though count me out on that one, even if I did enjoy the movie).

“Breathing” (Austria, dir.: Karl Markovics)

Without a doubt, this is a favorite and (for me) the best film of the festival. It was a fitting film to cap this year’s Cine Europa – subtle and unassuming. “Breathing” is another cinematic piece that once again proves that less is more. With its spare characterization, meditative pacing and unobtrusive, static shots (something that recalls the works of another Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke and his noted influence, Robert Bresson), the film is a hauntingly minimal, yet eloquent, study of guilt, responsibility, hope and redemption. At the heart of this morbidly fascinating (both literally and figuratively) tale is a disarming and shattering portrayal of the young actor as the 19-year-old Roman Kogler who, at such a tender age, is already painfully coming to terms with his own self, his broken family and his troubled past. Not since Emily Duquenne in the Dardenne brothers’ “Rosetta” have I seen another young troubled soul being so fiery and visceral on film (his breakdown scene gave me goosebumps!). The film offers moments of ironic wisdom, subtle symbolisms and quiet emotions (like the dead in Roman’s new-found job becoming his way of taking another look at his life;even the title itself evokes a lot!) that make it a truly wonderful cinematic experience – and make us realize that, after all, this is what European Cinema is meant to be. Hoping to see more films from first-time director Karl Markovics and may he join the likes of Haneke (notably with his early works) and Gotz Spielmann (“Antares” and “Revanche”) in making Austrian films one of the most exciting and evocative staples in World Cinema.

If there was a Best Picture award in this year’s Cine Europa, then it must definitely go to “Breathing”.