Of lost child, lost parents and lost identity: QCinema '14, pt. 1

Cineastes are definitely on cloud nine these days. For this year, QCinema has expanded its cinematic fare to include contemporary international films, many of which are award-winning and critically-acclaimed works. From just three Filipino films last year, the festival now boasts of more than a dozen line-up, international and home-grown combined. If these aren't enough still to satisfy one's filmic cravings, I don't know what else will. 

Let's take a look at the first three foreign-language films that I was able to see. 

• "Jauja" (2014, Argentina/Denmark, 108 mins), dir.: Lisandro Alonso

Compared to his previous trilogy - "Fantasma", "La Libertad", "Los Muertos" - Lisandro Alonso's latest film has a pretty discernible "plot" and has as its main character a well-known Hollywood actor, Viggo Mortensen, thus not entirely alienating the viewers - or so it looks like. It may even be considered that "Jauja" is a cryptic variation of a Western tale, a genre originated by American cinema. Yet, despite such "familiar" elements in the film, the Argentinian auteur's cinematic style is still unmistakeable: less dialogue, slow and drawn-out scenes, the depiction of nature as both a haven and a threat, characters in a seemingly futile search and activity. This makes for a uniquely glacial and enigmatic viewing experience, something that may not cater to everybody's taste. At times, because of "Jauja"'s mood and atmosphere, I can't help thinking of a Werner Herzog film, especially that the main character is in a seemingly dead-end quest (for a missing daughter), a quest that's even close to approaching the bleakness of Joseph Conrad's novel "The Heart of Darkness". Until that head-scratching finale! 

Aside from such arthouse pleasures, one real treat of "Jauja" is the cinematography by Aki Kaurismäki veteran Timo Salminen. His camera, framing the screen in 4:3 aspect ratio with somewhat rounded edges that has a Lumière brothers' cinématographe feel to it, captures the mountains, the rockscapes, the grasslands, the night skies, as well as the reflection from the water and the darkness inside the cave in both their ethereal and surreal beauty. 

• "Ida" (2013, Poland, 82 mins), dir.: Pawel Pawlikowski 

"Ida" is a film that possesses such a strange and melancholic beauty. At times, it even feels like the film is a distant cousin of "Viridiana", Luis Buñuel's portrait of a young nun whose religious vows have been severely tested and destroyed. At its core, "Ida" is a test of faith, as a young novice's required visit to a long-unknown family relative (an aunt) before she takes her vows leads her to a journey that traces and confronts her family's tragic past, a journey that brings a turning point in her character that, depending on how one views it, either emboldens or corrupts her spiritual being. In its given ambience of a black-and-white road trip through familial roots and branches, one is likewise reminded of Alexander Payne's wonderful "Nebraska", notwithstanding that the two films have essentially different philosophies (the first, in regards the bright specter of youth;the second, in regards the inescapable twilight of old age). 

Aside from the stunning characterizations, "Ida" is impeccably shot. The monochromatic camerawork of Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski ("Margaret") has an otherworldly feel to it, with most of the characters being framed as if something is about to "grasp" them or "fall off" from above. Just think of Yasujiro Ozu's camera lifting itself from the floor to the ceiling! 

• "52 Tuesdays" (2013, Australia, 109 mins), dir.: Sophie Hyde 

"52 Tuesdays", winner of the Best Director award for World Cinema Dramatic in Sundance Film Festival, makes use of a narrative gimmick that's kind of similar to the kind employed by Richard Linklater in "Boyhood": to give an authentic feel to the transition through a year of a relationship, the director films the story just only on a Tuesday for 52 weeks, starting in July and ending around the same month the following year. It's on a Tuesday as it's the chosen day by the mother in the film for her weekly set-up with her teenage daughter, their relationship being put on a strain as the mother is on a critical phase of undergoing a transsexual surgery and the daughter has to live with her father. This debut feature film by Sophie Hyde has in fact a very sensitive subject matter and the narrative device can be a tough chore for the viewers, with the nagging feeling of having to sit literally through 52 Tuesdays. And yet, the director's handling of the material, teamed up with natural performances by both Del Herbert-Jane (as the transgender father James) and Tilda Cobham-Hervey (as the teenage daughter Billie) and Matthew Cormack's semi-improvised screenplay, keeps the proceedings far from being heavy-handed and sensational. The film generally exudes a warm and light-hearted feeling. 

If there's one admirable thing that "52 Tuesdays" has achieved with its narrative style, it's that it was able to lend a degree of naturalism to its story of living up to one's discovered identity and just being happy about it. 

(To be continued.)

(Lisandro Alonso's "Jauja": An ethereal and surreal trip into the heart of darkness.)