European indulgence:Cine Europa '14, part 6

Cine Europa, a festival of contemporary European films from the member-countries of the European Union, is still ongoing and it now appears that the best films of the fest are reserved for its last few days. 

France's "The Chinese Puzzle", written and directed by Cédric Klapisch, is the kind of French film like you always wanted it to be - whimsical, breezy, carefree and quirky. In a certain sense, the film owes much of its distinct sensibility to the romantic yarns of Jean Eustache, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer. All the lead actors turn in charming and insightful portrayals, but most especially Romain Duris as Xavier Rousseau, a father of two and a novelist who starts to undergo a mid-life crisis. I've always admired the intensity of this young actor since Christophe Honoré's "17 x Cécile Cassard", Tony Gatlif's "Exils" and Jacques Audiard's "The Beat That My Heart Skipped". Another standout "character" in the film is New York City itself (where the film is set) which I've never seen come so alive on the big screen since Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen. Now I should really start checking out the first two films in this "Xavier" trilogy. On the other hand, watching Switzerland's "Sister" by Ursula Meier makes me think at times of a Dardenne brothers film, with its bruised and feral 14-year-old protagonist, the working-class environment and the moral complexities that surround his life. This is a tightly-written and tightly-paced drama, with an offhand character revelation that will surely make the viewers fall off their seats. Meanwhile, Bulgaria's "Journey to Jerusalem" by Ivan Nichev is a big disappointment. Seeing this film makes me wonder why it has been included in the festival at all. The biggest problem of the film is the script itself (written by Nichev and Yurii Dachev), which unnecessarily deviates its focus for most of the film's running time from the two parentless children whose plight is what supposed to have propelled the narrative. Instead, it needlessly devotes most of its time to the dramatics of a trio of travelling players who take under their care the two children. In fact, we don't see the children for most of the time. And whenever we do, how lifeless and distant they come across that it would've been no different if they had been put to death by the Nazis. It wouldn't be proper even to label "Journey to Jerusalem" as a Holocaust film as the director seems to be not concerned at all with the tragedy itself, but with the dull soap opera dramatics of the adult characters. The film is simply a misfire. At the hands of a seasoned filmmaker, say Emir Kusturica, the film would surely turn out differently - a combination of humor, horror and pathos would be used to astounding effect (see "Underground".) Unfortunately, "Journey to Jerusalem" possesses neither of those. 

And now going to another of my favorite films in the festival - Germany's "Home from Home:Chronicle of a Dream", written and directed by Edgar Reitz. 

The single epic of the festival (running for about 3 hours and 45 minutes) is undoubtedly its single towering masterpiece. A truly beautiful work of art - spellbinding, thought-provoking, marvelous and moving. Just like the black-and-white arthouse fares "The White Ribbon" (Michael Haneke) and "Mula Sa Kung Ano Ang Noon" (From What Is Before, Lav Diaz), the entire village is the character itself - the fictional German village of Schabbach in the Hunsrück region during the first half of the 19th century. Yet, there should always be a primary focal point from which the entire life of the village is seen - in this case, it is the young Jakob Simon (brilliantly portrayed by Jan Dieter Schneider), the youngest son of the village blacksmith and a prodigious reader (particularly about the Indians, their language and culture), who dreams of one day leaving the village and setting foot in South America (particularly Brazil) to be able to explore life. The film serves as a "prequel" to Reitz' previous made-for-TV "Heimat" (Homeland) trilogy, the second of which, "Leaving Home:Chronicle of a Generation" (1993, 13 chapters), I was able to see at the Goethe-Institut. And as compared to this part of the trilogy (and I suppose to the other parts as well), "Home from Home", despite its epic length, monochromatic cinematography (with intriguing bits of "color" fitted in) and slow pace, is interestingly easy to follow and even entertaining at a number of points. As with the other good lengthy films that we have already encountered, watching "Home from Home" is comparable to reading one good thick humanistic novel which you'll be hard to put down and can therefore finish in just one sitting. It probably helps that the film's main theme is not really something that is alien to us. Haven't we, at some point in our lives, dreamed of leaving our home, our place of birth, our native land, to be able to find ourselves, make our dreams come true and explore the richness of life in a faraway land? In Jakob's own words, it's "Liberté". This is essentially what comprises the emigrant cinema and, in one way or another, there has always been an "emigrant" in each of us. "Home from Home", with its richness, brilliantly-composed scenes and a marvelous cast of characters (there's even a cameo by legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog) is one film that makes this year's edition of Cine Europa an unforgettable one. 

(Germany's "Home from Home":A towering masterpiece in this year's Cine Europa.)