| CIDADE DE dEUS : Tom Barman’s Any Way the Wind Blows [5/10] |
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| Monday, 28 March 2005 | |
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Antwerp, a hot Friday in June 2003: we follow the intersecting lives of a dozen or so citizens, most - though not all - in their twenties and early thirties. All eventually come together at a raucous party DJ'd by put-upon Walter (Frank Vercruyssen). Centre of attention at the bash - and on the city's streets in the preceding hours - is 'Windman' (Sam Louwyck), a spaced-out, wild-haired, pop-eyed, extraterrestrial-ish figure who has a decidely unique relationship with air currents... Ever since Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993) - and especially since Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (1999) - writer-directors around the world have been irresistibly drawn to the sub-genre of films chronicling the intersections of people living in a certain town or city, usually over the time-span of a single day. But it's a much trickier format than Altman and Anderson's breezy approaches make it look, especially for debutant movie-makers like Any Way the Wind Blows' writer-director Barman. Far better known for his work in music - principally via cult Belgian rock-band dEUS - Barman bites off rather more than he can chew here, although he does shows plenty of confidence and flair as a director (aided by high-calibre contributions from cinematographer Renaat Lambeets and editor Els Voorspoels.) Barman isn't quite up to scratch yet in the writing department, however - his script is a cobbled-together series of episodes which may or may not add up to something significant, and seem more bothered about striking the right note of hip, post-millennial cool. Barman tips us the wink quite early on when a schoolteacher reads out a highbrow text to his young pupils - when one child complains that it's too advanced for them to understand fully, the teacher airily responds that such partial comprehension is "perfect." This is a very handy get-out for Barman, of course - although individual scenes and lines have impact, there isn't really enough substance here to justify the somewhat protracted running-time. It doesn't help that most of the characters are, for all their citified sophistication, somewhat obnoxious. At every stage, meanwhile, the sequences which work best are those with least dialogue, and where the burden is instead nimbly shouldered by Barman's own eclectic, intriguing score. Things also perk up whenever the laconic Windman is doing his 'thing' - Louwyck's engaging turn is closer to experimental modern-dance than conventional screen acting. Make sure to keep watching during the end credits when the Windman leads the ensemble in a weird, hypnotic kind of closely-choreographed routine at the crowded party. A striking, memorable, hallucinatory, tonic of a finale - but perhaps not quite sufficient reward for sticking with this Barman all the way to closing time... Neil Young 28th March, 2005 ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS : [5/10] : Belgium 2003 : Tom BARMAN : 122 mins seen on DVD at home in Sunderland (UK), 25th March 2005 with thanks to Rocio at Axiom Films International Limited (www.axiomfilms.co.uk) coming soon : a second opinion on Any Way the Wind Blows from Jigsaw Lounge editor (and rabid dEUS fan) Adam Maxwell... |
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