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11.30 | Obenkino | Spectrum
DUST | PYL [5/10]
Sergeij Loban | Russia 2005 | 110 min (timed)
Intriguing, original setup: mildly obese schlub in his early 20s (Pjotr Mamonov - think a younger, taller, fatter Pail Giamatti) is recruited to be guinea-pig for mysterious, perhaps government-run experiment. Involves him sitting naked in a darkened room, where odd psychological and physical effects are manifested. The side-effects prove too much for hapless protagonist to handle - develops severe dissatisfaction with his overweight body, having seemingly been briefly "muscled up" during his spell in "the room".
Shades of Stalker, Being John Malkovich and even Star Trek : Generations in idea of person desperate to access all-powerful, life-changing 'zone'. When he goes into the room and sees 'images' 'projected' before him, not a million miles from experience of viewer watching film in cinema?
Middle-section paddles water a bit, then final act sees writer Marina Potopova run out of ideas - long, rambling speech from chief scientist stops the picture stone dead, and so-so coda doesn't help much. Suitably disturbing to look at: all shot on grainy digital video, with many tight close-ups of ugly faces. Drug metaphor? Satire of Russia's decadent obsession with surface appearances? Crazy comedy? All of the above?
Picture is also much longer than it should be: 50mins of ideas stretched within sight of 2hr. Ironically enough, given our hero's tubbiness, it's a thin movie trapped inside a fat one.
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14.00 | Weltspiegel |Feature Film Competition
STOP MOM THERESA! | ÁLLÍTSÁTOK MEG TERÉZANYUT! [W/O]
Péter Bergendy | Hungary 2004 | 127 min - walkout after 45m
Broad Bridget Jones-style romantic comedy/farce. Some laughs, but not enough to keep me in my seat, especially given that daunting running-time. As heroine Kata, lead actress Agnes Banfalvy, looking like a young Cherie Lunghi, alternately charms and grates: is surrounded by men (most model-handsome) but needless to say nothing works out - at least in the early reels during which tinkly piano score soon becomes intrusively repetitive.
One very odd sequence stands out a mile: during visit to disco/nightclub where Kata meets a series of comically unsuitable blokes, she (abortively) "dances" with a sweatily hyperactive/gymnastic hunk who gets all of one line. Nothing else in pic has a fraction of this bit-player's energy and screen-presence, and it soon becomes evident that it's a misleading fluke.
Kata's Way? Spare us the kata, more like... Widespread bafflement why this was in Cottbus's competition - especially unfortunate given 'Magyar Miracle' sidebar and honoured-guest presence of Istvan Szabo. It's not as if there's a shortage of decent Hungarian product right now.
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16.30 | Stadthalle |Feature Film Competition
RYNA [7/10]
Ruxandra Zenide | Romania, Switzerland 2005 | 91 min
Striking coming-of-age tale set in a one-horse village on the mouth of the Danube Delta. In the wake of bird-flu, nice to see this unique area presented in something approaching a positive light. Our putupon heroine (Dorotheea Petre) is a 16-year-old: Petre, resembling Michelle Rodriguez from certain angles, could easily pass for 20 or older. Ryna seems to have finished school, and works with/for car-mechanic dad (Valentijn Popescu?) - who operates all kinds of illegal scams to make ends meet.
Despite papa's stern disapproval, she has tentative relationship with postman; arrival of French anthropologist (Matthieu Roze) researching "the roots of Latinity" complicates her love-life further. And she's starting to resent the cramping confinement of family life - dabbles in photography when she isn't up to her elbows in engine grease.
Austere but sensitive and soulful character-study of unusual teenager in unusual, water-all-round locale (both looking great on Marius Panduru's camera). Third-act trauma is heavily signposted, but is handled well enough to outweigh the predictability. Sort of production that film-festivals should showcase, and arthouse distribution would be warranted. And - in terms of execution if not ambition - a cut above the current overhyped big Romanian movie, The Death of Mr Lazarescu... The Life of Miss Ryna, if you like.
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19.30 | Weltspiegel | National Hits
THE SCAM OF THE THIRD REICH | PLJACA TRECEG RAJHA [W/O]
Zdravko otra | Serbia-Montenegro 2004 | 107 min - walkout after 30m
Broad WWII comedy - British TV hit Allo Allo kept coming to mind. Pair of charming crooks escape from jail, end up - ahem - scamming the third reich. Low farce stuff: safe is dropped on Nazi bigwig's toes, that kind of slapstick. Ouch - or rather Gott in Himmel!! A big hit back home in Serbia, apparently - second only to Troy last year. Attention to period detail/atmosphere not high on Sotra's agenda. Half an hour was enough for me.
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21.30 | Stadthalle | Feature Film Competition
SOMETHING LIKE HAPPINESS| TĔSTÍ | [4/10]
Bohdan Sláma | Czech Republic, Germany 2005 | 100 min
A slight improvement on Slama's last picture, the rural snoozer Wild Bees - which isn't high praise. While this one is set in the outskirts of an unnamed Czech city, both films in fact take place in the same place: Dullsville. Selfless young woman ends up looking after her neighbour's kids after the latter exhibits signs of mental illness. Her mother disapproves. Problems ensue, at roughly half-speed.
Film-festival fodder, the kind of aggressively "humanistic" stuff that invariably tips over into melodrama at around the hour mark, and somehow attracts funding and prizes. Czech submission for the Foreign Language Oscar... how come?! Title is simply the Czech word for Happiness - how long is it since Todd Solondz annexed that moniker? Accurately indicates the low level of originality and wit on show in the film itself. Something Like A Film. But not enough.
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Neil Young
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