A film review: "Cargo 200" [2007, Russia]

The allegorical Soviet drama "Gruz 200" [Eng. Title: Cargo 200] is one of Aleksey Balabanov's most important and uninhibited films to date. It is also lesser known than his highly acclaimed "Brother" duology for the very same reason - for being unsparing to his audience in a Gaspar Noé kind of way.









Set amongst the industrial wastelands of 1984 Soviet Union, and apparently based on some true events, the film is a scathing critique of a system and society as Balabanov recalls it from his younger days. Meant as much as to shock as remind a growing number of Russians who have begun to look back at the past through rose-tinted glasses, the film minces no words in highlighting the rotten state of terror, corruption, and depravity that barely lay concealed behind its thin veneer of socialism.

At first glance, the main plot might vaguely resemble your average American slasher from the eighties, but this film takes it a step further by making a pointed observation of a nation's sadness and collective impotence that drowned itself in alcohol and madness. Two sub-plots cross paths one after the other in a bootlegger's farm on the outskirts of Leninsk - just as a corrupt professor of Scientific Atheism (Leonid Gromov) fixes his broken down car and leaves the farm after a heated religious debate with its owner (Aleksey Serebryakov), a happy-go-lucky youth (Leonid Bichevin) drops by to buy some booze for the night. He'd also brought along a girl he'd picked up at the nightclub, a Government official's daughter named Angelika (Agniya Kuznetsova).

A murder happens that night, and Angelika is sexually assaulted and kidnapped by a psychopathic police captain named Zhurov (Aleksey Poluyan), after the youth and owner of the farm have passed out drinking. The owner's wife Antonina (Natalya Akimova) does little to intervene in both the crimes owing to a secret pact between her husband and the captain dating back to the time they served time together in a Gulag. And her kidnap is only the beginning of Angelika's ordeal...

'Cargo 200' is euphemism in Police parlance for the unmentionable reality of coffins arriving with dead soldiers from the war in Afghanistan. Balabanov makes a direct connection of wasted lives to the prevailing sense of social and moral decay, and accuses people, including the audience, of being part of the problem. In a telling scene, we see a platoon of young soldiers briskly climb aboard an IL-76 from which coffins are also simultaneously unloaded. Perhaps, it requires a nationalistic film maker like Balabanov to drive home the message that nostalgic eyes do tend to retain a blind spot for finer but essential details when recounting a 'glorious' past.

The film is exceedingly well directed and put together, and its thoughtful, carefully period-graded cinematography and superlative editing misleadingly make it appear all too easy. Balabanov clearly knows what it takes to tell a story rather well. But whilst this menacing and dreary film isn't exactly easy-viewing, it nevertheless emanates a strong whiff of dark humour even during the grizzliest of moments. In a memorable scene, Zhurov's alcohol and telly-addicted mother complains to a visitor about flies in her apartment, where Zhurov was also holding Angelika captive.

And I have barely touched upon the gloriously grimy set-design, magnificently brooding industrial landscape, and the jarringly anachronistic but true-to-period pop-music soundtrack - their combined effect will haunt you for days after you've put away your DVD. Needless to say, this horrifying masterpiece is Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon.com DVD Link [NTSC] | Amazon.com Instant Video Link

 

The Nudity: Agniya Kuznetsova
Two hysterically morbid scenes feature nudity; it goes without saying that neither of them are pleasant to watch. The first is when Capt. Zhurov brings home a prisoner to sexually 'please' Angelika because he couldn't do it himself. The second, longer scene shows Angelika chained to the bed totally nude and lying next to the decomposing corpses of her soldier-fiancé and the prisoner who failed to please her enough. Zharov will be reading back to Angelika the letters that her fiancé sent her when Antonina comes barging in.



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A brief film review: "Dorsvloer vol confetti" [2014 Netherlands, Belgium]

Director Tallulah Hazekamp Schwab makes her feature-film début with the sweet and heart-warming coming-of-age drama "Dorsvloer Vol Confetti" [Eng. Title: Confetti Harvest].






 

Set within a conservative farming community in the Dutch countryside sometime during the early eighties, the film centres around a precocious twelve year old Katelijne (Hendrikje Nieuwerf) growing up in a large family.

We see a stoic mother (Suzan Boogaerdt) and a hard working father (Steven van Watermeulen) bringing up their seven children in an orthodox Christian environment where everyone knew their place. And the discipline, apart from their parochial education, also extended to sharing household chores and farming duties.

A naturally curious Katelijne, whilst wholeheartedly undertaking her tasks, is nevertheless drawn towards a wider, more modern world with secular and material values that she discovers during a brief stay at her aunt's in the city. She takes advantage of the liberal surroundings to try out fashionable goods and dress-up as an adult.

Katelijne also has a vivid imagination; she captivates her siblings by feeding them fantastical accounts made up by mixing truth with fiction, which while well-intentioned, will invariably land them in trouble, and sometimes, peril. One such occasion shall see her elder brother Christiaan (Yannick de Waal) forced into a marriage. It is her gesture to make amends in her very own way that lends the film its title.

Carefully composed and endearingly captured in bright hues, Talullah lends a nostalgic air to her film by accompanying it with a cheerful soundtrack. Her pleasant, sweet, and innocent protagonist might just as well be a pubescent version of Amélie. Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL] | Amazon Blu-Ray Link

 

The Nudity: Laurine Booij and Lotte Oskam
There is brief nudity in a scene when Katelijne narrates a story to Christiaan concerning two "pale" girls in the village who allegedly had the habit of sunbathing naked on the bed when their parents were not around. On one such occasion, a stranger who notices them will attempt to break in. Christiaan naturally gets curious and wants to know more...



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A brief review: "Le mentor" [2012 France]

Veteran director Jean-Pierre Mocky started off as an actor and started making films by himself from the early sixties. Some of his films even find pride of place in the canon of world cinema. However, Mocky defies categorisation because he has dipped into almost every genre there is - and has written, produced, and acted in many of them. A non-conformist, he could be sublime and also eye-poppingly careless in the same film, but despite the occasional forgettable film showing up in his credits, he has maintained a loyal following among art-film fans.

I'll start his filmography with one of his recent films, "Le mentor" (The Mentor), a contemporary comedy slightly out-of-touch with present times. The plot is naive perhaps, but it's charming nevertheless, and pleasant to watch. He also plays the film's lead character.

Businessman Ludovic (Jean-Pierre Mocky) becomes bankrupt thanks partly to a messy divorce. Living on the streets and getting by through questionable resourcefulness - he's now a con artiste and cheat extraordinaire, he overhears a conversation between lovers Christian (Clovis Fouin) and Annette (Solène Hebert), and figures out instantly that the man is anything but progressive and will make a terrible partner.

Ludovic decides to 'rescue' Annette from her relationship by becoming her mentor. Learning that she's looking for a job, he dupes her into applying for a fictitious job offer, and calls her for an interview in a friend's office after closing hours.

 

It doesn't take long for Annette to identify Ludovic for the pauper that he his, but accepts him for his charming ways and kindness towards her. Besides, he finds her a 'real' job through an acquaintance, and also plays cupid to get herself a new boyfriend. Annette too readily joins 'papa' in his various hustles, and all ends well...

This might be light entertainment with lots of credibility issues, production goofs and technical mistakes, but it is also a film that's charming enough that you'll momentarily forget its imperfections. As a bonus, the camera is in love with the very French, very easy-on-the-eye Solène Hebert - and the charismatic young newcomer can also act. At least for these reasons, the film is Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon.fr DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Solène Hebert, Bettina Kox, Daphnée Lecerf, and Anksa Kara
There's frontal nudity from Solène Hebert when her character surprises Ludovic by stepping into the room naked. In another scene, we see three female customers in a spa where the never-say-die Ludovic tries his hands, as a masseur.




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A film review: Így jöttem [1965 Hungary]

In his third feature, noted Hungarian director Miklós Jancsó presents a war-themed drama in the film "Így jöttem" [Eng. Title: My Way Home]. Considered by many as a masterpiece, it is a detached observation made with great detail but very little commentary, and focuses, as the title suggests, on a young soldier's return home.










Set somewhere in Soviet Union during the final days of the Second World War, the film begins with an unarmed seventeen year old soldier, Hungarian Jóska (András Kozák), getting separated from his friends while fleeing a Cossack unit on horseback. Since Hungary had sided with Nazi Germany, he's duly taken prisoner. However, he is soon released over a technicality and allowed to continue on his journey.

But Jóska gets captured again, this time by a Russian regiment after he's caught sleeping covered in an abandoned Nazi jacket. Owing to the fact that he's still a schoolboy, they send him to help tend a dairy farm run by a Kolja (Sergey Nikonenko), a young Russian soldier. Kolja had been given this relatively lighter duty owing to an injury, with a bullet still lodged inside his body.

On one occasion, Kolja saves Jóska from being blown up by a landmine after he attempts to escape custody, and later Jóska too reciprocates by refusing an offer to join fleeing Hungarian prisoners, telling them that it would get Kolja 'into trouble'. Despite neither of them understanding the other's language, an unlikely friendship develops between the two. Away from the sounds of war and in the barren landscape, Jóska and Kolja bond and begin to behave as teenagers do during normal times.

We observe their everyday chores and pranks; milking cows, target-practising on frogs in a canal, loading cans of milk onto trucks, chasing after naked women bathing, and fooling around with statues in a ruined museum. Yet just when we'd momentarily forgotten that there was indeed a war happening, a fighter plane ominously passes by, sometimes low over the lads' heads who had stopped to watch. The reality of war will also separate the two, and Jóska sets out on his journey home once again...

One of the stars of the film has to be the breathtaking cinematography - orchestrated in what will become the director's signature style. The well-choreographed aerial and panned shots firmly pin characters to their immediate surroundings to remind us of a 'bigger picture' whilst deliberately disallowing us the ability to read thoughts and motives. In some scenes, characters are either followed from behind or silhouetted altogether; we observe their actions, but rarely their state of mind. Apart from the film's title, the only time Jancsó affords us any emotional contact with his characters is in the closing shot of the film, where he pans to a bruised and exasperated Jóska looking into the camera with an air of defiance, as if to raise a plea.

The idea of a 'natural' friendship between a Hungarian and a Russian, with the short but brutal 1956 revolution still fresh in many people's memory would've certainly caused a stir at the time of release. But to his credit, Janscó dilutes any potential propaganda value by succinctly focusing on the social dislocation and humanitarian implications of war. Consequently, we get to see a rather simple film without too many loaded metaphors, made with admirable skill and technical sophistication, and yet holding a charm that can relate to audiences even today. Highly Recommended viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]



The Nudity:
There's just a single scene that features nudity - when the boys chase down girls bathing in a canal. But it is also one of the most beautifully crafted sequences in the film, where we see the 'hunters' themselves being 'hunted' by a plane swooping threateningly low over their heads - as if to deliver some kind of poetic albeit harmless justice. The scene is amusing as it is dramatic, memorable, and calling for all to see and appreciate.

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Love in the time of apocalypse: “El desierto” [2013, Argentina]

It's good to be back, even if briefly. Having been force-fed a diet of Hollywood over the past few months during my infrequent flights - yes, there must be a worldwide conspiracy to trap people into watching a whole bunch of American 'family' films, my interest in film had somewhat begun to wane. Besides, I had other things to attend to during my visits. I'm happy to declare though, that German-born writer-director Christoph Behl has successfully reinforced my interest in film with his brilliant début feature, the romantic drama "El desierto" [Eng. Title: The Desert].








There's a zombie apocalypse going on, and for all intents and purposes, the only survivors left in town are our three protagonists - Jonathan (William Prociuk), Axel (Lautaro Delgado), and Ana (Victoria Almeida). Holed up in a house with improvised fortifications, the armed trio stave off occasional zombie advances that the audience don't get to see. Ana records their zombie 'kills' by giving each of them a classical Greek name. Soon, she will run out of names to use.

Easygoing Jonathan and organised Ana have been a couple ever since she was rescued by the men during one of their scavenging missions. The trio have agreed to abide by a set of rules and code of conduct that they created, one of which was to record their thoughts and feelings in the privacy of a video room. The recorded tapes were meant to be put away in a sealed trunk, but were nevertheless regularly pried open and seen by the others. "If we had met in another place, in another time, in another story - perhaps we could've been together", Ana confesses to Axel in one of her video diaries. But the intense Axel couldn't stop coveting her; he watches her from afar and leers at her body when she sleeps in Jonathan's arms in the bed next to his.

The protagonists, while protecting themselves from outside harm, will eventually find living together increasingly difficult amid the tensions in their relationship. Axel wants to move out - he tattoos images of flies all over his body, intending to leave when there is no more space left to tattoo. Jonathan doesn't want Axel to leave even though he is aware of his desire for Ana, and will go to extraordinary lengths to make him stay - whether it is by conceding defeat in board games, or by facilitating Axel to secretly gaze at Ana's naked body. Things will only get complicated after the boys capture and bring home a 'live' zombie as part of a 'truth or dare' game...

What is fascinating about this film is its focus on the protagonists' characterisation - after all, isn't this supposed to be a 'genre' film! Director Behl invests considerable screen time in building his characters using observation and video confessions, and the simmering tension below the surface is revealed through clever camera, and sound - especially the incessant buzzing of flies. This, combined with the searing heat and sterling performances, elevates it to a higher level of film-making.

Importantly, the film raises questions on ideas we take for granted - that humans would do anything and everything to preserve their species. It's at its subversive best when it persistently shatters the notion that we'd all, given trying circumstances, altruistically do our utmost to maintain the human race. At once raw, claustrophobic, moving, darkly funny, and steamingly sexy, the thought-provoking film challenges us to look at ourselves as we really are, rather than how we'd like to be. There's a lot going on with several issues left for the viewer to draw his/her own conclusions. It's possible that the film might even be considered a cinematic masterpiece of sorts in the future - reason enough for it to be Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD [PAL] | Amazon.com DVD [NTSC] | Amazon.com [Instant]

 

The Nudity: Victoria Almeida and Lautaro Delgado
Four scenes feature brief nudity; the first three feature Victoria Almeida where her character is not aware that she is being watched. The final instance is of Lautaro Delgado's fully tattooed character examining himself in mirror.





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