(Antti-Jussi Annila, 2008)
In 1595, in the wake of a territorial war, a group of Swedish and Russian soldiers departs on a mission to mark out the newly agreed borderline between their respective lands. Their journey takes them through vast and largely uncharted swamplands, where they discover a mysterious village and an alien-looking building (the "sauna" of the title) of unknown origin and purpose.
In terms of its imagery and atmosphere, this film is a real beauty. The "sauna" is reminiscent of the monolith in 2001. As a physical object, it's little more than a large rectangular block. Yet it stands at a time and place where it simply ought not to be, and for that reason resonates with an utterly sinister and other-worldly presence.
At times, the story wanders a little aimlessly, and the motivations of the characters are hard to decipher; but there's an intelligent metaphysical mystery at the heart of the film that is worth pondering over even after the credits roll. I can't pretend to know exactly what was supposed to be going on during the film's final moments (and even if I did, I wouldn't necessarily want to spoil the ending by discussing it here) but what I will say is that I haven't seen anything quite like it before, and the imagery was stunning.
21 February 2008
01 February 2008
Pop Skull
(Adam Wingard, 2007)
A young man struggles to cope with rejection, drugs-binge-induced paranoia, and a possible ghostly presence.
Visually, Pop Skull is as overcooked as a 3-hour-boiled egg. It’s a relentlessly superimposed / intercut / colour-filtered / looped / strobed mess. If the question is "how do you turn cheap-looking DV footage into an edgy headfuck?", then unless “edgy headfuck” is somehow synonymous with “mid-80s indie band video” this film does not provide the correct answer.
Amid the mess, there are a few genuinely tense and creepy moments, helped by the soundtrack of drones, noise, feedback, etc, which to some extent succeeds where the visual effects fail.
It’s possible that if the script had restricted the character solely to the confines of his basement lodgings, to undergo a feature-length descent into drug-addled isolation and terror, then the puzzle at the heart of the film (“paranormal presence or paranoid hallucination?”) could have been exploited to full effect. Unfortunately, the puzzle gets resolved in a rather lame and unoriginal fashion about halfway through, rendering the second half of the film ineffective and increasingly tiresome.
A young man struggles to cope with rejection, drugs-binge-induced paranoia, and a possible ghostly presence.
Visually, Pop Skull is as overcooked as a 3-hour-boiled egg. It’s a relentlessly superimposed / intercut / colour-filtered / looped / strobed mess. If the question is "how do you turn cheap-looking DV footage into an edgy headfuck?", then unless “edgy headfuck” is somehow synonymous with “mid-80s indie band video” this film does not provide the correct answer.
Amid the mess, there are a few genuinely tense and creepy moments, helped by the soundtrack of drones, noise, feedback, etc, which to some extent succeeds where the visual effects fail.
It’s possible that if the script had restricted the character solely to the confines of his basement lodgings, to undergo a feature-length descent into drug-addled isolation and terror, then the puzzle at the heart of the film (“paranormal presence or paranoid hallucination?”) could have been exploited to full effect. Unfortunately, the puzzle gets resolved in a rather lame and unoriginal fashion about halfway through, rendering the second half of the film ineffective and increasingly tiresome.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)