February: Post Soviet Cinema II
February: Post Soviet Cinema II, FLMTQ Releases 226-229
During the month of February Filmatique presents Post Soviet Cinema II, a collection of works from Latvia, Romania, Lithuania, and Hungary.
Attila Till's Kills on Wheels features three wheelchair-bound assassins in a thrilling crime-comedy, promoting narratives of the differently-abled amid a media landscaping that is woefully lacking in their representation. Also delving into the vicissitudes of the criminal underworld, Aik Karapetian's Firstborn tackles themes of violence and masculinity in modern-day Latvia. Kristina Buožyte's mesmerizing science fiction film Vanishing Waves unites a research participant and a comatose woman in a parallel psychic universe, while Cristi Puiu's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu journeys into the liminal space between life and death, as a sickly widower is shuttled through Bucharest's labyrinthine hospital system, where he is consistently turned away.
A distinct aesthetic and thematic focus on bodies defines this corpus of films—Kills on Wheels mines certain expectations of the immobilized to comic effect, while Vanishing Waves disintegrates the boundaries between bodies through its exploration of spatial and spiritual transcendence. The looming threat of violence in Firstborn foregrounds corporeal vulnerability, the idea that death could come at any moment, while in The Death of Mr. Lazarescu the spectator is shepherded alongside an unwitting protagonist toward his inevitable end. With disparate yet shared experiences of Soviet rule, the filmmakers of these nations reveal creative and, at times, cathartic modes of relation to the vestigial effects of occupation on the body politic itself.
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Kills on Wheels, Attila Till (2016)
Kills on Wheels, Attila Till / Hungary, 2016
Zoli and Barba reside in an assisted-living facility outside of Budapest. Zoli has a spinal affliction, while Barba has a mild case of cerebral palsy. They pass their days dreaming up scenarios for a graphic novel, featuring a badass paraplegic as their hero. Rupaszov is a former fire-fighter who has been paralyzed from the waist down following an accident on the job—he is now employed as a hitman for Rados, a Serbian crime lord. Since no one suspects the man in a wheelchair, Rupaszov is able to pull off a number of increasingly precarious assassinations. Yet he soon requires two accomplices, which is where Zoli and Barba come in.
A sleeper hit at the Hungarian box office, and performed by a wealth of differently-abled actors, Kills on Wheels is a wildly inventive action-comedy that confronts issues of prejudice while challenging genre boundaries. Attila Till's second feature premiered at Karlovy Vary; Chicago Film Festival, where it won the New Directors Competition; and Thessaloniki, where it won Best Actor and Best Film.
Vanishing Waves, Kristina Buožyte (2012)
Vanishing Waves, Kristina Buožyte / Lithuania-France-Belgium, 2012
A bright, white lab. Lukas has volunteered to partake in a research project, which will hopefully allow him to communicate with Aurora, a young woman in a coma. His head shaved, Lukas dons a complex web of neurotransmitting devices, then slips into a sensory-deprivation tank. In this altered state of consciousness, Lukas meets Aurora—back in the lab, no data has arrived. Due to his growing attraction to Aurora, Lukas is reluctant to report their meetings, which grow increasingly erotic in nature. Lukas and Aurora's shared psychic link produces surreal dreamscapes and instances of carnal desire, but with each meeting, even more risk of separation.
A hypnotic portrait of two individuals determined to preserve their bond no matter the cost, Vanishing Waves is an inventive and hypnotic work of science fiction. Lithuanian filmmaker Kristina Buožyte's third feature film premiered at Karlovy Vary, where it won a Special Mention, and Austin Fantastic Fest, where it won Best Actress, Best Director, Best Film, and Best Screenplay.
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Cristi Puiu (2005)
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Cristi Puiu / Romania, 2005
Dante Remus Lazarescu is feeling dreadfully ill. Waking up to a terrible headache and stomach cramps he can no longer bear, he calls for an ambulance. The medics arrive, but there has been a bus accident that same afternoon and all the hospitals are full. He is shuttled across Bucharest from one clinic to another, encountering doctors who alternately suspect Mr. Lazarescu has simply had too much to drink, or are preoccupied with troubles of their own. His lone ally is Mioara, a Virgil-like paramedic ushering him toward certain twilight.
Bone-dry and riddled with instances of sly humor, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu weaves an unexpectedly poignant portrait of one man's last battle against the indifference of Romania's contemporary healthcare system. Cristi Puiu's second feature premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won Best Film in Un Certain Regard; Transilvania, where it won six prizes including Best Director and the FIPRESCI Prize; Bratislava, where it won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury; and Reykjavik, where it won the Golden Puffin for Best Film. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu was voted Best Film in Indiewire's 2006 Critics' Poll.
Firstborn, Aik Karapetian (2017)