Perl oder Pica

This is the last "big" Luxembourgian movie, and, as always when featuring a local production, everyone gotta see it. Most people were disappointed after Andy Bausch's "Deep Frozen" but, on the other hand, quite delighted after watching Perl oder Pica. It's a quite interesting movie commenting on general Luxembourgian issues. It is not crucial to have some basic knowledge on "our" history, but on some points somehow useful. I had quite the impression that Pol Cruchten took care on keeping the film accessible to "strangers" without losing the insider character. The strong point of this film is the exposure of Luxembourgian life which he watches in a very subtle ways and takes care not to cosmeticize it, nor to make fun of it. It offers a good insight in the life, how it used to be in the sixties, which he draws probably from his own experience. Nevertheless, the film got some flaws. Mainly the absence of any strand confuses the audience. The movie tells so many different stories without sticking to one real idea. For me, he main idea of the film is handled in one or two sentences and that's it. It just lacks of clarity which Pol Cruchten might not be the only one to blame, it's mainly because of an only average script which makes this an average movie. I would say that everyone interested in Luxembourg or Luxembourgian history should watch this movie as it offers an amusing, not boring, insight on their culture (or shows "your" culture from a different point of view), but I would not see the point for anyone else, watching that movie. There are surely equally good movies in your language, whether it is Hebrew or French. Voilà!

All in all, I would say that "Perl oder Pica" is a decent movie. The settings and the costumes are the best things in it, they recapture the image of the European 1960s, which were still quite gloomy and post-war influenced but which had some elements of modernity slowly creeping in. The story is OK as well, although I was expecting something more dramatic. I was waiting for a life-altering event to take place in Norbi's life but there is not much happening there, it is just a selection of episodes picturing boyhood experiences. The movie could also be defined as a series of vignettes-like illustrations of an European country that still had trouble coping with the memories of WWII and entering in the age of modernity, seen through the eyes of a pre-adolescent boy. The acting was alright, there were some exaggerations here and there but they might have been intentional. Finally, I would say that it is a good movie which could have been better if it had tackled more critical issues and concentrated more on the context rather than the boy's life, which in the end was just as any other kid's life in the '60s and to some extent even nowadays (I am thinking of authoritative parents and teachers, school bullying, learning the 'facts of life'...). I have to mention though, that the movie is set in my hometown of Esch/Alzette and it was quite thrilling to see sights I know very well projected on the silver screen!