serena.s

My reactions to this film are on two levels. On one level the director has shown great skill in his handling of his cast, whom I presume mostly to be inhabitants of the locale. He was less successful in developing the story, particularly in developing the motivations of the characters. The denouement was clumsily handled and seems as much an accident in the screenplay as in it is in the film. On another level, the cinematography was technically atrocious. Presumably intentionally so, for I cannot perceive anybody showing such little technical skill getting the job (mind, I have known one guy who got such a job without even knowing how to determine exposure). There are lengthy tracking shots that are unwatchable on the big screen. There are many 360 blurred pans and many out of focus shots. I got to waiting, during these lengthy out of focus shots to see what in-focus thing would eventually move into frame. One presumes that everybody knows about depth of field and pulling focus, so I guess the director intended to suggest mystery (which he did: what is the mystery object that the camera is focused on?). In many ways this film rehashes techniques of 50s European "reality" films (eg. Bicycle Thieves, The Goatherd, etc), but less successfully. Presently there is a fashion for rough cinematography - bumpy hand held, soft, muddy in the belief that this represents "truth" (compared to Hollywood slickness). In fact, it distracts the viewer from the story.

The images are interesting enough, probably more so to those not familiar with cinema history. The sequences show examples of trick effects, shots from the first horror films, depiction of communication (flicking dates, etc). However the images are accompanied by irrelevant and intrusive electronic noise and the film is more readily appreciated once the noise is turned off (not easy to do in the cinema).

The music is the star of this film. And the musicians, of course. The story of the growing friendship of Max and Swing is a nice and well played structure holding the whole thing together, as Max learns about Swing's people and gets accepted into their life. If you know the music of the "Hot Club of France" and the power of Django Reinhardt's playing, then you don't want this film to end. I wonder if Mandino Reinhardt (who plays himself) is a descendant of Django - sure plays like one!