Adieu, plancher des vaches!

a subtle and poetic film about people trying to find their real place and run away from origins. two guys frequently meet not knowing that one of them is rich but prefers washing dishes in a bar, while the other is poor but rents a suite and motorbike to spend a fancy day in town. probably, one of the most beautiful moments of the film is the rich piere's (played by ioselliani himself) acquintal with a drunkard from the town. both sing long gone melodies while drinking and watching a mini train running around on a table. many have regarded the film as too slow and boring what apparently comes from ioselliani's refusal to use close-ups and crane/dolly shots. in opposite, it adds a silent observing character and avoids to give any human judgment.

I saw this immediately following the same director's Falling Leaves and found it much more accessible. The twenty-odd year gap between the two films and the fact that this one was made in France as opposed to Georgia may, of course, have something to do with it. Again, the Georgian-born director (he made a point of saying he was Georgian and NOT Russian) introduced it - in fluent French yet - and described it as his most complicated film. It's a gently, meandering piece and at least half a dozen times you think, OK, that's it, a logical ending, only to have it spin out yet moor gossamer thread. There's a distant relationship with Renoir's The Rules Of The Game but only around the edges. It's about a disparate group of people whose lives intersect and sometimes, but not always, connect. Bizarre, eccentric, both could be fairly employed to describe some of the characters. Again the director chooses to spin his web around a young male, this time around the scion of a wealthy family who, for reasons best known to himself, works as a dishwasher in a restaurant - and an inept dishwasher at that; he's fired halfway through the film - and chooses friends from among the outcasts of society (again, we could, if we wanted to stretch a point, find a link with Boudu Saved From Drowning). Characters come and go on this patchwork quilt and some we find more interesting than others. None of the actors are well known but most are fairly competent and overall the film holds the attention.

A superb blend of Parisian life akin to Almodovar's in depth analysis of life in Madrid. The surrealism of the Marabou and the end sequence adds the Bunuel touch. For good measure add a series of superb characters who would not have been out of place in any of the Twin Peaks episodes. More Calvados please and another movie as good as this one - a rare visual event.

with only little dialogue the film reveals several parallel lives and focuses on two young men, one of them son of a wealthy family the other of poor origin, who resist their social heritage and design themselves. unfortunately, the wealthy guy who prefers to work as a dishwasher and spend his life with chlochards has to learn, that he will not get the girl he fancies. she prefers to take the other other guy, who, despite of his poor upbringing, shows up in expensive clothes riding an expensive motorbike. director/ writer iosseliani himself plays the very funny part of a jolly drinker, father of the rich family, who prefers not to be part of a society, that is only interested in success. though not fast this is an intelligent and entertaining film.

Otar Ioselliani's masterpiece about pursuing life's dreams and remaining true to your beliefs combines a wonderful sense of warmth and an exceptional sense of humor as it paces along in its very own, unconstrained fashion while inviting us for a ride into its pleasant and touching world.

Scenes of often over-the-top situation comedy are juxtaposed with soulful explorations of the human heart, where staying honest to oneself as a person is the only way of avoiding life's inevitable cruelty.

Both entertaining and thoughtful, it is the most enjoyable film to-date by Ioselliani.