Magnus

"Magnus" has something to say about love, parenthood, sex and suicide but not necessarily in that order. The problem is that its pretensions get in the way of us caring about its characters and really understanding what it's trying to accomplish.

The title character is a lonely, confused teenager (played by Estonian pop star Kristjan Kasearu) who has attempted suicide at least twice. Much of the film centers around us watching Magnus as he wanders aimlessly through life, doing drugs with his dad, going to a brothel, asking his sister to have sex with him, etc. He seems totally bored and disinterested most of the time and while this may be part of his condition, it becomes contagious and we begin to feel the same way.

One of the problems lies with the performance of Kasearu, who while extremely handsome is also mostly expressionless and never allows us into Magnus' head or heart.

The other issue is with writer/director Kadri Kousaar's pretentious style which involves unnecessarily avant-garde camera angles and opaque lighting that quickly put us into an intellectual and emotional stupor. "Magnus" is a film that's so caught up in its own 'ideas' that it ends up leaving us cold.

Kadri Kousaar's first film comes dangerously close to endorsing the views of its young protagonist, who besides being eager to end his own life is also a pretentious jerk.

Delivered into the care of his prostitute-patronizing slacker of a father (played by the real-life father of a suicide), Magnus experiments with drugs, hits on his own sister, and ruminates on his childhood lung disease. Then he gazes upon a swamp for minutes at a time. The philosophical content of this movie is offensively crude.

So far reviewers in Seattle (meaning SIFF) are not impressed. The showing is on June 2.

"Magnus" by Kadri Kousaar was a film chosen for Un Certain Regard, one of the side festivals of Cannes, but not in main competition. It was visually interesting, but the characterization and particularly the dialog were weak. It undermined the story. Especially as it is a true story about a father and son relationship and the father plays himself in the fictional film, and then gives a documentary testament in the final five minutes. In my opinion it was a very uneven film, beautiful in many regards but undercut by so much on-the-nose sturm-und-drang and weak character development (most of them didn't have names outside of Mother, Father, and Sister, and these were major characters).

Being an Estonian myself, I have to begin with by saying that this is one of the very few Estonian films I've seen that I WOULD watch even if it was not an Estonian film - in my opinion, it was well done, especially considering it being Kadri Kõusaar's first film ever, and yes, she is hated in Estonia, but no, I didn't feel her showing off in this film not once. It was Magnus's story and it was told in a beautiful and subtle manner, at times it was a bit artsy and might have contained too may scenes of Kristjan Kasearu (who surprised me quite a bit as well, as I really do not care much about his music) looking all dreamy and disturbing, but overall, it is a film that gets you hooked and does not let go. The bizarreness of dad-son relationship, the easiness with which the film treats the most difficult of subjects (and thus makes them shout and stand up even more), the haunting music - I was taken aback. On the other hand, if you're the type of person who minds when characters are unreal in films (don't have names, for instance) or is shocked by sexual references, it might be a good idea not to watch it after all, I suppose. But I think that for many people, this film makes sense, it clicks, and no, you don't have think that Magnus or his dad are normal or cool or whatever for this to happen - there are other layers to it than just the plot line! Oh yeah, and all the fuss about ethics and court banning the film - I would just like to know where to draw the line. To me, this film was a piece of fiction, probably even more surreal than what one usually gets in a mainstream blockbuster. Of course I'm not involved in the actual story and I have no idea how the mother of the actual boy feels, but it seems to me that now, with all the media attention, it might be even harder for her - and people will want to see the "forbidden fruit" even more. And they will.

It's beautifully told story about dark side of our life, about love (or lack of it) and life (or lack of it). But not only, it will give you some food for thought in many many areas. It's not ready-made fast food, you have to think along and thinking is not always easy thing to do. Being a parent will probably help you a bit. This film will tell you a lot if you care to listen.

There is something this film does not tell you but it may be good to know - Estonia is one of the top countries in male suicides per capita and by large talking about suicide is considered to be taboo. That may explain negative attacks toward film and director in reviews.

Technically it's not perfect movie, but it's good enough not to notice it while watching. Given virtually non-exciting budget - team has done excellent job there.

Give it a try, it's not for everyone, but it's well worth seeing.