10.000 Km

Just watched this movie in the Bergen International Film Festival. I didn't watch so many movies in this festival. I choose which ones I want to watch very carefully by title, and description of the movies. "10,000 KM" was the first one I chose that I was going to watch and I enjoyed every second of it from the beginning to the end.

I have actually always wanted to write a script or shoot a movie about the internet relationship IF I were a write or a director. It is difficult, and can be challenging. A lot of people have done that, but I haven't seen anyone has done it successfully. However, Carlos Marques-Marcet nailed it, just the way as I wanted it to be, or even better. I don't know how it feels for elder people who don't use internet or even anyone who doesn't have such experience before. But to me, it totally worked. The cast is simple, the conversation is raw but real, the cinematography is beautiful, while the theme of the movie is complex and deep.

There were actually only two characters, the leading actor and actress in this movie. The performance is outstanding, both of them. It couldn't support such a movie without excellent performances. In a good movie, the viewer usually could fit himself in one of the roles and feel for it. While in "10,000 KM", I could fit myself in both of them, more for Sergi(played by David Verdaguer) probably. I have gone through exactly the same thing as the couple did in the movie. Every act, every word, and every thought was so real. When they were questioning each other, they were also questioning themselves. Sometimes, you already knew it from your first thought, but then you try to find different ways to prove it wrong, but failed. What I like about this movie is that it didn't give the audience any suggestions, or any conclusion. You knew it from the first second of the scene, and just wanted to prove it throughout the whole movie. The director has done an excellent job by proving it to you.

As for me, I came thousands miles from China to Norway because of a long distance relationship. Now I'm ending up living here for almost ten years, alone. I gave the movie 10 out of 10, one point was from my own similar experience.

The effectiveness of this picture lies in the unsaid. It is testament to the actors who use body language to the fullest extent to convey their feelings, and down to the editor to put that across coherently.

It shows you how complex, emotional and downright daft we can be for these things we call relationships. The inward and outward dishonesty we have within this devout faith inside this human concept. A societal doctrine we all adhere to on the whole.

Time and distance are put up against love. People can believe or convince themselves that life is going perfectly fine but when you have space away from a situation, clarity of thought and feeling can prevail. When you are distanced from a situation, you can never truly feel connected to it, really.

The last 5 or so minutes are powerfully stated. Without as much as a single word, you understand exactly what both actors reluctantly agree upon. I put this work in the same vein as Blue Eyelids. Less is more type storytelling.

... as far as movies dealing with long distance relationships go 10k KM should be considered as one of the better ones... out-of-sight out-of-mind is much to contend with... being unfaithful to one's partner made easier when you can drift apart, not having to go back and see the other person regularly... can you fall out of love with someone.. sure... can you fall back-in-love again, sure

... he tells her to go out and experience the city, make new friends, have shared experiences... actually he's really saying she must let go of him, so what could he expect, he's not going to live there, she's not returning back, at least for now or soon

... it's not that they no longer have anything in common, just that they no longer have the intimate bond of physical-intimacy helping-keeping them together... that hands-on-contact we all crave-need-regularly.

I thought this was really quite dull overall. It's hardly an original story and I got quite bored mid way through. The characters are nice enough but it's pretty predictable and didn't really 'grab' me. I suppose the script is fairly decent, there are some fairly poignant pieces of dialogue, though there are other times when little is said at all and there's not much content there...I guess it could move some people, it is sad to see how things change but I didn't find it exactly surprising or anything. The performances are good but it's pretty slow, plot pace wise. If anything appealed to me about it, I'd say its the technology aspect - relying on the internet, Google street view, photos etc. For her to convey what she's seeing and doing, is interesting. I suppose after the COVID19 lockdowns, people have been forced to rely on technology to stay in touch with others. I didn't mind that part of the story but I wouldn't say this film is primarily about the power or ability of technology to maintain a relationship alone. It's only a part of it, if that makes any sense. It's thoughtful but I think it's a bit too sparse for my liking really. I imagine some may regard it as quietly devastating but I'm not sure I really felt that, personally. I can see what they were getting at though.

Overall I wouldn't recommend it as such, no.

Just a quick review to encourage people to see this lovely, impressive film:

10,000km is a beautiful drama about the difficulties of long-distance relationships. The entire film consists of interactions between a couple (we never see anyone else or leave their flats), mostly through skype or messaging. But believe it or not, it's completely enthralling throughout. The two leads are excellent, bringing both humour and deep emotion to their characters, while the director - in his feature debut - pulls in a variety of tricks to keep things interesting. An honest, quietly powerful film that I hope gets the recognition it deserves. Watch it if you get the chance, and then spread the word.