wujekroman

Seen at the Warsaw IFF 2014.

Selman is an imam, conducting prayers in a small mosque in the city. He lives a rather peaceful life, playing chess via text messages and practicing baglama (a Turkish stringed instrument). Until one day two shots are fired inside the mosque and one of the praying men collapses to the floor. All hell breaks loose and - to make things worse - his dear daughter introduces her husband-to-be...

The film is not flawless. Perhaps there's a bit too much a bit silly music in it (NOT the songs - those are brilliant), maybe the climax scene is a little too long. But believe me, those are minor flaws; what you remember when leaving the cinema is a delightful mixture of a classic whodunnit, a funny (sometimes very funny) comedy and a modern look on Muslim religion illustrated by very well thought over photography (the Turks have been getting us used to it lately) and flawlessly performed (see the last comment). It's a thrill ride also, the plot thickens, new threads develop and - yes, you guessed it - nearly everybody around could benefit or at least wish the victim death.

Go see it and have fun.

(Seen at the Warsaw IFF)

There were bright sides of this film - some camera work, the lighting, the lead actress. But that's about it.

What the trailer is suggesting, and what's rather in line with some first 10 minutes of the film, is the low key, silent, fantasy / romance tale immersed in the city night. Unfortunately this mood changes quickly and similar changes accompany the audience from time to time throughout the rest of the movie. Don't get me wrong - those are NOT plot twists but constant changes of the thing the film is aiming at. Just as it was not clear for the makers themselves what kind of film they want to make and as they kept re-writing the script from time to time as the shooting progressed. A fairy tale? A family drama? A crime thriller? A comedy? This is my biggest complaint, I think. It's not a blend of the above styles, it's rather a mess.

The whole cast, except the lead actress, seemed as confused with the script as the audience were (and admitted during the Q&A), which made the emotions they expressed incomprehensible. Paradoxically it was quite consistent with the similarly odd actions the protagonists undertook. All this together made the audience chuckle a bit when the film was approaching its climax, accompanied with lots of music suggesting lots of tension that simply weren't there. Some chuckled, some walked out of the screening room.

During the Q&A session the director pointed out many details, different styles and some complex background he wanted to incorporate into the film. I think it might be one of these cases when the vision blinds the creator a bit and he confuses the thing he wished to create with the one that was the actual effect. Instead of achieving the desired work, the crew created something unwillingly amusing (I loved the close-up (!) of a front of a car with the FORD logo that was carelessly covered with something that looked like a packing tape, that was a good one).

It could have been OK, but it was killed by an amateurish script.

Saw it on the Warsaw International Film Festival, having seen no Israeli films before and known nothing about what to expect. What I saw and felt reminded me much of Christopher Nolan's "Following" (both of these films are debuts) though the director denied it being any inspiration for him and put Brian De Palma and Roman Polanski's work instead. What got me most impressed was that the entire crew, including fantastic first-timer Anat Klausner, had no experience in making feature films before.

Meow is a lonely young girl who has a bad day. Her potential trip buyer turns out to be an annoying bloke who talks her into giving him an example of her stock and doesn't pay for it. The guy who recommended her to him doesn't want to let her in. Her motorbike gets stolen. And she's lonely. She finally gets to set up a date with the only man she feels like talking to - a chat-mate called Zero. The date ends up without her even seeing his face which however doesn't prevent her of kind of fall in love with him. But things go wrong. From then on the atmosphere gets more and more dense and dark. Meow takes up on Zero's life even against her own will and strange, Lynch-like things begin to happen.

The film is beautifully shot in B/W and I have to admit the only colour scene is striking, however unoriginal may the idea itself be. The cast can't be complained about, the highlight being mentioned Anat Klausner, who almost doesn't disappear from the screen. The film surely has it flaws - one can point a few plot holes or such, but those can be freely forgiven for the overall entertainment and atmosphere the film provides. A high-quality debut that deserves a ten.