Jonas que Terá Vinte e Cinco Anos no Ano 2000

For a French-speaking American younger than Jonas would now be, I couldn't always easily connect with the collection of colorful individuals (among others, an unorthodox high school teacher, a couple of organic vegetable farmers, a laid-off type-setter, a disillusioned journalist, an eccentric cashier with a compassionate bent, and a redhead captivated by tantric sex) that got together in this film, post Paris manifestations of May '68, to share their frustrations, their ruminations and their fantasies. But the film chewed on heaps of intriguing controversial issues of the time - many lines taken directly from Octavio Paz and Pablo Neruda - which continue to stir emotion in any thinking, feeling individual. The film is also personal, full of heart and full of intellectual stimulation. It's melancholic and nostalgic, yet wistfully optimistic. Recommended to anyone interested in the provocative issues that fomented the famous student demonstrations around the world just a few years before this film was conceived.

This movie elegantly captures the zeitgeist of ca 1975, seen through individual lives of some Genevans who in minor ways attempt to keep the sparkle of rebellion alive while their dreams from 1968 fade away, facing the reality of the 1970s. Its blend of tongue-in-cheek comedy and melancholy sadness makes it impossible to forget once you've seen it.

While Jonah is generally referred to as a comedy, it is not. It does have some, perhaps many, funny moments. Comedy is certainly a part of it. But the film is a serious and almost perfect meditation on the post-revolutionary era and what's in store for the future. It is also a document on the passage of time, the ways in which the world changes around us, the ways in which we as individuals evolve, or devolve. The different characters negotiate their existences in different ways, with different philosophies. The mood of the film is very sad, but in the gentlest way possible. There's a hope for the future, but it's not a big one. It's quite pessimistic. The musical score, by Jean-Marie Senia, is exquisite, one of the best ever written for the cinema. The camera moves beautifully. 10/10.

"Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000" may be the only Swiss movie that I know about, but it's a great one. It focuses on several aging radicals and their realization that maybe the world couldn't eventually be like they had one day hoped for. They had participated in the 1968 uprising in Paris - and everything surrounding that - but are now trying to figure out where exactly they belong in this changing world of the 1970s.

Alain Tanner really created something impressive here. We see how, although they understand that their goals were probably unattainable, they have not abandoned their political views. "JWWB25ITY2000" is what great film-making is all about.

John Berger is perhaps my favorite novelist and clearly this script is another of his fine works. The cinematography is exquisite. We should all be thankful for (and watch more) films such as this one that manage to avoid the all too familiar and successful models from which Hollywood refuses to deviate.