15/11/2024 - Juris Kursietis' sophomore feature boasts a solid premise but ultimately struggles to be more than a finely crafted character study

After a triumphant performance in Germany, the life of famed musician Anna (Johanna Wokalek) is turned upside down. Upon landing at Riga airport, her partner Andris (Juris Žagars), a CEO working for a state-controlled timber firm, is arrested amid a corruption scandal. Despite the shocking news, she chooses not to cancel her private birthday celebration, where friends, acquaintances, and family are invited to gather at the couple’s lavish countryside house and witness the unveiling of a meticulously restored, century-old organ at a local church.

This is the premise of Juris Kursietis, sophomore feature The Exalted [+see also:
interview: Juris Kursietis
film profile], which world-premiered in the international competition of this year’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The story opens with a short idyllic, bucolic scene where the two swim in cold water, drink champagne, and seemingly enjoy the moment.

Here, the Latvian helmer manages to craft two compelling leading characters – we sense something is wrong with Andris' shady business, and Anna is clearly torn between trusting him and protecting her career. As the news goes public, her concert in Latvia is cancelled.

On the other hand, Andris apparently acts as a caring yet evasive and overconfident husband who doesn’t want to snitch on his business partners. He’s attached to his land and its traditions, including hunting.

The flamboyant circus of characters we meet along the way are overall fairly well characterised – although some are little more than extras (for example, a couple of Latvian friends who come over) and have little impact on the narrative. In particular, the presence of the local church’s priest (Egons Dombrovskis) and Andris’ daughter Elze (Gerda Embure) seems only functional to a long scene depicting an out-of-the-blue heated conversation about religion and tradition, almost as though these two characters were serving as small McGuffins. Furthermore, the priest’s limited grasp of English makes Dombrovskis's character at times embarrassing or hard to understand – this is probably a deliberate choice, but nevertheless, something gets lost in translation.

On the other hand, characters such as Gabrielle (Anna’s agent, portrayed by Judith Hofmann) and Yorgos (a Gramophone journalist, played by Greece’s Yorgos Pirpassopoulos) are more polished, and their presence on screen is more organic. Gabrielle, like any good agent representing her artists, is understandably worried about how things are turning out for Anna’s career owing to Andris’ scandal. Meanwhile, Yorgos – who happens to be there to interview Anna ahead of the Gramophone Awards – is the real fish out of water. Surrounded by perfect strangers, he tries to understand their motives and the true facts behind the sudden cancellation of Anna’s Latvian concert.

The cinematography – courtesy of Bogumil Godfrejow – is perhaps the less convincing aesthetic aspect. While the image is pristine and pleasant, the handheld style is overused and not always effective, sometimes softening tension rather than enhancing it. Other technical features – including the editing, the score and the production design – are smooth.

Similarly to his earlier film Oleg [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juris Kursietis
film profile], Juris Kursietis’ latest feature boasts a gripping premise but ultimately struggles to go beyond a finely crafted character study. It feels more accomplished than Oleg, however, since the closure of the narrative arc is more intelligible in The Exalted – although it isn’t the most surprising and is conveyed through a rather conventional visual metaphor.

The Exalted was produced by Latvia’s White Picture, Estonia’s Stellar Film, and Greece’s Asterisk*. France’s B-Rated is in charge of the film's world sales.