IFFR 2009 (the higher middle range)

Involuntary (SE 98')
What is the influence of a group on the individual? How can we avoid group pressure? In Involuntary, the second feature by Ruben Östlund, we see five separate, familiar stories all taking these questions as their point of departure. For instance, Olle becomes unwillingly involved in the sexually tinted games of his old mates. Villmar is injured at his own party, but doesn't want to ruin the mood and so he carries on bravely as if nothing is wrong. And the girlfriends Linnea and Sara go out wearing sexy clothes but are not able to predict the effect in advance.
This successful Swedish mosaic film is fortunately occasionally very funny, but the camera continues to run soberly and relentlessly, when even the voyeuristic viewer doesn't really want to know what happens next. Östlund chooses his subjects with an eye for the sharp sides of Western freedom and attainments. Licentiousness (awoken by alcohol and lust), power abuse and bourgeois dissatisfaction put the characters into difficult situations .
Is in their own fault or are they the innocent victims of circumstances? That's only the start of the question. Because there's only one person who decides what we see and what we don't, or how long a scene lasts, and that is the director. A conclusion that often seems a cliché, but is here essential for the power of the film.

Pomegranates and Myrrh (PS 95')
Pomegranates and Myrrh is a multiply layered love story depicted against the background of everyday issues in today's Ramallah. It is quite unique to see footage of Palestinian reality being used not for a TV news report but for a creative drama (the wall, checkpoints, the confiscation of an olive farm, heavily armed Israeli soldiers patrolling the streets, etc.). A strong and mature début by a promising film maker.
Zaid (Ashraf Farah) and Kamar (Yasmine Al Massri) are Christian Arabs; the film begins with their marriage in East Jerusalem. Their happiness as newly weds does not last long though, for soon after the wedding a conflict about the confiscation of Zaid’s olive farm ends up with him being put in prison for an indefinite period of time. Kamar is a strong and modern woman, and to survive this difficult period, she decides to pick up her love for dancing again and joins a group of traditional Palestinian folk dancers despite her new family's disapproval.
A new choreographer, the Palestinian returnee Kais (Ali Suleiman) joins the dance group and brings a fresh breeze to the group and to Kamar. Her life is thrown into turmoil as she becomes increasingly attached to Kais and is caught between her desire to dance and not breaking family and social taboos about the role of a prisoner's wife, while life under occupation rages on…

Los Bastardos (MX/FR/US 95')
After Sangre (2005), supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, The Bastards is the second feature by Amat Escalante. The young Spanish-Mexican director has remained faithful to his stylistic principles. He has again engaged an amateur cast, as well as his Mexican colleague Carlos Reygadas, with whom he worked on Battle in Heaven (2005). Escalante now aims his securely observing camera at two Mexican brothers, Fausto and Jesus, who live in Los Angeles as illegal day labourers.
The Bastards describes 24 hours in their lives. A day that starts like all others: finding work - whatever work - is the most important issue. Forcefully and in matter-of-fact way, but also with humour, The Bastards shows the vulnerability of their existence. Alongside the continuous threat of deportation, we see unreliable employers who want to haggle about everything and drunken racists in the park where they seek rest. In the evening, the brothers break into an American woman's house whose husband has hired them to kill her.
Some similarities with Michael Haneke's Funny Games (1997) then emerge. What are the brothers going to do with the defenceless woman, who herself has several surprising problems? It's not primarily about the role of the viewer, but about the confusion, the ambivalence and the banality of life and the violence that eventually - you have been warned - still comes as a surprise.

The Stength of Water (NZ/DE 86')
The northern coast of New Zealand in the Hokianga region forms the backdrop for a story set in a small Maori community. The film maker chose to work with people from the community instead of professional actors. Thanks to this, but also to the harsh location, the film looks very authentic.
The little boy Kimi Kaneha is suffering greatly after the death of his twin sister. He doesn't really accept her death. For instance, he eats for two and hence becomes very fat, all in order to keep her spirit with him. He almost always drags a chicken round with him, one of the thousands from the family farm, as a kind of furry toy. He isn't taken very seriously, but does seem to have more insight than everyone thinks. His strange way of coming to terms with his sister's death might just work.
The film focuses on Kimi, yet he still remains an outsider. In the end it is more about the lives of the adults around him. They are forced to lead a harsh and frugal life and don't spare each other.

Nana (Maid) (CL 93')
A south American movie about a maid who served a family for 20 years but lately she can't do all the work any more. The family hires different maids to support her, but she works them out of the door one by one. All that leads to some funny situations. I would say that the film is about the importance of family and the value of friendship.