Jujube/2019-iffr-log

24/1

Nuestro Tiempo

The main character comes across as controlling. I understand it is the film's intention, but I don't feel sympathetic.
The film is long (almost 3 hours), but with unexpected imageries from the ranch there is enough space to not be annoyed.
The bull/mule fight is visceral. The steam from the body of the mule is beautiful.
The still shot of the door — Juan goes in, pause, two ranch helpers go in, pause, Juan comes out again — with the child's narration as transition is puzzling. 1) Why so long? 2) Why is a child the narrator? (Perhaps to illustrate innocence and good-will; it feels jarring.)
I didn't finish watching because the visuals disappeared around 2h20min. The whole theater sank into blackness. One by one, people's faces were lit up by their phone screens. Everyone tried to escape. There was murmurs as the audio went on... Perhaps it was intentional. If so it is a baffling, unjustified choice.

Your Face Recommended

Surprisingly moving with genuine images of old skin and twinkles in the eyes.
It hits me when the first face breaks the stillness (a woman in her late 60's or early 70's). She seems to be on the verge of tears while she laughs. The director's voice and the questions he asks are gentle and non-judgement, which sets the tone for the film.
The overall flow is punctuated by seemingly mundane stories from working class people. All the women move me. One pushes down her feelings as she recalls her first love and the hardship during her youth. One keeps saying "don't laugh at me" while letting out a nervous laugh. One cries because she feels guilty about being an unfilial daughter.
There is a lot of unease from some of the cast, none of whom are professional actors.
I am not convinced by the last scene. It tests patience. I understand it as the place where the faces stared into during the shoot. Perhaps the director wants us to be the faces.

The Day I Lost My Shadow

Promising metaphor and opening scenes (esp. boy in sweater and over the sink).
Sadly, the metaphor ("shadow") turns out more symbolic than effectual. There is a lot of shots on the shadows moving across the forest, but after a while it gets old... These shots do not give new information/arise new feelings.
The story has just enough gaps to be confusing. One main character seems to appear and die out of nowhere. The intimacy between the protagonist and him, which developed suddenly, could have carried more weight, or at least more become more convincing.
War causes neurosis, yes, but simply displaying it alienates the audience.
Hand-held shots = dizziness (perhaps a bit overused)

25/1

Orbit (prelude for Black Mother)

Spinning animation with fitting music scores. The reveal of the artifact that makes the animation adds a message to the film.

Black Mother

There is no synchronized audio in this film. Everything is a voiceover on top of montage: some are related to the subject of speech, some are people, some, landscape. The movie (or rather, the director in his own words) asks the audience to associate freely. The result would be stunning had it been a shorter piece. Standing at 77 minutes, this technique becomes demanding and loses its momentum.

There is a supposed structure guided by pregnancy and birth (a female voice announces: "first/second/third trimester" and "birth"), which divides the film into chapters. However, I am not sure I can perceive any progression suggested by this structure.

(I dozed off for ten minutes.)

The portraits, shots of water and praying become repetitive after a while. Repeating for emphasis is exhausting and stops being poetic.

There is a scene of a boy holding a film camera. My thoughts when seeing it: perhaps the movie is made with a combination of the director's and amateur footage? But in the credits it shows that the director did everything. So why this shot?

The key take-aways from the film: a place filled with natural beauty and abundance, and at the same time, prostitution, machoism, and hardship. Religion dominates and one voice in particular talks about the colonial influence (christ along with the slavery trade). Spirituality is deeply tied to religion, but in some cases splits off from it.

It's described as an artistic documentary. However, the individual images are more interesting than the collective montage. Putting them together distracts me. The film might be better off as a multiscreen installation or something equivalent that allows the audience to process the complexity on their own time.

// Drinks //

Had a brief but nice chat with a programmer from the Belfast FF. I spoke about the importance of empathy in my work and how I found cinema a good form to explore. "Yes, cinema is extremely empathetic," she said. She recommended "Heart of the dogs.

After Images

Gulyabani Recommended

The short is visually divided into four chapters with a voiceover of a woman recounting her life on her hospice bed to her son. (The son could be a vision rather than an actual person, as I read from the narrative.) The overall feeling is gothic, a heavy matter expressed through calm speech.

1: Beautiful and dark images of water / her childhood, the abuse she suffered from, her ability to communicate with the dead
2: Astounding landscape made of blue rocks and orange vegetations (probably colored in post, but seamless) / her abuse as a teen, during the time in a rock mine
3: Washed out footage (mostly blue and white) / (I forgot what she said particularly, at that point.)
4: Back to dark images, but this time more abstract... Aesthetics: analog, scratches from film, fast edits that turn into animation. / her encounter with her son

Some footage from THE ANONYMOUS-ARCHIVE OF AMATEUR AUDIOVISUAL.[1] Worth looking into.