Press 1
In a Portuguese no man´s land
The eerie and enigmatic Body Rice screens in competition
Since 1980, German institutions have been sending hundreds of troubled teenagers to the south of Portugal to take part in -social re-education- programmes. Body Rice (a world premiere in competition) is set inside one of these programmes, but don´t expect a sociological drama-documentary. As the director explains in an interview with Pardo News, he didn´t make the film with a polemical point of view.
Hugo Vieira da Silva´s first fiction feature film is jarring and enigmatic. There are constant slow, mesmeric pans. Dialogue is kept at a minimum. There are sudden jumps between scenes.
The protagonist is Katrin, a german delinquent adrift in the parched Portuguese countryside. She is listless in the extreme. She´ll sit in the sand smoking or lie in her bed, staring at the ceiling. As if to reflect her apathy, the film has a washed out, desnaturated look. Katrin we learn is from -the project-. It is never made clear why she is here. Nor does she show any sign of emotion. She is trapped in her own private world. When one German staying at the center is found dead, she barely seems to notice. The others at the center are almost equally apathetic, sitting around or dancing to music. Da Silva´s inventive and haunting soundtrack includes music from Joy Division, Einstuerzende Neubauten, X Mal Deutschland and Joey Beltram.
Ask the director what the title stands for and he refuses to provide a gilb explanation.- I think the film is like a puzzle-, he says.- There are pieces. You can mount these pieces in several ways. They all go together somehow. The title is one more piece of this puzzle.-
Da Silva acknowledges that BODY RICE is very different from some of the more conventional narrative dramas included in competition in Locarno. It his heavily influenced by his interest in performance, contemporary dance and poetry.
-My characters are shadows- the director says. I feel very close to them, but Iam very far from this journalistic documentary approach. Some people may see this as a depressing world but I don´t think so. There is always the possibility fo the carachters to express themselves.-
Da Silva strikes a pessimistic note about current state of european cinema. He suggests that it remains - extremely difficult to find financing for non-conventional projects like his own. The movies which are funded are often the most formulaic. -this element of honesty that you should have with with your work I think is lacking in many contemporary films. European film is in a creative crisis from my point of view.
Paulo Branco, one of best-known producers (and former recipent of Locarno´s Raimondo Rezzonico Prize) was ready to take a chance on BODY RICE.- He (Branco) always has an eye for what is going on and it is good that he is able to give someone the opportunity to come.-
Audiences in Locarno may be wrong-footed by the experimental storytelling in BODY RICE. The director urges them to whatch his film without prejudice.
-The only thing interesting is provoking divison-, Da Silva suggests.-It´s the only point when something can happen. You can leave the cinema or love it, but what would be not interesting in doing is giving audiences what they expect. That would mean I was telling the old story that everyone hears all the time. I want to make problems, raise questions and not to give solutions. If not, we would be all saying the same thing-
Geoffrey Macnab
in Pardo News
8th August 2006
The eerie and enigmatic Body Rice screens in competition
Since 1980, German institutions have been sending hundreds of troubled teenagers to the south of Portugal to take part in -social re-education- programmes. Body Rice (a world premiere in competition) is set inside one of these programmes, but don´t expect a sociological drama-documentary. As the director explains in an interview with Pardo News, he didn´t make the film with a polemical point of view.
Hugo Vieira da Silva´s first fiction feature film is jarring and enigmatic. There are constant slow, mesmeric pans. Dialogue is kept at a minimum. There are sudden jumps between scenes.
The protagonist is Katrin, a german delinquent adrift in the parched Portuguese countryside. She is listless in the extreme. She´ll sit in the sand smoking or lie in her bed, staring at the ceiling. As if to reflect her apathy, the film has a washed out, desnaturated look. Katrin we learn is from -the project-. It is never made clear why she is here. Nor does she show any sign of emotion. She is trapped in her own private world. When one German staying at the center is found dead, she barely seems to notice. The others at the center are almost equally apathetic, sitting around or dancing to music. Da Silva´s inventive and haunting soundtrack includes music from Joy Division, Einstuerzende Neubauten, X Mal Deutschland and Joey Beltram.
Ask the director what the title stands for and he refuses to provide a gilb explanation.- I think the film is like a puzzle-, he says.- There are pieces. You can mount these pieces in several ways. They all go together somehow. The title is one more piece of this puzzle.-
Da Silva acknowledges that BODY RICE is very different from some of the more conventional narrative dramas included in competition in Locarno. It his heavily influenced by his interest in performance, contemporary dance and poetry.
-My characters are shadows- the director says. I feel very close to them, but Iam very far from this journalistic documentary approach. Some people may see this as a depressing world but I don´t think so. There is always the possibility fo the carachters to express themselves.-
Da Silva strikes a pessimistic note about current state of european cinema. He suggests that it remains - extremely difficult to find financing for non-conventional projects like his own. The movies which are funded are often the most formulaic. -this element of honesty that you should have with with your work I think is lacking in many contemporary films. European film is in a creative crisis from my point of view.
Paulo Branco, one of best-known producers (and former recipent of Locarno´s Raimondo Rezzonico Prize) was ready to take a chance on BODY RICE.- He (Branco) always has an eye for what is going on and it is good that he is able to give someone the opportunity to come.-
Audiences in Locarno may be wrong-footed by the experimental storytelling in BODY RICE. The director urges them to whatch his film without prejudice.
-The only thing interesting is provoking divison-, Da Silva suggests.-It´s the only point when something can happen. You can leave the cinema or love it, but what would be not interesting in doing is giving audiences what they expect. That would mean I was telling the old story that everyone hears all the time. I want to make problems, raise questions and not to give solutions. If not, we would be all saying the same thing-
Geoffrey Macnab
in Pardo News
8th August 2006
posted by lucifer at 3:44 AM
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