'Millennium Angst' at JIFFest<\/p>\n
By Oren Murphy<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Among the many categories of films on view at
\nthe Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest) this week is
\n\"Millennium Angst\".<\/p>\n
Three films are being offered up under this heading, each
\nportraying a decidedly different vision of what the new
\nmillennium heralds. Two of the films, Tamas et Juli by Hungarian
\ndirector Ildiko Enyedi and The Wall by Belgian director Alain
\nBerliner, are part of a larger cooperative effort titled 2000
\nSeen By.... The third film, The Hole is an independent project by
\nTaiwan national director Tsai Ming-Liang.<\/p>\n
As the category heading Millennium Angst implies, the future
\nis not bright. It is telling that none of the three films being
\nshown presents the future and the new millennium as a Golden Age.<\/p>\n
Fear of the future is nothing new to filmmaking. Films from
\nFritz Lang's Metropolis to Ridley Scott's Bladerunner have been
\npermeated by a dread of what's to come: increasing
\ndehumanization, alienation and isolation. The films struggle with
\nthese issues and often find redemptive power in human
\nrelationships.<\/p>\n
The Hole presents a vision of Taiwan submerged in perpetual
\nrain and feelings of isolation. It is a week before the new
\nmillennium and people have been evacuated from the area due to
\nthe spread of a disease which causes people to scuttle around the
\nfloor like cockroaches.<\/p>\n
The story centers on two tenants in a rundown apartment
\nbuilding who barely know each other and rarely speak. A plumber
\narrives one day to check the pipes in the floor of the upstairs
\ntenant and in doing so, leaves a hole which becomes a point of
\ncontact between the upstairs and downstairs tenants.<\/p>\n
Action in the film is dedicated to killing cockroaches,
\npreventing wallpaper from peeling off the walls, catching drips
\nand eating instant noodles.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, this somewhat bleak social calendar is spiced up
\nby garish fantasy sequences in which the two tenants imagine
\nthemselves into the world of Hollywood-style song and dance
\nroutines.<\/p>\n
It's joyously superficial, filled with glamour, music and
\ndancing in the elevators. Clearly for the director though,
\nimagination is a final refuge for color and vivacity as our
\ndeteriorating environment encroaches on us, increasingly
\nalienating us from our sense of humanity. Happy New Year!<\/p>\n
Tamas et Juli portrays life in a small Hungarian mining town
\nand is perhaps the most lyrical of the three films. The story
\nfocuses on a young coal miner, Tamas, and the kindergarten
\nteacher, Juli, whom he is in love with. The plot gently unfolds
\nby oscillating between the spring and summer of their courtship
\nand the following winter in which the new millennium will arrive.<\/p>\n
Both characters are willful and proud and spend weeks on end
\nnot speaking with each other. Tamas in particular seems to have a
\nknack for making an ass of himself. This is painfully exemplified
\nin a scene where he is waiting in the snow with flowers for Juli
\nas an apology for a previous misdeed. She descends from the bus
\nand flashes him a beautiful smile to which he responds, \"Why are
\nyou looking so dumb?\"<\/p>\n
The fact that the new millennium is impending seems largely
\nirrelevant to the development of Tamas and Juli's relationship.
\nIt gains an importance when Juli sends a letter of reconciliation
\nproposing they meet on New Years. Tamas, however, is slotted to
\nwork in the mines on New Years and it appears that their
\nrelationship will suffer yet another and perhaps final blow.<\/p>\n
The film has a meditative calm about it, underscored by the
\nbeautiful cinematography. The director draws from the deep well
\nof the human psyche to find the immortal qualities of human
\ninteractions.<\/p>\n
In The Wall, director Alain Berliner portrays the conflict in
\nBelgium between the francophone Walloons and the Flemish. Albert,
\na French speaker and the movie's protagonist, owns a French fries
\nstand on the linguistic border between the two communities. He
\nturns up at his stand on the morning of Dec. 31, 1999 to find
\nthat his stand has been split in half by a wall separating the
\ntwo communities.<\/p>\n
The wall is the government's solution to the centuries old
\nconflict, and it leaves Albert on the wrong side with his new
\nFlemish girlfriend. Having crossed the border to the francophone
\nside with the aid of a little magic-realism, Albert is confronted
\nwith a spectrum of irrationality and prejudices in his friends
\nand family which he finds himself unprepared for.<\/p>\n
The wall as a symbol seems a little out-of-date as we have
\njust celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Berlin Wall's
\ncollapse, but it is a poignant reminder that anything is possible
\nwhen ignorance and prejudice are involved. It is telling and,
\ngiven global history in the past ten years, perhaps appropriate
\nthat Berliner has chosen this as his vision of the new
\nmillennium.<\/p>\n
While none of the three films will leave you skipping for joy,
\nthey are all fascinating and well-worth seeing. Tamas et Juli in
\nparticular beautifully renders the subtle emotional underpinnings
\nof its characters. Tamas et Juli shows at 19:30 on Nov. 28. The
\nWall is on at 19:30 on Nov. 22. The Hole can be seen at 19:30 on
\nNov. 26. All three are being shown at Graha Bakti Budaya TIM.<\/p>",
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