Categories: cinema
Date: 21 April 2008 01:06:34
Nothing but Ghosts, the third film of the Festival of German Films I have seen. And another great one. Also, there was a Q&A session afterwards with the director, Martin Gypkens: I even asked two questions! [yes, greedy me. :)] I asked about his favourite plot among the five [Answer: He has one, but will not say as not to influence others] and what the Italians and Americans, in particular, though about their generic portrayals [sex-mad and large/food-obsessed respectively]; answer -- he's not sure about the Americans, but the Swiss-Italians saw the humour. And they were caricatures, and as with all caricatures, the truth, revaled slowly, was far different and very surprising -- truth and honesty were found in unexpected places.
Nothing but Ghosts is a very melancholy, some may say depressing, film about the issues of the inability to communicate with those nearest and dearest to you. Through showing four groups of Germans out of Germany [Iceland, Italy, Jamaica and the USA] and one group within [though the main character is often away from her home], we seem them displaced from their comfortable surroundings and dealing with issues such as the lack of communication, real communication, with those close to them, the struggles people have at their particular stage of life and a general feeling of rootlessness [which I can identify with]. There are moments of humour, moments of wonderful humour, but to me the film definitely tended towards the sad, "the melancholic" as the director said at the Q&A session afterwards. But this is true to life: life is not just one big happy stroll. There are struggles, fights, failures, concerns...and I thought these were all shown wonderfully.
I think this is why I am loving these films so much: in particular the two drams I have seen thus far. People and their lives are playing such a large part in the plots of these films, and the people are shown as realistic -- they have joys, they have pains, they have sorrows. I simply get caught up, and become so involved with these characters, and want to know what happens to them. And, with this film as with The Edge of Heaven, many questions are left unanswered as to the fate of the characters: it is interesting to ponder what may happen next, and in that respect it is rather unfortunate I am seeing these films alone -- it'd be great to talk to a friend about them afterwards.
In addition, the vast landscapes, particularly that of the US desert and Iceland, truly add to the beauty of the film: as do the scenes in Venice and Jamaica. I thought the scenes in Germany were much darker and "greyer" -- no doubt correlating to the themes in that subplot. Superb acting by all involved too.
I will have to try and find the short stories by Judith Hermann that this film was based on: the director did say he had changed certain parts, but I think I'd find the stories equally as engaging.