An / Schneider v Bax / Victoria

For you lovers of subtitles, three foreign films here to seek out if you so wish. Having said that these were all Festival films and, unless they get picked up for distribution, you’ll probably have to look out for them on shiny discs further down the line. We start with An, Naomi Kawase’s charming and thought provoking film regarding age and disability in Japan. Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagse) owns a small diner which distributes dorayaki pancakes. People are hardly queuing round the block for his fare, but things take a turn for the better when he employs elderly lady Tokue (Kirin Kiki) to make the red-bean paste (the “An” of the title) for said pancakes. However Tokue’s recipe and Sentaro’s profits look to be under threat when Tokue’s (visual) disability begins to become common knowledge. I won’t say much more as Tokue’s disability is delicately and subtly revealed in the film and Kawase’s production deserves people to see it for highlighting what is a somewhat dark social issue in Japan (unless you’re a Japanophile it’s a topic you’ll unlikely to be aware of). On the negative side, whist the acting from the two main leads is top notch (they should have a picture of Nagse playing Sentaro in the dictionary under “unenthused”), the rest of the cast ranges from somewhat bland to over the top. This could also have done with losing 20 minutes or so in the editing suite. From Japan we make the long haul flight back to Europe for Alex van Warmerdam’s Schneider v Bax, in which Dutch hitman Schneider (Tom Dewispelaere) reluctantly takes on a job taking out Ramon Bax, a novelist who lives somewhat reclusively in the reed fields of the Netherlands. The title alone pretty much tells you that things don’t go to plan. We haven’t had a mash-up for a while so lets describe this as the Coen’s directing a Jo Nesbo script, but with 50% of the quality, fun and intensity removed. Warmerdam has a reputation for delivering films that are a little odd and this is no exception. How much you swallow some of the more bizarre moments will probably reflect your overall enjoyment. To wit: At one point a major plot development occurs when a character, alone, and for no reason whatsoever, does a comedy pratfall! Warmerdam tries to pitch the comedy aspect high, but it’s a thin line between farce and farcical. However, despite all the silliness, you’ll still want to know how it all works out. Though hopefully you won’t be too distracted by Dewispelaere, who must be the lovechild of Michael Ballack and Danny Dyer. Finally, it’s a short hop over to Germany for some filmic experimentation, with Sebastian Schipper’s Victoria. I love a tracking shot so when I heard about this (a whole film shot in one uninterrupted take), it sounded like manna from heaven. Set in the early hours of the city of Berlin, we follow young night clubber Victoria (Laia Costa) as she hooks up with a somewhat motley crew of chaps and then follow her adventures with them throughout the dark hours of the German night. The technical details first. Schipper tried three attempts to get this done, succeeding on the third attempt and this is the take that makes up the film, all 134 minutes of it. It can’t be denied that it’s a highly impressive achievement as the camera follows the protagonists through streets, stairs, lifts, rooftops, cars, bikes, shops etc. without a noticeable stumble. However, there’s a problem though. Even incorporating a bank raid into the bargain, Schippers film is just plain dull. At least an hour could have been cut from this, but it looks like the lure of a longer more impressive technical achievement won out over the actual quality of the final film. In addition it takes quite a bit of swallowing, especially with no background to the characters, that Victoria would spend five minutes with such a group of horrible drunk tossers, let along a couple of hours with them breaking law after law. Kudos to cast and director for a cracking achievement cinema-wise. It’s a shame it’s just not worth over two hours of people’s time to sit through the end result. An Rating: 7/10. Bax Rating: 6/10. Victoria Rating: 5/10.