Katalog 2013.pdf - Visions du Réel

atelier – laila pakalnina
173
martins
pure idea of life: some books borrowed
at the village library and a beer sitting
on the bus stop bench, watching and
quietly pondering the world’s micro/
macro events around him.
With the medium-length documentary
Pa Rubika Celu (On Rubik’s Road,
2010, selected in Venice), Pakalnina
reaches an even smoother combination
of genres and stylistic elements.
Rubik’s road is a bicycle path in the
outskirts of Riga, built in the 80s and
named after Alfreds Rubiks, former
leader of the Latvian communist party
and strong opposer of Latvian independence
in 1991, elected to European
parliament in 2009 to represent the
nation he was against. Pa Rubika Celu
is a sharp, affectionate and, to some
extent, allegorical portrait of contemporary
Latvian society. The clumsy and
chaotic movement of pedestrians, runners,
bicycles, motorbikes, cars, planes,
trains, etc. happens on a road indifferently
still called Rubik’s, pointing the
lack of will to deal properly with the
past. But the direct political interpretation
is only one amongst many possible.
In Pa Rubika Celu we observe a further
step in applying some of the absurd
drama codes, usually more developed
in the fictions, to a documentary work.
An attitude which, on different notes,
will find new achievements in two
recent medium-length documentaries:
33 zveri Ziemassvetku vecitim (33 animals
of Santa Claus, 2011) and Sniegs
(Snow Crazy, 2012, selected at Visions
du Réel).
33 zveri Ziemassvetku vecitim is a melancholic
portrait of Livia, an elderly
woman, in her everyday life shared with
the 33 animals (all sorts) which live in
her apartment. Pakalnina choses to
shoot in black and white, the atmosphere
undoubtedly evokes the Soviet
time and recalls many of her works,
especially the triology and Kurpe. The
‘absurd’ here is provided by the situation
itself and by the interactions of
the animals, between them and with
Livia. But Pakalnina clearly sees more
than that and we soon start questioning
ourselves about the nature of such
an overwhelming loving attitude and
dedication. Sniegs is a film about and
around ski madness in a mountainless
country. Formally closer to Pa Rubika
Celu and to the atmospheres of her fiction
films, it is another amused surreal
critique of Latvian society. But again,
that is not the only way of seeing it: “It’s
a film about optimism” says Pakalnina,
but we can actually say that about all
her films.
Her last completed work to date is
Picas (Pizzas, 2012 Special Jury Prize at
the Rome Film Festival), a fiction which
tends to merge all the “ingredients” of
her cinema in a more and more refined
form. Always experimenting with new
solutions but in a constant dialogue
with her experience. By looking at Laila
Pakalnina’s works in perspective, it
seems she overcame one of the most
complex challenges, for a filmmaker as
well as for a human being: to stay true
to herself.
Paolo Moretti