In ‘The Cemil Show’ the film’s namesake leading character, played to perfection by Ozan Celik whom you may remember from ‘Sivas’ in 2015, is someone much like my friend and me — bad at acting, but still desperate to make it.
Read More'Todos Somos Marineros' at IFFR: Addressing our global displacement with Peruvian filmmaker Miguel Angel Moulet
It’s a fact that there has never been such a movement of global general uprooting, in the history of our planet. Most of us feel deep inside ourselves a sense of dissatisfaction and the easiest way to deal with it seems to be to pick up and leave -- for work, love or life experience. But that can also turn into the most difficult decision of our life, because sometimes you cannot go home again.
As an old friend used to remind me, in moments when even traveling to the other end of the planet hadn’t really fulfilled its purpose, “Nina, the problem is that when you travel, no matter where you go, you’ll always take yourself along.” It’s so true, our inner struggles transfer well, hidden within the deep recesses of our beings. And even the furthest journey sees us as our sometimes unfortunate travel companion.
Miguel Angel Moulet’s haunting, sultry and perfectly shot film ‘Todos Somos Marineros’ (‘We Are All Sailors’) tackles that idea, but also mixes in several other themes, including the rhythm of language and how we change depending on the words we speak, as well as the filmmaker’s own unresolved childhood family mysteries.
Read More'The Image Book' at IFFR: Watching cinema as God(ard) intended it
I’d read the reviews, both out of Cannes where the film premiered, and lately for its US release. A.O. Scott’s was my favorite for the NY Times, as it usually is. Then, I’d listened to friends — some admitted to breaking down after viewing the film, some pointed to the filmmaker’s problematic mishmosh of the Arab world with Iranian images.
But having missed ‘Le livre d’image’ (‘The Image Book’) at the Festival de Cannes, I had to view it for myself. And, it turns out, I did well to wait.
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