Jérôme yaps about film

"Dry Leaf": Low-resolutions on the big screen ©Alexandre Koberidze, New Matter Films Irakli receives a letter from his daughter Lisa that she must go away for a while. Worried that something might have happened, he decides to go looking for her. The only thing known is that she was supposed to photograph rural football fields all over Georgia. Together with Lisa's friend Levan, Irakli sets off on a journey to seek out those fields and, in the process, find his daughter. For the rest of the three-hour runtime, we see the two driving around the country, through small villages, looking for the football fields, which often consist of nothing more than two goalposts made of some wood. Or rather, we don't see them. Because, as we learn early on through a narrator, Levan, like many other characters in the film, is invisible. Apart from that comment, this circumstance is never addressed but instead just accepted by everyone in the film. Thus, we, the viewers, also have to s...

Mazurka (1935), Willi Forst – A review A Young Woman, stalked and pressured by a famous, older, musician into a date, gives in and accompanies him for a night out. It seems like a rather problematic love story, especially from today’s view, until the performer, another, older woman, sees the two, screams and faints. The man in a hurry tries to leave but on the stairs is shot dead by the performer. At this point the narrative jumps and it is revealed that the young woman was narrating the opening in front of the court. What follows is the life story of the murderess and why she shot the musician. It becomes quickly clear that Forst is a virtuoso in his usage of framing, transitions and the camera in general. Glances, looks, a twitching of hands are given the same weight as screams and tears. Since our protagonist Vera is only willing to tell her story to the judges, without the public present, we see the people leave. The crowd is hesitant, especially the young woman, but eventually...