AUTUMN BALL

Directed By Veiko Õunpuu

There were a few things that I learned about society from watching this movie.

1. Men treat women like crap.
2. Some restaurants and bars are in really obscure out of the way places.
3. When men get really drunk and dance to live music they can be hysterical!
4. I am not in love with all non-linear films.

The Good:  The characters in this film were very intriguing, real and raw.  A writer whose girlfriend is leaving him for another man and we see him slowly destruct throughout the film.  This is interspersed with a man who works as a coat check in a bar and serializes women sexually.  An architect who has lost his soul and humanity because of his nouveau riche lifestyle whose wife is yearning for something more.  And finally a woman who is trying to make a life on her own with her young daughter, who I believe gets molested by the creepy pervert we see in random intervals.  Each of these characters are fantastic subjects.

Now the bad:  The film doesn’t really delve into any of them.  The film felt random, and even when the characters interact in some random way that feels forced.

The film was shot beautifully.  The acting was wonderful, at times even spectacular. But overall the film never seems to settle into a narrative.  Instead we get inter-spliced sections that don’t seem to allow us to actually feel anything.  Instead I felt like an observer, and I truly wanted more.  I see a lot of promise in this film.  Veiko Õunpuu has proven that he can shoot a beautiful Movie and pull great performances out of his actors.  With some work on the narrative I could truly be a fan of this film.

Kristoffer