Only The Inheritors Made It to Finish

In fact, the notion of Europe is archaic, old-fashioned. Everything located farther West than Brest and Chop is currently referred to as the European Union, hence the European Union cinema. All things considered, this was the week's underlying principle (the week actually lasted five days at Kyiv's House of Film.

Also, there was the praiseworthy desire to show something new; all the films submitted were productions dating back several months at most. European quality. It is so refreshing, especially when it comes to such "trifles" as food, shoes, cars, and the other things making up one's life. In this sense cinematography presents a problem. You cannot spread it on your bread and make a sandwich, nor can you park it at a filling station to check the oil, tire pressure, etc. A motion picture excellently produced technically but boring is worse than a pair of shoes a size smaller, torturing your feet, because what you see on the screen tortures your mind, causing a lasting headache. Of course, the organizers made a very alluring start, running the German blockbuster Run, Lola, Run (see The Day, June 15). A picturesque and witty movie, it made one hope to see more during the week.

Alas, Lola was about as far as it went. One felt like one was watching old Soviet movies, except that the characters had somehow forgotten Russian. Most of the stories were hour and a half to two hour tearful snot-nosed accounts of personal problems being solved by men and women weather-beaten by life (Greece's Drop in the Ocean, Denmark's Barbara, Portugal's Normal Life, Finland's Women by the Sea, and France's Western). More often than not the finale became clear in the first thirty minutes: he or she or both are unhappy and broken-hearted (variation: looking for trouble for want of anything better to do), then what? Begging the learned filmmakers' pardon, it all looked to me very much like a hundred episode soap opera. And half the stories offer a universal remedy to all problems: get out of this country and go to America. Is it really that bad in Europe? I mean things ranging from film to family life?

Another solution is to totally immerse oneself in sports. In the Dutch All Stars (a very decent production, by the way), the key characters' only sense and joy of life is their amateur soccer team. A dozen brief life stories in funny and sad collisions merging into a simple yet expressive and easily entertaining plot. This cannot be said of the Belgian Simply Friends and Swedish Big and Small Men, although made using the same recipe, in this case jazz. The Swedish production is rather about growing up and kissing childhood goodbye. A bit drawn out and heavy on the dramatics, but with substantial technical merits.

Apparently, there are countries where movies cannot be made below a certain standard and Austria is one of them. Austrian films are practically nonexistent in Ukraine, and this made it an even more pleasant surprise to watch The Inheritors as the worthy Alpine republic's representative in Kyiv. It is a story about seven workers set at the turn of the century. Suddenly they inherit a large estate... The plot is so expressive and convincing, at times it reaches the level of classical drama. The trite poor man - rich man juxtaposition would interest no one except for the film being permeated by genuine passion, thirst for life, justice, and its native land. And excellent casting makes even extras into carefully and colorfully portrayed characters, each with his or her own voice. This mountain saga was nominated for this year's Oscar and whether or not the authors receive the award is not that important.

In general, it makes no sense to assess the week. The main intrigue of the modern movie-making process in Europe by no means unfolds in the course of such purely educational events. After all, the right to choose the films rested with the embassies and cultural attachОs of the countries that produced them. They received no instructions from the European Commission. They picked what they thought was good. And they meant well.