Fourth Love and Anarchy film festival day, two screenings.
Warning, spoilers!
The quiet migration (2023)
Farm equipment. Farm animals. Farm buildings. Perfectly positioned pretty cinematic shots of all those. This is "The quiet migration".
Carl is an orphan adopted from Korea into a family in rural Denmark. Growing up on the farm, he is constantly faced with a feeling of not belonging, reinforced by racist rhetoric in the small rural community.
An asteroid falls. Or is it something to indicate trouble to come, crisis of identity and past? I think if it was intended to be an asteroid maybe the film makers should have consulted someone on what kind of craters rocks that smash into the Earth leave. Or their likely composition and thus weight. But maybe asteroids don't float around in rooms anyway.
The whole film builds up to Carl needing to make a decision. Will he choose to inherit the family farm in the Danish countryside or possibly explore other possibilities in life. I think it was pretty clear which one he would be choosing, and it makes a good ending to the film. I just hope he talks to the girl.
Nightsiren (2022)
Slovakian forests sounds like a great setting for a film about witches. And there is a lot of beautiful forest scenery and small village charm. Like wife and kid beating men kind of charm. And enough superstition to burn people alive. Are there any witches though? The answer probably lies in whether there were any witches during the times when they were commonly burned alive, in the darkest times of European history.
This film does the rare thing of keeping you on your toes at all times throughout the film. Waiting for the spells to come out, waiting for the evil men to be turned into toads. Spoiler: this is not a fantasy film. Things get a bit magical at times, but we don't really get told whether it's the witches at play or not. There is beauty and horror going through the whole film, enough to keep one constantly focused on the screen. Not yawning and wondering when the film will end is always a good positive sign of a good production.
#hiff #denmark #farms #slovakia #witches #films #movies
