kolka cool

Juris Poškus is another filmmaker who started off working on documentaries before turning to fiction films. The observational mode and the use of black-and-white stock confirm his background. Continuing his work with the actress Iveta Pole, who had starred in his debut MONOTONIJA (2007), Poškus portrays her as Simona, a young woman who hesitates in answering Andza’s marriage proposal in the opening scene. It is as if the entire film documents the motivation for her ultimate answer to this proposal. The director manages to capture, without empathy or judgment, the empty lives of Andza and his friends Boga and Paleface in the village Kolka near the Baltic coast.

The men share a delight in drink, a reluctance to work, and an inclination towards unmotivated aggression (often bordering on violence, even if this is never directly shown). The void in their lives is highlighted by gentle and subtle contrasts and juxtapositions: Andza’s brother Guido, a seaman, returns home after a long journey and finds his ambition to get married thwarted; Andza’s mother makes plans for wedding gifts and domestic chores for her future daughter-in-law; Simona’s sister visits and firmly rejects the concept of marriage altogether. The director delicately charts modern man’s inability to engage in a meaningful way with society, rejecting values of work and family and capable only of meaningless acts and wasting time. And wasting life? Cool. BiB