Riven Chornogo

A number of questions remained unanswered in this film, which presents every episode from the life of a wedding photographer in artistic, tableau-like shots. A confident film of few words that portrays the mid-life crisis of an everyday individual, in the process taking the viewer on a relentless journey through the visual layers that constitute both the emptiness and idiosyncrasies of the protagonist’s existence. His most meaningful moments aren’t those which occur to a majestic city panorama backdrop, neither those accompanied by eye-catching bunker sculptures, fire and snow, paper-white surroundings or a giant climbing wall. Instead it is interpersonal encounters that see him in his element, be that when making space in the back of a car for a spot of lovemaking or transforming his father’s wheelchair into a swing. A meta-film comparable to a modern-day “Blow-Up”, with the world an admixture of surfaces and layers, basements and subterranean garages; in short, black level.

Valentyn Vasyanovich’s latest work is this year’s Ukrainian nomination for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. BW