REVIEWS Nuit #1


FLASH FORWARD


A one-night stand turns into a night of anguished conversation in Nuit #1, an intriguing but frustrating feature debut by Montreal-based Anne Emond. Though capably per- formed by lead actors Catherine De Léan and Dimitri Storoge, this small-scale two-hander ultimately fails to deliver on its ambitious aims. The film opens with languorous,


slow-motion shots of sweaty bodies dancing at a rave, before cutting to a couple bursting through the door of an apartment. Bodies entwined, they start pulling off each other’s clothes, but the man — in a gesture later revealed to be fully in character — pauses long enough to ask the woman’s name. She is Clara, he — she already knows — is Nikolai. After a realistically shot and quite


explicit sex scene brings the viewer to the 20-minute mark, Nikolai falls asleep, and Clara slowly looks through the apartment and leaves. However, waking up at the sound of the door, Nikolai calls her back from the stairway and launches into a


DARCY PAQUET REVIEWS SIX NEW FEATURES SCREENING AT THE FESTIVAL


Director/screenplay Anne Emond. Can. 2011. 91mins Production company/sales Metafilms, www.metafilms.ca Producers Nancy Grant, Sylvain Corbeil DoP Mathieu Laverdiere Art director Eric Barbeau Editor Mathieu Bouchard-Malo Main cast Catherine De Léan, Dimitri Storoge


frustrated speech — indeed, almost a lecture — on the banality of mod- ern love-making. So begins the long central pas-


sage of Nuit #1, in which Clara and Nikolai trade monologues, reveal secrets, occasionally clash with each other and eventually move towards some kind of mutual understanding. Rarely venturing outside of


Nikolai’s dimly lit apartment, the film gives everything over to the frank conversation between the two artistically inclined and alienated characters. Yet instead of capturing the emotional bond developing between them, the film focuses more on the bold manner in which they confess their darker secrets to each other. In this way, what we wit- ness feels more like an overheard conversation at the psychiatrist’s office than the first night of an emo- tionally meaningful relationship. The fact the two main characters


speak in broadly similar voices adds to the repetitive tone that gradually engulfs the work.


NEW CURRENTS The Mirror Never Lies


Director Kamila Andini. Indo. 2011. 96mins Production companies SET Film Workshop, Wakatobi Regency, WWF-Indonesia Producers Garin Nugroho, Nadine Chandrawinata, Asaf Antariksa, Anastasia Rina Screenplay Kamila Andini, Dirmawan Hatta DoP Rachmad ‘Ipung’ Syaiful Production design Tonny Trimarsanto Editor Wawan I Wibowo Main cast Atiqah Hasiholan, Reza Rahadian, Gita Novalista, Eko


A memorable setting and effective storytelling are the primary strengths of The Mirror Never Lies, an impres- sive debut work by 23-year-old Indo- nesian director Kamila Andini. Centred around the Bajo tribe,


who lead a nomadic fishing-based lifestyle in the Wakatobi archipelago of south-east Sulawesi, the film pro- vides much to think about in terms of its anthropological themes but is just as effective as a well-told com- ing-of-age story. Set in a small village, The Mirror


Never Lies is the story of schoolgirl Pakis (Gita Novalista, in a convinc- ing performance). Tormented by the absence of her father, who never returned from a fishing trip, she car- ries a mirror he once gave to her, in the stubborn hope a local fortune- teller can use it to identify his whereabouts. Meanwhile a man from Jakarta


arrives to research dolphins, and rents out a room from Pakis’ mother Tayung (Hasiholan). The simmer-


n 16 Screen International October 2011


ing conflict between daughter and mother over the father’s disappear- ance becomes further complicated by his presence. Andini, the daughter of well-


known director Garin Nugroho who also produced this film, walks a fine line, creating a story with universal appeal and social relevance while avoiding preachiness. Significantly, when the film


(which is co-produced by World Wildlife Fund Indonesia and Waka- tobi Regency) introduces environ- mental themes, Andini ensures they work on a dramatic as well as a social level. For example, Pakis’ insistence that young fish be thrown back into the sea is linked to her sto- rytelling father, and to her own identity as a maturing girl. The artistic strength of The Mir-


ror Never Lies should result in sig- nificant festival exposure, though its best hopes of reaching a wider audi- ence may be in playing up its eco- friendly message.


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