L’Âge d’Or/Cinédécouvertes + Brussels European Film Festival

L’Âge d’Or/Cinédécouvertes - the film festival held by the Royal Film Archive in Brussels (aka the Brussels Film Museum) - is one of 4 interesting film festivals I attend every year. Together with the International Film Festival Rotterdam (January), the Flanders International Film Festival Ghent (October) and the Cinema Novo Film Festival in Bruges (March), the festival covers a broad spectrum of recent festival hits and other remarkable movies. A combination of these 4 film festivals enables me to track down every
worthwhile movie that has been released during the last year. In recent years, the l’Âge d’Or/Cinédécouvertes has joined forces with the Brussels European Film Festival and takes place at the beautiful Flagey building in the heart of Brussels. Still, both festivals are
separate and have their own jury. The l’Âge d’Or/Cinédécouvertes remains the more interesting one because it doesn't limit itself to Europe and selects its quality films mostly from the renowned Cannes and Berlin film festivals. I will spend a few words on the
12 films I selected this year...

Body Rice (Hugo Vieira da Silva - Portugal/Germany) ***1/2

An existential movie that follows young German delinquents in a desert-like part of the Alentejo in Portugal where they have been sent as part of a rehabilitation project. Their stay however is one of extreme lethargy & apathetic doom where the only highlight seems to be dancing to very loud techno in bare landscape. (besides Joy Division, X-Mal Deutschland and Einsturzende Neubauten, the soundtrack mostly consists of raw techno by Joey Beltram). Body Rice mixes the documentary-like observation of Sharunas Bartas with the desperate dramaturgy of Teresa Villaverde. A remarkable film!

Tout est pardonné (Mia Hansen-Løve – France) **

An unbalanced film about a couple with a young daughter that separates because of the good-for-nothing husband’s junkie habit. Some 11 years later, we get to see the confrontation between the father and his daughter.


XXY (Lucia Puenzo – Argentina) **

A film about a 15-year-old hermaphrodite who lives with her/his parents in an isolated corner of the Uruguayan coast. The arrival of a doctor with his wife and 16-year-old son disrupts the daily routine. A well-made and genuine (teenage) film that will please a large audience.


Yumurta (Egg) (Semih Kaplanoglu – Turkey) ***

After his wonderful "Angel's Fall" from 2005, Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu tells the story of an Istanbul bookseller returning to his village after his mother’s death. There, he meets his brother's granddaughter who'd looked after his mom and who asks him to perform the sacrifice of a ram his mom had never been able to. “Yumurta” will be the first film in a trilogy, "Honey, Milk and Egg," which will be presented in reverse order. A good movie but Kaplanoglu is not yet on par with fellow countryman Nuri Bilge Ceylan.


La Influencia (Pedro Aguilera – Spain/Mexico) ***1/2

The story of a vulnerable woman with 2 young children that falls into a deep depression. The assistant to Carlos Reygadas for “Battle in Heaven” and Amat Escalante for “Sangre”, Pedro Aguilera presents a début feature of extreme harshness: an appalling, almost unbearable chronicle of a relentless breakdown. Very good.


Meduzot (Etgar Keret & Shira Geffen – Israel/France) ****

The winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes (the award for best debut feature) is both a very clever and intriguing comedy about three women in Tel Aviv. A subtle film that mixes humor with intense emotions and originality.