It has recently launched Mubi una película alemana que me ha vuelto a sorprender. Ya he comentado en entradas anteriores, que de un tiempo a esta parte, el cine alemán independiente, tiene las propuestas más interesantes dentro del panorama europeo. Se añade, en este caso, el mérito de ser la primera película rodada por su director, Jonas Bak.
In the first images, we see a mature woman, anke —director's mother, Jonas Bak—, access through an interior door to a chapel. He will meditate for a few moments and go outside, where he will get on a bicycle, on his way home. In a low angle of the camera, we see anke on the bike and passing by the beautiful place where he lives, a town in the Black Forest, surrounded by nature.
At home, we heard her talking on the phone with her daughter Theresa, announcing his retirement — he has been working for the church. Before the imminent summer, he wants to stay with her and hers another son of hers, Max —who works in Hong Kong—, to spend the holidays in a place in the Baltic, where they used to go in the summers. Open the window and without solution of continuity, in an intelligent way, Bak takes us to the Baltic, where anke He has been reunited with his daughter.
He rides his daughter on a bicycle and has a conversation with her, in which he expresses bittersweet feelings. The summer house for her represents the absence of her husband and lost of a happy family time:
“It symbolizes something that is missing in me or in our life. Dad just isn't here anymore. This is where I had a wonderful time with him. And with you two… That time is gone… and it won't come back.”
— Anke Bak, “Wood and Water”
They get the call from Max, announced that he will not be able to travel as the airport is closed due to the democratic protests in Hong Kong. Some more relatives gather, along with anke, his daughter Theresa and his cousin Firewood. Among the conversations held, there is talk of the absence of Max, But it Theresa She is emphatic in affirming that her brother may not have been able to meet with them this time, but that the situation comes from afar, since she has not seen them for three years.
With another relative in the evening, conversations are interesting. transmit nostalgic tone. It speaks of the changes Through the years, ultimately, pass of the time. When asked by the relative about where he feels he has a home, anke reply:
“A feeling of home? I really don't have that. I live in the Black Forest, but I wouldn't call it home, despite living there for a long time. »
— Anke Bak, “Wood and Water”
It is very suggestive how the director introduces on the screen, some real family photos, from when Jonas Y TheresaThey were children and their young parents. back from vacation, anke occupies time in reading or the practice of Tai Chi, but the absence of work activity adds it to the loneliness. At home, her mother lives with her, but Jonas It barely develops the character. In an interview, he explained that his grandmother does not appear anymore because she was going through delicate moments during the filming and afterwards. In fact, the film is dedicated to his grandmother, the mother of anke.
Max He informs his mother that he will definitely not be able to go see her. anke, al estar desocupada decide viajar a Hong Kong, para estar un tiempo junto a él.
Is very skilled the mounting that the director establishes in the transition of the trip, from the departure from Germany to the arrival in Hong Kong, with the nexus of a tunnel and a kind of fade to black, to gradually reappear the reflective plastic paint of the highway. The director explained that the airport, due to the protests, was closed and they devised that solution. Suggestive, no doubt.
The nocturnal entry into Hong Kong offers a ghostly, hostile aspect, which the director increases with some extreme low angle of the city's skyscrapers and their haunting lights.
The division is clear Jonas Bak set between a first part, where contact with the nature and he rural space and one second, which will start to happen in a urban space, in a large city, immensely divided into zones, such as Hong Kong. It is an abrupt change that is presented to anke, a challenge para una persona acostumbrada a la tranquilidad del medio rural.
El primer contratiempo tiene lugar al intentar acceder al apartamento de su hijo, que se encuentra ausente, en viaje de negocios. El portero, debido a las horas, tampoco parece encontrarse trabajando.
In the middle of the night, anke he has to look for accommodation, which he gets in a shared boarding house. He will have to spend the night together with other people. There are several young women who will share the room. While lying down, one of them will maintain a kind of monologue addressed to anke, la cual pacientemente escucha. Explica como estuvo anteriormente en la ciudad y cómo ahora regresó en busca de un trabajo, pero que al no conseguirlo, tendrá que irse al día siguiente. Aconseja a ankeBe careful, because these are strange times and there are riots in the city.
Llegada la mañana, nada más salir de la pensión, encuentra a un grupo practicando Taichí. Posteriormente accederá al apartamento de su hijo. Transcurrido un tiempo, siente hambre y pide referencias al portero. Amablemente, éste la acompaña al ser su tiempo de almuerzo. Ambos tendrán una relajada conversación durante la comida china, emplazándose para practicar Taichí juntos, más adelante.
anke will wander through the city, meeting a peaceful demonstration, in favor of democratic measures for Hong Kong. She is interested because of what is happening, because of how people, for the most part, join forces in favor of political and social changes.
In the apartment, he finds a psychological medical report on his son. She makes an appointment with him. Max's psychiatrist. In the talk, the psychiatrist confirms that he is treating his son anxiety Y depression. Not only based on pills, but also with relaxed conversations and advice to face life in a more positive way. The doctor confesses anke, that due to the pace of life in cities, there are more and more cases. we see how anke, tries to understand what is happening to his son, through the explanations of the healing psychiatrist.
anke, she is not going to spend all her time alone in the apartment. To do this, she is encouraged to explore the city. In other low angle view very representative, we see how anke, in a modern gazebo of the city, is dedicated to observing and photographing the environment.
Arriving the night of an intense day, anke will have its time reflection in loneliness. But on this occasion, loneliness does not plunge her into a constant past, as it used to in Germanyimmersed in a kind of immobility; rather, it leads her to a meditation on the present. On the one hand, the assimilation of the mental difficulties that her son is going through; on the other, and even more importantly, the consideration that your life is acquiring. Begin to think of herself. Just as his thoughts have always been occupied with other people, both alive, his children, his mother; as absent, her deceased husband; in the present and future, it's time to open up to new insights.
anke keep exploring Hong Kong. He contemplates the sacred statues and engages in the spirituality present in the streets. She actively participates in the ritual, lighting purifying flares.
Later and continuing with his walks around the city, in a haphazard way —it is worth emphasizing the importance that chance acquires in the film—, coincides with a kind of predictor and his friend, who, by speaking English, encourages anke to listen to his friend's revelations. The seer concludes that her children will leave home because of her work but that she is a noble person, and as such she needs in her life, more wood and water -movie title-. That is, living near and in contact with the trees and having water more present, above all, drinking more water.
The predictor's friend kindly offers to accompany her to live not far from her. They will establish another productive conversation. She reveals to him that she is retired, which has been art teacher and has also been dedicated to painting, but at present, it is considered a social activist. anke tells a little about their activity before being retired and before the activist question, about whether he usually pray, anke answer yes, but don't pray for things not to happen but he does it to be stronger and to be able deal with whatever comes your way.
anke, the next day he pays attention to the predictor and visits a nearby forest. He supposes a return to the first part of the film, where anke she lived immersed in nature, but it seems that she was not aware of the importance she acquired. It is in the present, through the words of the predictor, how she become aware of its meaning.
Later, our protagonist has met with the goalkeeper to practice Tai Chi al aire libre.
The final, is open. We observe by means of a dive of the camera, as anke she walks away down the street, confused with the people.
Contrary to what one might think, in a totally foreign environment, strange, even threatening in its nocturnal entrance, to the big city; anke has opened up to new horizons, has taken self awareness and it looks like he's finding a inner balance, necessary to face the present and what remains to come.
The film perfectly combines documentary film with the fiction. Her mother is not actually acting, she is just natural as if the movie is about her own life. In fact, this calm that he transmits is typical of her in her real life. In an interview with Jonas Bak, thus confirmed:
"It's totally her. New Directors/New Films wrote something beautiful like “she gracefully travels from the Black Forest to Hong Kong”. But this grace is my mother. It's her rhythm and the way she does things and the way she moves through life. It's funny that she mentions the normal and quiet family life, because she still has it now. She hasn't changed much. The only difference is that in the film she is alone, that she is not what she is in real life either. »
— Jonas Bak to Anne-Katrin Titze, in Eye For Film
In another interview they ask him about the movie origin:
"I really wanted to make a film with my mother about her life and her situation in life at the time and about her retirement, which was coming up. He wanted us to do something together and we needed to have a script to start rehearsing and find people and get them interested in doing this with us, but the good thing about it is that the story actually happened and we were part of it. The whole film crew somehow followed my mother without letting go of her, and sometimes I lost sight of what the movie was really about: was he looking for her son now, or is he finding something else? The idea of a mother going to see her child on the other side of the world, that was from the beginning, but everything around it: the politics and [the idea that] she discovers herself and discovers all these beautiful things that happened in Hong Kong, happened as we went along.”
— Jonas Bak to Stephen Saito, at The Moveable Fest
And delving into the subject, to Mubi, enter Jonas the movie:
"The story of the film is in many ways the classic story of the prodigal son and the resulting estranged family relationships. Naturally, you would tend to follow the young man as he heads out into the world, do his thing and fail, learn his lessons from him and return home with empty pockets, full of regret. But in this case, we were more interested in the perspective of those left behind, in particular his mother, and we wanted to ask: What does this distance feel like, the distance to what is closest to you? And what are the consequences? Loneliness, our own loneliness, but also the loneliness we inflict on others."
— Jonas Bak presents his film at Mubi
In the background, Jonas Bak, has admitted, that in a certain way, it is the alter ego of the character Max. Un personaje que aparece un instante en la oscuridad de la noche, pero que está de alguna manera, muy presente en la película.
Jonas He was studying cinema outside of Germany, in Edinburgh and then in 2015 he moved to London, to stop in 2018 in Hong Kong. She knows that during that time she left behind people who were very dear to her, mainly her mother. She currently resides in Freiburg, near her.
The cast of actors is practically amateur, anke And your daughter Theresa it was the first time that they intervened in a film. patrick lo, the doorman, was precisely the doorman of the building in which he stayed Jonas Bak, in 2018. Edward Chan, he really worked as a forecaster and acted in his place of work and patrick shum He also worked as a psychiatrist. The Actors and actresses are little more than amateur, having participated in some other film. We have alexandra batten, like the girl from the pension; Lena Ackerman as Firewood, cousin of Theresa. El profesor de arte jubilado y activista, Ricky Young, ha debido intervenir en alguna película, pero se graduó en literatura comparada y arte en Hong Kong y fue profesor de arte, además de seguir dirigiendo talleres creativos hoy en día. Conocido en el mundo académico como Yang Xiuzhuo, en realidad su nombre completo es Yang Xiuzhuo Ricky Young.
On a formal level, we attend a film based on the simplicity, tan adecuada a las vivencias narradas; de ritmo pausado, con ligeros paneos en la parte que sucede en Hong Kong. Rodada de manera craft in 16 mm. static planes, with dominance of general plans, The assembly plans —escena del almuerzo y conversación con el portero— o los medium shots conversational. some other panorama, like the view of the beautiful town where he lives anke. Also noteworthy are the different cutaway plans; tanto al inicio, como en la parte rodada en Hong Kong, donde tienen lugar las manifestaciones democráticas o cuando vemos a anke en la lejanía; los planos low angle view predominan en el rodaje en Hong Kong, donde se resalta la magnitud de los rascacielos o los ingentes bloques de viviendas.
The work of sound acquires special relevance. In the first part, where nature dominates, we listen to the bird songs, The sound of water, of the wind. In the part shot in Hong Kong, there is a predominance of city noises, although it is noteworthy how people are generally calm and the nervousness that happens in other large cities is not observed. The Eastern mentality produces that kind of more relaxed life. As extra diegetic sound includes the director, in some scenes the song, “New Space Music” of brian eno.
deserve to stand out the silences, which are manifested mainly through the reactions of anke.
Wood and Water (Madera y Agua)
País y año, Alemania, 2021
Director y Guionista, Jonas Bak
Intérpretes, Anke Bak, Susanne Johnssen, Theresa Bak, Ricky Yeung, Patrick Lo, Alexandra Batten, Patrick Shum, Edward Chan
Música, Brian Eno, canción, “New Space Music”
