Cinema

For the first time in oh too many years, I went to the cinema tonight. From today until July 12th, the EU Film Days will take place in Kyoto, after they were in Tokyo for more than a month. A number of contemporary European films are shown, from all over Europe, in many European languages. The films are subtitled, mostly in Japanese, but some also in English, so it’s possible for me to at least see some of them, if time allows, of course.

film poster of macondoSo, today I picked up my friend from Bulgaria, and together we went to see Macondo, an Austrian movie from last year.

It’s about the young, fatherless boy Ramazan who is an immigrant to Vienna from Chechnya and over time becomes friends with another Chechen man, Isa, who turns out to have been a friend of his father’s. Their relationship becomes a bit strained however, when it seems as if Isa wants to take the place of Ramazan’s father…

The film is very quiet and slow, often there is no dialogue, and you just watch the people. In a way, it is typically Austrian, but I did like it. I found it interesting that there is only a single scene where somebody speaks real Viennese Austrian; in all others the people speak more or less high German, for example the immigrant children, or Austrian officials who speak to the immigrants. When the film deals with Ramazan and his family, they speak Chechen, of course.

After the film, my friend and I walked home and when we passed by a little bar with Italian food and wine, we decided to have a glass of wine or two. All in all, it was a nice evening. I should go out more often…