Filip and Fredrik push the car across the French border, into the country where Lars used to take his family and which holds so many happy memories for them.
Wow, what a beautiful, moving and funny documentary. Love simply bursts off the screen. There was so much laughter in the cinema, yet by the end: tears.
The film left me with the sense that the filmmaker must have had a wonderful childhood with a very lovely father. The mother too, though she plays only a small supporting role, radiates that same warmth. The decision to ask a filmmaker friend to join the journey strengthens the film; he acts as a kind of alter ego who sharpens the son’s perspective and forces him to face the truth, providing some great twists along the way.
Form and technique
The staged traffic argument in front of the café terrace was hilarious. The film shows a glimpse of the full-blown filmset, which suggests that Lars must have known the scene was staged.
From a technical standpoint, there is so much to enjoy: the photo animations are subtle and beautifully executed. I first noticed one in a black-and-white photo during a story about Harry Belafonte, where a lizard crawled across the wall, and later another with a train moving between the bars of a balustrade. Truly excellent “cut and paste” work.
The bright orange Renault 4 looks fantastic on screen. The shots through the windshield are gorgeous, way more cinematic than I’d expect from a documentary. I wonder how this was shot. In a studio with an Arri like cinema camera or on the road maybe on a Sigma fp or so?
What also struck me was the sound of the slamming car doors when Filip picked up Fredrik; it was clearly exaggerated in the mix as the camera was across the street and the sound seemed much closer, but it worked perfectly for the humour in the room.
Production puzzles
The credits list two DPs, which left me questioning the logistics. While the ‘third man’ in the film, the friend, is a filmmaker, the credits suggest a different division of labor. For instance, the scene pushing the car across the border was clearly shot by a fourth person. These are the kinds of making-of puzzles that stay with you. I’m wondering if there is more staged than I assumed.
IMDb lists 18 people with cameras for stills and additional photography. I guess there’s my answer. They all must be on the credits roll, but I don’t recall.
Looking at the whole crew, I wonder what the budget for this film was. It looks carefully produced rather than improvised.
The feeling I went home with
This is the documentary film you want to make: it held my attention like a good feature film and also looks like one.
How I made the drawing for this article
Curious how I made this drawing? Watch me draw it here.
More documentary analyses
You might also like:
- Tamara Kotevska: The Tale of Silyan - About money and the meaning of a small rural society and family, beautifully told story of a farmer and his stork.
- Borenstein and Talankin: Mr. Nobody against Putin - A powerful, raw, and deeply disturbing glimpse into Russian indoctrination in education.
- Amalie Atkins: Agatha’s Almanac - A beautiful artistic and colourful film about the 90 year old Agatha and her simple rural lifestyle in Canada.
- Werner Herzog: Ghost Elephants (IDFA) – Observations on this striking selection from the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
- Agnes Varda: Les Gleaners et la glaneuse – An interesting and playful road trip that raises awareness for the waste of food.
- Michael Moore: Bowling for Columbine – Revisiting the classic documentary on American society and gun culture.