Tuvalu (film)
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| Tuvalu | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Veit Helmer |
| Produced by | Vladimir Andreev |
| Written by | Michaela Beck |
| Starring | Denis Lavant Chulpan Khamatova Philippe Clay |
| Distributed by | Indican Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 7, 2001 |
| Running time | 101 min. |
| Language | Various |
Tuvalu is a 1999 experimental comic movie from Germany. The style evokes early 20th Century Silent movies and what little dialog is contained is in a mix of European languages. The film stars Denis Lavant as Anton and Chulpan Khamatova as Eva.
The film charts the characters' comic efforts to escape across the sea to the island of Tuvalu.
The following is a review of the film by a foreign film site world cinema
Surreal, lyrical and dream-like, 'Tuvalu' is an exquisitely conceived piece of whimsy. Largely a silent film, with any odd exclamations of dialogue spoken in a bastard mixture of German, French, English, Spanish and Italian, it thus provides a novel solution to the problems faced by world cinema: it becomes literally universal. It also has somewhat mythical themes and an effortlessly symbolic quality that conjours up the sweet and sad early slapstick of Keaton being performed in the desolate world of a Beckett play, viewed through the gleefully anarchic eyes of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. If this all makes the film sound like it is over-reaching, any danger of this is avoided by the consistency and directness of writer-director Veit Helmer's highly idiosyncratic vision. Its awe-inspiring sets, beautiful monochrome cinematography and charmingly warped sense of humour are a pleasure to behold, while the central relationship between Anton and Eva is simply and sweetly wrought. A mesmerizing and transcendent film that deserves far greater attention than it has received.
(Review used with permission from World Cinema Online)
