The first long film by
actress, comedian and filmmaker Jackie van Beek begins with an
accident.
The hitchhiking 16 years
old Maori girl Tia is given a lift in a car with two men. A heavy car
accident happens. One of the men dies, the other is saved by Tia.
This is a film which directs the view inwards and outwards and it
tells about physical and mental injuries.
Will, the man has
fractures, Tia got a very ugly cut on her cheek and some light
facial. The beautiful face is scarred. The other man, the one who has
not survived was Will´s brother in law. After being released from
the hospital, she goes to the funeral of Will´s brother in law
despite her father (Tia´s parents are divorced and she ran way from
home after a heavy fight with her mother) suggested her to go back
home. At the funeral she meets Will and his pregnant wife Donna. As
the film tells about visible and invisible wounds, two other
characters are introduced, the widow of the deceased and her little
daughter Lilly. The narration and the constellation of the characters
arise from an accident who brings them together. Tia will spend some
times in the farmhouse with Donna and Will. Donna´s widowed sister
and the little girl are often visiting them. Tia, the distressed
teenager and the other characters who have to deal with a loss of a
family member have to define their way through life anew. Tia´s neck
is tattooed with a Maori word, a memory of another wound. She is
elliptical and grumpily. How the characters finally hesitantly find a
way to relate to each other is revealed in this film with patience.
Here again the mighty
Cinema scope format allows both, the presence of the geographical
landscape where the farm is embedded but as the human landscape
visible on human faces. Especially the young actress Gloria Popata
(Tia) leaves a very strong impression. She reminds me in Q´orianka
Kilcher´s performance as Pocahontas in Terrence Malick´s The New
World and Tillotama nShome´s wonderful elliptical and
androgynous performance in Anup Singh´s Qissa.
For
now the characters have to go through several conflicts. Donna begins
to feel disturbed by Tia´s presence. Tia falls in love with Will who
rejects her feelings and Lilly slowly begins to learn piece by piece
about the terrible loss of her father.
There
were some moments in this film when I had the feeling that The Inland
Road does not really know in what direction it shall move. But it was
a hasty conclusion of mine. The film tells exactly about people who
are struck by sad events and who do not really know on what road they
have to continue their journey. Jackie van Beek refuses to be smarter
than her characters and she accompanies them on their difficult
journey.
There
are two embraces, moments the film was heading for all the time. At
first it is a moment when the child Lilly finally begins to become
aware of her father´s demise. The inaccessibly Tia finally hugs the
child with an unexpected tenderness. The second moment is when Tia
one night sneaks into the bedroom of the young couple. Donna wakes up
and takes her to task. The two women are standing face to face and
suddenly Donna realizes the pain of the teenager. Touched by an
intuitive sympathy her facial expression softens and she hugs the
young girl.
Tia
will return home. Her visible and invisible injuries have not healed
yet but she leaves the painful stagnation behind. The Inland Road
is a very sad but at the same time very encouraging film. Jackie van
Beek had the courage to treat a relatively melodramatic subject in a
total undramatic but nevertheless very intensive way.
Rüdiger
Tomczak
Screenings
19.02,
Cinemaxx 3, 16.30
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