An almost deserted farm in
Northern Germany: An old man, Willi lives here alone with his
cat, some chicken and some geese. He has survived his wife and he
intends to spend the rest of his life here in loneliness, a
loneliness which will be interrupted occasionally by visitors. With
the help of a walking frame he still walks on his property for
feeding the animals or just contemplating the irresistible savaging
of this men made landscape. He often talks with his cat, his only
companion. The part of this film which could be considered as a
portrait of this very old man is very discreet if not of an
“Ozuesque” respect. Beside the human landscape Willi, the
film includes a meditation about the landscape of the environment
which marks the border of this man´s living space but also it´s tie
to the whole world. The cat is always present. Even though there are
very charming moments with this cat which will warm the hearts of
every unconditional cat lover (we hear the cat´s purring ans
snoring), the strong presence of this animal goes far beyond a
certain cuteness. It rather reminds me in the presence of so many
animals in the Japanese Haikus.
The attitude of the
filmmaker is sometimes evident in the things they reveal in their
film. There is a moment when Willi takes the cat on his lap.
He caresses the cat very softly and when the cat tries to get free he
let it go at once.
The film is recorded in 16
millimeter and Super 8 material, some images are coloured, others in
Black and White. Sometimes even the buzzing of a camera is audible.
The presence of the device which records these images and sounds is a
hint to the modesty of a film which does not want to be more than
giving an image of a human life. Sometimes the film turns into
darkness (caused by the end of a film reel) and the soundtrack
continues. In other moments there are scenes without sound. If
intended or not the the evidence of the ability and disability of the
cinematic devices to reflect a human life enriches the film with a
strange poetry.
There is the change of the
seasons visible in a landscape already abandoned by men and which
will be soon reconquered by nature and the house as the evidence of
the presence of men. There are a lot of still lifes shot in the rooms
of this farm house. Despite the absence of men, these images are
revealing crystallized traces of them. They have lived here. The
perceptible decay of things which have a meaning for a human life
seems to be as mortal as life itself. The hints evoked by these
images might be very subtle but they will remain in my memory. The
calmness of a film (which we learnt
from Japanese cinema) can be
sometimes very evocative, often moving and not seldom even
heartbreaking.
The presence of this old
man and his animals and the awareness of these image making devices
have a strange chemistry. The moments of “actions” with the old
man and his cat or the fragmented stories he tells from his life are
often alternated by absolute silence. How much really happened in
this film on “Non Events”, I just begin to realize many hours
after I attended the screening.
More than 20 years ago I
once wrote on Ozu´s Bakushu (Early Summer) that “ the film
(Bakushu) is like human memories compressed to 2 hours film. It is
like memory itself depending on a body which has to die some day”.
I was referring to the insufficient preservation of the original
analog source of this film.
Since than I always see an
affinity between the analog chemical process of film recording and
the biochemical process of human memories depending on a living body.
This idea came back to my mind after i saw Aus einem Jahr der
Nichtereignisse.
The morning after I saw
this wonderful film, the memory of it is still strong and present
with a mixed feeling of happiness and a light indefinable melancholy.
That is an unmistakable sign that I must have fallen in love with a
film. There nothing more I can add for now. There is only one thing I
am sure about: From a Year of Non Events by Ann-Carolin
Renninger and René Frölke is the most beautiful film experience I
made at this year´s festival.
Rüdiger Tomczak
Screenings:
16.02,Cinemaxx 4, 19.30
18.02, Delphi,
16.30
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