Thursday night saw the grand gala opening of the 19th Leeds International Film Festival(1) now one of the biggest film fests in the UK, second only to London and Edinburgh. It was a hectic but very successful evening with an extra screening of the opening film, Terry Gilliam's 'Brothers Grimm', put on because so many people wanted to see it.
Though I unavoidably missed the film itself I did get to see Terry Gilliam himself who turned up after the first screening and gave a great Q&A session with the audience. He was a thoroughly nice guy and more than willing to spend time talking to fans.
Last night was a welcome change of pace for those of us behind the scenes as the festival settled down and got underway. I got to see both the films I worked last night for free, which is nice, and found them both particularly thought provoking though in different ways. Here’s a bit about the first one:
"Adam's Apples" (2004)
Dir. Anders Thomas Jensen, Denmark
So from the very start of this film, having read a little about it beforehand, I was concerned. The basic set up is this, Ivan is a vicar who runs a kind of halfway house. His two lodgers are a recovering alcoholic rapist and a habitual armed robber. A new guest arrives in the monstrous form of Adam, a great slab of a neo-nazi, a classic arian stormtrooper.
When Adam arrives and asks what is required of him in his new home Ivan explains that all he must do is set himself a goal to achieve. Adam flippantly says that his goal will be to bake a cake and is a little confused when Ivan, apparently unaware that Adam is taking the piss, says that Adam’s idea is a good one.
He continues his mockery by suggesting that he could use the apples from the tree outside to make a nice apple pie. Ivan promptly agrees and makes Adam responsible for the health of the apple tree until the fruit ripens. This film is the story of that apple pie.
Now my initial concern stemmed from the potential for clichéd sentimentality that this set up seemed to present, the thug with a heart of gold, a heartwarming journey into the light of salvation etc. Pretty early on however, I realised that ‘Adam’s Apples’ was deviating beautifully from this tired line.
The relationship between Ivan and Adam was a joy to watch throughout as it shifted and changed, each of the two representing, to me, aspects of society in a fantastic piece of social commentary. Adam was huge and used to using his fists; dogmatic and intolerant of nuance or weakness and convinced of his own superiority. He was also strong willed and fearless, however.
Ivan on the other hand, was a skinny priest; insistently calm and reasonable and convinced of the good in everyone. He was also optimistic to the point of delusion, and retreated into words and ideas to avoid the real world. The fact the both characters have strengths and weaknesses immediately gives them twice the depth of most ‘good guy - bad guy’ pairings in mainstream cinema.
The atmosphere created is a strange one in which a kind of pervasive comfortable calm that is not quite punctuated by occasional horrific violence. Darkly humorous throughout, when the film does turn violent the action is somehow dampened, giving it a senseless feeling.
When the characters lash out there is none of the honour and climax of traditional movie violence, but rather a slightly ill feeling of pointless destruction not a million miles away from that experienced when playing witness to real life violence.
SKIP THE NEXT 5 PARAGRAPHS IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS
In the end Adam is ‘rehabilitated’ but not in the brainwashing style we tend to associate with the phrase. The oh so gradual transformation of the man is presented excellently by the actor playing Adam and is absorbing to watch as it is far from a straightforward process.
When Adam beats Ivan to a bloody pulp Ivan ignores it and continues to treat the increasingly confused Adam as normal. As Adam learns more about Ivan’s past and weaknesses he instinctively sees an opportunity to win what he sees as the conflict between them. The very fact that he is so determined to break Ivan and prove to him that some people cannot be saved betrays Adam’s own fear that Ivan might actually succeed.
As it turns out Adam does break Ivan, smashes his faith and emerges victorious, almost killing Ivan in the process. This is the real turning point for Adam as the half way house begins to collapse with Ivan now utterly apathetic and waiting to die. Adam finds that the hatred and sense of being oppressed that had fuelled him so mightily before has now left him and that his victory is an empty one, having achieved nothing.
In the end Ivan recovers and Adam joins him at the half way house as his assistant. There is great scene that pops up throughout the film shows the two in Ivan’s car. Ivan puts a Take That song on which Adam promptly turns off again in disgust, Ivan switches it back on etc. The development of their relationship is reflected in their changing roles in this recurrent scene and the final version is beautifully telling.
Ivan puts the damn song on and sings along while Adam frowns but doesn’t complain. When the song reaches the chorus all eyes are on Adam’s lips which can’t help but twitch into life. It is clear that he still doesn’t like the song, ie. he hasn’t been changed into someone else, it’s just that he finds himself able to tolerate other peoples tastes.
OK, CARRY ON
A fantastic piece of cinema, well worth seeing as each of its many facets, fear, humour, pain, social commentary etc are all done brilliantly. ‘Adam’s Apples’ is the first Danish film I’ve seen and I found the cultural vibe particularly interesting, I’ll be looking out for more of that. If you live in or near Leeds get yourself on the website(1) and get yourself to the cinema. There’re over 200 films on at the festival this year from blockbusters to activist documentaries and everything in between.
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