TESA MAN ★★★★
His latest work Tessa Manbilled by the author as a “musical film”, featuring a post-metal trio Tenseis not a one-piece work, but it embodies a confirmation that Latvian cinema has become more diverse, and tries to mark new areas. (The film has also been noticed by a festival in neighboring countries Black Nights In Tallinn, showing off Tessa Man in the competition view Rebels with a Cause/Rebels with a Cause.) Tesa Man descends into the musical cinema genre and somewhere between mythological and light gothic, animism and precious textures, as well as discharges of symbols and cultural codes. The range of film temperatures and characters will be understandable to a local viewer, almost babysat in each one, and, undeniably, Olte’s “cinematic vision” is more clearly formed.
I still remember – ten years ago, it was ironic about the reviews of another director’s feature film that all reviewers and critics, if not in a lazy manner, use the word “mud” for borrowing. It took some time to create Tessa Manwhere this word really belongs, is a pagan altar of mud, fog, frost, mysterious waters and hard earth. In the film, the director takes us to a really cool, wintery, autumnal (or autumnally wintery) field, which is located between Drusti and Jaunpiebalga in an open-air art space Wildwhich was created by the painter Andris Eglītis with associates. Together with nine (!) cameramen, Olte creates an associative, metaphorically developed, visual experience in the film, which takes us – the audience – back to the primal and closer connection with the generally accepted, by which we understand the word “nature”.
The film was made as Olte’s diploma thesis after graduating from master’s studies at the Latvian Academy of Culture. He wades deeper and deeper into the local natural landscape and topography, where the meeting with Eglīti is legal from the court (I interpret that in the film he has obtained alter ego – outlines of actor and director Klāvas Meļļa), however, it is not the first meeting between the two in the context of cinema. Documentary work should be highlighted here Who are you in the Wild? (2021). After the prologue marking the washing time, the raincoat-clad, relatively naked goddesses of fate, or Piena spirits, led by Daci Evers as Piena’s mother, glide over the field in effective slow motion. While the film’s structure oscillates between music video, experimental cinema, and concert film settings, it’s just as much a delirium of consciousness or a stream-of-consciousness rhythm, paced by a trio of heavy instrumental music. Tense.
In the works of Olte in recent years, productions are more and more convincing – the debut full-length Upurga (2021) played atmospherically and convincingly in the eco-thriller sauce Blair Witch/The Blair Witch Project (1999), while the short film Upurijers (2023) already clearly marked the clash between man (culture) and nature as irreconcilable, the representation and interpretation of the image of a woman and a man. And here we come to Tessa Manwhere the pattern of myths and images seems to be laid out like on the palm of your hand – the female characters literally come out of nature (in the film – from the surface of the water), while the male characters are sign artists who gather others around them through cultural experience. This binary clash is less mentionable and cryptic, but it is the position of Olte’s film, which cannot be disrespected.
In my vision Tessa Man there is something more related to the already mentioned time of laundry – as the sounds wave, it becomes a performance-like feasting of souls and a feast of sound and image, where Olte seeks the perfect union between culture and nature. The formula is understandable, and the lack of visual power cannot be blamed on Oltem and the team.
Movie selection
Cinema is recommended by Dārta Ceriņa
BUM! (2024) ★★★★
The family film directed by Andras Doršs and Marta Seleckas does not suffer from inertness and slowness of events – it has a completely lively pace, and after the main character Hugo (debutant Adrians Petrovics) acquires magical abilities, it already turns into a dynamic work with sitcom elements. Once the viewer’s attention is captured and held, filmmakers know how to use it to their advantage.
KLIKO KUNDZE/WIDOW CLICQUOT (2023) ★★★
One could not say that this is a champagne house Veuve Clicquot an origin story, rather melodrama (dir. Thomas Naper) that follows the determination and passions of Barb Nicole Ponsardena Clicquot (played by Haley Bennett). Classic characters and message lines that are a bit reminiscent of a sip from a bottle uncorked yesterday. But fans of historical melodramas will appreciate the environmental textures and the lining of the Champagne region.
TANGO OF LIFE (2024) ★★★★
The most convincing component of the film (dir. Erika Lifredo, Krista Burāne) is the ability of dance (and art) to help – the resistance of the Italian Claudio, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and his wife Ivana is highlighted in the tango dance. It gives the feeling of a tight hug. The Latvian component – the composer Arturs Maskats and his relationship with the main character – is a bit more interesting, but even here the criticism is perhaps misplaced, because the dance (and art), after all, crosses all boundaries.
Source: www.diena.lv
