Day five: Thwarted treasure hunt

The preparations for a 60 seconds TV interview, have somewhat led astray my treasure hunt as my screening time has been very limited today. In this limited amount of time, I have, however, viewed two films competing for the FIPRESCI Award and thus duly completed my jury task: Dragoș Iuga’s mockumentary, Little Spartan, and Heavy Mental, Sebastian Buttny’s debut feature film. Little Spartan, screened in the Free Spirit Competition program is an off-putting and entirely fictional documentary that is the result of the director’s recording his protagonist using different media during twelve years. The story evolves around Gabriel Dita, an engineer who suffers from a lack of growth hormone receptor in his pituitary gland. The rich Romanian midget decided to produce a film inspired by his own life with a professional director. One cannot help but wonder if this is a quest for money or for love.  Along the same line, Heavy Mental is a heavy film, presented in the Competition 1-2 program. It is a tiresome and rather bizarre portrayal of the moods and spirit of the contemporary 30 year-olds in Poland, meditating on what can be called a “normal” life nowadays.

The premises of these two films may seem quite innovative, arty and even interesting to some. But to me, they are not even remotely captivating. I may seem rather harsh and I am sorry about that. But, “tomorrow is another day”…so, stay tuned for more!