Dir.: Nathalie Biancheri, Ola Jankowska; Documentary; UK 2019, 83 min.
Starting off as a state of the nation inquest after Brexit, directors Nathalie Biancheri (Nocturnal) and Ola Jankowska (The Estuary of River Cuckmore) have collected the viewpoints of ordinary Britain’s around the country. Whilst the B-word was never mentioned, the answers given to questions like “Would you be a good stand-up comic” or “what makes you most happy” show a nation very much looking inwards.
Family and work are by far the most common topics of importance, particularly the fear of illness and death. There are surprises too, when one of the women playfully shows off her Reality TV show personality, playing a gig like a professional. Some of the men are particularly awkward; most of the women are far more articulate. At one point, participants were asked to share their sleeping habits, with often hilarious results. The actual shoot took around six months, with a longer editing phase to follow, when the rough cut of 220 minutes had to be trimmed.
Perhaps the most impressive example was that of a retired female GP, whose brain literally gave up after forty years of care for community. She left “a clean desk” behind, and seemed very much at peace with herself? I WAS HERE needs to be seen, because the impressions will vary from spectator to spectator. This is a highly subjective undertaking, the contrasting stories will evoke individual reactions and reflections. Not so much a conventional documentary, but a Pandora’s box of often flabbergasting one-person shows. Be interesting to see similar undertakings from different nations. Think they may reveal this is a class debate rather than a national one. AS
SCREENING AT THE ICA 22 JANUARY 2020