Vytautas Katkus | Lithuania / Norway / Sweden, 2025, 111’
This hopeful contemplative Lithuanian film about a man’s return to his village mostly dialogue and score free and all the better for evoking a sense of calm contemplation and at the same time creating a delightful ethnographical portrait of this Baltic country in mid Summer.
Soaked in nostalgia and gentle reflection Vytautas Katkus creates an atmospheric sense of place in his feature debut, which he also co-scripted and filmed, celebrating its world premiere at this year’s Karlovy Vary film festival when his protagonist Danielius finds himself transported back in time reconnecting with the past through limpid images and sequences that see him sleeping in a pine forest, bobbing on a lake in the sunset and catching up with friends or simply wandering on a windswept sandy beach with his dog Puga for company.
Danielius (thoughtfully played by Darius Silenas) is kept busy with the sale of his late father’s flat and a low concept narrative eventually emerges when the 30 year oldrealises that despite his fond memories time has moved on and everything changed in a place once so close to him. The village has changed but so has Danielius who has been living in Norway for over a decade enjoying a settled life with a family and a circle of friends. His new existence enables him to see the past through the prism of the present and he gradually starts to disconnect from the life he once knew. Danielius is comfortable in his skin and the circle of life is complete until he realises that moving on is not so easy. A positive insightful film from this confident new filmmaker that explores life’s unexpected moments. @MeredithTaylor
Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2025 | July 7 at 19.30