Review of Loners

Loners (2000)
a Czech Nanni Moretti film
23 July 2002
somewhat slow in developing the characters, but towards the end, a three-minute clip was incredibly rewarding: a family of two parents agree to being "seen" in the real and in the flesh by a group of 20 japanese tourists while having dinner inside in the privacy of their home. Daughter comes in. Sees the two parents seated, and on the rim of the dining room, twenty voyeours each holding a video camera. An ensuing discussion begins, with the parents disagreeing that the daughter sees a married man. The genius is that the tour operator, present in the room and who is translating in real-time from czech to japanese the dialogues between parent and daughter, is the married man's wife, and she knows the husband is having this affair. Under the strain of translating the dialogue that indirectly involves her, she cannot hold back a few tears. For the japanese, the crescendo of the dialogue is a rare opportunity in entering a private family domain, something that japanese culture would never allow, and they are grateful and express it with a emotional applause at the end. They also apologize en masse by all bowing with the video camera rolling when translator says something about them intruding. A genius short scene.
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