User Reviews

Matiss Zelcs (Dombrovskis) is trying to find a woman which he ignored when he passed her and who was about to jump off the bridge last night. He heard her splash followed by cries for help, but never saw her or her body. The police don't want to continue investigation as no body was found. However Matiss starts his own investigation, finding that the woman had been drinking at a café earlier in the night he saw her, and had left her handbag behind along with some crumpled half finished notes to a certain Alexej (Korobov). After pretending he was her lover to get the articles, Matiss sorts through them carefully and takes a receipt in the name of Alina into the photo developers to get some slides she had left to be developed. He sees that she appears to have been a mother with a young son and a husband that she did not seem close to. Matiss further sees that Alina (Dzerve) was very interested in another man of whom the husband seems jealous. He also finds an envelope addressed to Alexej Mesetzkis and visits his flat. There he learns that Alina had been living for several months with Alexej who indeed is the man of the photo, but she has recently disappeared after several days of fighting. Without letting on that he has the slides or the half finished notes, he asks Alexej to consider if he has driven Alina to desperate measures.

This is a very slow movie with little conversation, much of it in Russian rather than Latvian. Long slow black and white shots mirror the depressed mood of the main character in a movie that feels a lot like Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise. But as with Stranger Than Paradise, I had a hard time staying awake through the first half of Krisana.

I saw this movie with a theater class at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival, where it was part of the competition. I had high expectations of this film, mostly because of the expectations I had of the Toronto Film Festival. I was disappointed with this movie; I had expected a well produced and acted film, when I got what was more a piece film school worthy film. The movie starts with the main character of Matiss Zelcs, played by Egons Dombrovskis, walking across a bridge. It is unclear why he is walking across the bridge and things become more confusing when he walks past a women who appears to be about to jump off the bridge. The movie continues in a confusing fashion, giving us shots that seem not to have anything to do with the movie (such as when he is watching the children play in the water) as well as several shots when Dombrovskis has already walked off screen but the camera is still focused on the same spot. I felt that the movie was shot in black and white for the sake of shooting it in black and white. There wasn't really a reason to film the movie in black and white! As well, the background noise, mostly of dogs barking, wasn't only annoying but it took away from the film. If it was supposed to to make the film sound realistic, then why did it seem like there was no one else around, a rather unrealistic situation? The only people we see in the film are involved in the story line. It seems like Dombrovskis lives in a ghost town! The story line can be confusing, and doesn't really pick up until towards the middle of the movie. The movie also seems to want to be philosophical but doesn't want to go too deep, other than Dombrovskis many vacant looks nowhere. The only thing that redeems this film is the acting; both Egons Dombrovskis and Aija Dzerve provide chilling and heartfelt performances that I enjoyed immensely. I do think that this movie is worth watching, although the technical aspects of the movie make it seem like someone you should be watching in a college film class, the acting is superb and the story line, when it does eventually pick up, can make you think. If you get a chance to see this movie, go, but don't have high hopes. It will disappoint you.

Fred Kelemen, cinematographer, film and theatre director, is the man behind some of the finest works of Béla Tarr (The Man from London, The Turin Horse). Even it was made over decade ago, Krisana is his last film.

Matiss Zelcs, working as archivist, becomes preoccupied finding the woman (Alina) he didn't help when she attempted suicide. Because police officers didn't find her body, he starts his own investigation just to stumble upon many mysterious and interesting facts about Alina and her life. With the advance of his investigation, Matiss find himself lost in his intentions and it becomes uncertain what are his true motives.

It is obvious that Kelemen's inspiration is rich, his work foremost resembles aesthetics, or to be even more accurate, atmosphere of both Tarr and Tarkovsky. Tarr, as his long, dark, monochromatic shots are dominant throughout the film, and Tarkovsky in a way Krisana's narrative is almost oneiric, poetic, just there is no depth like in Tarkovsky's work. Kelemen's portrayal of protagonist is rather shallow and weak comparing to those two authors (achieving characterization similar to Tarr, and especially Tarkovsky, is almost impossible task), but nevertheless, Krisana is definitely film worth watching.