To me "La fine del Mare" was one of the few films at the Rotterdam Festival, where you had the feeling you were actually watching cinema, and not some pushed up TV-drama with supposed to be "dogma" camera. I found it quite pleasing that the director and the screenwriters, have avoided to speak out everything, and have trusted the spectators capability to think themselves. And it was a relief to get off the ordinary protagonist - identification - train. Today you often get the impression that a large part of the films could have been made by the same person, all script doctoring/ developing turning every idea into the same stew and leaving little space for any personal visions. Of course the film, like everyone, has a few flaws, but what's more important, the filmmakers are trying to create modern myths, and they do indeed succeed.
3 Reviews
A very moving film, beautifully made.
filmlover-london13 February 2007
I too saw this film at the Rotterdam Film Festival. I spoke to many people after the screening and we all agreed what a moving and involving experience it had been.
Unlike many films today, the story telling was poetic and subtle. The director treats the audience as intelligent adults who don't need everything spelled out or "in their face". I especially liked the fact that there wasn't overblown music on everything telling you what to think and feel. Naturally this won't please everyone, especially those who aren't used to grown-up films. But give this one a chance. The acting is fantastic and the cinematography is wonderful. More films like this please!
Unlike many films today, the story telling was poetic and subtle. The director treats the audience as intelligent adults who don't need everything spelled out or "in their face". I especially liked the fact that there wasn't overblown music on everything telling you what to think and feel. Naturally this won't please everyone, especially those who aren't used to grown-up films. But give this one a chance. The acting is fantastic and the cinematography is wonderful. More films like this please!
A truly cinematic experience.
ejs5926 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This film was recently shown in competition at Sofia Film Festival where I had the good fortune to see it. From the very first shots you know you are in safe hands; that you are being told a story in a way that good European films used to tell them, but with a modern voice that we haven't heard before. The film then takes us on a emotional journey that is exciting, uplifting and from time to time, upsetting. The story of Todor and his extraordinary cargo (a trafficked woman) is told without recourse to hysteria or cliché. Often shot in long takes, the film is fast moving and tense and you can never tell what is coming next. The camera work is simple and visually eloquent; a breath of fresh air after the shambolic hand-held style of post-dogme films or the tedious shot/counter-shot formula of the mainstream.
The two leads are both excellent; Miki Manojlovic as Todor is charismatic, tough and surprisingly vulnerable. Diana Dobreva as Nilofaris is mysterious and touching, but never sentimental. The surprise comes from the two Italian actors in the film, Giuseppe Battiston and Luigi Maria Burruano, who both give extraordinarily relaxed and authoritative performances.
There are many memorable moments in this film but the last sequence dealing with the hero's death and its discovery by his lover is quite mesmeric. A man walks alone across a few railway tracks in a deserted port, accompanied only by the sound of his own footsteps and a faint, whistled melody and we know from this that he is going to his certain death. This is what cinema at its best is all about.
The two leads are both excellent; Miki Manojlovic as Todor is charismatic, tough and surprisingly vulnerable. Diana Dobreva as Nilofaris is mysterious and touching, but never sentimental. The surprise comes from the two Italian actors in the film, Giuseppe Battiston and Luigi Maria Burruano, who both give extraordinarily relaxed and authoritative performances.
There are many memorable moments in this film but the last sequence dealing with the hero's death and its discovery by his lover is quite mesmeric. A man walks alone across a few railway tracks in a deserted port, accompanied only by the sound of his own footsteps and a faint, whistled melody and we know from this that he is going to his certain death. This is what cinema at its best is all about.
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