The history of documentary cinema would be different if there were no films of Herz Frank. This short picture (his undeniable masterpiece) was made in cooperation with Juris Podnieks, his student, and established him as a documentary classic.
With only one shot and no cuts the director managed to retain the stretch of a boy’s emotional experience, quite short in time but of a great content. Attention here is focused on the face of a boy watching the puppet show which is hidden from our view, but one can judge it from the dramatic changes appearing in the child’s expression. What a plenty of emotions we see! In the beginning he is indifferent but a minute after that we see something on the stage rouses his interest and touches him. Empathy and joy and then – anxiety, fear and terror. But finally a happy relief comes when good beats evil. The boy on the screen is going through so many emotions that he grows into a new person before our very eyes.
25 years later this movie has inspired Wim Wenders to engage his colleagues from different parts of the world in reincarnation of the Latvian directors’ idea and making a film combined of 10-minutes shorts. It resulted in 'Ten Minutes Older' dilogy: 'The Trumpet' and 'The Cello'.
With only one shot and no cuts the director managed to retain the stretch of a boy’s emotional experience, quite short in time but of a great content. Attention here is focused on the face of a boy watching the puppet show which is hidden from our view, but one can judge it from the dramatic changes appearing in the child’s expression. What a plenty of emotions we see! In the beginning he is indifferent but a minute after that we see something on the stage rouses his interest and touches him. Empathy and joy and then – anxiety, fear and terror. But finally a happy relief comes when good beats evil. The boy on the screen is going through so many emotions that he grows into a new person before our very eyes.
25 years later this movie has inspired Wim Wenders to engage his colleagues from different parts of the world in reincarnation of the Latvian directors’ idea and making a film combined of 10-minutes shorts. It resulted in 'Ten Minutes Older' dilogy: 'The Trumpet' and 'The Cello'.
