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fiba existential mystery 2006


(Germany/Latvia 2005) Latvian/Russian with English subtitles

Krisana (Fallen)

Written, directed and photographed by
Fred Kelemen

Fallen, a black and white, existential mystery from Fred Keleman opens with a long, absorbing view of an old iron bridge over a wide river against a score of bird-cry and animal call. The camera cuts to follow a hunched figure climbing its stairs, shuffling through pools of light in the shining darkness. As the figure reaches the top, a woman is seen standing ahead, on the middle of the bridge and ready to jump. The figure, now recognisable as a slightly hunched man, walks across the bridge, pauses for a moment to look into the eyes of the woman and then continues past. There is a cry and a splash . . . . So begins Keleman's striking and well-crafted Krisana, or Fallen. This is not just formal experiment but a film that exhibits profound concern for character, and perhaps by extension, society in a fallen post- Communist, Eastern Europe; in the words of the visiting police officer, later in the scene, man has lost his way‚ and society is now like an open wound‚. The consequent film explores the despair found in solitude and the relentless pursuit for personal meanings in human existence, meanings that so often sharply diverge and collide. Keleman's enduring determination to create a truly artistic cinema earned him the respect of the late cinephile and author, Susan Sontag. Born of Hungarian-German parents, and now 37 he has to his credits, Director of Photography on films with aclaimed Hungarian director, Bela Tarr. In Krisana he retained artistic independence by securing finance himself and by utilising digital technologies instead of relying on costly film production. In making Krisana he shot on digital video and later transferred to film for screening. He is as concerned with image as he is with sound and the cries of screaming seagulls, for example, contribute a salient motif to its haunting and evocative soundtrack. Within the location of the splendid, decaying Latvian port of Riga, Kelemen explores the dramatic through the visual. In one surreal scene, Matiss, the main character suddenly appears sitting next to a china Leopard. The scene unfolds and we are in a photographers shop. The resulting still-image sequence of photographs, underscored with melodramatic song, reveals a complex of human emotion that taints the psyche of Matiss and propels the film to its shocking climax. By David Somerset, fiba Editor - 3rd July 2006 Krisana is released by the BFI on September 29 and will be showing at the Tate Modern and the Lumiere Cinema in London

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FILMBANK 2006

Year of the DOG