UNDINE
Recommended. The picture's so watery the rainy night was perfect to see it. Water is in a fish tank, in a large reservoir but also the smudged landscape watched through the windows on the train appears to flow. At some point my eyes started to water as well - due to the story. Director Ferzan Özpetek returns to the enigma he's best at. Undine, as tradition says, is a mythological water nymph who becomes human when she falls in love with a man but is doomed to die if he is unfaithful to her. The tour of Berlin architecture by museum guide Undine Wibeau mentions a phantom space. Is this why she fills her phantom space left after the man who betrayed her? Or is the diver the destiny she misses? Or have both men been unfaithful? Or has she? Two statues in the fish tank replace the single figure of a diver and deepen the mystery. Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski excel as the lead actors.
HERADID (THE COUNTY)
Recommended. An austere but surprisingly emotive drama by "Rams" director Grímur Hákonarson who returns to his portrayal of Iceland off the beaten track. A co-operative in a rural area north of Reykjavik and one woman's struggle against it. Why is it engrossing? Partly because it's so dark, realistic, with the camera trained at her most of the time. Neither she nor her job are pretty but you can't take your eyes off the screen. But also because the Icelandic microcosm stands for something bigger. The co-op tactics resemble those of multi-national banks or GMO crop selling corporations. The drama delves into the financial enslavement mechanisms as well as bullying tactics. It's feminist too since men start to encroach on her property as soon as she's widowed. To-the-point music use: a mechanic, rocking-the-boat piece in one scene or a cheerful, melodious pop song in another. Finally, the film makes use of the country's landscapes presenting sweeping views of the vast plains and patched-snow-clad black hills. Yet, it's not a postcard. Dull light creates a picture of an ugly locality and isolation. Weather conditions reflect the atmosphere in the woman's heart. There's no more snow in the final sequence.
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