35 Shots of Rum (2008)
35 Shots of Rum(FR/GE) Directed by Clair Denis Written by Clair Denis; Jean-Pol Fargeau Starring Alex Descas; Mati Diop; Nicole Dogue; Gregoire Colin
The brilliant Clair Denis has long been interested in Africa, and in exploring other cultures living in France or in French run colonies. Here, paying tribute to the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, and specifically his film, Late Spring (which explored one of his recurring themes), she looks at a widowed, middle-aged African immigrant railway conductor Lionel (Alex Descas), who resides with his adult daughter, Josephine (Mati Diop), in a run down project located outside of a Paris. While race is clearly an inherent aspect of the film’s subtext, as well as being a subject with particular current relevance to the setting, the story concentrates on the simple everyday lives of Lionel and Josephine, a social science student at a nearby university. While nearly all of the faces we see in the film are brown-skinned, in terms of plot this fact winds up being merely an incidental one. At its root, 35 Shots of Rumis a love story about a father and daughter, and specifically, the close, inter-dependent bond they’ve managed to forge. The quiet, hard to read Lionel seems to carry with him some heavy air of regret and sadness, a countenance which may or may not be directly attributable to his wife’s death. Nearing retirement, he counts on his doting daughter to assist him in maintaining a fixed daily routine. His reliance on, and poignant devotion to, his daughter, seems to be the one thing in his life Lionel considers to be tangibly meaningful, despite the obvious devotion of neighbor/ex-girlfriend Gabrielle (Nicole Dogue), a chain smoking taxi driver with a bright disposition. Handsome young Noe (Gregoire Colin) has entered their sphere as well, and despite he and Josephine’s efforts to keep their romantic relationship separate from Lionel, their growing feelings for one another seem to augur traumatic disruption of one kind or another. As elegant and seemingly straightforward as this film might be, Ms. Denis’ efforts are never simple, and there is an opaqueness to the characters and events, as nothing is explicitly revealed, and back-story details are only reluctantly meted out. The story is about loss and love and regret, but it is minus those heavy, dramatic scenes where the characters confront one another or get to the bottom of what is bothering them. Instead, we are left with exquisite moments of subtlety, when loving gestures are mixed with disappointment and confusion, and characters experience conflicting emotions they likely couldn’t fully articulate were they to try (which most of the time they don’t). Ms. Denis elicits wonderful, natural performances from the cast, and the camerawork (from DP Agnes Godard) is marvelous. Another work of art from one of the few masters of cinema working today.