D'Est (Of is?): Chantal Akerman's Documentary

I have spent the past couple of hours drowsily recalling moments of Chantel Akerman's D'Est with equal parts fondness and annoyance. I say they are equal parts because I enjoyed viewing the film (and that's what it was - a viewing and not an experience) and am frustrated by the label of importance that is placed on certain films. I will get to the later in a little bit.

For those that haven't seen the film, it is an intimate exploration of people, their communities, and the mundane all wrapped in a pretty depressing form of a documentary. Its depressing due to the look of the 16mm film stock and the landscape of the film. D'Est was shot in Germany, Poland, Russia, and Moscow. Akerman focuses on cars, trucks, trains, people - both staged and real-life settings. As the camera tracks the action or is fixed on a certain scene, Akerman seeming dodges the lines of dramatic film making and guerilla documentary tactics creating a small barrier that allows the viewer to dive into the film without the interaction. The scenes that focus on individuals or groups of people, Akerman plays with the ability that allows these people to be viewed by the camera. The effect leaves the people in the film extremely vulnerable.

I do find the scenes that are located inside a residence to rid the film of certain credibility. One example is the woman that is in her kitchen drinking tea or coffee. Obviously nervous, she sips her tea/coffee (we will just call it cotea for short), shakily sets her cotea back on her saucer, and the sips it again. I can see Akerman sitting behind the camera saying "Now I will say action in a minute, and you are to drink your cotea and stare at the wall, like you usually do when you drink cotea, and just ignore the camera." The scenes are a little to contrived in my opinion.

The scenes that are located outside, showcasing everyday life in the street, remind me of Godard's Breathless, particularly the scenes with Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmando where they are walking around the city. Both have a captivating feeling that you (yes, you the audience) are in the same space.

As I stated earlier, there is a moment of reflection that annoys me to the point of strangulation. Maybe I am wound too tight. Maybe I should sleep more often and remember to blink. Maybe I am tired of people trying to tell me that certain experimental films are "important." In reading Catherine David's "D'Est: Akerman Variations" I found that her critique of the film to be quite eloquent but over-embellished to the point of vomiting blood. "Rarely (and not since the beginning of cinema and the early Soviet depiction of the heroic masses of the revolution) have the modern crowd and individual, the "idle community" of post-Communism, been filmed with such startling intimacy, in their abandon and dispossession." Give me a break. Yes the film was interesting to watch and it did reveal moments that made it stand out, but that is a tall comment for a voyeuristic film (and I mean voyeuristic in the nicest way. Not in that smutty, I'm watching you, and if no-one is looking I might just toss-off-to-you way).

Sigh. Anyways. D'Est is an interesting view into the lives of a post-Communism society, and deals playfully with the audiences boundary in the film viewing experience and the isolation that it can provide as well.

On a side note: I appreciate any feedback to my rants, however heated the feedback is I will take it to heart.... and then shove it right up your ass! Now let me off my boxx.
Soap