32/47
Eager to escape the bleakness of their hometown, two teenage girls form a special bond at a local modeling school, where the promise of a better life pushes the girls to increasingly extreme abuse of their bodies. I met director Saule Bliuvaite at the NYC Baltic Film Festival at Scandinavian House after a screening of Toxic and as I write this review 2 days later, it’s clear that she’s an auteur! Slow-motion takes on the post-Soviet industrial landscape of a small Lithuanian village with broken-down cars for scrap. But with pulsating characters who play basketball, fix cars, work as models, drink, kiss and seek life outside the past of the post-Soviet bloc. When talking to Saule, I mentioned the film Children (directed by Larry Clark) by Harmony Korine, which explores the same coming-of-age themes but set in the diverse setting of New York City. Despite the clear gender difference and emotional goals of the main characters. Their journey is identical – they seek solace, affection or parental guidance in a TOXIC environment: alcohol, cigarettes, sex and parental absence. Go see it – not for the drama, but for the bare bones, stripped of unnecessary cinematographic details aura of naked bodies (sauna scene), but the desire… The desire to be in sync with parents, neighbors, shopkeeper, but most importantly, with your teenage, developing “self” in an ever-changing or unchanging socio-economic landscape. I am not a dad – but after watching this I understand why my parents had to know where I was after school. To be continued Saule – thank you for taking the first director/fan photo with me at Scandinavia House. To be continued… in the series of auteur films 🙂