(Slovenia, 85 min.)
Written and directed by Nejc Gazvoda
Starring: Luka Cimpric, Jure Henigman, Nina Rakovec
If you’ve attended one of the screenings at this year’s
European Union Film Festival, you’ve probably witnessed the infectious little
bit of head-bobbing that accompanies New Wave Syria’s “Let it Out,” which is the
song featured in the festival’s official trailer. The funky
elector-euphoria of “Let it Out” should give festivalgoers a good sense of what
to expect when they attend the EUFF screening of Slovenia’s A Trip, the film in which “Let it Out”
originally appears. A Trip is an
energetic, tangibly contemporary film. Like the Swedish EUFF film Eat Sleep Die, which coincidentally
screens at the festival the same night as A
Trip, Slovenia’s offering at the
festival should strike a chord with younger viewers or festivalgoers in search
of New Wave-type fair.
A Trip might be the more upbeat feature on the night’s programme in comparison to the kitchen-sink realism of Eat Sleep Die, but both films are worthy choices. Like Eat Sleep Die, A Trip ushers in a new voice in European cinema. Writer/director Nejc Gazvoda makes a strong feature film debut by giving a fresh take on the tried and tested trope of the road movie. The film sees three friends—Ziva (Nina Rakovec), Andrej (Luka Cimpric), and Gregor (Jure Henigman)—reunite for a road trip to the sea on a journey that takes their friendship on a radical arc.
The three friends used to make the trip in high school, so
they’re going back to the sea at Ziva’s request since all three of them seem to
be at a turning point in their lives and they might not have the same chance to
reconnect. Ziva says that she plans to study abroad and Gregor is a soldier on
leave from Afghanistan. Andrej, the token gay friend, hates everything and
plans to take life day by day.
A Trip, like most
road movies, puts the friends on a symbolic journey as the make their way from
point A to point B. Some of the friends harbour secrets when the trip begins,
but things are gradually revealed as the friends progress to their destination.
A drunken kiss between Ziva and Gregor stirs old feelings, both old and good,
which have a ripple effect on things that have lain dormant between the
threesome for years. In one moment when the friends do make a pit stop, the
breeziness of A Trip explodes in a
random outburst in which the three friends unleash all the tensions the friends
need to release on their expedition by taking their rage out on a car discarded
on a hillside. Viewers are bound to be taken aback as the three friends beat
the car to pieces, but Gazvoda reframes the trip in this scene and reveals that
there is much going unsaid between the friends.
The trip is mostly a jaunt of escapism, though, just as A Trip provides a fun relief for
audiences. The contemporary score and music by New Wave Syria heightens the
sense of freedom afforded by the trip as the friends sing along to “Let it Out”
as the car drives along the winding Slovenian highway. Gazvoda offers a film
that is candid and authentic, drawing on the strong performances from the three
actors to create a tale that speaks of the alienation of young people in a
fast-paced society that doesn’t give them much room to grow. They’re always
moving, as one friend seems to be leaving while the others have nowhere to go,
and the handheld camerawork conveys the restlessness of the three friends as
they go in search of themselves. The escape of the road trip affords
perspective—A Trip stands by the
hallmark of the road movie by teaching the characters about where they’re
going.
The themes of the film are palpably relevant and universal,
as the side-by-side programming of A Trip
and Eat Sleep Die reveals. The
frustrations voiced by Ziva, Andrej, and Gregor aren’t all that differently
from the stresses Raša experiences in rural Sweden. These two films offer a
night at the European Union Film Festival that shows how styles and stories
might shape a national cinema, but the themes underlying these films are
ultimately universal. The accessibility of the two films should reverberate
with Canadian viewers just as loudly as the speakers shake when they go home
and blast “Let it Out” following the film.
Rating: ★★★1/2 (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★1/2 (out of ★★★★★)
A Trip screens in Ottawa at the European
Union Film Festival on Friday, Nov. 22nd at 9:00 pm.
It screens at Toronto’s
European Union Film
Festival on Monday Nov. 18 at 6:30 pm.
Click here for more coverage on the 2013 EUFF.
