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FESTIVALS Netherlands

Youngsters in the spotlights at Rotterdam

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The lives of people in their twenties are put under a microscope in several films in the Tiger Awards competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), currently underway.

French debut feature Chicks [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(La Vie Au Ranch) from newcomer Sophie Letourneur portrays the life of two student girls in their early twenties, Pam (Sarah Jane Sauvegrain) and Manon (Mahaut Mollaret), whose flat is dubbed “the Ranch”. They have endless conversations there about boys and clothes, and smoke, drink and improvise spaghetti-and-ketchup dinners for their large group of loud and out-there friends.

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Using an offhand approach that focuses on the details of everyday life rather than large plot arcs, this seemingly improvised film, filled with constant chattering and a very loose camera, finds itself somewhere between fiction and documentary, as Letourner decided to find an already existing group of friends of non-actors to fit with her screenplay ideas.

The film already played at two festivals in its home country: Premier Plans in Angers and the Belfort Film Festival, where it won the audience award (see news).

In more serious trouble than the girls is the protagonist of Danish feature R, the first joint directorial collaboration between screenwriter Tobias Lindholm, who also wrote Thomas Vinterberg’s upcoming Berlinale title Submarino [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile
]
, and documentary-maker Michael Noer.

In their hard-hitting prison drama R, a young man, Rune (Pilou Asbaek), ends up in prison, where he immediately has to start fighting to avoid being kept at the bottom of the pile.

The directors give the film an appropriately rough and gritty look that is much aided by handheld camerawork and a washed-out colour palette. The lived-in performances are another marker of authenticity for this fictional tale, with the use of former inmates in supporting roles adding a documentary touch. A neat Hitchcockian twist gives the film’s second part an unexpected energy boost.

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