Slovenian filmmaker Žiga Virc, known for short film Trieste is Ours! And his latest feature, Shooting Blanks [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film], comes now with his newest film Stealing Land, written by Iza Strehar. With its title is a translated name for a popular children’s schoolyard game, Zemljo Krast, the film which made its world premiere in the Festival of Slovenian Film in the Slovenian Adriatic town of Portorož.

Two sets of parents – Nada and Zal (Suzana Krevh and Tines Špik), Irena and Gregor (Lara Vouk and Andraž Jug) – meet at the latter’s home to discuss something that happened while their two six-year-old sons were playing Zemljo Krast. The couples’ defence mechanisms skyrocket as the night goes on, and their spats devolve into a scene of geopolitical devil’s advocacy, childish provocation and personal mockery.

Fans of theatre might be able to recognise the story’s close resemblance to Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage, a Tony Award and Olivier Award-winning 2008 play with the same premise around two sets of parents whose conversation about their kids’ playground fight quickly devolves, which was adapted by Roman Polanski into Carnage [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film]. It’s worth noting that the film itself does have a theatrical feel, regardless of any intentional similarities (or not) to this well-known play.

The film’s press notes highlight that it was shot in two days and finished its development and production from start to finish in just a few months, perhaps reflecting a bit of a theatrical sensibility in its rapidness to the stage-slash-screen. But Stealing Land by no means feels messy or incomplete. The production design is simple but effective in allowing the action to take centre stage, with a notable use of lighting to create varied scenes, from the standard yellow lighting of the kitchen to the harsh orange of the outdoor lights.

The film’s blocking and framing together very clearly reflect the devolving environment, starting from head-on shots of the two couples standing side by side to a static frame of the four bustling around the kitchen – the work’s most theatrically framed scene. Later, close-ups and medium shots of each character punctuate its mid-section as they collectively reach a sort of dark night of the soul. Lastly, a split along gender lines (the women shot from below, the men from above), demonstrating the final formation of alliances – demonstrating how the women lift each other up and the men patronise each other.

With the film’s somewhat predictable end, the absurdity of it all never feels full stretched to its limits; in some ways, the characters still seem too likeable and empathetic by the end. The punchiness of the dark comedy and parental immaturity struggles to land without the fierceness of the stage format, where the physicality of the performers can be fully exercised in front of a live audience. However, it's clear what Strehar and Virc are going for in terms of the story – that inconsequential infighting often overtakes the focus on solving real issues, together. While alliances form and dissolve, the parents let their egos get the best of them while forgetting what they really came to discuss: their children.

Stealing Land is a co-production between Slovenia’s Lilit, Austria’s Zwinger Film and Slovenia’s Zavod Olaola.