Nitschewo
"NItschewo", translated from Czech, means "Whatever". This statement of life angst emanates from the four main characters; none more so than Jim (Ken Duken) who finds it hard to live in his own skin .…
Nitschewo
"NItschewo", translated from Czech, means "Whatever". This statement of life angst emanates from the four main characters; none more so than Jim (Ken Duken) who finds it hard to live in his own skin . The setting is a small rural town in Czechoslovakia, post Cold War. When not driving dangerously, making love to his girlfriend Elise (Marie Zielcke) in extreme situations and looking out for the village fool, Lele (Axel Neumann), Jim is the local mechanic. Jim and Elise live a wild but contained existence which is derailed by two happenings: the appearance of a middle aged American film director Frank (Daniel Olbrychski) who's car apparently broke down forcing a stay in the town, and Jim's accidental killing of Lele. ( Lele chose to sit in the middle of the road just around a blind curve suggesting he'd had enough of being Lele!) Jim is befriended by Frank. Frank attempts to help Jim work through his guilt and other issues, including abandonment by his parents, to a less self-destructive mindset. Elise, suspicious of Frank's motives (she thinks he lusts after her), does her best to turn Jim against Frank. This rich brew of pain, guilt, suspicion, sex, manipulation and mystery comes to a head when Frank invites Jim and Elise for a stay at a casino on the Baltic. Elise engineers a scene, witnessed by Jim, where Frank appears to be seducing her. Jim rushes out, his faith in love and friendship gone, and emulates the death of Lele. This time the driver is Elise, who belatedly discovers Frank is actually Jim's father and was genuinely trying to help him. The film ends with a guilt-ridden Elise winging up the highway with the lifeless body of her lover beside her. In the rear vision mirror is the forlorn, receding figure of the prodigal father. Stefan Sarazin (who wrote the script and directed the film) has created quite a rivetting film. It sounds bleak but has surprising moments of lightness, and is even uplifting. The dominant message, from my reading, is that love keeps us alive; and without it we are dead men (or women) walking.
Nitschewo
Drama
Film Details
"NItschewo", translated from Czech, means "Whatever". This statement of life angst emanates from the four main characters; none more so than Jim (Ken Duken) who finds it hard to live in his own skin . The setting is a small rural town in Czechoslovakia, post Cold War.
When not driving dangerously, making love to his girlfriend Elise (Marie Zielcke) in extreme situations and looking out for the village fool, Lele (Axel Neumann), Jim is the local mechanic. Jim and Elise live a wild but contained existence which is derailed by two happenings: the appearance of a middle aged American film director Frank (Daniel Olbrychski) who's car apparently broke down forcing a stay in the town, and Jim's accidental killing of Lele. ( Lele chose to sit in the middle of the road just around a blind curve suggesting he'd had enough of being Lele!) Jim is befriended by Frank.
Frank attempts to help Jim work through his guilt and other issues, including abandonment by his parents, to a less self-destructive mindset. Elise, suspicious of Frank's motives (she thinks he lusts after her), does her best to turn Jim against Frank. This rich brew of pain, guilt, suspicion, sex, manipulation and mystery comes to a head when Frank invites Jim and Elise for a stay at a casino on the Baltic.
Elise engineers a scene, witnessed by Jim, where Frank appears to be seducing her. Jim rushes out, his faith in love and friendship gone, and emulates the death of Lele. This time the driver is Elise, who belatedly discovers Frank is actually Jim's father and was genuinely trying to help him.
The film ends with a guilt-ridden Elise winging up the highway with the lifeless body of her lover beside her. In the rear vision mirror is the forlorn, receding figure of the prodigal father. Stefan Sarazin (who wrote the script and directed the film) has created quite a rivetting film.
It sounds bleak but has surprising moments of lightness, and is even uplifting. The dominant message, from my reading, is that love keeps us alive; and without it we are dead men (or women) walking..