Simply A Masterpiece

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"Tuvalu" is a German movie from 1999 that runs for approximately 95 minutes. "German" is only true though in terms of which country it produced and where the director came from as the actors in here come from all kinds of countries and there is also no German language in here. The writer and director is Veit Helmer and he is somewhat known for bringing a foreign note to all his films usually, frequently they aren't in German just like this one here too as a consequence. Helmer had worked on other films, for example on Wim Wenders' movies before making this one here, his first directorial effort. This film here is quite an extraordinary project, especially for a 30-year-old director. I am not surprised at all it won so many awards and was nominated for many more as this is definitely a pretty unique work. You won't really find anything remotely similar in film in the last 20 years. The result is that this is certainly not a work that will really appeal to many many audiences and I would be surprised if this was a commercial success back then. Fittingly, the lead actor here is Denis Lavant and he is known for his pretty remarkable role selection in terms of alternative cinema. He plays the main part very well and same goes for his co-lead Chulpan Khamatova. Both were convincing casting choices. Due to the lack of language in here (even if there is some silent talking and lots of mumbling throughout the movie) and also due to the style, this reminded me of a silent film at times. Taking away some aspects, it perfectly could have been a film from the early 20s, also in terms of how the actors presented their characters. I believe this may be a good watch for everybody who likes "The Artist" for example. I myself would not call "Tuvalu" a really great film, but it succeeds at what it attempts, tells an interesting story (especially the romance parts) about likable characters and (even with Helmer's short film experience) it is a really respectable work for a rookie filmmaker.

Going into this, you need some background, because the beginning does not much help you enter this ambitious world. When this was made, the expectation was that much streaming online video (like Netflix) would be via websites with the suffix "dot TeeVee." That domain (the word itself is significant) was assigned to a tiny Polynesian island nation, who subsequently sold rights to internet speculators. The irony of watching a film, itself a pretense, in such a pretend domain is something that would have given me a chuckle. As there are a number of people like me, there is an audience for extensions of this comic notion.The film features a wasteland of rubble, in the midst of which is an ornate old-fashioned moviehouse. Every narrative detail is built around various elements of the film experience, and the fantasies that it both evokes and rides on. You would not know that from the film itself however, and I suppose that is intended.Once entering the building, having passed the box office (you can pay with a button), the immersive experience is a swimming pool. The success of this is fabricated for the senile owner, and threatened by "the authorities." It is powered by a complex steam device, clearly labeled "Imperim," incidentally the name (at the time) of a large movie file sharing website.Built on this are many overlapping references to film-fantasy borders, using overt film references, mostly from the era of "pure" cinema. One narrative thread has to do with a romance, woven into another with the notion of escape via sea. The "engine" of the cinema is literally moved to the boat of this romantic escape while the moviehouse collapses. It is all something of a muddle, but a muddle in such respectful and complex notions of film, you end up glowing at the sharing of the thing.If you like Guy Maddin, you will like this. Some scenes simply charm your soul. The one most often cited is our love interest swimming nude underwater with her beloved pet goldfish in a bowl.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

This is a film that filled me with warmth and appreciation for the cinematic artform. Using tinted black and white film and a suggestion of dialogue, Veit Helmer was able to successfully tell a story in the way they were told within the first 30 years of cinema. It should renew anyone's faith in this medium who thought that Hollywood productions were all that were left to call "entertainment".Andre is the younger son of a blind man, left to run a delapidated bath house in a fictional European city a few years in the future(?). He not only has to juggle the possible closing of the house by local authorities, keep business going as usual, and keep his Father from finding out the true plight of which they face, but also face his first true love, Eva. All this and an evil brother who wants to see the bath house torn down in way for a new development and you have a formula that has been seen many times over.However, several elements come into play that make this an outstanding film. One, the film is shot using tinted black and white film, giving the decaying sets a life of their own. Second, Veir opted out of having any "real" dialogue and instead presented a combination of gestures, expressions and universally known words to convey the words. This made way for the kind of acting that was predominate in the first 30 years of film history, and if he had decided to illiminate the dialogue altogether it would have come out the exact same way. Not since the premiere films of Luc Besson, David Lynch or Lars Von Trier can I stress the incredible treasure that has been created.I hope that many more of you have the chance to see this film.

I had the chance to see this movie in the Porto, Portugal film festival Fantasporto 2000. The story revolves around a decadent public swimming pool, run by a blind old man who's mind still lives in the building's days of glory. It focuses on the people still using it, and on the persons still working there: a woman with a fixation on buttons and one of the old man's sons, who struggles to keep the building alive. The antagonist is the old man's other son who eagerly waits for the destruction of the building so he can build condo's.I found the concept of making a film without dialogs very interesting. Although people might think this could make the film boring and hard to follow, this doesn't happen at all. Merit goes to the actors, who deliver a very expressive and quality performance, without falling into ridicule, and to the rhythm given to the plot.Regarding directing and photography, all is presented neatly, but I can't help mentioning the similarities to Emir Kusturica's (namely in the portraying of the 'post-apocalyptic' universe and the nonsense touch of the plot) and to Jeunet & Caro's work (the building and the 'impossible romance' between the main characters is shown very similarly to Delicatessen). Although this impairs a bit the final result, I believe that in the end it is a nice movie which most people will enjoy and be surprised with (specially if they haven't seen any Kusturica or Jeunet & Caro movie).