Kaleidoscope. I had the chance to go to this film as part of a special screening of “Message to Man”. I didn’t really know what to expect, and my friend and I entered an almost empty room, but in 5 minutes the hall was full. Before watching a few words about his creation said the director Claire Simon. The little Frenchwoman hung something very embarrassingly about the station and her old friend with whom they all filmed, said that she wanted to make it not quite documentary, to bring this genre to a new level, when the viewer does not feel the next camera on his heels. She spoke somehow touching and cluttered, it was clear that she did not know how the audience would perceive her creation and was very worried about her offspring.
The movie started and I forgot everything. It's hard to imagine how much material Claire shot to choose and tell these stories. Such different people, different fates, countries, stories took place on the screen, some caused laughter, others tears, others misunderstanding. The leitmotif through the whole film is the theme of the house, his feelings as a person, and for good reason - we are at the station, this is like a border state between home and immigration, past and present.
People with different social status, wealth and skin color, the homeless, immigrants, those who want to return to their homeland and those who no longer have a homeland. People without a home and people with three passports, a girl who Skypes every night with her little daughter in another country and a security guard with a master's degree. A girl from Cuba who has gained 25 kg in a year and feels absolutely happy. A daughter who sees off her old mother and a guy who talks about the difference between white girls and black girls. All this passes with a kaleidoscope of faces in front of the viewer, fascinates, makes you empathize. Sincerity, not the playfulness of stories bribes, and unobtrusive presentation of the narrative retains attention.
It's really a human geography -- people from all over the world seem to have gathered at this station to linger for a few minutes and tell their story on camera. Share a piece of yourself to hold your attention and make you think for a moment about such important and simple things.
8 out of 10