Peter (Peter Kolesár) and Iveta (Iveta Koprdová) wake up in bed together. Peter's a music teacher and he sets off to school. He plays classical piano near an open window as a swallow flies in and looks at him. He teaches a boy to play, guiding his hands as he reads from the score. Back home he and Iveta sit in their flat with the TV on. Iveta knits a sweater as Peter plays his portable Roland E-15 keyboard, conjuring up stories to go with the music he's composing. He sits on the step smoking and fantasising.

Peter walks fully dressed into the sea, with briefcase and drops gently to the ocean floor. Fish swim by as he eats a large sandwich. A giant octopus tickles him and wraps him in tentacle. Iveta comes by, knitting, in an old-fashioned submarine with a great round porthole and wood-panelled interior, but doesn't notice Peter wrapped up in the octopus. He punctures the octopus, and there's a lot of ink. He surfaces in a river, and a fisherman is surprised. Back at work, he trains a choir of 13 children ranging from around ages 6 to 16 in their song for the Christmas concert.

Miro (Miro Daniel) is wondering aloud on a train if he can capture the love of Monika (Monika Brabcová). He'll have to fight for her. He remembers the start of their love. They met, there was kissing; they went to the fair and had fun. He won a teddy prize for her; she asked if he wouldn't be hurt if she didn't tell her parents it was from him - they'd be angry that she was in love. Miro's mother (Jolana Danielová) lectures him sternly - do Monika's parents know they're going away just the two of them? There mustn't be trouble like the last time - do they know he's a gypsy (Roma)? Monika's mother (Anna Brabcová) approves Miro taking Monika off on a trip - but he tells her there'll be eight of them.

Monika and Miro go away together and have a lovely time. They swim - she's afraid, so he carries her gently into the water. They have a fire at night on the beach and toast sausages. They dance at a club. In the present, Monika's parents find out about their love and say - it's him or us. They don't know Monika is pregnant. Miro loves her and is delighted. He'll happily be with her, but can he win her over? How can he contact her?

Elena cleans her flat scrupulously. She takes a doll from a drawer and carefully bathes her and washes her. Her husband lives with her. Elena goes out for a walk and smiles as a class of small schoolchildren file past her on an autumn-leaves-strewn footpath. She gets her hair cut at a woman's house and wonders aloud: when she has her daughter, will they take her away from her, and say it's better if someone else brings her up?

Zuzana (Zuzana Pohánková) loves classical music. She listens to it as much as possible, carried away in the romance of Tchaikovsky. Online she chats with a boy she's never met. Will he like her if they meet? Will somebody love her? She's about 18. At school she's typing her notes. At home - a prosperous middle-class-furnished interior - she dreams at her computer keyboard wearing headphones; lies on her bunk-bed day-dreaming. She and her friend Radoslava (Radoslava Badinková) go swimming and talk about the boys who may be looking at them. Zuzana wonders if the boy will like her - if they meet.

Director of photography is Juraj Chlpík; editor is František Krähenbiel; sound is by Marián Gregorovic, mixed by František Krähenbiel. All deserve great credit for the technical excellence of the result.

Creative stand-out of the production is the underwater animation sequence by Michal Struss, Štefan Martauz, Slavo Šmalík, Joanna Kozuch, Róbert Baxa, Eva Janovská, Martin Snopek, Ivana Zajacová. It makes perhaps a reference to Walt Disney's 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (www.imdb.com/title/tt0046672/) - Captain Nemo's submarine and the naughty octopus are skilfully parodied - and perhaps a nod to George Dunning's 1968 Beatles cartoon film Yellow Submarine (www.imdb.com/title/tt0063823/). But it's all on its own as a piece of superb animation, and gives an evocative insight into Peter's creative mind.

There are all-round excellent performances from the cast. This is a particularly striking achievement because they play characters related to themselves to a script. There's no documentary feeling to it - they bypass the real world to create a blissful work of art.

Peter Kolesár evokes a Peter with a soul and sense of humour. Iveta Koprdová's Iveta is a woman with love not just in her heart, but in her knitting needles and human warmth. Miro Daniel's Miro explores the nature of love and commitment; Monika Brabcová's Monika gently takes her first steps to complete involvement with another; together they explore the crossing of cultural and romantic territory in their path towards a future. Jolana Danielová is giftedly concerned and perceptive as Miro's Mother. Anna Brabcová evokes warmth and protective shrewdness as Monika's Mother.

Elena suggests many layers to Elena's character, and her worries about the future. Elena's Husband, catches the small details of marital and fatherly love which speak strongly of those relationships. Gabikou, as their daughter Gabikou is impish and natural. Zuzana Pohánková presents Zuzana as a dreaming - happily rather than sombrely - teenager floating in a world of colours from the music passing through her head(phones). Radoslava Badinková as Radoslava catches exactly the nature of best-friend friendship.

It's perhaps a surprise that a film of this subtlety has been funded by a government body - but it has. It's filmed in Slovakia, with money from the Slovak Republic Ministry of Culture's highly-imaginative AudioVízia programme. Director Juraj Lehotský's film, to a script by himself and Marek Lešcák, is a gentle and most affecting study of love. By nuance, delicate understanding, and subtly-created scenarios, he looks at love - real, deep, love - and reaches through practical, everyday encounters and actions, to the profound. The characters in Slepe Lásky aren't matinée idols, but credible human beings, just as they might be found on a bus anywhere, passed by on a street. Peeling potatoes, knitting sweaters, mother and daughter going to the cinema, girlfriends giggling about love, sweethearts debating the meaning of mutual desire, the actors bring to life people caring for each other. There's a touching warmth to this set of stories - related by a common theme - and an excellence of their telling that make for a compelling film.

CAST (alpha order): Peter Kolesár - Peter. Iveta Koprdová - Iveta. // Miro Daniel - Miro. Monika Brabcová - Monika. Jolana Danielová - Miro's Mother. Anna Brabcová - Monika's Mother. // Elena, Elena's husband, their daughter Gabikou - themselves. // Zuzana Pohánková - Zuzana. Radoslava Badinková - Radoslava, Zuzana's Friend. Credits Source - producer's notes 10 October 08

MUSIC: (Playing Order, Title, Composer, Lyrics / Orchestra / Conductor): Original Music: (1) Improvisation on Piano - Peter Kolesár. (2) Improvisation on Synthesiser - Peter Kolesár. Recorded Music: (1) Malická Som (I Am A Short Girl) - Slovak folk song. (2) Mr Waltz - Peter Zagar - Nataša Djubeková. (3) Inferno - Jerry Meehan, Adrian Meehan, Nichol Thomson, Clen Nightingale, Elroy Spoonface Povell. (4) Macho - Peter Stašák, Peter Kliment - Peter Stašák, Peter Kliment. (5) Woody Woo Remix - Gerhard Narhholz, Mark Kilian - Gerhard Narhholz, Mark Kilian. (6) Give Me Love - Mick Harvey. (7) Sky Words - Isabella Collina, Cinzia Donti. (8) Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy Overture - PI Tschaikowsky - London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult. (9) The Nutcracker Suite, Ballet, Opus 71 - PI Tschaikowsky - Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Jose Serebrier. Credits Source - producer's notes 10 October 08

COMPANY: Director - Juraj Lehotský. Screenplay - Juraj Lehotský, Marek Lešcák. Producers - Marko Škop, Ján Meliš, František Krähenbiel, Juraj Chlpík, Juraj Lehotský. Director of Photography - Juraj Chlpík. Editing - František Krähenbiel. Sound - Marián Gregorovic. Sound Mixing - František Krähenbiel. Script Editing - Marek Lešcák, František Krähenbiel, Marko Škop. Production - Romana Vargová, Lukáš Bonk. Development and Production of the Project - Róbert Zipser, Róbert Kirchhoff. Animation - Michal Struss, Štefan Martauz, Slavo Šmalík, Joanna Kozuch, Róbert Baxa, Eva Janovská, Martin Snopek, Ivana Zajacová. Lights - Rastislav Gore, Róbert Sloboda, Stanislav Supek, Roman Gašparík. Photograhy Technicians - Rafael Skurka, Valerián Fusek, Peter Zalubel. Graphic Design - Martin Derner, Matúš Cernák. Translation - Saskia Hudecová. Special thanks to - Dušan Hanák. Release Dates - France May 2008 (Cannes Film Festival); Czech Republic 6 July 2008 (Karlovy Vary Film Festival); Canada 10 September 2008 (Toronto Film Festival); Iceland 28 September 2008 (Reykjavik International Film Festival); UK 19 October 2008 (London Film Festival); France 3 December 2008; Netherlands 2009 (International Film Festival Rotterdam). Also Known As - Amours Aveugles France; Blind Loves (International English Title). Runtime - Canada - 77 min (Toronto International Film Festival). Country - Slovakia. Language - Slovak. Colour - Colour. Aspect Ratio - 1.85:1. Sound Mix - Dolby SR. Websites - www.slepelasky, sk www.blindloves.com. Production Company - Artileria, www.artileria.sk. World Sales - Autlook Films, www.autlookfilms.com. Co-operation - Peter Polák, Milan Sirkovský, Miloš Gluvna, Peter Mazácek, Martin Blizniak, Miloš Hanzeli, Igor Pavlík, Radoslav Dúbravský, Róbert Karovic, Lubo Vanco, Milan Hlivák, Tibor Szentandrásyi, Marta Vysocká, Pavel Svitánek, Štefan Potancok, Jozef Vanek, Barbora Lomjanská, Radovan Stoklasa, Radoslav Torbai, Ivan Martinka, Mirka Pavelková, Boris Bocev, Marta Hejtmánková, Miro Ulman, Brano Daniš, Peter Nevedal, Peter Kucera. With the financial support of the AudioVízia programme granted by the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. (c) - Artileria 2008. Credits Source - producer's notes 10 October 08

END

John Park

reviewed Friday 10 October 08 / press screening / NFT2, National Film Theatre, London

note - imdb page is www.imdb.com/title/tt1226291/

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

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