In this first feature Agnes Kocsis seems at first to be working in the tradition of Marta Meszaros’ seventies work (Nine Months or Adoption), although minus Meszaros’ more overt feminist agenda. Starting with mother Viola (a cleanliness obsessive employed as a subway toilet attendant, who spends her spare time pursuing Lonely Hearts options) the film then shifts rather surprisingly to concentrate almost exclusively on daughter Angela, a late-teen studying fashion design at a technical school. It’s all done in the main in a nicely unobtrusive long-take wide-shot realist style, but the film very slyly shifts direction with this, too. A certain formalism associated with the mother’s scenes (the set-ups around the living room couch and the subway toilet) takes increasing predominance just as Angela symbolically takes on the role of the mother with whom she barely communicates.
by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
05 Dec 2006 9:24 PM | Submit Comment