Cheap Tuvalu (DVD) (Denis Lavant, Chulpan Khamatova) (Veit Helmer) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Tuvalu

Pan-European whimsey
Equal parts Guy Maddin (Tales from the Gimli Hospital, Careful), Lars von Trier (Element of Crime) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, City of Lost Children), this unique almost-silent film uses monochromatic tinting to convey an otherworldly feel in its story of characters whose life is primarily confined to an ancient bath-house located in the middle of nowhere. The single color permeating the screen varies--from sepia to blue to black-and-white to green, and back again--giving the work a fantastical aura that works quite well.

The characters act out the story with spoken language confined only to their names, an occasional "OK" and the phrase "technology system profits". Only once I caught some French, but that disappeared as suddenly as it was heard. The written words that are displayed seem to give the feeling of an eastern European setting, but the viewer is never sure where he is. This is accentuated by the isolation of the castle-like bath-house and the costumes which could be worn by denizens of a dozen different places, at least.

Though the director is German, it was shot in Bulgaria and features Bulgarian women singers and a cast of actors from various countries throughout both Eastern and Western Europe. The story is of a young man, Anton, who, with his blind elderly father and a middle-aged woman, runs the bath-house for those who need aquatic soothing. An ancient machine in the basement keeps everything going, supplying steam power to run whatever must be run. When a pretty young woman and her father visit for a swim, Anton's world is shaken; this is the first time in his life he's smitten and this, of course, sets the real story in motion.

Anton's brother Gregor is the bad guy; not only does he have an evil laugh, but his Eraserhead hair is a dead giveaway. Gregor's idea is to do away with the bath-house and make money by converting what's old into what is "modern" (another word that pops up a few times, with the accent on the second syllable). Also involved are a friendly policeman, a safety inspector, and a group of helpful villagers.

The suspension of time and place is critical in appreciating this piece, whose title refers to a mysterious place that...well, better if you watch the film.

Definitely recommended.

---

Tuvalu - a masterpiece by Veit Helmer
Tuvalu is a simple lovestory about a man who tries to save an old bath institut from being closed. His evil brother wants to earn alot of money and therefore tries to sell the building. One day a mysteri girl shows up and he falls for her at once. But so does his brother and a competition starts between them but he can not compete with the brother because he doesn't have alot of money to impress her with. The story develops and soon the and the bathinstituit are almost out of his range, but then things starts top happen.

The film is very beautyfull shot and veit helmer really makes this simple story work. The acting is exstremly good even though it sometimes looks animated. But the best part of the film is that the launguage is international and therefore doesn't have to be subtitlet. The film is inspirede by especially Emir Kustorica.

---

An Amazing Film
The director of this film intended it to be understood by everyone -- hence there is very little dialogue. It is a haunting and surreal setting (shot on location in eastern Europe). Moreover, it has one of my all-time favorite actors: E.J. Callahan