Lucas
Versantvoort / 4 Nov 2015
The Paradise
Suite is Dutch director/writer Joost van der Ginkel's attempt at mosaic-type
storytelling. We've seen this many times before, for example in Iñárritu's
Death Trilogy. Yet their continued relevance testifies to their poetic
potential. Van der Ginkel succeeds in crafting an excruciating, relentlessly
intense tale and yet it's that same relentlessness that makes the film go from
'poetic tale of human suffering' to 'my God, how long will this continue' in
the blink of an eye.
We're first
introduced to all the characters: the Bulgarian Senya lives in Sofia, but hopes
to become a model. She and three others are selected to go to another
photoshoot in Amsterdam, but they end up in the Red Light district. One of the
kingpins is Ivica, a Serbian who is just discovering the pleasures of being a
father. Then there's Yaya, an African man, who tries to prevent a mother and
two children from being evicted by promising to pay their rent, grieving mother
Seka who's obsessed with revenge and a Swedish boy pianist Lukas suffering
under his father who mixes up the roles of being a father and a music teacher.
Whether by force or a mere glance, some of these people's paths will
cross.
These
mosaic-films depend on emotional force and thematic unity. There's plenty of
the former to go around, of the blunt force trauma kind. Nary a scene goes by
without something unsettling happening, whether it's Lukas being bullied at
school, his being unable to control his bladder, the mother in Yaya's apartment
complex telling how she has been 'paying' the rent, Jenya working in the Red
Light district; the list goes on. Believe me, it does. Then again, I did like
that certain characters embodied variations on a certain theme. For example,
the notion of parenthood is shared by several characters.
The film's true
strength is acting. It's very much a multicultural cast, yet there's not one
weak link, one weakly acted moment. The same cannot be said for the music,
however, which tends to drone on and on. It's the kind of droning that's
supposed to get you into the characters' heads, but ends up making you aware of
the aches in your own.
But in the end,
it's the constant misfortune experienced by these characters that prevents The
Paradise Suite from reaching the upper echelons of mosaic films. There's happy
endings for some of them, but the film's overall negativity makes you leave the
theatre not lost in poetic thoughts on universal suffering and how we're all
one, but like you've just endured a brutal beatdown. In other words, the drama
is definitely presented--and acted out--in a realistic fashion, but it never
rises to a higher plane of existence, so to speak. It's universal suffering without
the 'universal'.
ps: what is it
with kids bullying someone by pissing on them? When some kids ambush Lukas in
the bathroom and piss on him, the one doing the pissing would have to drink
precisely enough at some point during the day to be able to piss at that
precise moment. His entire day would have to revolve around it! I imagine his
parents must be pleased he drinks his juice so diligently every morning: 'Gee
honey, you sure have been drinking a lot lately.' 'Yeah
well, gotta stay hydrated.'
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