Filmmaker Loran Batti gives us a portrait of the neighborhood he grew up in.
One part essay, one part autobiography and one part portrait of the world G 21 is going to rock your world. The film is a look at Gottsunda, a suburb of Uppsala, Sweden. Batti wanted to document the place he lived, hoping to use it to escape the life. While he did escape he has to return when he left before the film was finished. The return fills him with mixed feelings because he doesn’t want to be part of this life any more.
Largely shot by having the camera just film a scene, the film is supplemented with voice over and super 8 film. The result is a film that is very real and raw and in the moment. Batti gives us a lot to chew on both in details and in emotion. No one is buttoned up and we can sense what everyone is feeling. While Batti kept the camera out of the way it still opens up the world to us since people are not aware it’s there so they let themselves hang out.
I was moved. There is such raw emotion, a lot of it having to do with uncertainty, that I didn’t know how to process what I was seeing. That’s a very good thing since Battiis reporting what he sees and is letting the people speak for themselves and not shaping it.
This is one of the best films at DOC NYC and an unexpected wonder.
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