Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/838705
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 18 JUNE 2017 38 This Week HUMAN beings have an annoy- ing habit of thinking the world revolves solely around them. We picked this up during the Renais- sance – where the centrality of humans to life, as apparently sanc- tified by scripture, was a trendy philosophy that took root deep and hard – and have been using it since then to justify all manner of superiority complexes. Our attitude towards the natu- ral world reflects this in ways that has been causing untold – though in reality, very much measurable and highly alarming – damage, and the Polish-Czech-Slovak- German-Swedish co-production Spoor, directed by Agnieszka Hol- land, based on the novel Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, and currently in competition at the Valletta Film Festival – takes this nasty reality and morphs it into a wry, compelling blend of pained psychodrama and a bizarre form of revenge thriller. Living on the Czech-Polish bor- der and popping out to civilisation only occasionally to teach English at a local school, Janina Duszejko (Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka) is a retired engineer with an unflinch- ing love for the animal world and an often embarrassing belief in the horoscope. Content to live in her cottage with her dogs, she is also something of an annoyance to the amoral poachers that orbit the surroundings of her cottage, and whose often gruesome illegali- ties are sanctioned by the political chain of command. After her two beloved dogs go missing, however, her shrill com- plaints to the stonewalling police no longer become the only reac- tion to the continued animal kill- ing. Now, it is apparently the hunt- ers' 'turn', with a serial killer on the loose picking them off one by one in strange ways. Duszejko gets caught up in the swirl of events – never quite help- ing her case with the police by letting rip into a fresh stream of righteous anger at the murderous habits of hunters and poachers – but is thankfully helped along by a reclusive though friendly neigh- bour Matoga (Wiktor Zborowski), a young clerk, Dobra Nowina (Pa- trycja Volny), stuck in an abusive relationship with the high-ranking poacher Wnetrzak (Borys Szyc) and an IT student Dyzio (Jakub Gierszal) sent back to the vil- lage from Berlin after his seizures caused problems at a new job. Holland's film is both sensitive and powerful, moving to the same jolting rhythms of the landscape it seeks to channel and give voice to. Though often digressive – Dusze- jko appears to have a preternatu- ral skill to harness key flashbacks from those around her – it is also built like a thriller: with a who- dunit at its centre and an off-kilter heroine whose discomfiting views put her in the entire community's crosshairs. Never dovetailing into senti- mentality – it really should come with a trigger warning for anyone sensitive to animal slaughter on screen – Holland creates a rich tonal brew, that slips in moments of black humour and never quite lets our protagonist off the hook. Duszejko's sanity may just be hanging by a thread, and her own brand of activism, Holland seems to suggest, is just as blinkered by her human trappings as that of the poachers she despises. Spoor will be screened tonight at Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Valletta at 21:00 and tomorrow at the Embassy Cinemas, Valletta at 20:30, as part of the Valletta Film Festival. For bookings and more information, log on to: http://www.vallettafilmfestival. com/film/spoor/ IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 The Mummy (15) 10:30, 13:45, 16:10, 18:35, 21:00 My Cousin Rachel (12A) 16:05, 18:25, 20:45 Wonder Woman (12A) 10:30, 14:30, 18:00, 20:55 Baywatch (15) 10:25, 13:40, 16:10, 18:40, 21:10 Pirates of the Caribbean: Sala- zar's Revenge (12A) 10:25, 14:15, 18:00, 20:45 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00, 13:45, 14:30, 15:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Pirates of the Caribbean: Sala- zar's Revenge (12A) 11:00, 13:35, 16:10, 18:45, 21:20 Wonder Woman (12A) 11:05, 14:00, 18:00, 21:00, 23:50 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (U) 11:15, 14:10, 16:15, 18:20, 20:30, 22:40 Baywatch (15) 11:20, 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15, 23:45 The Shack (12A) 11:25, 14:30, 18:00, 20:45, 23:30 My Cousin Rachel (12A) 11:30, 14:10, 16:30, 18:45, 21:00, 23:20 Wonder Woman (12A) 12:00, 14:45, 17:30, 20:15, 23:00 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (12A) 13:30, 16:05, 18:40, 21:15 The Mummy (15) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15 Dough (TBA) 14:00, 18:20 Pirates of the Caribbean: Sala- zar's Revenge (12A) 14:05, 16:30, 20:00 The Boss Baby (U) 14:10, 16:20, 18:30 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (12A) 14:30, 17:50, 20:35 The Other Side of Hope (TBA) 16:10, 20:25 The Time of Their Lives (12A) 20:35 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Pirates of the Caribbean: Sala- zar's Revenge (12A) 10:30, 13:15, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 Baywatch (15) 10:50, 13:30, 16:05, 18:40, 21:15 The Mummy (15) 11:00, 13:35, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Wonder Woman (12A) 11:10, 14:00, 18:20, 21:10 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (U) 11:15, 14:00, 18:20, 21:10 My Cousin Rachel (12A) 18:40, 20:45 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (12A) 10:30, 13:15, 15:55, 21:00 The Shack (12A) 10:35, 13:15, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 Following the tracks ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ HUNTER-GATHERER ★ ★ ★ ★ HUNTER ★ ★ ★ HUNTER-KILLER ★ ★ HUNTED ★ POACHER FILM By Teodor Reljic SPOOR (TBA) ★ ★ ★ ★ Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka and Miroslav Krobot in Spoor – in competition at the Valletta Film Festival A figure of monumental impor- tance to the sphere of contem- porary art, who also happens to have been a larger-than-life character who self-consciously refashioned himself as a 'sha- man' throughout his perfor- mances and teaching career, the German artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) makes for an in- stantly appealing documentary subject all on his own. But as if conscious of this fact, director Anders Veiel – string- ing together archive footage and interviews, often overlaying the audio track over evocative still photographs – eschews any grandiose framing for his sub- ject, opting against any over- arching narration and letting the daisy chain of wistful talk- ing heads (among them Beuys's friends and collaborators) do the talking. Chief among these heads would be Beuys's own – by turns tender and intense, clini- cally rational and dazzlingly utopian, the documentary suc- ceeds in illustrating why he was such a galvanising force; so much so that even his failures in both politics and education (he was booted out of both the Green Party he helped put together, as well at his teach- ing post at university) stand as emblems of his conviction and successful attempts at pushing the envelope. Beuys will be screened at Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier, Valletta on June 23, 24 and 25 at 19:00, 17:00 and 14:30 respectively, as part of the Valletta Film Festival. For bookings and more informa- tion, log on to: http://www. vallettafilmfestival.com/film/ beuys/ Beuys (dir. Andres Veiel)