13/11/2012 - After Locarno, Austrian directors Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel’s latest film continues its tour of festivals with Seville and Thessaloniki

Austrian filmmakers Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel’s latest film, The Shine of Day [+see also:
trailer
interview: Rainer Frimmel
film profile], is continuing its tour of festivals, after a great start in Locarno where it won Best Actor for Walter Saabel (who plays the uncle). The advantage of being two directors is that a film can be presented simultaneously in two places. While Tizza Covi has screened it in the competition at the Sevilla European Film Festival, Rainer Frimmel (watch the interview) was able to travel to Greece to screen the film in the Open Horizons section at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

Shot in documentary style and focusing on the performance of its two main actors, The Shine of Day astonishes by the fluidity which which it tells a story that is mostly improvised. Philipp (Philipp Hochmair) is a theatre actor. The story starts when his uncle Walter (Walter Saabel), whom he has never met, suddenly turns up in his life. The old man used to be a street acrobat, and both men find enough in common to be able to walk a little of life’s journey together.

The film intelligently opens with a visual reflection on acting. When the spectator first meets Philipp, he is not himself. He is Woyzcek, the character in Georg Büchner’s play, and he is in town for his rehearsals. His physical appearance and personality are impregnated with the experience. Later, Philipp successively sheds layers to finally reveal his true self, but this character’s emergence takes time. It’s the price to pay to really meet him. Through his job — the numerous schizophrenic roles, tours, and up-side-down working hours — Philipp has become a loner. His uncle is no less alone, but he is authentic. This former bear wrestler and knife thrower has toured circuses and is broken all over. By coming to meet his nephew, he hopes to mend these pieces. He has decided to show persistence and to take the necessary time to become closer to the young man, even to live with him. The relationship between both is at first paternal, but soon evolves into a friendship that is a pretext to make both men’s characters emerge and collide, then separate in a very open ending that takes the form of a crossroads where destinies cross paths.

The Shine of Day especially shines in its dialogues and the chemistry between its two main characters. It’s a light film that resolutely does not film frenetic movement, but however contains some great action scenes narrated by Walter Saabel’s character. His improvised tales about a bear attack or his memories of an unhappy childhood feel more real and convey more reality than most flashbacks we have grown used to in conventional filmmaking.

(Translated from French)