Sügisball (Autumn Ball)
Director: Veiko Õunpuu
Starring: Mirtel Pohla, Sulevi Peltola, Rain Tolk, Juhan Ulfsak,
Ivo Uukkivi
Country: Estonia
Year: 2003
Length: 2h01
Original language: Estonian
Awards: Venice 2007 Orizzonti; Tallinn Black Nights Film
Festival 2007 Best Actress (Maarja Jakobson), Special Jury Prize
– EurAsia section , Best Film – Offiicial Estonian Competition;
FICC Jury Prize, Critics’ Prize, Postimees Jury Prize
Website:
http://www.sygisball.ee
Synopsis
Autumn in Estonia. Episodes in the lives of six solitary people trapped amidst the dreary architecture of Soviet-era tower blocks. They wonder how to connect with other human beings. Is life possible without love? The questions come all too easily – answers are much harder to find. But even in the absurdity of some people’s lives, there is always the possibility of a glimmer of human warmth or a moment of shared laughter.
„Autumn Ball“ is a new Estonian film that talks about six inhabitants of Soviet-era tower blocks whose lives touch, and who are all united by a feeling of loneliness. The young writer, Mati, lurks outside his ex-wife’s window and unsuccessfully approaches other women. August Kask is an unmarried barber living a drab life who takes to a little girl, but whose approaches are misconstrued as pedophilia. The single mum, Laura, watches a banal soap opera on TV and repels men’s advances because she cannot trust them. Maurer, the architect, thinks about the wellbeing of humanity, but has forgotten his own wife, who in her turn looks to the cloakroom attendant Theo for solace. Women like Theo, but his low social status means they don’t take him seriously.
„Autumn Ball“ tells a tale of human isolation and the inability to reach out to others. But humour and the absurd are also to be found in it, and some well-attuned viewers may even find themselves laughing out loud. If I were to define the film, I would say that „Autumn Ball“ is a pitch-black comedy about loneliness, despair and hope.