2017 Directed by Ilian Metev
Mila, a young pianist, tries to prepare for an audition abroad but her brother, Niki, keeps distracting her with his annoying talent for the absurd. Todor, their astrophysicist father, seems unable to deal with his children’s anxieties. A family portrait during their last summer together.
Three Quarters, 3/4 - Drei Viertel
[7]
Ilian Metev's 3/4 is a film about mundane anticipation. This may not sound like much of an achievement, but when you consider just how overly plotted and signposted most narrative films are (even the "realist" ones), the true significance of 3/4 can be more fully appreciated. It should be noted, however, that this significance is small, and that is by design.
The film focuses on a family of three. Mila (Mila Mihova) is working hard to become a concert pianist, and his working up to an audition that would allow her to study in Germany. Her little brother Niki (Nikolay Mashalov) is a bright but silly boy, positioned at one of those awkward ages when he is just as…
Does a fine job balancing engaging
formalist techniques, and naturally
crafted but well rounded/complex
characters, all distinguished primarily
through physical & verbal expression.
Edinburgh International Film Festival - Film #2
I haven't really worked out why we / I like plotlessness yet.
All my first loves were driven by heroes trying to save the world (thank you, Final Fantasy VII), but now, something like 3/4 where climactic tension is a piano recital is what sticks with me.
Maybe it's the belief that other people themselves are stories. Mila is a teenager preparing for a music exam. I get that way more than I get taking a ring to Mordor. I've spent hours and hours rehearsing for an observed performance, while trying to ignore everything around me. Maybe not a kinetic brother like Niki, or a dad who doesn't seem to care like Todor,…
Okay so I need to talk about this movie but expect it to be kinda flimsy and sloppy.
I sat down through the same fucking commercials for the fourth time this week and I watched another not so good short movie, expecting for it be followed by my "favorite" brand of slow cinema, that Eastern European filmmakers have been salivating over in the past few years- cynical misery porn that gets plenty of award recognition at European festivals. And I'm happy to say I was actually proven wrong. Don't get me wrong this movie is far from flawless- there were some awkward framing and editing decisions, as well as an inconclusive ending that didn't really go anywhere but at the…
As distinctive a dramatic feature debut as I've seen in years, 3/4 constantly hints at a world just out of frame, and aspires to make its inner workings uniquely all-encompassing, touching on the hyper-precision and uncomprehending fecklessness of youth with equal sensitivity. Metev is attuned to the way children's conversations take on the cadence of a game, which remains as darkness looms; to the way a gifted child will struggle to overtake their teacher by selectively responding to instructions; to the penetrating mixture of naivete and truth in the argument that trying to cheer a parent up will only remind them of their sadness. Just about every scene of 3/4 makes Metev out to be a brilliant director, but there's some Haneke-esque trickery in the film's editing--especially some jumbled chronology and a few scenes that end with emphatic abruptness--that, I confess, threw me for a loop. Hope to take another look soon.
A really original and authorial use of the camera who highlights the theme of lack; 3 out of 4 (which has also a music metre in reference of the girl character's piano skills) is not a complete (family) number, the reverse shot is rarely used, all the shots are intentionally cut in order to (not) show what's happening on the leading actors' side.
esse filme é o significado de matéria escura não tem luz, não absorve nem emite radiação.
I wrote a capsule review on this film for Cinema Scope:
cinema-scope.com/cinema-scope-online/34-ilian-metev-germanybulgaria-discovery/
As assured and idiosyncratic a debut as The Strange Little Cat, and not dissimilar in formal approach, either: intimate (three-person) family drama that continually gestures to what lies beyond the frame. (That fourth person, the mother, for example.) Doesn't feel "small" necessarily, though it lacks the heft—either emotional or thematic—to truly elevate it to greatness. Still, it's just so assured and playful ("There's nothing wrong with confidence if it's deserved"), a film built on successive, repeated blocks ("Occasionally adding something new, repeating it over and over"), an experiment in isolation (the father's monologue) and pointed incompleteness (linked to inferred, out-of-frame detail), but also the sense of possibility held by absence—a feeling of the "infinite." Think of the curious, almost naïve…
Small-scale family drama that's about as low-key as possible. It centers mainly on a teenage girl's upcoming music audition, but while there are scenes depicting rehearsals and auditions, it totally eschews any of the cliches that films about music generally indulge in. Instead, first-time director Metev presents a portrait of family life's daily routines and emphasizes the need to find a new rhythm when those routines are threatened. The central formal conceit sees characters walking toward the camera, as in Linklater's Before films. This both emphasizes the anxiety on their faces and their uncertain future. Those who liked Things to Come would likely find plenty to enjoy here.
57/100
