Contrary to what some expected a few years ago, 3D in artistic film is still a rarity. So then, when something pops up in this corner again, it immediately makes one curious. And so I don't mean Cathedrals of Culture, the 3D film project by Wim Wenders and five other filmmakers starring buildings. That Wenders is a 3D believer we already knew.
I mean that other 3D premiere at the Berlin festival: Above Us All of the Dutch Eugenie Jansen. Curious and unexpected. Her previous films Interstate and Calimucho stood out for an improvisational style that could be described as semi-documentary and certainly not reminiscent of a stepping stone to 3D. The subject matter of Above Us All (based on an idea by Kim Niekerk) does not remotely resemble anything that should be in 3D.
At Above Us All we follow an Australian girl with aboriginal roots who, after the death of her mother, moves with her Belgian father to the Flemish town of Ypres, where the victims of World War I are commemorated. Against that backdrop of memories of the dead from a distant war, the father and the girl process underneath their own grief. Grief that nails you down, while the rest of the world goes on as usual.
At that point, a sudden connection then arises with the particular shape Jansen chose for this. Each scene consists of a long, uninterrupted 360-degree panoramic shot, taken with a camera rotating at a steady pace. Jansen wanted unmanipulated time and space. Precisely, according to her, it definitely had to be in 3D. Although, when asked, she reveals that she is not a 3D fan. "I never go to those films."
The result of this shape experiment is distinctive and worth seeing. You should Above Us All also does not directly compare to a traditional feature film. It is a calm, almost hypnotic viewing experience that you slowly grow into. Not only did it move me more towards the end than I initially expected based on the rather artificial set-up. In addition, it can be viewed as a modest philosophical reflection on loss, memory and our place in the world that goes on unfazed.
At the same time, those shots shot on existing locations evoke a strong documentary feel precisely because of that keeping space and time intact. Enhanced, of course, by the partly improvised acting of the non-professional actors. Both in the film and in reality, the father is an astronomer. "We speak our own words, but we play a role," he answered a question from the audience after the screening. I myself had to remind myself at times while watching that it was really fiction and not reality after all. Perhaps 3D still has a nice job to do in the documentary field?
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