Rabot

All the pitfalls and injustices of life pass by in this kaleidoscopic documentary about the inhabitants of a derelict tenement in Ghent months before it is demolished. Static shots from different standpoints jump in an apparently random way from one inhabitant to another. The camera observes them with intimate attention, but also keeps its distance. Some people leave the decaying pile of bricks with melancholy, others are eager to close this chapter and hope for better times. They are filmed going about their daily activities, eating or watching TV. It could hardly be any more banal, yet the aptly chosen images evoke a wealth of thoughts and emotions, thanks to their context and meticulous composition. This opulent portrait about poverty, loneliness, indifference, but also about love, ends on a lighter note – in music-video style. The various inhabitants dance in their still-furnished homes to a song that musicians later play live in their deserted dwellings. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)