european-films.net - review: Magnus (Cannes 2007)

A suicidal young man and his cantankerous father try to get closer to each other but never really touch in Magnus, a first film from Estonian director Kadri K usaar that is part of the 2007 Un certain regard line-up here in Cannes.

Shot in sombre, saturated greens and golden yellows, the film is an atmospheric exploration of an unusual father-son relationship that is inspired by true events , with the father more or less playing himself. Up until the last twenty minutes, the film is very strong, but the rushed finale followed by the most unnecessary explanatory epilogue since Psycho makes foreign distribution unlikely unless the film is recut. Festivals, especially those focussed on emerging filmmakers, should take an interest.

The almost-out-of-adolescence Magnus (hunky local singer Kristjan Kasearu in his debut), was told he would not live past age 16 but miraculously healed and now feels he is living in a grace period. He still thinks he might die any minute and keeps betting with himself that if this or that happens then he will or will not die (a more fatal variation of Audrey Tautou rsquo;s character rsquo;s bets with fate in Un long dimanche the fian c ailles/A Very Long Engagement).

People don rsquo;t die like that, his sister (Kerli Toim) tells him in one of their arguments, to which he replies: I rsquo;m just waiting for the right moment .

Not much later he is in the hospital, recovering after an overdose. His father (Mart Laisk) suggests that he now take care of his son, though from the prologue in which little Magnus (Ruuben Rekkor) is shown doing his homework at the same table that his father uses for a casting session possible prostitution candidates for export, it is pretty clear this is not the best environment to bring up a child, much less an adolescent.

But surprisingly, the take-it-or-leave-it approach of his often drunk and high father seems to bring their relationship down to the level of friendship and genuine affection between two human beings that is particularly touching and thankfully never strays into melodrama.

Their communal lifestyle is also a source of some deadpan Nordic humour that makes the otherwise downbeat film more bearable and more tragic at the same time. We should go to a brothel, the bored father suggests to his son. I should cut my throat, the son replies.

Not before next week, when the cleaning lady comes, the father says, before K usaar cuts to a brothel where father and son watch a girl dance for their pleasure.

It is Laisk s performance as the father (apparently a documentary performance if ever there was one) that is key in making the relationship work, and the young Kasearu is not always up to the same level, though he can hardly be faulted. The script would have benefited from a more profound exploration of Magnus s motives to make his actions, especially in the latter half, more understandable for the audience if not directly for his father.

There is an explanation of sorts given by the father in an epilogue in which the father seems to speak not in character but as the person whose life his character is based on, but like in Hitchcock rsquo;s Psycho it does not illuminate so much as insult to the audience rsquo;s intelligence, even though, in Magnus s case, the film comes with its true-story pedigree and the film could use a further explanation of the boy s motives.

Nevertheless, K usaar command of tone and the precision in her portrayal of the father-son bond is remarkable. She is certainly a talent to watch.