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TUVALU

The Germans are not known for their film comedy (Doris Dörrie being an exception), but now and then they come up with an effort that’s as inspired as it is labored. Such is the case with Veit Helmer’s darkly whimsical allegory of sorts about postmodern alienation and dehumanization, which calls to mind a grimy Jacques Tati or the comic surrealism of Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children.

In a non-specified Eastern European city that gives new meaning to the term "backwater," Anton (Denis Lavant) struggles to maintain a decaying bathhouse for his blind father, who’s deceived into thinking it’s still a thriving concern. In fact, the whole world seems to have deteriorated into grotesque ruins exploited by scheming entrepreneurs, including the beautiful Eva (Chulpan Hamatova), who wants the bathhouse’s steam engine to propel her father’s tugboat to the title treasure island. An allegory of the power of dreams, or of the realpolitik of the post Soviet Empire, Tuvalu relates its tall tale with little dialogue, broad comedy, and expressionistic angst.

BY PETER KEOUGH

Issue Date: May 30 - June 6, 2002
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