Eindhoven Filmfestival 2019: Let Me Entertain You [reviews]

All Inclusive [Corina Schwingruber] ****
As I was watching this documentary I wondered whether the scenes had been carefully directed or not. Very quickly I concluded that the answer to that question was of no importance to this very entertaining documentary short. Director Corina Schwingruber either was somehow able to get totally spontaneous performances from an enormous cast, or she took a lot of time to get the perfect angle for that one shot that you’re looking for.  But who cares, because this is undoubtedly meticulously crafted. It shows how people are entertained or entertain themselves, either by themselves or in groups. Schwingruber comes up with some very inventive shots and leaves it up to the audience to decide if this is a case of ‘living the dream’, or just surreal mass entertainment. Figuring that out is not as easy as you may think, but that is only one of  this wonderful documentary’s many, quiet charms.

Mignon [Katalin Oláh, Sándor Csukás] ***½ 

I actually thought that Marika and her partner and dance partner  were actually talking about Minions, as the term is used to describe one of the many cuddly toys Marika owns. The pair, both octogenarians, live to dance in dance halls where other elderly people listen to cheesy music and watch them do a variety of ballroom dances. To be fair, they’re not very good, but that does not deter them from repeatedly discussing what music they’ll use for the next show. Gradually we find out a bit more about Marika’s childhood, but one of the problem’s is that she has a vivid imagination: she has created a background story for each of her cuddly bears, even claiming that a Winnie The Pooh was once pregnant with a smaller cuddly bear. It’s difficult to take her seriously and some of the conversations are not particularly interesting, but Marika’s charisma is undeniable and carries this documentary short a long way.

Oh Baby! [Meghann Artes] *½

Part dance, part claymation, part animation, the title tells us how we are to interpret the opening dance sequence featuring a colourful bunch of dancers that represent chromosomes (or, to put it more bluntly, sperm) that will play a major factor in the creation of the baby. The dance sequence ends with all the ‘chromosomes’ diving into a big black hole – a not too subtle metaphore – and continues in animated form in a sequence which reminded me of Bert Haanstra’s famous Oscarwinning documentary short ‘Glas’, but was as pointless as the preceding dance routine. The ending is alarmingly predictable. And to the choreographer I would like to say: if you are going to do a Busby Berkeley, do it properly. It’s badly executed and badly edited, unfortunately. But maybe that was part of the experiment?

Bingo [Benedict Cohen] *½

 The son of the owner of a bingo joint is preparing for his debut as bingo caller, but is struggling. to find his style. Just before his debut his brother, who, for reasons which are unclear, disappeared a long time ago and now, for reasons equally baffling, has decided to return. What is clear is that he is looking for forgiveness and that our ‘hero’ is unwilling to give him that satisfaction. I have no idea what director Benedict Cohen is trying to do here, and by leaving out key information to help us understand the characters, all that is left is a couple of mildly entertaining, but uninvolving scenes.

If  [Steve Moss] **½

A middle-aged man has bought himself an extremely lifelike and very attractive sex doll which he expects will help him satisfy his urges. But his love-making takes an unexpected turn when the man is requested to upgrade his doll to the ‘girlfriend deluxe’ of the title. A one-joke comedy which isn’t particularly funny and has a surprise ending which is hard to swallow (no pun intended). However, Devora Wilde is quite convincing as the artificial object of affection.