Light as Feathers (2018)

Directed by: Rosanne Pel | 86 minutes | drama | Actors: Erik Walny, Ewa Makula, Klaudia Przybylska

Teenagers, what are you going to do with it? It’s a question that naturally comes to mind after watching kitchen sink drama “Light as Feathers.” Although it is a Dutch arthouse film with an English title, the drama takes place entirely in Poland. We follow the young Erik, who lives with his mother and grandmother in a village in the Polish countryside. Erik does some odd jobs on a goose farm and when he’s not working he messes around with his much younger girl next door Klaudia.

Although thematically different, ‘Light as Feathers’ is reminiscent of the intriguing Dutch docudrama ‘Bodkin Ras’ from 2016. ‘Light as Feathers’ also looks like a documentary, in which the characters sometimes turn to the camera to sing a cracking song or to recite a poem. In terms of atmosphere, this film is close to the ultra-realism of northern French and Walloon cinema. With the same disheartening defeatism, the same raw manners, the same gray skies.

Thematically, with ‘Light as Feathers’ we are in the corner of physical and psychological abuse. Erik is emotionally abused by his slightly too young mother. Erik in turn abuses his neighbor, with all the consequences that entails. Grandma is mainly known as a cat swatter, with the poor animals sometimes sliding across the floor like shuffleboards. Erik’s part-time stepfather is usually nowhere to be seen, which is ultimately a form of abuse.

With ‘Light as Feathers’ director/screenwriter Rosanne Pel delivers a decent full-length debut. She needs little to present a complex family dynamic and she makes grateful use of the simultaneously rugged and atmospheric images of the Polish countryside. She understands how teenagers are put together, with all the beautiful and ugly sides. Yet the film lacks the sharpness and originality that ‘Bodkin Ras’ had. ‘Light as Feathers’ is too even-tempered to hit the viewer hard and you always feel like you’ve seen all this before.

Despite those flaws, this drama will please the average arthouse lover. With its beautiful photography, convincing naturalistic narration and witty interludes, the 85 minutes fly by. We are still left with the question that started this review.