Portable Life (2010)

Directed by: Fleur Boonman | 100 minutes | drama | Actors: Ella-June Henrard, Sam Louwyck, Rutger Hauer, David Rademaekers, Kristof Coenen, Marina Tsigonaki, Jose Verheire, Sibylle du Plessy, Jean-Louis Froment, Eddy Kneefel, Yinca Adesina, Giorgos Makris

‘The Neerpelt director Fleur Boonman wanted to discover the world from an early age. Before, during and after her studies at the Rietveld Academy she traveled a lot. Those trips strongly influenced her first film ‘Portable Life”, can be read on the site of the EYE film institute. Visual artist Boonman (1976) takes a step towards film with ‘Portable Life’, is the diplomatic approach of this review. It is a product that more closely resembles a one and a half hour graduation assignment in video art than full-blown narrative cinema. There is mystery: a displaced adolescent experiences a world trip full of ‘chance encounters’ and looks at yellowed photos from earlier times. We see her beat up father pass by. Is she looking for traces of her deceased mother and for her identity in general? The home front of this Sea (Elle-June Henrard; ‘Bo’) seems to be an artistic gypsy milieu in Belgium, in which everyone could have been a member of dEUS, but just when you want to immerse yourself in Sea, she is back in France, Morocco, Romania , India, South Africa or Bali, where Boonman lived and worked as a fashion photographer during the production of ‘Portable Life’.

Cinematographer Christopher Gallo really does magic with images and as far as background shots are concerned, they shop with no apparent irony in the frames of reference ‘National Geographic’, ‘Novib calendar’ and ‘airline commercial’. Apparently, because the film – which undoubtedly does justice to its title but fails to clarify it – gives the impression of a genuinely made, albeit somewhat naive project. Still, the impressive image sequence keeps you busy, especially in the dreamy scenes around the gypsy milieu. Boonman chooses her actors well in that regard. The visually appealing Henrard and David Rademaeckers (Igor) can accentuate the sultry atmosphere well. And Rutger Hauer – in a kind of mentor role – is also quite enjoyable on autopilot. Full-length film, however, is not just visual art and especially the dialogues still have to get fat on the bones in Boonman’s universe; where present there is discomfort, for example in the opening scene. With a bloody screenplay, Boonman can turn the spectacle that her film art is now into the hybrid work of art it contains – at least a short film. And if not: hire that cameraman right away.