
YOU AM I (Aš esi tu)
DVD, Lithuania, drama, romantic, fictionLAST COPY!
A lonely architect quits his joyless office job and loveless relationships and takes the only chance to change his life. He decides to build a house in a gloomy forest and live there alone, away from his bygone failures. Working hard and overcoming self-distrust and fear, he finally materializes his remarkable vision: a stylish tree-house, which he builds on three firs with his own hands, using alpinist equipment. But when it is done, he feels a void creeping into his heart. Is it that living in a cosy nest above the earth utterly alone is all he was dreaming about? Yes, it’s truly great to swing with the wind, to feel deep peace of surrounding nature, and to enjoy pleasures of simple daily cares. But is there anybody, with whom he would share his dream?
This is a tale about a journey to the source of sadness and joy, embracing loss and love, dissolution and hope, reality and imagination. Happiness is not lost while the dream about it is still alive.
You Am I is an enigmatic, contemporary and slow-paced film trip to the untouched beauties of Lithuanian nature and depicts the pretty bearable lightness of being of beautiful and well-off young people. In his second film, Kristijonas Vildziunas floats somewhere between reality and unreality, or reality and fable.
The main character Baron, a young architect, seems to be dissatisfied with what he has in his life and decides to literally build a new existence. This is quite an extraordinary decision as it involves building a glass house on top of a tree in the middle of a pristine forest. He lives there, becoming a part of nature, but does not lose contact with his previous life. There is a party of young people in the dacha he seems to know and Baron joins them in the role of an unnoticed outsider. But he and a pretty young woman do notice and inspire each other. And then there is a writer who appears to have thought this all up.
As dreamlike as reality can be, the film nicely and sensitively reflects the mood of the twentysomethings: young and confused, creative with their lives and looking for that something special – rarely seen in cinema. A fresh and inspiring film that invites creative watching.
Premiered at Official Selection, Un Certain Regard – Festival de Cannes 2006
Awards
Special Jury Prize – Black Night Film Festival, 2006
Best Baltic Feature Award – festival Arsenals in Riga, 2006
International FIPRESCI jury award – festival Arsenals in Riga, 2006
Cast
Andrius Bialobzeskis, Jurga Jutaite, Mykolas Vildziunas, Renata Veberyte Loman, Daiva Jovaisiene, Silvia Ferreri
Director and writer: Kristijonas Vildziunas
Cinematography by: Vladas Naudžius
Producers: Uljana Kim, Karl Baumgartner, Galina Kim
Country: Lithuania, Germany
Production: Studio Uljana Kim, Pandora Filmproduktion
Format: 35 mm / 25fps / 1:1.85 / Colour / Dolby Digital
Length: 90 min
Original language: Lithuanian