KT 073 : When the Light Breaks (Rúnar Rúnarsson, 2024)
Armani travelled to the Scandinavian Film Festival opening night to cover a new Icelandic gem
When the Light Breaks
(Rúnar Rúnarsson, 2024)
DCP Courtesy: Palace
Classification: Unclassified
Screening as part of Palace’s Saxo-Scandinavian Film Festival. More info here
Perhaps to limit the tragedy to play between two sunsets is to prevent this film from its own failure. To neatly disturb one’s peace of mind with empathy. The camera wonders to find the one who suffers that day, out of many.
I began to think, before I realised what was going on, oh how much more potent a film is when it takes some time to actually realise the death. The space between the possibility and the truth, which is most revealing. Much like what is revealed after death itself.
Digby kindly passed on his invitation to a preview screening of When the Light Breaks, as part of the SAXO Scandinavian Film Festival. Notably opening the ‘UN CERTAIN REGARD’ section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, contemporary Icelandic filmmaker Rúnar Rúnarsson delivers an iteration of what many consider a common filmic theme – grief. In defence of this as a possible denunciation, may we be reminded of the reason we keep returning to cinema as a life source.
The Icelandic title of the film, Ljósbrot, translates as ‘Refraction of Light’, a subtle devotion to the recurring language of light and mirroring in Scandinavian cinema. I told myself I wouldn’t submit to the power of the past… Rúnarsson is nonetheless dealing with the single and identical fear in Scandinavian cinema; the one that Bergman pressed to its furthest limit – nihilism of the face, that is, its relationship to fear. And in the face of young art student Una, played by Elín Hall, a tear sustains for an ideal 82 minutes.
Between the horizon of events, the filmmaker fulfills his role to rearrange the normal events of mans’ life, disturbing the chronology of obstacles and creating a fissure in the human experience. This crack, this fissure, doubles as the source of light. It is this moment of impact which makes sense of everything the director has presented during the film. Everything exists for that moment, when Una is dancing, falling into the arms of a now intimate group of young adults, in some small town in Iceland.
The film takes control of a minute which is usually lost in the action of a film, a side plot between weakness and triumph of a damaged hero. In this place, in an almost obsessive nature, we are faced with one instance – to dwell on the essential tragedy of which – truth be told – I do not know yet personally. In this happens the strange reality of a split reaction from audiences, one of unknowing and pure empathy, or one of knowing – of which I feel no right to describe.
I am caught up more than usual here in the slippery avoidance of describing the plot, trying to protect my untainted memory, to believe that the structure of a film may affect the life of a film, but it will never affect the impact of a film – which is the point of liberation for the filmmaker (and audience). With this sensibility, nature appears to intervene so seamlessly. Our sensation of space is abolished, offering us a new order of dimension, one where movement becomes expression. Music becomes feeling. The theme song rings in repetition and we welcome it with self-indulgence.
If I told you the other films I’ve had this experience with, you may no longer trust me. The power of genre destroys the connection one can have with a film. And yet, all credibility in criticism seems to ride on this power. At some point you await what is yet to come more than you seek understanding from the past. It’s getting god awfully sentimental but don’t get that confused with feeling. ‘Feeling is very far from sentimentality.’
– Ingmar Bergman
When the Light Breaks is an ambitious exercise of enduring inevitable loss. A feeling fossilised in film for a future starving of humanity.
If you’re looking for a few other well-cooked premises, the SAXO Scandi film festival is also showing a few political thrillers, war films, historical dramas based on novels, a lesbian coming of age story, a plane crash film, the 4-hour 57-minute directors cut of Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, a few Danish box office hits and of course, a cinematic nature experience film/documentary executive produced by Wim Wenders.
WEEKLY FILM LISTINGS
11 July - 17 July
Focus on Ken Loach
Hidden Agenda
Ken Loach, 1990
Screening Thu 11 July
Riff-Raff
Ken Loach, 1991
Screening Fri 12 July
Kes
Ken Loach, 1969
Screening Sat 13 July
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
Ken Loach, 2006
Screening Sat 13 July
The Old Oak
Ken Loach, 2023
Screening Sat 13 July
The Angels’ Share
Ken Loach, 2012
Screening Sunday 14 July
Sorry we Missed You
Ken Loach, 2019
Screening Sun 14 July
I, Daniel Blake
Ken Loach, 2016
Screening Tue 16 July
Matinees
Banel & Adama
Ramata-Toulaye Sy, 2023
Screening Fri - Sun
No Screenings this Week
ASTOR CINEMA
Kinds of Kindness (35mm Presentation)
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2024
Screening Thursday July 11 - Wednesday 17 July
For All Mankind
Al Reinert, 1989
Screening Sunday 14 July
BBBC CINEMA (GALLERYGALLERY BRUNSWICK)
With Time to Kill (Director Q&A after!)
James Clayden, 1987
Thursday 11 July 7pm
Robin Hood
Allan Dwan, 1922
Screening Saturday 13 July 7pm
No screening this week
CHINATOWN CINEMA
Life Hotel
Bo Wen Liu, 2024
Screening daily
Customs Frontline
Herman Yau, 2024
Screening Thur, Sun and Wed
Crisis Negotiators
Herman Yau, 2024
Screening Sat and Mon
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In
Soi Cheang, 2024
Screening Friday and Tuesday
CINÉ-CLUB (Carlton)
Closed for winter
No screening this week
NAIDOC Week
Ten Canoes
Rolf de Heer & Peter Djiggir, 2006
Sun, Tues and Wed
Preview Screening
Longlegs
New Release
Kinds of Kindness
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2024
Screening Daily
Maxxxine
Ti West, 2024
Screening Daily
The Bikeriders
Jeff Nichols, 2024
Screening Daily
Sidonie in Japan
Élise Girard, 2023
Screening Daily - Exclusive to Nova
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
Kevin Costner, 2024
Screening Daily
Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line
Paul Clarke, 2024
Screening Daily
Sunflower
Gabriel Carrubba, 2023
Screening Daily
The Beast
Bertrand Bonello, 2023
Screening Daily
All About my Mother
Pedro Almodovar, 1999
Screening Daily
Radical
Christopher Zalla, 2023
Screening Thursday
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
George Miller, 2024
Screening Daily
A Great Friend
Eric Besnard, 2023
Screening Daily
The Way, My Way
Bill Bennett, 2024
Screening Daily
The Three Musketeers: D'artagnan
Martin Bourboulon, 2023
Screening Daily
Housekeeping for Beginners
Goran Stolevski, 2023
Screening daily
Monster
Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2023
Screening daily
Fremont
Babak Jalali, 2023
Screening Daily
The Taste of Things
Tran Anh Hung, 2023
Screening Daily
Challengers
Luca Guadagnino, 2024
Screening Daily
La Chimera
Alice Rohrwacher, 2023
Screening Daily
DOGMILK DEGUSTATIONS: @ Miscellania
No screening week
No screening week
GAY24 (Bar Flippy’s)
No screening this week
HITLIST (9 Gertrude St, Fitzroy)
Shut for now
LIDO / CLASSIC / CAMEO
Events
Check sites for rep titles
General Release
Kinds of Kindness
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2024
Screening Daily
Maxxxine
Ti West, 2024
Screening Daily
The Bikeriders
Jeff Nichols, 2024
Screening Daily
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
Kevin Costner, 2024
Screening Daily
Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line
Paul Clarke, 2024
Screening Daily
Sunflower
Gabriel Carrubba, 2023
Screening Daily
Divertimento
Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, 2024
Screening Daily
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
George Miller, 2024
Screening Daily
Challengers
Luca Guadagnino, 2024
Screening Daily
The Convert
Lee Tamahori, 2024
Screening Daily
Late Night with the Devil
Cairnes Brothers’, 2023
Screening Daily
The Promised Land
Nikolaj Arcel, 2024
Screening Daily
OVA CLUB
No screening this week
THE MELBOURNE CINÉMATHÈQUE (ACMI)
Mes Petites Amoureuses
Jean Eustache, 1974
Screening Wed 17 July 6:30pm
+
La Rosière de Pessac
Jean Eustache, 1968
Wed 17 July 8:50pm
TOP OF THE HEAP (Tramway Hotel)
No screening this week
Blood Ritual: The House by the Cemetery
Lucio Fulci, 1981
Screening Saturday 13 July
MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY: SCREENING IDEAS
No screening this week
PALACE BALWYN / BRIGHTON / COMO / KINO / PENTRIDGE / MOONEE PONDS / WESTGARTH
Palace’s Saxo-Scandinavian Film Festival. More info here
General Release
The Bikeriders
Jeff Nichols, 2024
Screening Daily
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
Kevin Costner, 2024
Screening Daily
Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line
Paul Clarke, 2024
Screening Daily
Sunflower
Gabriel Carrubba, 2023
Screening Daily
A Quiet Place: Day One
Michael Sarnoski, 2024
Screening Daily
The Convert
Lee Tamahori, 2024
Screening Daily
Radical
Christopher Zalla, 2023
Screening Thursday
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
George Miller, 2024
Screening Daily
A Great Friend
Eric Besnard, 2023
Screening Daily
The Way, My Way
Bill Bennett, 2024
Screening Daily
The Three Musketeers: D'artagnan
Martin Bourboulon, 2023
Screening Daily
The Taste of Things
Tran Anh Hung, 2023
Screening Daily
Challengers
Luca Guadagnino, 2024
Screening Daily
No screening this week
No listings this week / click link above to see what’s on (their site too hard to navigate)
NAIDOC Week
Luku Ngarra: The Law of the Land
Sinem Saban, 2022
Screening Sat
Kinds of Kindness
Yorgos Lanthimos, 2024
Screening Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun, Tue, Wed
Twisters
Lee Isaac Chung, 2024
Screening Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun, Tue, Wed
The Bikeriders
Jeff Nichols, 2024
Screening Wed
Inside Out 2
Kelsey Mann, 2024
Screening Fri
Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line
Paul Clarke, 2024
Screening Sun
A Quiet Place: Day One
Michael Sarnoski, 2024
Screening Wed
UNKNOWN PLEASURES @ Thornbury Picture House
No screening this week