Home / Arts and Entertainment / Filmmaker's "Flies" Captures Unwanted Presence
Filmmaker's "Flies" Captures Unwanted Presence
14 Feb
Summary
- A woman's life unravels when renting a room to a stranger and his son.
- The film uses black and white to balance melodrama with farce.
- Director was inspired by Berlin's housing blocks for the film's setting.
Director Fernando Eimbcke, known for "Duck Season," presents his new film "Flies," an official competition entry at the Berlinale. The movie centers on Olga, whose quiet existence is disrupted when she rents a room to a man and his son. This unforeseen domestic entanglement leads to Olga forming a bond with the boy, significantly altering her world.
Shot in black and white, "Flies" employs this aesthetic to navigate melodrama and touches of farce, a style Eimbcke finds influences from Chaplin. The monochromatic look also seamlessly fuses the real world with the boy's video game reality. The film's narrative draws parallels to universal stories like "Gloria" and "Alice in the Cities," focusing on an adult's transformation through caring for a child.
The title "Flies" metaphorically represents an unwanted but unavoidable presence that ultimately transforms everything, with the father and son embodying this concept. Eimbcke's artistic vision was also shaped by Berlin's East German housing blocks, which provided a visual echo for the film's setting. The story, initially written decades ago, was co-written with novelist Vanesa Garnica, who significantly refined its structure and depth.
