Review: 22nd of May (22 Mei)

In 2007, Belgian filmmaker Koen Mortier totally blew my head off with his incredible debut feature, Ex Drummer. The gritty, horrifying-yet-hilarious story of a punk band of losers who recruit a well known writer to be their drummer (that’s only sort of what it’s about) is shocking, dirty, wickedly funny and utterly refreshing. I’m very pleased to report that Mortier’s followup feature, 22nd of May, shows him to be a multi-talented director indeed. The film doesn’t follow in Ex Drummer‘s punk footsteps, but it’s clear that the same confident, pull-no-punches director is at the helm.

22nd of May begins with an explosion at a local shopping centre. After trying to pull survivors from the wreckage and ultimately fleeing the hellish epicentre, security guard Sam (Sam Louwyck) must confront the victims (and eventually the perpetrator) of the blast as they haunt him in a dreamlike purgatory while he wanders the desolate streets trying to come to terms with the guilt and regret he feels for not having been able to prevent the tragedy.

As each victim’s story unfolds, Sam follows them through the steps that brought them to the mall at that fateful moment, reliving every decision, experiencing every sorrow over and over, revisiting every moment from every possible perspective. The film has several funny moments, as the relationships between various mall employees and customers are revealed. But it also doesn’t shy away from intense sadness, and performances (especially that of the lead, who also starred in Ex Drummer) are brilliantly stark and stripped of any artifice.

A hypnotic journey through life, death, pain, love, longing, the past and present, 22nd of May masterfully interweaves several narratives and shows Mortier to be a strong and unique voice, striking a brilliant tonal balance between narrative and avant garde cinema. The film is nowhere near as shocking as Ex Drummer, but it has a deeply unsettling quality that marks a fascinating new direction for Mortier. It will be interesting indeed to see what the talented Flemish filmmaker does next.

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