This is a melancholic documentary, and it begins to play in a completely different way. Unlike all the same pov tracing history docs, " Heimat Is a Space in Time" goes into pure poetry, it is slice of history and life. From the point of view of the director, the film traces back on the history of his family through archival memories. He looks back on the events between Berlin and Vienna, from World War I to reunification. The narrative is arranged a little differently and the most important element is the minimalism itself. At the same time, the ease of presentation of the material is coupled with images filled with many symbolism and metaphors that help the narrative flow. It is through the images, looking at everything around through the prism of a past century that we accompany the director and experience all the buzz from the past college years, first love, growing up, world war facts along the bleak and empty territories.
Even though the treatment of this documentary evokes comparison with Lakis Papastathis's Letters from America (1972), Sebastian Mez Metamorphosen (2013), Sophy Romvari's Still Processing (2020), Claude Lanzmann's Shoah (2014) and the works of Jenni Olson, Eric Pauwels, Sergey Loznitsa, Donald Winkler, Marie Voignier, Gianfranco Rosi, Catarina Vasconcelos, Robert Beavers, Mercedes Álvarez, Michael Pilz, Cynthia Scott, Laida Lertxundi, Jana Sevciková, Jean-Daniel Pollet, Marie Losier, Nicolas Philibert. But it still has a special magic of its own. Nevertheless, the documentary does not slip into too much of self-indulgence and it unfolds before our eyes with such a great composure. The last part of the film with 'magic realism' completes this picture about attempts to understand the changing geopolitics, Germany and love for it.
The film turned out to be incredibly beautiful, Rosie's diary segment was bittersweet, and the cinematography was splendid that I could pause it and screen grab it for wallpaper or would do good for an album art of a Black metal band. Overall, I recommend it to those who love works of arthouse documentaries, regular cinephile might find it too long and boring but I will say that it is holds up till the end.
Even though the treatment of this documentary evokes comparison with Lakis Papastathis's Letters from America (1972), Sebastian Mez Metamorphosen (2013), Sophy Romvari's Still Processing (2020), Claude Lanzmann's Shoah (2014) and the works of Jenni Olson, Eric Pauwels, Sergey Loznitsa, Donald Winkler, Marie Voignier, Gianfranco Rosi, Catarina Vasconcelos, Robert Beavers, Mercedes Álvarez, Michael Pilz, Cynthia Scott, Laida Lertxundi, Jana Sevciková, Jean-Daniel Pollet, Marie Losier, Nicolas Philibert. But it still has a special magic of its own. Nevertheless, the documentary does not slip into too much of self-indulgence and it unfolds before our eyes with such a great composure. The last part of the film with 'magic realism' completes this picture about attempts to understand the changing geopolitics, Germany and love for it.
The film turned out to be incredibly beautiful, Rosie's diary segment was bittersweet, and the cinematography was splendid that I could pause it and screen grab it for wallpaper or would do good for an album art of a Black metal band. Overall, I recommend it to those who love works of arthouse documentaries, regular cinephile might find it too long and boring but I will say that it is holds up till the end.
