desertfilmsociety
presents

PEAS AT 5:30   (Erbsen Auf Halb 6)


Saturday, April 16, 2005

9:00 am - Camelot Theatres Doors Open
(Complimentary Coffee & Pastries)
9:20 am - Introduction of the Film
9:30 am - Screening begins
Q&A Session follows the Screening

Free to DFS 2005 Members with current Membership Card
Guests & Non-Members pay $15.00 per person at the door


Director:  Lars Büchel
Cast:  Fritzi Haberlandt, Hilmir Snaer Gudnason, Tina Engel, Harald Schrott 
Screenwriter(s):  Ruth Toma, Lars Buechel 
Producer(s):  Hanno Huth, Ralf Zimmermann 
Cinematographer:  Judith Kaufmann 
Editor(s):  Peter R. Adam 
Lars Büchel's Filmography:  Jetzt oder nie - Zeit ist Geld (Now or Never) (2000); 4 Geschichten über 5 Tote (1998) 

Lars Buchel's visually stunning road film takes its blind hero on an emotional and physical journey, tracing his every step with dollops of sensual beauty and unexpected humor. 
Alternately romantic and comic (in a refreshingly offbeat way) but never sentimental, Lars Buchel's Peas at 5:30 takes the notion of "the blind leading the blind" and turns it inside out. Büchel literally drenches his film in enticing water imagery — starting with his very first frame — that immediately makes his story a tactile, sensual experience. While his tale morphs from one genre to another, its theme remains stable: the film is all about touching, and being touched. Hilmir Snaer Gudnason plays an avant-garde stage director named Jakob who is left blind following an automobile accident.  He soon falls into a guarded yet heightened relationship with his guide/teacher, Lilly, who is also blind (played by Fritzi Haberlandt, employing a fascinating body language for the role).  Summoned by his dying mother in Russia, Jakob embarks on a journey in every sense of the word, accompanied by Lilly.  The movie itself takes on the contours of a road film, while never losing the moody tone that Büchel beautifully conjures in his first few scenes.  One surprise follows another on their journey:  Jakob's oddball suicide attempt is staged for deadpan comic effect yet feels right in character, and in lieu of a sex scene, the film delivers a subtly powerful prelude-to-eroticism sequence in which Jakob and Lilly slowly savor each other's body parts.  Rarely has the idea of "touch" been so palpable — or arousing.  The film's unusual title, incidentally, is explained by a waitress in a wry interlude set in a restaurant. 

Comedy / Drama / Romance 
LANGUAGE:  German & Russian, with English Sub-Titles
RUNNING TIME:  110 MINUTES