On Thin Ice, a new film

Inuk is an exciting new film about modern Inuit in Greenland and the journey of one young man to reconcile the seemingly disparate worlds in which he lives. I have only watched the trailer, but I can’t wait to find it on DVD!

The website is here or paste this link:

http://www.inuk-film.com/

Or go directly to the film trailer:

http://www.inuk-lefilm.com/Trailer%20LQ.html

The opening sequence of the trailer features a modern sneaker stepping on a crack in hard packed snow. This evocative image seems to encapsulate the theme of the film: two worlds in contact through the figure of a young man learning to be an adult. Of course, the film also makes the two worlds idea more complex as any thoughtful piece would. To me, this first image is quite powerful and disturbing: sneakers are not warm shoes nor do they hold good traction on the ice. The fabric is flimsy and the rubber freezes. They are urban, city shoes. The crack in the hard packed snow is reminiscent of a fissure in ice; the impractical shoe and the fissure give me a sense of unease. Is the shoe bridging the gap or is it, and the person wearing it, about to fall through? Ultimately, from what I can tell from the brief scenes and action sequences, the film is about doing both and it is not particularly interested in saying that modern Greenlandic Inuit are more especially prone to “falling through the cracks” or more adept at “living between two worlds.” Rather, I imagine we are to think of the specificity of the story and how it marks time and place while also finding the connections to films and stories we already intimately know. The “universal” that allows audiences around the world to connect with the story. Such of course, was the project of Atanarjuat, the Fast Runner. This is not a reductive categorizing move to compare the two–I think it is a pretty fair statement to say that a film like Inuk could be made only after the success of previous films like the Fast Runner that are solely in Inuktitut. It’s how industry works, in literature and film. But I’m delighted about the success of one and the future success of the other and what that says about changing markets and perceptions about northern indigenous films!