Stimulating cinema: The Shoe

Director: Laila Pakalnina
Year: 1998

The setting for this sublimely original and charming little movie is Liepaja, a sleepy little seaside town on the Latvian coast. Things are quiet and ordinary but it's the height of Cold War paranoia and the Russian army is on a hair trigger. Three guards (Igors Buraks, Jaan Taate and Vadims Grossmans) are patrolling the shore with their trained German Shepherd, casting an eye out for spies who might try to sneak over the border. Suddenly disaster--a woman's shoe has been found on the beach along with footprints leading into town. The quiet beach is abuzz with activity as jeeps and patrols show up seemingly from out of a nowhere. The guards are promptly ordered into town with one order--find the owner of the shoe and bring her in.

From this, Pakalnina delivers a film that is uncommonly beautiful and intensely creative. Not being Latvian, perhaps some of the political commentary and allusions are lost on me, but taken on its surface, the story itself is really good. In a re-enactment of the Cinderella fairy tale, the soldiers go from house-to-house and door-to-door asking women to try on the mysterious found shoe. Some are defiant, some are bemused but all are innocent. There are a lot of funny moments along the way, particularly when the soldiers triple-team a heavy-set woman who is refusing to try on the shoe. Another good bit comes when the soldiers get a call over their radio ordering them to Sector D, where a mysterious woman has been spotted. Naturally, their jeep runs out of gas and they end up having to get out and push, thus missing out on a chance to find the woman.

This movie is a visual and stylistic treat. Shot in black-and-white, the director opts for long shots and very slow pacing, allowing the viewer to become absorbed into the scenery and the fabric of the town. Pakalanina mixes in equal bits Jacques Tati, Otar Ioselliani and even Diane Arbus. Like Tati, seemingly uninvolved characters wander in and out of the frame creating the effect of constant bustle and motion. We see elements of Ioselliani's work in the natural sounds of the film. Dogs bark, birds chirp and waves lap against the shore creating a natural soundtrack that adds another element of beauty.

And I was particularly struck by the scene in which the soldiers visit an apartment house, knocking on doors and ordering all the woman out. We see this from the point of view of the soldier's; the camera slowly pans down the halls, stopping on an closed door. We hear voices from inside--men playing cards, a boy kicking a soccer ball. But when the doors are open, the residents are standing stock still, staring back blankly back at the soldiers. There almost grotesque beauty is reminiscent of Arbus' famous photos and creates a very strong visual image that lingers in the mind long after the movie is over.

Want to talk about "The Shoe?" Leave a message.