LIVE FROM THE INDUSTRY@TALLINN & BALTIC EVENT

Empty country. Empty shelves at grocery stores. Abundant bureaucracy is required in order to leave the country. Leszek decides to make a trip to the sea with his friends. There are barely any cars on the roads of the collapsing nation, yet he manages to find an old vehicle with a broken door. And they’re off!

Vodka instead of food. A car instead of a home. Friends speaking Polish. Drunken, exuberant, young laughter interrupts the slogans of solidarity and freedom heard at the protests. Leszek and his friends are not particularly immersed in politics. Yet they experience its repercussions firsthand: hunger, poverty, isolation, and police violence. They head to the sea, a the symbol of freedom, and also the country’s natural border. Neither Russian tanks nor red tape await them on the other side. Only the horizon and the Baltic Sea.

Poland is shot in black and white, and minimalistic style. The dreams of a far-away Europe and vivid and bright. A far cry from Leszek’s colourless reality

The voiceover is in the first person. Visually, there are two variants of narration: we see Leszek and his life from the outside, or we move into Leszek’s body, seeing the worls from his subjective perspective: hands, neighbourhood, dreams, etc. This road movie successfully conveys the sense of being lost, as well as escapist urges. Everything on one side remains the same, yet a trip to the sea changes everything, expanding their grasp of the world.

Simple and straightforward drawings compose this move. In some occasions, nothing but a few lines representing the car populate the screen, all to the sound of laughter, dirty Polish words, and the humming car engine. These atmospheric sounds provide a palpable feel of the trip.

Fear, confusion and melancholy populate the film. Yet the desire to live prevails. The characters strive for a brighter future and freedom, they rely on their car for such purpose. The film title, written in the past tense, gives a clue as to the fate of the characters.

The Car That Came Back From the Sea showed in the PÖFF Shorts section of the 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. This review was written as part of the Film Review Workshop conducted on November 10th, 2024.

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Tatiana Tarasova is an anthropology student at Tallinn University, focusing on memory and ethnofiction. She has experience as a translator and editor, and has participated in international workshops on storytelling, filmmaking, and creating zines. She is passionate about literature, film, and exploring diverse narratives.