REVIEW Young love: Andres (Rasmus Ermel) and Maria (Aurora Aleksandra).
Childhood
in an 80’s Village Yard Peeter Simm’s On the Water is a heartfelt crowd pleaser, where serious themes are freshly painted with colourful nostalgia.
E
stonian cinema has been hit by a wave of coming-of-age films. Goodbye, Soviet Union and Rain observed childhood from the balconies of tower block apartments. Kids of the Night gave adulthood a sheen of neon lights. Even Kratt can be described as a coming-of-age story in its own absurd way. In On the Water, a tale of growing up is placed in the middle of a backward 1980s village yard, where alcohol, gossip, and fishing serve as the only available form of entertainment. On the Water, based on Olavi Ruitlane’s novel of the same name, is the 11th full-length feature of Peeter Simm. Counting documen-
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ESTONIAN FILM
Ink Big! The critics have done their job
taries and short films, Simm’s filmography reaches about 40 titles. There are only a few authors in Estonia whose creative career has spanned five decades with such energy. Simm, who stepped in the arena as a director in the end of the 1970s, has accomplished that. During that time, his main topics have largely remained the same. Perhaps due to historical inevitability, Simm has always been drawn to remote villages, problems of the simple folk, and the everyday life in the periphery of Soviet Estonia. Although On the Water’s script has been written by Ruitlane, the film is ingrained with themes that are very characteristic of Simm – especially, life in the Soviet Estonian backwoods. COMPLICATED GROWING ENVIRONMENT
The film revolves around Andres (Rasmus Ermel), who is longing to
join his mother in Sweden, but is forced to live in the small town of Võru, raised by his grandparents’ heavy hand. His grades are down and his classmates are bullies. And first love comes with its own awkward incidents. There are true Eighties moments in the film – shakes grabbed from a milk bar, or detours to the smoky interior of the Soviet teachers’ lounge. But the real life unfolds in a suburban yard, where Andres receives experience, comradeship, and wisdom from his neighbours whose lives have gone awry. He spends his everyday life in noise and poverty, under the watchful eye of the community. The only escape is the lake. Men and fishing – a cliché, if ever there was one. In this film, like in real life, fishing unites the simpletons, booze-ridden villagers, and wealthy gentlemen. In Võru, every half-vital male spends half a day on
