8:55. You’re standing in the bathtub, lathering your crotch. Down your thighs runs the new, improved fruit concentrate of active ingredients and the pubic hair smells of apples. The phone has been buzzing all morning, gradually sketching the silhouette of the day. Parameters, requests, the address – somewhere only hell knows. The office worker’s day continues, a daily poetry of latex condoms and a partner who is a depressed alcoholic.
Humoresque is a genre rarely attempted in Latvian cinema but the animation director, together with poet Kārlis Vērdiņš, has brought it to new heights. A playful poem, which premiered at Annecy, about a member of the queer community, with their on-screen diary unfolding in pastel tones and cartoon-like scenes. Though the “butt” of the story is rather bitter, the film’s hyper-real and nonchalant tone makes you want to add it to your Google calendar.