“Pension in the Castle” Multi-Episode Film Premiere and Review

“Pension in the Castle” premiere

9:00 a.m., February 11, 2024

Līga Green, “Kultūrzīme”, AS “Latvijas Mediji”

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A multi-episode film, which can first be viewed in parts on the big screens, is nothing new for Latvian viewers. Also the previous film “Emilija. The production company “Mistrus Media” produced “Latvijas prese karaliene” (2021) in a similar way, first showing it in cinemas and concluding with a documentary series about the making of the film. The first three episodes of “Pansijai pili” were directed by Andis Mizišs, the 4th, 5th and 6th by Marta Elīna Martinsone, the seventh by Dāvis Sīmanis, and the eighth, the documentary, by Gints Grube.

In the case of “Pansija pili”, such an approach is completely justified, because both the gorgeous picturesque shots of the cinematographer Andrejs Rudzats and the enormous work invested by the costume artists, make-up artists and others under the leadership of Kristīne Jurjānes are worth it to be able to enjoy it fully, as offered by the big cinema screen.

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A great constellation of actors

But even those who will not have the opportunity to watch the film on the big screen will not be disappointed. The filmmakers do not consciously try to make the visual image the main one, it is not for a moment an end in itself, the work on every detail, light beam, shadows only creates an atmosphere that allows you to enter the world full of discoveries of the main character of the film – the manor.

It must be admitted right away that the press had the opportunity to watch only the first four episodes of the film, and what and why happens next, I still do not know. I also don’t know the solutions to many mysteries and how and whether they will be solved or leave a lot of room for the viewer’s imagination.

Before focusing on the action of the film itself, the description, various evaluations, I just want to add that I haven’t seen joy in Latvian cinema for a long, long time (perhaps – in the films of Jānis Streičs’s mature years “Limousine in the Color of Midsummer Night”, “Cilvēka bērnā” and Vara Brasla’s “Emīla” will not work”). Just joy, because there have been attempts to create both humorous films and TV series, but here is the joy. Both humorous episodes and rather poignant ones cause light emotions and it is not difficult to laugh, because no one is ridiculed and humiliated.

Also – pace. It’s really Latvian (or Scandinavian?) slow, but here it seems to me to be the goal of the creators: people – both owners and guests – come to experience peace, to be able to create freely, to relax… But what gave you that? I felt these expressive episodes as the stones that arise in the owners’ lives. Well, there is no Arcadia! In the twenties of the 20th century, the agrarian reform was initiated in Latvia, the estates of the German barons were expropriated, the land was distributed to the farmers.

In 1926, Anšlavs Eglītis, the author of the screened book “Pansija pilī” (played by Rihards Zelezņevs), together with his father, the writer Viktoras Eglītis (Gundars Āboliņš) and his teenage brother Vidvudus (Kristians Teterovskis), arrives at the Inciem manor, which was given to his father as a special reward for his contribution granted by the state in the development of Latvia. The father imagined this place as an idyllic refuge, where he could refresh his body and spirit, as well as create undisturbed, but the reality is a little different – the manor is half-ruined, looted and it seems quite unsafe to stay there. And the manor also offers various unexpected surprises… However, the Egliši are full of optimism and the struggle to settle down begins.

Anšlavs Eglītis has always been a gloriously accurate describer. And that, if not literally, has been taken over by the filmmakers. It’s almost a cabaret character gallery.

First of all, they are met by the tenant of the manor Liepiņš (Vilis Daudziņš), who has created a bodi in part of the manor, and his self-indulgent wife (Guna Zariņa), who only hope that the “intelligents” will get scared and leave to raze everything to the ground, creating a model farm and would grow asparagus, which is said to be crazy healthy and with good quotation.

Together with the manor, the new owners also receive “inventory” – as if the former servants of the manor, who did not want to receive land for one reason or another during the agrarian reform and lead their days in the half-ruined manor – they have nowhere else to go, only the poorhouse. And Egliši promises them shelter in exchange for helping to clean up the manor. It’s a magnificent company, both literally and figuratively – the roles of these manor people are played by the brightest flower of Latvian actors, each of whom is a wonderful value in his own right and, dressed in the costumes of costume designers Kristīne Jurjāne and Rūta Kuplā, they are so colorful and interesting , that it seems as moth-eaten and wrapped in dust webs as the baron-great-grandfather himself will emerge from. In completely unusual characters, you will see the usual intellectual Kaspars Znotiņa (Arnīti, dressed in long underwear, as if the former gardener of the manor, whose life has been ruined by women and now only alcohol can save him. He just doesn’t like work at all, but it turns out that he knows how to organize and handle money and cards better than Riga gentlemen…). His mother (Dace Evers), who is simply Arnīš’s mother, “who gave him that lovely name”, from whom modern drug makers should learn… Butler Mārtiņš (Juris Strenga), who still hasn’t noticed that serfdom has ended. Kučieris Peltmans in a wonderful performance by Jānis Jarāns. He has a clerical cassock under his coat (in the middle of summer). I wonder what he has been doing all these years? And the kitchen maid Priedene (Lāsma Kugrēna), who is often visited by “black people”. This whole company has one main task in mind – to behave and serve in such a way that the Egliši do not throw them out of the manor, because then… Yes, then the poor house.

I described the “inventory” of the castle so long and extensively, because I know the great love of the Latvian audience for our actors. The mere mention of one or the other is reason enough to watch the film. And there is too. They are great!

And there will also be friends of Viktor Egliš at the ball, guests of the new boarding house, a constellation of gorgeous types!

A young, talented, handsome actor – Rihards Zeleznevs

The new owners of the manor, whom I have neglected until now, receive such a motley inheritance. Writer Viktors Eglītis, played by Gundars Āboliņš, is intelligent through and through. Untouched by the practical side of life and having received a large fee from the publishing house for the publication of his work, he became enamored with the idea of ​​transforming the newly acquired manor into a boarding house for the quiet and nature-hungry Riga intelligentsia, calling it the “Palace in the Palace”. He is not particularly interested in how to repair, serve, accommodate and feed guests. He easily appoints his son Anslav as CEO (he has just spent two years in a boarding house in Switzerland to treat tuberculosis and knows all about boarding houses) and devotes himself to creating literary beautiful invitations and advertisements! Gundars Āboliņš, one of our brightest stars, is wonderful, as always – so passionate, so much an artist! And what is left for Anslav? To do what he has never done and what he is not really ready for. Widwood is still only a teenager and is more of a hindrance than a help. Despite all kinds of rumors, the opening of “Pansijas pili” is still taking place, it is attended by all the flowers of Riga’s artists and writers, the celebration has been successful, the boarding house is starting work…

Here it would finally be time to focus on the author of the literary work and the main character of the multi-part film “Pansija palī” – Anšlav Eglītis. A young, talented, handsome actor, Rihards Zeleznevs, has seriously announced himself in our film industry again. Since he is the one who proposes himself as the author in the opening episode of the film, accordingly he also has the assigned role of the narrator from the outside. However, he does not remain on the sidelines, he is an active participant in all events, but does not leave the feeling that he is talking about them – strangers (including his family and family friends). Since the novel was first published in 1962, it seems that he wanted to be one of those weirdos of that distant time. “I am also convinced that every historical story reflects not only the past, but also the present, because we see it with the eyes and thoughts of our time,” Dāvis Sīmanis, the director of the seventh series of the film, said so precisely.

* Poet Egils Dambi

Inquiry

Multi-episode screening of “Pension in the Castle” in cinemas: several films in one screening

 Series 1, 2 – from January 22.

 Series 3, 4 – from February 8.

 Episodes 5, 6, 7 – from February 22.

 8. – documentary series in special screenings after February 22.

Themes

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2024-02-11 07:19:08


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