Hardship. Regret. Pain.: Three emotions felt coursing through the veins of Ilan Schickman, a poor Israeli émigré living on dirty rat infested streets of Southeast Asia with his Cambodian wife and two daughters.
Hardship. Regret. Pain.: Three central themes brilliantly brought to life by Polish documentarian Pawel Kloc. By combining hidden camera footage with gritty nighttime shots, where blackness threatens to wash out any glimmer of hope, Kloc’s film evoked authentic feelings of somberness to which no narrative film has ever done for me before.
Shickman, the film’s central subject, has been living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for 8 years along with his baby’s mama, Saran. He is the soul provider of the pair and earns his meager living by reading tarot cards street side. Saran is Cambodian, drinks often, was once married to a man of which she had several kids with (all but one are in foster care), and from what I could tell does not work. Aside from having to contend with each other, the two must also be weary of the human vultures that eye their daughters with hopes of turning a profit on the black market. Surely, the future for these people are a bleak one.
Not all films exist to make people feel better about themselves. Sometimes it’s necessary to see a film where happiness is trumped by sadness. In fact, sometimes capturing life’s more somber side and embracing it for 103 minutes is the more difficult of tasks. When done right, such as with Phnom Penh Lullaby, these conjurings of tremendous sympathetic anguish and unease came all too easy.
Showtimes for Phnom Penh Lullaby:
Wednesday, Jul 27 – 3:30pm (Castro)
Saturday, Jul 30 – 4:10pm (Roda Theatre – Berkeley)
