Websterin elokuvasta.Tue Steen Müller 30.08.08
This film is funny, clever and makes you think. If it makes you (=me) change lifestyle, is another question. Could be, let’s see.
The synopsis of the film taken from the website: Director JW convinces his wife and two small boys that the whole family should go on an oil diet, yet without having to give up their middle class suburban lifestyle. All the everyday things that we don’t do, or that we can’t help doing, make up recipes for disaster. In this comedy of errors they find themselves questioning their values and putting to test their will power and ultimately, their happiness.
Happiness, yes, because the film - which is basically a message film produced to point at the climate change and how we might contribute to this and consequently how we should behave in our daily life - is constructed brilliantly around the increasing conflict between man and woman, husband and wife who have taken the decision to do something during a period of one year. In the beginning Anu, the wife, teases John, the filmmaker, but slowly the wonderful film character Anu expresses her disagreement with the behaviour of – as she says – the ”bossy” husband, who wants to send a message to the world and just make a good film. The boys are on her side blaiming him that his video is also plastic. Right! I am let out, she says, as he progresses fanatically with his ideas and wants to create a delivery service for plant oil based diesel for cars (if I got it right) and insists that all plastic cups and other kitchen things should go... It went well with getting rid of their own car, with going to the island without using the motor of the boat, with taking train instead of airplane, buying non-plastic wrapped goods in the shop and so on. But drama got into the home and this nice Finnish/English family that made a final result to be jealous of.
The film is already ”sold” to many tv stations before production, the others should buy it now and get it on prime time, it is for all of us – and the festivals will have an example of a subject born film with a lot of information to be conveyed - that also has originality and joyful storytelling skills.
John Webster: Recipes for Disaster, Finland, 2007, 83/65 mins.http://www.deckert-distribution.com/films/deckert_252.htm http://www.millenniumfilm.fi/tbr_recipes.html http://www.recipesfordisaster.info/
