BERLINALE 2020 - Anne at 13,000 ft
70th BERLINALE FILM FESTIVAL 2020Kazik Radwanski's Anne at 13,000 ft is an intriguing and educational drama on the difficulty of being the socially awkward outsider in a professional and clinical society.
Deragh Campbell leads the way as the titular character Anne in an impressive and restraint performance. Campbell crafts a quaint and remarkable display with a drowning underbelly underneath the surface with a burgeoning trembling fear above. The emotional weight and layers presented by Campbell are incredibly effective with a resulting range undeniably in need of plaudits.
More impressive is that Campbell is the sole provider of this weight with little interaction surrounding co-stars. Granted, Matt Johnson, Dorothea Paas and Lawrence Denkers all have their respective input to the overall films with their arcs and character traits. However, writer-director Kazik Radwanski and Campbell weight the character of Anne so well, much of this thematic weight is arguably excessive.
Anne's personality and arc is perfectly crafted via intense close-ups utilised by cinematographer Nikolay Michaylov and editing by Ajla Odobašic. The claustrophobic nature of the framing from Michaylov significantly and subconsciously echoes the social and parental drowning that Campbell's character is withering. The edit from Odobašic similarly crafts thematic weight in its pace and constant rapid-fire approach.
Nonetheless, after it is all said and done, it feels as if Kazik Radwanski could have perhaps crafted a more personal and educational context to Anne at 13,000 ft. Granted, it touches significantly on issues of social anxiety and possibly the notion of mental illness, but does not dive as deep as it could. Even if the finished product is an enlightening picture with an exceptional central performance and a beautiful final scene.
