Milky Way

Fliegauf’s third, most experimental and finest feature comprises ten static, meticulously composed ’Scope shots of landscapes briefly invaded by human figures who are mostly silent and barely distinguisable in long shot or silhouette. Engaged in what first appear to be arcane rituals, these characters provide minimal but intriguing narrative pleasures, making the movie unexpectedly accessible. The contemplative gaze recalls Benning or Kiarostami’s ‘Five’; the sense of human activity as strangely alien or apocalyptic, Herzog’s ‘Fata Morgana’; the dry, faintly absurdist wit, Otar Iosseliani or Roy Andersson. But this is no mere mélange; with its distinctive, coherent perspective on this strange world of ours, it’s mesmerisingly, exhilaratingly cinematic.