Autumn Ball by Veiko Õunpuu (2007)

"Autumn Ball" allows you to enter the world of bleak solitude which has a great sense of humor and irony that helps us and the characters to overcome their problems. In the end there aren`t any right or false answers just the weight of being human. 


Review by Henryk Johan Novod



"Autumn Ball"("Sügisball", 2007) is the first full length film by Estonian filmmaker Veiko Õunpuu. The film is probably the most well known contemporary Estonian film to date. It was screened in many European film festivals and gained a lot of attention which is very uncommon for an Estonian film. His first contribution to Estonian cinema was a short film titled "Empty" ("Tühirand", 2006) which was based on Mati Unt`s novel. These two films are connected with the same approach of existentialism. At this point Õunpuu`s last feature film was a very complex art house drama "Temptation of St. Tony"("Püha Tõnu kiusamine", 2009) which got mixed reviews in Estonia but it was well received abroad when it was screened in various film festivals all around Europe.

Two different approaches to "Autumn Ball" 
"Autumn Ball" is based on a novel of the same name by Mati Unt ("Autumn Ball", 1979). The novel is about different types of people living in Mustamäe in Soviet Estonia. Unt’s novel concentrates on the difficult lives of people when they try to survive in the mundane and inhumane society, find intimacy and their place in a country that is completely separated from the rest of the world. Õunpuu also wrote the script, but unlike Unt he focuses on the contemporary Estonia and how emptiness has affected people’s daily lives, their mindset and living conditions. He takes on many different characters who all have their own dreams, desires and needs.

Õunpuu`s story takes place in Lasnamägi. This city was built during the Soviet era to welcome workers and simple folk coming from Soviet Russia. Even now Russians mainly populate it. Õunpuu tells a story of emptiness in man’s heart and anxious desire (but not successful desire) to change their life or find something to keep them going. "Autumn Ball" is not a light-hearted drama. It is an existentialistic drama film at its best. The world of anxious people trying to find comfort and meaning to their lives is presented in bleak colours that emphasize on the human`s condition. The colors are emphasized by the quite natural structure of the locations where our ensemble of characters are trying to figure themselves out. Lasnamägi is basically filled with nine-stories high apartment buildings that all look the same. They have a great resemblance to the apartment blocks of Northern London that are common to films of English social realism. "Autumn Ball" is subtle and unnerving, but it also has this extreme sense of tranquillity. The film is very static, but still very lively. The empty fields and high apartment towers illustrate the progress of these characters. Within the quiet, but struggling still life of Lasnamägi we get to witness the blank humour that dwell inside each and every character. When it surfaces we get a glimpse of irony that unsettles the saddening mood.

The harsh reality of loneliness
Apartment blocks are the true characters of the film. We see them everywhere. They set different moods although they are always the same. The characters are the ones who truly matter besides the towering buildings. They make you feel less negative about yourself and manage to keep you fascinated by their personal struggles. The film never really tries to make its audience uncomfortable by the subjective approach of its topic. These characters need empathy, but the film doesn’t need it from the audience. We see them like ghosts in a desolated world where there are no space for human connection. There are only hopeless attempts to interact with each other. They are in need for it, but even the greatest attempt to achieve their goals end up with a disappointment, but every disappointment manages to resurface their hope for a better future. The truth is "Autumn Ball" contemplates the human condition in a grey city of blank apartment buildings that are like empty boxes and develops the progression of lonely, but hopeful characters who finally achieve their goal to see life in Lasnamägi other way around.

Õunpuu`s direction can be categorised among the films that deal with peoples lives in post-soviet countries, but the goal isn’t concentrating purely on Estonian point of view. Õunpuu`s style is distinctive, but still very similar to the wave of European films that focus on existentialism of people in different conditions. "Autumn Ball" isn’t dealing with light subject matter, but the director manages to maintain the tender sense of humour. The characters aren’t hopeless and empty. They are meaningful souls who desire to see the light of day in the silent sky above the faceless Lasnamägi. They don’t know how to see the light, but they will try even when every attempt fails and their situation seems to get even more desperate than ever before.