Waterbomb for the Fat Tomcat

Colour, 35 mm
Latvia, Estonia, 2004, 78 min
Section: East of the West

Synopsis

This children’s film from Latvian director Varis Brasla is reminiscent of the films of Czech director Věra Šimková-Plívová. Two sisters from a small town, four-year-old Linda and eight-year-old Marta, have to say goodbye to their mother for a short time. She is going to look for work in Riga and their father is working as a builder in London. Their mother’s strict sister, Aunt Una, will temporarily look after them. Energetic Marta has the hardest time with her aunt, especially when she is forbidden to bring home a puppy she earned by collecting horse manure for local mushroom growers. Their wise granddad confides to his granddaughters that Una is bitter because she has no husband. And so the little girls try to bring off a marriage between their aunt and her beau Ivo. Only it’s not as easy as it seems. This simple story evoking the atmosphere of a small summer town is made distinctive through the two little girls’ visions, in which reality adapts itself to their dreams.

About the director

Varis Brasla (b. 1939, Riga) comes from an artistic family: his father was an actor and theatre director, his mother an actress. He graduated from the Leningrad Theatre, Music and Film Institute in 1962 and took the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors in Moscow (1968). He has been working in film since 1965, and has cooperated on television and theatre projects, at present directing for the theatre in Valmiera. He is one of the most important Latvian filmmakers, and has made eleven feature films, of which four have won an annual award at home (the Big Christopher). Some of his work has been based on classic Latvian literary models. His films for children have won the most awards: Emil’s Pranks (Emīla nedarbi, 1985) and especially Christmas Confusion (Ziemassvētku jampadracis, 1993). Other prize-winning works include Wish Me Bad Weather for the Flight (Novēli man lidojumam nelabvēlīgu laiku, 1980) and We Won’t Talk Now of Love (Par mīlestību pašreiz nerunāsim, 1988).