DOCUDRAMA; 1hr 32min
DIRECTED BY: Florian Habicht
Rub a dub dub: Habicht and Yakovenko
Such a NYC situation: Spindly Boy (German-born Kiwi film-maker and actor Habicht) briefly meets striking Girl Holding a Fat Slice of Cake (Russian actress Masha Yakovenko) on a Coney Island–bound train. What does the cake signify? Sensuality, according to the good folk of the city who Habicht interviews, doco-style, in his search for her. After finding her again, he films their evolving relationship — or is it, really? — as a movie-within-the-movie. Then, piling conceit on conceit, he asks both random New Yorkers and his father, photographer Frank, via Skype, to suggest plot developments. Which, of course, they do. I mean, everyone has a movie in them, right?
And Florian is off! He gives Masha a foot massage. He breaks a condom. Orgasmic fireworks sparkle and boom. Masha eats cereal from his concave chest (Florian’s idea, which I could happily have lived a lifetime without). Intolerably artsy, naively charming or a little bit of both? It’s definitely democratic, with its chatty Greek chorus putting the pep into vox pops. They’re the real love story.