FROST

by Fred Kelemen

A monumental and unforgettable film, which stands as a masterpiece, not just in Fred Kelemen's exclusive output, but also amidst European auteur films of the 90's in general. A woman and her 7-year-old son escape, on Christmas Eve, from her drunk husband and their squalid basement home, and set off on a long journey towards her childhood home, somewhere in Germany. A hopeless journey through deserted villages and frozen landscapes, and through a world of ice, fog and darkness. Humiliation, violence, ecstasy and a stubborn will to survive are the primary human qualities in Kelemen's bleak status report from a Europe in decay, centred around the mother-son motif as the symbol of a unity which holds its own against all odds. 'Frost' is a cinematographic masterpiece with its ascetic compositions, where a tracking shot actually turns into a question about morality.

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