Not Quite Dada, More Than Arthouse: Gamodi’s Cinematic Enigma
Gamodi (2023)
Directed By Felix Kalmenson
Starring Luka Chachxiani, Maqsime Rauch and Matt Shally
As seen at the 42nd Annual Vancouver International Film Festival
Arthouse Cinema isn’t for everyone, and when you venture further into the realm of Avante Garde Cinema, it mostly appeals to a niche audience like Film Festival enthusiasts and perhaps Neo Dadaists (if that’s even a thing). Gamodi occupies a unique space between these two categories: it’s not quite absurd enough to qualify as Dada, yet it’s more abstract than typical Arthouse. The only comparable work I can think of is Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle, a series of five films from 1994–2002 that blends film with visual art.
Barney’s magnum opus is exclusively available at festivals and screenings. It has never been, nor will it ever be, available for streaming or on physical media. There are exceptions, of course: 20 special DVD sets, which were sold as fine art in custom packaging at Sotheby’s for a minimum of $100,000 each. I suspect that young director Felix Kalmenson should consider similar approach for his debut solo film. Promoting a unique film like Gamodi is a challenge, and posting it to Vimeo or YouTube doesn’t feel arty enough for a film with a synopsis that explains: “Against the backdrop of a sprawling half-constructed tower block in Tbilisi, Victor, a drag queen and local TV celebrity and Tarzan, a homeless teenager, play out various meager tasks of survival in search of fleeting possibilities of intimacy against the ruins of capital. Haunted and guided by the specters of a collapsing world Tarzan and Victor slowly come to encounter their environment as an afterlife vestibule.”
I watched this film at the Vancouver International Film Festival with complete Optimum Immersion. While I marveled at its unique camera work and lighting, I didn’t really “feel” anything. And it was only through the subtitles from a local newscast that I realized the film depicted the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Perhaps I’m not yet ready to relive an experience I want to forget? It might also be challenging to encapsulate our collective experience of the pandemic in just 90 minutes of visual art accompanied by haunting soundscapes.
Gamodi is undoubtedly an ambitious film, but it doesn’t justify its 90-minute duration. I gained more insight on what I had witnessed when I read the synopsis afterwards, but it didn’t change my overall impression. The final scene was striking, but the buildup was slow, self-absorbed, and disjointed.
Perhaps this is the start of a 5 film series akin to The Cremaster Cycle? If so, Kalmenson has made a promising start, but he’ll need to either enhance the cohesiveness or embrace the absurd more fully to entice me to watch another of his films
NOT RECOMMENDED, unless you’ve seen all five of Matthew Barney’s “The Cremaster Cycle.” If you have, then give Gamodi a try and let me know what you think.