Alipato: The Very Brief Life of an Ember
88'
Germany
IFFR 2017
“Fuck you, I’m done with you”, sings (screams) Vincent with his metalcore band, Seven Day Diary. The angry lyrics seem primarily aimed at his father, Hervé, with whom he has a tense love-hate relationship. Vincent (24) is discontented with his aimless life and angry at his father, who has found a new lover not long after the death of Vincent’s mother. At the same time, Vincent yearns for his father’s praise; not for nothing does he have pictures of both his parents tattooed on his neck. The father-and-son conflict escalates into a battle for a woman, Hervé’s younger girlfriend, Julia.
In this self-assured feature debut, Morgan Simon combines music with a difficult father-and-son relationship, subjects he also tackled in his earlier short films. With frequent use of close-ups, he stays close to his characters, and especially to the restless, rebellious and insecure Vincent as he wrestles with himself.
IFFR 2017