"Tuvalu" is a German movie from 1999 that runs for approximately 95 minutes. "German" is only true though in terms of which country it produced and where the director came from as the actors in here come from all kinds of countries and there is also no German language in here. The writer and director is Veit Helmer and he is somewhat known for bringing a foreign note to all his films usually, frequently they aren't in German just like this one here too as a consequence. Helmer had worked on other films, for example on Wim Wenders' movies before making this one here, his first directorial effort. This film here is quite an extraordinary project, especially for a 30-year-old director. I am not surprised at all it won so many awards and was nominated for many more as this is definitely a pretty unique work. You won't really find anything remotely similar in film in the last 20 years. The result is that this is certainly not a work that will really appeal to many many audiences and I would be surprised if this was a commercial success back then. Fittingly, the lead actor here is Denis Lavant and he is known for his pretty remarkable role selection in terms of alternative cinema. He plays the main part very well and same goes for his co-lead Chulpan Khamatova. Both were convincing casting choices. Due to the lack of language in here (even if there is some silent talking and lots of mumbling throughout the movie) and also due to the style, this reminded me of a silent film at times. Taking away some aspects, it perfectly could have been a film from the early 20s, also in terms of how the actors presented their characters. I believe this may be a good watch for everybody who likes "The Artist" for example. I myself would not call "Tuvalu" a really great film, but it succeeds at what it attempts, tells an interesting story (especially the romance parts) about likable characters and (even with Helmer's short film experience) it is a really respectable work for a rookie filmmaker.
Review of Tuvalu
