Anna Fam-Rieskaniemi is an intercultural artist, award winning director, screenwriter. She encourages multicultural, intergenerational dialogue that shifts and has an impact on a new diverse society. She graduated from Polish Philology at the University of Warsaw and Wajda School & Studio. Also, she is an alumni of prestigious programs like: EAVE, Eurodoc, Ace Producers and more for emerging writers/artists. She is among the winners of „Young Poland”, category: film. She has been a member of the Polish Filmmakers Association (SFP). Her last movie “Entropy”, a Polish-Czech co-production, exposes the birth of chaos in microcosms that shift society into a new direction.
Entropy is screening at Five Flavours
May, a Vietnamese-Polish young woman, has just passed the penultimate audition to get into a prestigious music program as a pianist. She is also retaining a loving relationship with a young Polish man, and in general, her life seems to be taking exactly the direction she wants her to take. Things, however, are not as easy, as her family is not exactly supportive of either her career path nor her boyfriend. In fact, they want her to marry a young man from a Vietnamese family, and the pushing seems constant, with the mutual family dinners coming one after the other.
At the same time, her boyfriend is waiting for her to commit to having an apartment together, while the guy her parents want her to have has a suggestion in his mind that will ‘masquerade” both their problems. May finds herself on the verge of a life-altering decision.
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What becomes evident here from the beginning essentially, is that the film is having some pacing issues regarding how the story progresses, which could though, be attributed to the duration of a short which would definitely benefit from a few more minutes. Furthermore, the story about the Asian-Western identity and the young individual facing issues with her tradition-bound parents has become cliched, although this comes more from Asian-American cinema.
Apart from these, there are definitely a number of redeeming qualities here. Regarding the story, both the Vietnamese’s proposal and the attitude of the Polish boyfriend definitely break the mold, with the same applying to the ending, which makes a rather unexpected but also quite realistic comment.
The comments in general, about the issues second-generation Asian who live in Europe face are eloquently portrayed, with Fam-Rieskaniemi presenting them through a number of prisms: family, relationships, and profession. The visuals are also on a very high level, with the framing and the coloring in particular being top notch, while the erotic scene is tastefully made. The editing, on the other hand, could have been handled better, in the same prism mentioned before.
Aleksandra Duong in the role of the May gives a very competent performance, highlighting the different psychological statuses and mentalities her character undergoes with a proper level of emotion, even though her role is somewhat laconic.
Despite some issues here and there, “Entropy” is an interesting, well-shot film that highlights that the director definitely shows promise. She just need to work on the writing and the pacing a bit more.
