Rent November (2017)

November review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

November is a film that is slathered surrealism most intriguing in its bold black-and-white ugliness. There’s a bit of history to its setting, posing a tale of intersecting lives within a Medieval Estonian village. Yet the world seems almost alien and most sci-i,, harkening to the simplistic wonderment of Stalker and It’s Hard to Be a God, where fantastical ideas take hold in the more depressing of real-world environments. November doesn’t quite feel as bound by that same somberness and contemplation but certainly carries that familiar feeling of residing within a much different space, almost incomprehensible in its mechanics.

This 19th-century fantasy embraces much of the dark and the weird. The plague is just as much of a concern for the community as that of werewolves and demonic forces. Magic is present but used in odd ways. In particular, a spell has been cast on farming equipment that comes to like in a strange sort of Fantasia manner. It’s understandable why magic would be favored in this light. Suppose you’re desperate for a cow on your farm and want to steal one from your neighbor. One inanimate tool comes to life not only leads the cow out of the barn but transforms into a helicopter and hoists the animal into the sky. It’s a surreal note to open the film on yet paints an interesting picture of how such forces are utilized within this village.

It’s for this reason why the poor and the rich favor the use of such mystical forces for their own gain seems mildly understandable, for as odd as the film approaches its stark world of filth and fables. Two key stories follow a peasant girl and royalty who have love on their minds, either for themselves or for their family. Hoping to push through romance, they seek out spells and rituals from very strange people who wield such powers. They’re hoping that such awkward devotion to the spiritual will bring about the love they seek. It sounds superficial and immoral but considering they reside in a world where farming equipment can transport cows in the air, anything is not only possible but beyond moral fortitude.

Of course, the magic doesn’t quite work for them as it’s more intriguing to watch such aspirations tumbled down into the muck of this wet and depressing village. The divide between the rich and poor creates an unspoken unease, where the characters can sense something is unfair in such an environment but can’t quite put their finger on it. It is only when the cold snap of reality hits them in the faces that they possibly think about how magic is so limited when it comes to the matters of the heart. At least that’s what one hopes as they draw their last tragic breath.

November never makes its story simple to digest, always presented in a manner to seem overtly strange, dirty and uncomfortable, refusing to let the audience pin it down so easily. While this aspect may be frustrating to some audiences, I found it all the more intriguing trying to fathom how a community bound by superstition and commitment to the spiritual can falter so easily in such comfort. It’s also really funny to watch a cow fly via a magically-moving piece of 19th-century tech.