This Is Very Good

A sunset is not kitschy. Nature is never kitschy, nature’s just there, lying around, not demonstrating any kind of talent or lack thereof. When nature’s filmed or photographed it might become kitschy. The kitsch is in the eye of the beholder.
In Jakub Vrba’s That’s Very Good we see an indistinct image of someone, a person wearing an Alpine-style hat, their back to us. A projector is started, and it can be heard running loudly after that; it sounds like a generator. It projects nature scenes – also indistinct – onto the person, mainly onto a wall or screen in front of them. An idyllic forest scene is recognizable, a deer, a doe, or something like that.
In an ironically emphatic tone this someone comments on what’s shown, “Oh, that’s pretty!”, “Oh, that’s just so pretty!”, “Wow, that’s really pretty!”, struggling to find the right words: “Unbelievably pretty!”, “It’s so pretty!“, “Pretty as a picture!”, “Oh my God, how pretty!” The longer the person tries to express their feelings in some way other than this more or less banal manner, the more futile the attempts become. There’s a lack of expressiveness, and so what’s said, in fact, doesn’t say much. The sound of the projector hammers even more powerfully onto the scene, thereby mechanizing nature.
Certain nature films employ a great deal of advanced technology to promote a worldview that is hostile to technology, hostile to civilization and anti-urban. Back to nature! Vrba takes the directly opposite path. Escapism is not his thing. His film isn’t kitschy, and that’s very good thing. (Bernhard Seiter)

Orig. Title
Das ist sehr gut
Year
2009
Countries
Austria, Czech Republic
Duration
4 min
Director
Jakub Vrba
Category
Avantgarde/Arts
Orig. Language
German
Subtitles
English
Downloads
Credits
Director
Jakub Vrba
Cinematography
Jakub Vrba
Editing
Jakub Vrba
Actor/Actress
Martin Sturm
Lighting
Karin Mayr
Available Formats
DCP 2K flat (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
4:3
Sound Format
stereo
Frame Rate
25 fps
Color Format
colour
Digital File (prores, h264) (Distribution Copy)
Festivals (Selection)
2009
Zagreb - 25fps Film & Video Festival
Lille - Recontres Audiovisuelles
Salzburg - Film:Riss Kurzfilmfestival
2010
Graz - Diagonale, Festival des österreichischen Films
Osnabrück - EMAF - European Media Art Festival
Wien - VIS Vienna Independent Shorts
Athens - Film Festival
Victoria - Antimatter Underground Film Festival
Onion City - Film Festival Chicago
Szolnok - Intern. Festival for Fine Arts
Hamburg - Int. Kurzfilm-Festival & No Budget