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La Balade d'Ivan
The Wanderings of Ivan
France 2018
produced by
Sylvain Maugens for Cobalt Films
directed by Claude Chamis
starring Aram Arakelyan, Benjamin Baclet, Franck Zerbib, Camille Freychet, Corine Watrin, Pablo Alarson, Yves Balmes-Morgan, Paul Bettinger, Maylis de Poncins, Lisbeth Wagner, Noé Alarson, Judith Journo, Stanislas Aurousseau, Christos Grosdanis, Tarek Nini, Martin Thiaw
idea by Sylvain Maugens, screenplay by Claude Chamis, Sylvain Maugens, music by Mathieu Fortin, François Blanc, François Cyrod
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Ivan (Aram Arakelyan), a vagrant from Russia, wanders the streets of
Paris with no money and nothing on him but his backpack, and finds the
city increasingly hostile to the likes of his. So he makes off to the
woods of Vincennes, where he can sleep under the stars and let nature do
the rest - only it doesn't work that way, even in the woods he's dependent
on begging for money or food, and sometimes even stealing it. Eventually,
he meets Ben (Benjamin Baclet), a young rentboy turning tricks in the
woods, who takes him a like-minded guy, and when Ivan assures him nothing
could be further from the truth, Ben and the other hustlers still think
he's stealing their clientele. Eventually, Ivan has sex with an older
woman (Corine Watrin) at a nearby pagoda, and she insists on paying him -
and his pure need wins out over his pride and he accepts, basically
letting her prostitute him. Soon afterwards, Ivan meets Pierre (Franck
Zerbib), a man who shows obvious interest in him, even if Ivan turns him
down. Pierre shows up again and again though, for things eventually coming
to a head as a consequence ... La Balade d'Ivan is a
quite unique movie as while its story very much suggests a social drama,
the film's very poetic, almost lyrical approach makes it feel like
something else, a rather beautiful if sometimes pretty nasty moodpiece,
thanks to a wonderful scenery, camerawork able to catch the beauty of it
without going all-out kitsch, and a slow but steady flow of events that
keeps the audience invested in the story without taking away from the
atmosphere, while a voiceover from Ivan's diary from his days back in
Russia serves as a wonderful counterpoint to the on-screen goings-on. And
very natural and subtle performances only help make this one a rather
beautiful film.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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find The Wanderings of Ivan at adultvideouniverse.com
