BEFORE THE WAVE / URTH / SYNDROMES OF MIMICRY / DUEL

While a radio host invites his listeners to have a joyful celebration of Lithuania’s admission into the European Union, an impassive camera films deserted streets and grey, lifeless buildings. These remnants of another era are the visible manifestation of an identity crisis ripe for examination through the satirical eye of Anastasija Pirozenko, who tackles her subject in a few funny and highly topical vignettes. The too-stiff participants in a yoga class and the soulless performance of a nightclub singer are just some of the symbols of an often awkward and absurd assimilation of western culture by a country with deep roots in the history and realities of Eastern Europe. A lucid film, full of devastating deadpan humour.