Aquarela, 2018.
Directed by Viktor Kossakovsky.
SYNOPSIS:
Water and ice are shown around the world, in all of their many powerful forms.
Sitting in a cold theatre, watching this documentary about water in various forms, you’d expect to relax and nearly fall asleep. But not with Aquarela; it will keep you equal parts tense and mesmerized by its beauty. While not without any flaws, this documentary is one of the year’s best and most essential pieces of work.
Walking into this screening, I had no idea what to expect. The Sony Pictures Classics release slowly gained buzz after a few festivals screenings and seemed interesting, but could a 90-minutes of water be enthralling? Learned a lesson that evening: never to judge a documentary by its subject.
Aquarela defies all notions or ideas you’d think about this piece.
Nature or environmental documentaries are nothing new, even ones with similar topics, but none feel this fresh. Scored with amazing metal music and filmed in a stunning 96 frames-per-second, the opening instantly grabs you and only let’s go when it feels the need. Director Viktor Kossakovsky swings for the fences here, attempting to shake up the genre with new music, new looks, and a unique style. Almost all of that works, with only the film’s style of storytelling being its weakness.
Aquarela forgoes any “talking heads” where you see a character explain what’s happening. The film has barely any dialogue with the guitar shreds and ice cracking or rushing water filling your ears. It’s commendable to go this route, to let the powerful water and its ways of destruction speak for itself. But what you do is remove any hopes for a narrative. The documentary feels like a collection of amazing water-themed vignettes that connect in themes, but not stories.
You see the effects of climate change throughout the running time, from the ice melting three weeks earlier in one area to devasting hurricanes in another. Presented only through the visuals, you are left disconnected from the real story at hand as we only see the human stories in passing. We spend the most time with first responders in a small frozen town; seeing them save cars from icy waters and even try to rescue a person. It’s gone soon after though, and we never return to them again.
Spending more time with the victims of the changing climate is a great way to build investment. Lets you focus the film, so it doesn’t feel like endless glamour shots of water, ice, and wind. No matter how great your visual story feels, you must follow it up with some heart & soul.
Speaking of the beautiful images captured on screen, let’s talk a moment to talk about the entire look of Aquarela. The visuals of the raw power of water are why you need to see this on the biggest screen possible. There’s no way to take your eyes off how Viktor Kossakovsky and Ben Bernhard capture the ice running off mountains or a hurricane taking on a city. Any awards for the camera work in documentaries need to go to this film.
Much like the narrative style, shooting in 96 frames per second is bold. Using Arri digital cameras that shoot in that frame rate, only a few cinemas can project that format; most will be 48 or 24. I was lucky to see it in the intended style, and it surely made a difference. Not a gimmick like shooting The Hobbit in 48 fps, Aquarela makes the look of the film an essential part.
With one of the year’s coolest scores and undoubtedly some of the best cinematography, Aquarela is a must-see. The lack of any real story to back the powerful message hurts it from being a perfect score, but it’s almost there. In a year filled with big blockbusters and tense horror movies, this little documentary stands next to them in terms of quality.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
EJ Moreno
