This portrait by Vytautas Katkus of a man contemplating his recent fatherhood and his own father is steeped in ennui and ends up driftingAt one point in this Nordic-Baltic homecoming film, Danielius (Darius Šilėnas) refuses an invite for beachfront karaoke, preferring to watch from behind a polythene partition. At another, a neighbour glimpses him exercising across the courtyard, through the window of the flat in an end-of-summer Lithuanian resort that Danielius is trying to sell. Having returned from Norway to settle up accounts, this prodigal son is often holding the world at arm’s length – and director Vytautas Katkus does his best to help him with this distanced technique in this quizzical and faintly existential drama.Little tangible is disclosed. Danielius is a thirtysomething father who skipped the funeral of his own dad the year before. Preparing the flat to go on the market, he walks the dog of his neighbour, Vismante (Vismantė Ruzgaitė), hangs speculatively at beach gatherings and falls asleep in pine forests. Ice-cream is eaten at every available opportunity. He’s not alienated exactly, but somewhat out of step. As he looks for new anchorage, even the film seems to question whether Danielius has sufficient main character energy: it periodically drifts to follow another resident, Tomas (Rokas Siaurusaitis), who is caring for his grandmother over the way. Continue reading...