Review of Reindeerspotting: Escape from Santaland (2010) by John T — 02 Nov 2014
An affecting portrait of a pointless life. The subject, Jani, is a 19 year old welfare recipient and small-time thief, addicted to opiates and sharing a flat with fellow addicts in a desolate Arctic city. The cinema verite style documentary is filmed by a friend and fellow user.
As his life spirals downward, we follow Jani on a European binge where he discovers that the change of locale has not provided the motivation he sought to turn his life around. Despite his weakness, and thanks to the first-time director's impressive ability to make a documentary subject into a real person, we cannot help becoming fond of Jani and hopeful he can rejoin the world of the living.
The conclusion gives us no reason to be optimistic. And for those willing to Google the lives of both director and subject in the years following this film's release, the news is even more dispiriting. Even the young can fall prey to the harsh verdict of an indifferent universe.
This review of Reindeerspotting: Escape from Santaland (2010) was written by John T on 02 Nov 2014.
Reindeerspotting: Escape from Santaland has generally received positive reviews.
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