The nostalgia of love is courage and life is its constant longing to understand it. When the silence is broken by a storm, it is difficult to return to peace. Time passes inexorably, and we long to stop it. For a few moments to remain in our fragile stillness that we ourselves have created. When a period unfamiliar to us arrives, we need time to adjust to our new surroundings. For young adults, it can be a moment of entry into unfamiliar aspects of life, for their parents – getting used to a new, desolate environment or unpredictability. The family we meet in March to May, directed by Martin Pavol Repka, elaborates on this thought, without mincing words.
A family of five lives in the Slovakian countryside, where it takes a suburban bus or a small silver car to reach a major city. From their first words, their home is filled with love and sentiment for moments that still last. They live gently. The director with great patience introduces us to every little detail of their lives. We don’t get everything “on a platter”, we don’t need noise to feel something. This is a film in which small elements build us a reality – the stealthily hidden favorite shoes in the backpack, the paint on the pipe scratched again from repeated blows or learning how to close the door with a fatherly request.
The film presents a portrait of the family in an extremely human splendor. Moment’s pass, and we watch every movement, as if in a documentary. Each member of the family faces his or her own ghosts, which form a common whole in all its splendor. That is what a family is. The parents (Zuzana Fialová, Jozef Abafi) proudly watch their maturing children (Natália Fašánková, Jana Markovičová, Damián Humaj) as they prepare to let life take them. Their well-known and superficially harmonized lifestyle is interrupted by the news of another child, unexpected by all. The pregnancy establishes for them a new starting point in their common and strong relationship. A new definition of their life together emerges, which they must learn from scratch.
Above all, this is a film about slow existence, its doubts and hope. Hope, which is the power of our mind. It has a stirring quality to it and conveys a strong sense of abiding in a community. The tenderness that permeates Martin’s frames invites us into the circles of distant individuals (up to a certain point). Interestingly, Martin Pavol Repka was inspired by the experiences of his own family. This certainly influenced the affection that envelops us with every gesture and frame.
March to May is a movie that is presented in the Love will win section at the 18th edition of Mastercard OFF CAMERA. In it we find that love. A feeling that is not always tender, but is always lasting. When it is real, it is the only one. The feeling that has been searched for in cinematography since its beginning, here takes the form of everyday life that we know well. And we ourselves – we can ask ourselves after March to May: what can it offer me? And then – to love ourselves and our loved ones even more strongly.
March to May (directed by Martin Pavol Repka) is to be seen during the 18th Mastercard OFF CAMERA as part of the Love Will Win section, whose partner is Twój Styl.
List of screenings:
- 04/05/2025 | 17:30 | Sala Czerwona | Kino Pod Baranami
Magdalena Nowaczyk