I Had Nowhere to Go

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Audience Member I Had Nowhere To Go is a challenge but Ive always liked a challenge. This film is about the early trials of avant-garde film maker Jonas Mekas, who fled Lithuania from the advancing red army and was then imprisoned in a labour camp in Hamburg. After the war he studied philosophy and eventually settled in New York, where he spent his formative years as a progressive film maker. His style influenced many who followed and it is fitting then that this film is avant-garde too. Director and artist, Douglas Gordon, bends the rules of film-making until they can bend no further. By using minimal imagery, (approx 10 minutes within the 100 minute film) the darkness that fills the cinema forces you to listen to the soundtrack and use your imagination to feel what it was like to be a displaced person. No mean feat in a spoon fed era where the norm is to deliver film in easy to swallow morsels garnished with colourful visual effects. Whether you can accept the challenge of I Had Nowhere To Go is the question. It is polarising but that is the point. You are meant to feel uncomfortable. The audio, narrated by Mekas, comes from the pages of his diaries. His quivering tone is fragile yet strong with a lilt of hope and humour. I found it a nice change, not to be bombarded with images. To imagine what it must have been like to run from the Soviet army then be imprisoned by Nazis, to cope with war, fear, loneliness, loss and still have the drive and hope to forge a life in a new country. The bomb dropping audio sequence is confronting, especially without images. The rest of the imagery works well and feels like a release from the darkness; footsteps in the snow, food, caged animals, white and red screens. There are enough mainstream and slightly left of centre films but thereâ(TM)s not much hard left, fearless film making like this. It pulls the handbrake on your normal expectations of movies. Perhaps a better analogy of the experience of watching the film is that it is like driving sideways. You drift in and out of concentration not quite sure where you are going but it makes a nice change from the perfect teeth, multi-million dollar productions, heavily reliant on visual effects and stunts we have become accustomed to. This is an immersive storyline told by a charismatic man. The film seems to be wrapped in a brown paper bag deliberately to simulate that there were no luxuries. The short visual sequences provide light in the darkness. Is it art or film? Wellâ¦is there a difference? Like a rare, peaty whisky, some people never understand the attraction but then there are always those who enjoy a challenge Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member I have never commented on a review before, but the little Rotten Tomato quip from Jonathon Jones is truly rotten. He called the film a "high class piece of perverse nostalgic porn," which makes me think he's more interested in sounding clever than actually offering any insight. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews

I Had Nowhere to Go

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