Film Archive

The Man Who Looks Like Me

East of the West - Competition 2017 / Minu näoga onu / Estonia 2017

Music critic Hugo is going through a post-divorce crisis and just wants some peace to finish writing his book. When his bohemian father suddenly appears on his doorstep, it becomes clear that the new life he has chosen for himself is about to go in quite a different direction. A tragicomic tale about parents and children and their shared mistakes and complexes.

Synopsis

“Everyone’s got a talent for something, you just have to find out what it is,” a father says to his son after the latter fails to get into music school. Thirty years on and Hugo is now a music critic who endeavours to interpret music through images of everyday activities, such as brushing one’s teeth. He is writing a new book on the subject, but the discovery of his wife’s infidelity sees him heading for a crisis. Just when he decides to start afresh, an uninvited guest appears on his doorstep in the shape of his errant father. And when dad announces that he is going to die soon, and that he should be properly looked after, Hugo’s new life is shaken to its very foundations. An exploration of forced proximity, this tragicomedy is at once extremely uncomfortable and profoundly moving. Written and directed by Andres and Katrin Maimik, the film adds delicate hues to both their situations and brings into play a satirical slant on pseudointellectual rambling. With its realistic take on ordinary problems, the film adopts a cheerfully exaggerated tone which, thanks to its subversive lensing, wittily accentuates the incongruity of the two main characters.

Kamila Dolotina

About the film

100 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Katrin Maimik, Andres Maimik / Screenplay Katrin Maimik, Andres Maimik / Dir. of Photography Mihkel Soe / Music Sten Sheripov / Editor Helis Hirve / Art Director Kristina Lõuk / Producer Maie Rosmann-Lill / Production Kuukulgur Film / Coproduction Kinosaurus Film / Cast Rain Tolk, Roman Baskin, Evelin Võigemast / Contact Kuukulgur Film

About the director

Katrin Maimik (b. 1982, Kullamaa, Estonia, USSR) studied drama theory at the University of Tartu (2005) and screenwriting at Tallinn University’s Baltic Film and Media School (2013). She scripted and co-directed several shorts, the documentary Old Fish (Vanad kalad, 2010), and the feature films The Photo (Foto, 2013) and Silver Wedding (Hõbepulm, 2013). She regularly works with Andres Maimik (b. 1970, Tallinn, Estonia, USSR), a journalist and versatile filmmaker who scripts, directs and edits. He completed his documentary film studies at Tallinn University’s Teaching Faculty in 2009. His filmography includes around a dozen features and documentaries which have been successful both in local distribution and at foreign festivals. Their first joint film Cherry Tobacco (Kirsitubakas, 2014) competed in the East of the West Competition at the 49th KVIFF.