The Vibrant Village

****1/2

Reviewed by: Amber Wilkinson

The Vibrant Village
"Jurkiewicz drinks in all the life the village offers, almost imperceptibly soldering her own connections between the external environments and the internal, the women and the men, the traditional and the unexpected." | Photo: Courtesy of Doc/Fest

The neon pink title card offers a tiny clue as to where this delightful slice-of-life documentary might take us - something unexpected is being made in the tiny Hungarian village of Börcs.

It's unlikely you'll guess what that something is, initially, as documentarian Weronika Jurkiewicz and cinematographer André Cruz roam the streets with a camera capturing the houses almost like still life, where it not for the occasional kid's scooter zipping by - or in just one example of the way the director finds humour in mirroring - a motability scooter trundling past in the opposite direction.

In one corner of the village men are gradually filling a small bar, drinking and exchanging idle chat. In another, women, all with immaculate nail polish are producing something - something that requires tiny soldered circuit boards and whose parts include a piece that is taken from the mold with a satisfying "thwock". In the centre and, connected at least on some level to both, stands a Catholic church, singing flowing out of it, elsewhere there's a buzz of a different kind.

Jurkiewicz drinks in all the life the village offers, almost imperceptibly soldering her own connections between the external environments and the internal, the women and the men, the traditional and the unexpected. This is Jurkiewicz's first film - with this sort of eye and ear for detail, I doubt it'll be her last.

Reviewed on: 03 Oct 2021
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In a quiet Hungarian village, men gather to swill beer at the bar. Meanwhile the women are busy at work manufacturing something unexpected.

Director: Weronika Jurkiewicz

Year: 2019

Runtime: 7 minutes

Country: Poland


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