THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN (2024, doc)

October 24, 2024

Greetings again from the darkness. As parents we fool ourselves into believing we know our children and what they are up to. After all, they live in the same house and eat the same meals. Norwegian documentarian Benjamin Ree shows us quite a contrast to this theory. What happens when a loving family discovers their son’s secret life much too late?

Trude and her husband Robert were thrilled when their son Mats was born in 1989. Shock and disappointment hit hard when Mats was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a rare degenerative muscle disease for which there is no cure. Trude describes the pain of watching her son grow weaker. He had little appetite, became wheelchair bound, and made no real friends. As he got older, the parents refused to limit his computer time, as it was the only thing Mats seemed to want to do.

At age 18, Mats started a blog. By age 25 he was dead. His final blog entry was “Musings of Life”. Since the parents had Mats’ password, Robert posted “The Journey has Come to an End.” The family, including Mats’ sister Mia, assumed that was the end of it. What followed was a true blessing (and shock) for the family. Tributes and remembrances of Mats streamed in from the online community. It turns out, Mats was a vital and active member of the Starlight group within the World of Warcraft gaming field. Mats had created a new persona known as Ibelin, and he lived an online life that was impossible for him in the real world.

Some of these Starlight folks held a memorial for Mats, which meant so much to the family. We hear directly from some of the folks Mats had helped along the way. He was described as intuitive at helping other lost souls. His dad calculated that Mats had spent approximately 20,000 hours online over the last ten years of his life, and the family was elated that Mats had not led the life of isolation they assumed, and instead thrived behind the Ibelin avatar. This revelation was a true blessing, and it’s told beautifully in this documentary.

On Netflix beginning October 25, 2024

WATCH THE TRAILER

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Posted by David Ferguson

THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF (2020, doc)

May 21, 2020

 Greetings again from the darkness. Artists think differently than the rest of us. Not only do they see the world with an offbeat or skewed vision, but they process life events in ways we sometimes can’t fathom. For instance, if a crime were committed against you – say, your property was stolen – your natural response would be anger, or a desire for justice for the perpetrator. In Norwegian director Benjamin Ree’s documentary, Czech artist Barbora Kysilkova reacts much differently when her two most valuable paintings are stolen. She befriends the thief.

We see the security video footage. Karl-Bertil Nordland and another man break into Oslo’s Galleri Nobel and then walk out with Barbora’s paintings. Upon being apprehended, the painter and thief have a chat in the courtroom. Bertil confesses that he chose the paintings because they were “beautiful.” The artist is intrigued and invites the thief to pose for a portrait when he is released from jail. As if this situation isn’t bizarre enough, Bertil claims he has no idea where the stolen paintings are, and has no memory of what happened. Yes, he’s also a drug addict.

It’s a bit uncomfortable to watch post-prison Bertil lounging on Barbora’s sofa as she sketches him and they converse about philosophies of life. Slowly, their relationship builds into a friendship. It’s an unlikely connection through art. We get a rare glimpse of an artist at work, as we see Barbora in her studio working on her pieces. Of course, she is also saddened by the loss of the two unrecovered pieces, and we also witness the artist struggle with the commerce/business side of art, as she faces frequent rejections from galleries as she attempts to display her work. This is on top of the lectures from her boyfriend … lectures delivered in the manner a parent would talk to their kid.

One of the more surreal moments occurs when the camera films Barbora at Bertil’s place, and she sketches him and his girlfriend in a provocative pose. During all of this, we hear Barbora discussing why she finds Bertil interesting, despite his junkie-criminal lifestyle. After all, he is the kind of guy who scores a fix on his way to rehab. Things get very interesting … in a weird way … when Ree turns the tables and films Bertil analyzing Barbora.

These two have studied each other over the years, and may have a better understanding of their friend, than they do of themselves. Watching Barbora act as caregiver for an injured Bertil is a confusing development to process, but it goes back to how artists see the world through their own eyes. Her paintings may be ultra-realistic, but her life barely qualifies as our reality … at least until the rent is past due. The connections through the circle tattoo may come across as somewhat creepy, and we find ourselves a bit skeptical of many scenes where the camera is present, but there is no denying this works as a remarkable character study of two people we wouldn’t normally categorize as friends.

Neon is presenting this via Virtual Cinema beginning May 22, 2020

watch the trailer:

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Posted by David Ferguson