Lament
2022 · 4m · Denmark
Genres: drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
A wake takes place in a rural Irish home: a time for tradition and paying respects. The film explores the mental state and emotions of grief — how loss tears a hole in the fabric of life and leaves a lament for those we miss.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A wake in rural Ireland—the most obvious grief setup imaginable, and the film knows it, which means it's probably doing something too tasteful for my taste. Pass it to Margot; this is curatorial comfort food.
The wake is a formal container that holds centuries of ritual and restraint; this film trusts that tradition completely, letting the frame and silence do the lament work rather than explaining grief. That's the kind of formal confidence that lingers.
The real question is what decision—a held shot, a specific sound layered under the proceedings, a performance choice—actually breaks the grief cliché open; the premise alone doesn't tell me, which means either the craft transcends it or it doesn't.