Documentary film(mast)er Jan visits the (playing) drunk slave HD. Playing Drunk is the new film by Jan Soldat—a German filmmaker who has devoted his body of work to exploring sexuality, intimacy, fetish, and, ultimately, love — and marks his return to the festival after being featured in the Focus section at IndieLisboa in 2015.
A filmmaker sets out to film a (self-proclaimed) sex slave “playing drunk.” Playing while drunk? Pretending to be drunk? The exchange is not mutually erotic. The subject agrees to present himself sexually, without revealing his intentions. The director seeks to document. The director also doesn’t seek to interact from the outset: the documentary vision he pursues does not allow it, nor does the constant, thoughtful work of framing the shots (done on the spot and with little time to accommodate the subject). But what happens when the slave decides to rebel against his contract? And what happens when the impassive gaze is frustrated to the point of having to interact? The master-slave relationship, which was already traditionally deconstructed in the initial proposal, progressively collapses from this central figure who dominates, distorts, and orders the film (its rules, its conditions, and its form). (Vasco Muralha)
