Two characters walk through a Belgian forest on the outskirts of the city. A shot follows one of the characters as they move, and the sound design emphasises the ambience of nature. The leaves rustling, the wind, and cracking trees. We don’t hear the human footsteps as they trudge, and as we see between bushes, the trainline that is in the background, we don’t hear the sound of a passing train either. The conscious choice in the sound design as they shot unfolds cemented my appreciation of Here (2023), a Belgian film directed by Bas Devos, co-written with Nabil Ben Yadir and Agung Bagus.
While the running time is under 90 minutes, Here works in the tradition of slow cinema. The Letterboxd description basically summarises all of what happens in the film. It’s more about how we experience the film as time passing, and letting the observational atmosphere wash over us. I had an idea in my mind about what Here would be like, simply based on a promotional still I saw of the two characters hanging out in nature, but it was more than what I assumed was a hiking movie. Stefan (Stefa Gota) is a construction worker, an immigrant from Romania, and the film sits watching the building work from afar, and then closer with each shot choice. The construction crew are set for their holiday break, and Stefan is planning to go home to Romania to visit his mother. He also suffers from insomnia, often visiting friends doing night shift work, and a big event in the film is Stefan cleaning out his fridge before being away for a month, and making soup from the leftover vegetables.
There’s also Shuxiu (Liyo Gong), a Chinese-Belgian graduate student, who is studying moss, examining it under a microscope and taking time in daily walks, to pick up samples from across the city and its bordering natural spaces. Eventually these two characters meet, but there’s nothing hurried or pronounced. It’s more about spending time with how they interact with the world in different ways, but both with a sense of patience. And it’s an approach that’s extended to the viewer, if they want to accept, often feeling like a meditative experience, close-ups of leaves and street lamps as rain falls. I was really on its wavelength, particularly with the soulful presence of Stefa Gota as our entry point, a muscular man in shorts who remains quiet and a little bit melancholy, as he visits friends and does his rounds in this transitional point between work and holiday, Belgium and Romania.
What do I get out of a movie like this? Some would say nothing happens in it, or that it’s boring and unresolved. I like how slow cinema asks me to lock in with the images and sound, while also simultaneously allowing me to let go. There’s no artificial conflict, and there might not be a clear answer to the character’s decisions or anxieties. It can be enough to just observe.
Available to stream on SBS On Demand. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 