Family, The - True/False Film Fest

Family, The

Young Matej just can’t seem to catch a break – but now he must rise to the occasion of being a father.
Director: Rok Biček
Runtime: 1:46
In-person: director Rok Biček
Fest Year: 2018
Shot over a decade, Rok Biček’s gritty vérité studies a young Slovenian named Matej as he fumbles his way through fatherhood. When Biček first begins filming, Matej is a teenager living with his parents and brother, who are all intellectually disabled. Over the next decade, Matej embarks on a foolhardy search for stability, feeling out his place in a variety of households. Matej is a character for the ages: savvy, dogged, reckless, unpredictable. As he explores and begins to nihilistically question his function in contemporary society, his journeys are documented by Biček with extraordinary patience and precision. The film’s ingenious, time-scrambling structure prizes moods, emotions, and ideas over chronological legibility. (CB)