This double DVD edition is published jointly by the Cinémathèque de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles and CINEMATEK.
Patrick Van Antwerpen, who Boris Lehman called the "cheerful film-maker", established himself as such with a number of short films that combine intelligence with naivety, maturity with spontaneity. A Good Day's Work, his only full-length feature film and shot in a supermarket in a Brussels suburb, conveys his personal and perceptive view of life and turns this world with which we are familiar into one that is comical and poetic.
CONTENT
DVD 1
Vivement ce soir (1985, 83 min)
"The film records a day in a supermarket in the Brussels region. The story of this day's little events, both comic and touching, provides the general framework of the film. The situations which are conveyed through an accumulation of quick, light touches, highlight some of the ways we behave in connection with food, the repetitive element in our gestures and movements in this everyday, enclosed world which is so familiar. The film is based on the observation of a supermarket and the people who shop or work there. More and more of their various personalities emerge in the course of the day. They all have their importance: we get to know them from the outside, like people in a group photo where each has his own place. All these individuals cross each other's paths, meet each other, bump into each other again and fill in the framework of the film with a many-sided tableau." (Patrick Van Antwerpen)
DVD 2
Le banc (1971, 9 min)
"There are people who never go and sit on a public bench and there are people who sometimes go and sit on a public bench. These are very different people, the former walk very fast, the latter arrive, stay a moment and then leave. And it was the latter who interested me in particular. What do they do? Do they talk to each other? What do they say? My idea was to make a short film about that, showing five people who are very different from each other but who were all able to come and have a chat for a moment on a public bench." (Patrick Van Antwerpen)
L'autobus (1973, 13 min)
It's a very simple story shot on a quiet street in Brussels. People are waiting for the bus, which is late. They talk to each other, confide in each other, pass the time of day and give each other practical advice. Actually, they don't say a lot. What Van Antwerpen shows us is life carrying on in its disturbing banality." (Review by Luc Honorez in Le Soir, 1974)
L'air du large (1979, 12 min)
The sea and the beach at Ostend. A gentleman walks along the water's edge and scans the horizon with his binoculars. He encounters a lady who is having a paddle. The lady notices a strange object floating on the surface of the water. Intrigued, they try to retrieve it...
Un joli petit coin (1980, 55 min)
Inspired by a mime show ("Panem en circenses"), the film is a series of comical situations based on the absurd. Burlesque situations experienced by two tramps in a vague location. They don't know each other but have both chosen to spend the night there. The film tells of them approaching each other, at times being charming, at others jeering and being aggressive. Shot in natural settings, the area around Brussels-North railway station, the film makes striking use of the areas of demolition, the remains of houses, "sections of life"...
Rue de l'arbre unique (1983, 11 min)
Based on improvisations by Luc De Smet, the film presents a series of comical situations that a character encounters as he walks along by a wall.
DVD 1: 83 min.
DVD 2: 100 min.
Language: French
Subtitles: Dutch, English
Regional Code: PAL (region free)