Georgian director Aleksandre Koberidze’s third feature film, “Dry Leaf,” impresses with its daring experimental choices. The bare bones story follows Irakli (Aleksandre’s father David) as he searches for his 28-year-old daughter Lisa, a Shkivi magazine sports photographer now gone for months on an assignment to photograph rural Georgian (the country) football pitches. After his longtime friend Levani (Otar Nijaradze) delivers a letter from Lisa to Irakli, he becomes deeply concerned. Accompanied by Levani, Irakli decides he absolutely must search for Lisa, which he does, driving through the countryside’s small villages, visiting the many soccer pitches Lisa may have photographed in each location.
At face value, this summary may seem to describe a fairly traditional road movie involving a quite desperate endeavor to find a missing person. However, that’s where any ordinary, formulaic narrative stops and Koberidze’s experimental production begins. Most noticeable immediately, technically, Koberidze shot with a vintage Sony Ericsson W595 low resolution phone camera that renders the entire three hour six minute film in blurry images. In addition to that, plus the long running time, several characters remain invisible for the entire film, never seen though often addressed by Irakli and answering him. Most significantly, his traveling companion Levani occupies the empty front sea in their car, a presence and absence at the same time (French philosopher Jacques Derrida would love it.) Further family contributions come from Aleksandre’s brother Giorgi who composed the music and supervised the sound design. Low-quality mono recordings bolster repetitive scenes contrasting with other sequences accompanied by pristine quality audio, while yet other moments are presented silently or punctuated by the wind alone. Again, conventional films’ customary, harmonious through line for music and sound is absent as Koberidze maintains his inventive approach.
What happens for three hours plus consists of Irakli’s driving, asking young boys he accidentally encounters if there’s a pitch nearby, visiting those fields, and moving on. Punctuating his days, Irakli affectionately pays close attention to a range of animals: horses, a foal, cattle, dogs, cats, a donkey, and a calf that Irakli feeds berries. In other words, he shows great kindness toward all of them. At another stop, Irakli visits a place where he remembers planting a mulberry tree as a child in 1962 or ’64. In conversation with a friend there, who does appear on screen, they reminisce about Antimoz, in their words “a magnificent man with a wonderful spirit,” a great teacher who told old tales and whose classes they never skipped. After Antimoz’s death, the students carried his body in three feet of snow for ten kilometers. And then Irakli moves on to a satisfying, but still curious conclusion.
The curious title “Dry Leaf” comes from twice World Cup winner, Brazilian midfielder Waldyr Pereira, known as Didi, who championed a unique football pass (with other players also credited.) In Portuguese, “folha seca” (dry leaf) describes a technique of striking the ball to eliminate, or almost cancel, its spinning motion, kicked with a twist that makes it difficult for the goalie to defend against as the ball swerves in its flight. The intended result simulates the unpredictably of a falling leaf. This football metaphor characterizes Irakli’s quest, one that finds him without a strategy for defense or success.
Overall, “Dry Leaf” demands extreme patience, a Zenlike state of receptivity. It is a film easy to admire but one that requires a shift in expectations and a willingness to accept out-of-focus images for a long time. It also rewards the effort for the required adjustment. In Georgian with English subtitles, “Dry Leaf” screens one night only, Sunday, August 2, at Webster University’s Winifred Moore auditorium at 7:00 p.m. that evening. For more information: Webster.edu/filmseries