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| Aloys Adorn (George Friedrich) ventures into new realms in Tobias Nolle's evocative Aloys (2016) |
Loneliness can sneak up on you. Many of us are creatures of habit, and introverts can lead very quiet and isolated lives simply by moving through their daily routines without the smallest bit of human interaction. I certainly am more than mildly familiar with this condition. That's why Tobias Nolle's
Aloys (2016) is such a tender-hearted and gentle film about a loner who slowly, ever so slowly, emerges from his isolated cocoon. The film's protagonist does not even realize he's acutely lonely until his hand is forced; yet this experience allows him, and us, to see the world anew.
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| After his father dies, Aloys spends most of his time in his apartment/P.I. Office |
Aloys Adorn, the junior member of Aloys and Son's private investigation agency, finds himself unmoored after his father (who is his roomate) passes away--seemingly from a long illness. Indeed, his identity is so wrapped in his father, that for much of the film, he refers to himself as "we," unwilling to leave behind the first person plural. He continues to fulfill the agency's P.I. work, filming sordid trysts and cheating spouses--his sole human interactions are from the safe distance behind his video-cam lens. He even films his father's corpse, as if allowing for closeness would be both emotionally and psychologically too painful. Yet there is something whimsical lurking under Aloys gruff exterior. Yes, he subsists on takeout Chinese food and rebuffs everyone who offers him support or comfort, but then he takes incredibly poignant and rather curious videos of sheep.
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| Vera educates Aloys on the fine art of "Phone Wandering" |
Despite Aloys's determination to avoid all human contact, the people around him never stop trying to engage. His neighbors knock on his door and he steadfastly ignores them, until one lamentable evening, passed out on the bus, he has his precious video camera and DV tapes taken from him. A mysterious woman soon calls him, giving him clues as to who she is, and where she is through sound and visual description. She trains him in the fine art of "phone wandering;" invented by a Japanese Neurologist as a way, with enough concentration and focus, to transport people into another realm. It's also a way for two people, separated by distance, to feel like they are together, in the same place.
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| Yen Lee (Yufei Li) does not realize that Aloys is dining with "a friend" |
While things are a bit bumpy at first, soon walls dissolve as Vera's (Tilde Von Overbeck) voice creates an intimate connection between them. Cynical folks might think of this traveling as a shared hallucination, and the first signs of a severe mental illness, yet that would be missing the poignant charm of this film. Aloys's tentative steps at connection, compelled by Vera, allow him to safely and carefully blossom and take joy in his relatively bleak world. This meaningful step is one that in some ways saves the depressive Vera as well, and when Aloys finally decides to make this transformation tangible, this delicate meeting between two damaged souls feels just right.
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| Heaven sometimes can be other people |
Tobias Nolle's
Aloys is a deeply romantic and carefully plotted film, with strikingly composed scenes and a lively soundscape. Like the best films, this moving character study swept me up in its emotionally-rich world and transported me to another realm. It's a beauty, and a must-see.
