Patrick

Patrick lives at a naturist campsite his father runs and works as a carpenter. His father dies. While everyone argues about who will inherit the site, who will run it and whether it will be sold, Patrick is occupied with something else entirely: he has lost his hammer and is looking for it. Nobody takes it seriously. Tim Mielants directs. Kevin Janssens plays Patrick. The idea is holding on to a single object in a life that has come loose. The hammer is built as a figure and the film never says so; Patrick is simply looking for his hammer while those around him talk about grief, inheritance and money. The nudity of the camp is not used as a joke. The bodies are shown as ordinary and the embarrassment appears only in the clothed scenes; that inversion is the film's visual idea. Kevin Janssens carries the character with almost no dialogue; the difference between anger and grief is in the face and the posture alone. Mielants is known on the television side, having directed episodes of Peaky Blinders, and this is his first feature. The tone stands between dry comedy and drama and overstates neither. It won awards in Belgium and travelled the festivals. Who it is for: viewers who like dry European comedy and single idea narratives. Who it is not for: almost nothing happens, the pace is slow, and the metaphor is too fine for some.