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A demeaning game-show appearance, an ill-advised mushroom-picking outing that goes horribly off the rails, inquiries from a cynical reporter — things just keep getting worse for the middle-aged politician at the centre of Estonian director Toomas Hussar's satire about a shallow, fame-obsessed post-Cold War culture.
Programmer's Note

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the former Eastern Bloc states have been confronted with all manner of sudden, in many cases problematic, changes: new currencies, open borders, free markets, a free (or at least freer) media. Toomas Hussar's Mushrooming addresses the impact of this freshly liberated media on Estonian politics, with frequently hilarious results.

Aada (Raivo E. Tamm), a stodgy, middle-aged politician, is being rushed off to a television studio by his communications director, who seems more concerned with drying her nails than with her boss' misgivings about his scheduled appearance. Yet Aada isn't nervous about going on TV to be grilled on policy: he's actually on his way to take part in one of the country's top game shows, Hop and Jump, which pits contestants against each other while seated on large, bouncing rubber balls. It will not be the only indignity he suffers. An ill-advised "traditional" day trip to pick mushrooms in the countryside with his wife, Vivi (Elina Reinold), is about to go horribly off the rails. Worse, a cynical reporter for a major daily newspaper is poring over Aada's expense reports.

Hussar's satire is less about specific politics than the inanity of contemporary discourse, in which fame, no matter how fleeting, is the only thing that's valued. (When Aada's small entourage runs afoul of an angry rural hermit, it isn't because of what they stand for; it's because they're famous.) Of course, it doesn't really matter how that fame is achieved. A farmer who recognizes Aada is as impressed as if he'd just met a Nobel Prize winner — or maybe Brad Pitt. As a corollary, Hussar takes aim at our culture's disinterest in — and growing lack of capacity for — thoughtful analysis or intelligent discussion, abandoned in favour of clichéd, sentimental posturing.

As the shaggy dog in this story, Aada is a kind of anxiety-ridden Everyman for whom every experience, with the sole exception of nesting in his own house, is fraught with terror. Uncomfortable with the past, mortified by the present and terrified of the future, he's a subversive and funny emblem of a country undergoing tremendous change, and of would-be shut-ins everywhere.

Steve Gravestock

Film kogus esimese nädalavahetusega kinodes 4697 vaatajat, olles selle tulemusega käesoleva aasta edukaim Eesti film. Aasta alguses linastunud “Vasaku jala reedet” käis avanädalavahetusel vaatamas 3649 ja 7. septembril kinodes jooksma hakanud Soome-Eesti ühisfilmi “Puhastus” 3393 vaatajat.

eerik wrote:Teisel nädalavahetusel oli ligi 500 vaatajat rohkem kui esimesel: 5186, kokku kahe nädalaga 14594 vaatajat.

eerik wrote:

eerik wrote:Teisel nädalavahetusel oli ligi 500 vaatajat rohkem kui esimesel: 5186, kokku kahe nädalaga 14594 vaatajat.

Hoog ei ole raugenud. Kolmandat nädalavahetust järjest vaadatuim film meie kinodes! 4492 vaatajat nädalavahetusel ja kolme nädalaga kokku 22739.