The Park

Summertime. A teenage boy and girl have their first date in a park. At first hesitant and shy, they soon discover each other, grow closer as they walk, and eventually fall in love. But as the sun sets, it's time to part ways... And a dark night begins. "A summer park, a few passers-by, a boy, a girl, and a park ranger—that's all Damien Manivel needs to conjure up a wonderful, tender, and surprising film on the screen. What is astonishing is not only the matter-of-factness and, at first glance, completely unspectacular naturalness with which Manivel lets his amateur actors perform, but also how closely the story and the way the director stages it go hand in hand. [...] Also noteworthy are the liberties Damien Manivel takes in systematically expanding the film's previously deliberately limited space: Both visually and on the extremely concise audio level, Le Parc repeatedly refers to the space beyond what is shown, to the off-screen sounds, to the stories beyond the (actual) story, to the magic and irrationality, to the other dimension that lurks alongside the visible and audible. [...] Manivel's beginnings as a director (this film is only his second feature film after the highly acclaimed ‘Un jeune poète’) are thoroughly enchanting and give us high expectations of this extremely talented director." (Joachim Kurz, on: kino-zeit.de)