We all need a little fallow time when we can stop our frenzied pursuit and slow down. This is a transitional period that is often required for us to rejuvenate our spirits and do the inner work necessary for our creative juices to flow. It's a time for self-nurturing when we may want to just laze around and do nothing productive.
Writer and director Marc Recha (The Cherry Tree) has created a visually stunning story around the fallow time in his life. For quite a long time he has been caught up in the work of the Ramon, a journalist and family friend who is deceased. He wants to do some kind of massive project on him but just hasn't been able to put all the pieces together. So he contacts his fraternal twin David and, at his suggestion, they take off in a caravan on a trip through Catalonia, which has been hit by a major drought.
The brothers do very little but walk, check out the sights, and try to get in sync with the rhythms of the natural world. They take lots of naps in the shade. They are often interrupted — by a woman who joins them briefly, a forest ranger who left his job, and another woman who befriends them. Both men are somewhat dismayed by the dire effect humankind is having upon the environment. Marc is upset that Spain's landscape still bears marks of the Civil War. The two men are amused by the mythological tales of a fish with cat-like whiskers in a river. Marc vanishes for a while and David searches for him before realizing where he has gone.
August Days is carried by the narration of Marc and David's younger sister, who makes clear her respect for her brothers and their ability to take time off from the daily grind to revive their creativity. David eventually returns to his son in Barcelona whereas Marc decides to square off against his project on Ramon.
August Days is one of the best films you'll ever see about the beauty and the practicality of fallow time. The Taoists would love what Marc Recha has done with this probe of not-doing as a restorative movement for those who have too much on their plates.
Screened at the 44th New York Film Festival, Sept. 2006
