{"id":461190,"date":"2022-06-11T02:00:07","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T23:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/watch-january-review-self-seeking-amid-latvias-independence-struggle\/"},"modified":"2022-06-11T02:00:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T23:00:07","slug":"watch-january-review-self-seeking-amid-latvias-independence-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/watch-january-review-self-seeking-amid-latvias-independence-struggle\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch &#8216;January&#8217; Review: Self-Seeking Amid Latvia&#8217;s Independence Struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40dcdd4cb49\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40dcdd4cb49\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/watch-january-review-self-seeking-amid-latvias-independence-struggle\/#%E2%80%9CWatch_Online_%E2%80%98January_Review_Self-Seeking_Amid_Latvias_Independence_Struggle%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Watch Online &#8216;January&#8217; Review: Self-Seeking Amid Latvia&#8217;s Independence Struggle&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/watch-january-review-self-seeking-amid-latvias-independence-struggle\/#%E2%80%9C%E2%80%98January_Review_Self-Seeking_Amid_Latvias_Independence_Struggle%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;&#8216;January&#8217; Review: Self-Seeking Amid Latvia&#8217;s Independence Struggle&#8221;<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/watch-january-review-self-seeking-amid-latvias-independence-struggle\/#optional_screen_reader\" >optional screen reader<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/watch-january-review-self-seeking-amid-latvias-independence-struggle\/#Read_More_About\" >Read More About:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CWatch_Online_%E2%80%98January_Review_Self-Seeking_Amid_Latvias_Independence_Struggle%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Watch Online &#8216;January&#8217; Review: Self-Seeking Amid Latvia&#8217;s Independence Struggle&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9C%E2%80%98January_Review_Self-Seeking_Amid_Latvias_Independence_Struggle%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;&#8216;January&#8217; Review: Self-Seeking Amid Latvia&#8217;s Independence Struggle&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div>\n                        History currently repeating itself lends a particular frisson to Latvian theater, opera and film director Viesturs Kairiss\u2019 \u201cJanuary.\u201d It takes place in early 1991, when the nation\u2019s push for independence (alongside other Baltic states) met with armed Soviet resistance even as the USSR was falling apart. Those historical events are interwoven with vaguely autobiographical fiction revolving around a mildly nonconformist Riga film school student, one admittedly drawn much as the director was himself in that time and place.<\/p>\n<p>With Moscow leadership again hawkish toward retaining and\/or regaining territories of a former empire, this flashback has particular resonance, amplified by the use of archival <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> and activist-shot footage. Less compelling, if still diverting, are the more conventionally indulgent, nouvelle vague-influenced scenes that comprise a Portrait of the Artist as a Sulky Young Man. The history lesson seems fresher than this protagonist\u2019s stale angst \u2014 he is, frankly, a bit of a pill, and having him as our POV limits \u201cJanuary\u2019s\u201d impact. Nonetheless, this Tribeca-boosted drama\u2019s topicality and the midcareer director\u2019s track record should attract programmer interest on the festival circuit and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Opening text informs it\u2019s Jan. 2, 1991. Russian special police units known as OMON have taken over the state Press House to halt publications supporting the Latvian independence that was declared (and disregarded by the Kremlin) some months earlier. Though he demonstrates no personal political beliefs himself, 19-year-old Jazis (Karlis Arnolds Avots) is willing to risk a beating or arrest to videotape that occupation, along with friend Zeps (Sandis Runge).<\/p>\n<p>The two are enrolled at the local arts academy, both intent on a film career \u2014 we can tell because they\u2019re always dropping names like Bergman, Herzog, Tarkovsky, Chytilova and Kubrick. In an improv acting class, tall, curly-haired Jazis meets fellow student Anna (Alise Dzene), a rich girl whose rebelliousness runs more toward acts of shock-the-bourgeoise provocation. She im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely impresses him by owning the soundtrack to Jarmusch\u2019s \u201cStranger Than Paradise.\u201d Soon they\u2019re having bad sex and romping about in montages shot in different film stocks.<\/p>\n<p>Already at odds for no particular reason with his good-humored, supportive parents (Baiba Broka, Aleksas Kazanavicius), Jazis churlishly blows a very good thing with Anna when she attracts an intern\/assistant gig he would have liked for himself. (She\u2019s taken on by Juhan Ulfsak as real-life documentarian Juris Podnieks, who shot key footage of the independence struggle before dying in a scuba-diving mishap just the next year.) He considers joining the Russian Army, despite everyone \u2014 not least his own mother \u2014 wondering why he\u2019d aid the enemy rather than man his own people\u2019s barricades.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually Jurik does help fight those at the barricades \u2014 or at least to film others fighting \u2014 which escalates the mingling of archival footage amid the action. Our antihero apologizes to Anna, claiming his actions were due to \u201cpretending to be someone I\u2019m not,\u201d on the other hand complaining to his mother, \u201cI\u2019m never gonna find out who I am.\u201d Nevertheless, his internal struggles, whatever they are, remain unexposed here; he just seems petulant, without any real political or artistic convictions we can discern as an excuse.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not lead actor Avots\u2019 fault that this central character remains so psychologically undefined, or that the film doesn\u2019t even draw narrative meaning from his lack of definition \u2014 which is, presumably, meant to be just a phase the directorial alter ego is going through. Kairiss is handsome, occasionally playful and charming, though invariably moody five seconds later. But the problem with his being our primary viewpoint is that he doesn\u2019t seem to have one of his own. Even at the barricades, he mostly just gets in the way of people who are passionately committed to being there. Nor is there much rooting value for the romance with Anna, even though the film chooses to close on its possible rekindling.<\/p>\n<p>As roman \u00e0 clef, \u201cJanuary\u201d isn\u2019t all that interesting \u2014 but then, <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movies<\/a> about filmmakers glamorizing their collegiate salad days seldom are. The movie even looks as if shrouded in a mist of memory, DP Wojciech Staron\u2019s Academy-ratio images gauzily soft. More involving are the backgrounding events and subsidiary figures, from the deft incorporation of period footage (and music) to the bemused, loving tolerance Kairiss\u2019 parents practice toward him, as well as each other. (Mom\u2019s staunchly anti-Soviet, Dad\u2019s a Party member; neither minds too much.)<\/p>\n<p>Co-written with Andris Feldmanis and Livia Ulman, Kairiss\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a> sometimes feels like a loose string of episodes that achieved more flow than story structure in the editing room. Still, the whole does move along, its feel evocative if never quite so substantial as one might ideally like a tale of national liberation to be. The disparate elements (which also encompass vintage Latvian-cinema clips, including from Podnieks\u2019 work) manage to hang together more than not, one binding factor being Juste Janulyte\u2019s frequently interesting original score.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-tags \/\/ a-children-icon-bullet lrv-u-font-family-primary u-letter-spacing-012 lrv-u-line-height-large lrv-u-color-brand-primary\">\n<h2 id=\"optional-screen-reader\" class=\"lrv-a-screen-reader-only\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"optional_screen_reader\"><\/span>\n        optional screen reader  <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<nav class=\"o-nav  o-nav lrv-u-border-b-1 u-border-color-brand-secondary-40 lrv-u-border-t-1 lrv-u-text-align-center lrv-u-padding-b-025 u-padding-t-050@desktop u-padding-t-050@tablet u-padding-t-050@mobile-max lrv-u-margin-t-2 lrv-u-margin-b-2\" data-dropdown=\"\">\n<h4 id=\"\" class=\"o-nav__title lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-font-family-secondary o-nav__title a-content-ignore u-line-height-140 u-letter-spacing-0002\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Read_More_About\"><\/span>Read More About:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" class=\"optanon-category-C0004\">\n  !function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n    if (f.fbq) return;\n    n = f.fbq = function() {\n      n.callMethod ?\n          n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);\n    };\n    if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n    n.push = n;\n    n.loaded = !0;\n    n.version = '2.0';\n    n.queue = [];\n    t = b.createElement(e);\n    t.async = !0;\n    t.src = v;\n    s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n    s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n  }(window, document, 'script',\n      'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '586935388485447');\n  fbq('init', '315552255725686');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/watch-movies-tv-series\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watch Movies &#038; TV Series <\/a><\/span>category<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2022\/film\/reviews\/january-review-janvaris-1235289054\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Watch Online &#8216;January&#8217; Review: Self-Seeking Amid Latvia&#8217;s Independence Struggle&#8221; &#8220;&#8216;January&#8217; Review: Self-Seeking Amid Latvia&#8217;s Independence Struggle&#8221; History currently repeating itself lends a particular frisson to Latvian theater, opera and film director Viesturs Kairiss\u2019 \u201cJanuary.\u201d It takes place in early 1991, when the nation\u2019s push for independence (alongside other Baltic states) met with armed Soviet resistance&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":461191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/January.jpg?w=1000","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-watch-movies-tv-seriess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}