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In a small provincial town in the Czech Republic, suffering seems to exist around every corner. This difficult and emotionally heavy subject matter is at the center of Petr Vaclav latest film, “We Are Never Alone,” which takes a look at hardship, determination, and the pursuit to overcome overwhelming odds.
The Berlinale entry follows a group of individuals whose seemingly unrelated lives persistently effect each other in one way or another. From a paranoid prison guard and his hypochondriac neighbor to a lovesick nightclub manager and his single-mom stripper, “We Are Never Alone” showcases the inadvertent effect that each of us have on one another. Using both color and black-and-white imagery, Vaclav invokes in his viewers a strong sense of loneliness and desperation. The juxtaposition of the dreary monochrome with the equally dark and dreary neon lighting creates a punishing aura that, in its most vivid sense, resembles the visual representation of isolation.
“No one is ever alone – we are always connected,” the director says of the film. “We all live with others: some we dominate, some dominate us. The weaker submit to the stronger, the imitators to the originators, lovers to their beloved. This is a film about our time.”
Catch the exclusive trailer to the film above. “We Are Never Alone” premieres at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 12.
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