THE TEMPTATION OF ST TONY

Tony is completely stuck in a mid-life existential crisis since his father died. He watches the world around him and notices a slight smell of the apocalypse. His fellow men seem to be bored stiff and pass the time by organizing nihilistic orgies or by metaphysically giving the same importance to questions like e.g.“Give me some salt” and “Who am I ?” So Tony takes stock of the values that govern his life and tries to find a satisfying answer in seven chapters, which just happens to be the the same number as the Deadly Sins or the circles in Dante’s Inferno. From religious decay over the illusion of love to the erosion of social intercourse, Tony will slowly but surely reach the conclusion that life is useless. Tony will have to face some very unpleasant answers in order to survive. Who am I ? A loser. Where am I ? In deep shit. Where am I going ? Straight against the wall, Tony. Straight against the wall… This poetic requiem – the Estonian candidate at this year’s Oscars – confirms Veikko Ounpuu’s talent, director of the award winning Autumn Ball. Inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy and Hieronymus Bosch’s The Temptation of St Anthony, “St Tony” also salutes the movies of Roy Andersson, with its dry sense of humour, sweats Kafkaesque absurdity from each frame, and takes its metaphysical surrealism straight from Tarkovsky and Bunuel. The Temptation of St. Tony is heavy but very enjoyable stuff without a shred of indigestible pretentiousness.