DIRECTOR: Marko Raat
STARRING: Elina Masing, Tiina Tauraite, Hendrik Toompere Jr., Meelis Rammeld, Kart Kokkota
RUNNING TIME: 2 hrs 1 minutes
LANGUAGE: Estonian
On the shimmering shores of Europe's otherworldly edge, two teenage girls, Hanake and her best friend are discussing their first love interest while gazing out at yachts sailing to Kyoto. But the magic is fading in their isolated fishing village as they're dealing with a recent disaster. It becomes clear that intimacy alone won't help them process their loss.
***
8 Views of Lake Biwa is based on the book of the same name published by the German Japanophile Max Dauthendy in 1911. The director-screenwriter of the film is Marko Raat. Raat has been making features since 2002, with this his ninth effort and first time representing his country for the Oscars. The film premiered in the competition program at the Rotterdam Film Festival in the beginning of 2024, followed by a local release in March. The film stars Elina Masing and Tiina Tauraite.
The committee convened by the Estonian Film Institute (EFI) selected Marko Raat's feature film 8 Views of Lake Biwa as their candidate for the Best International Film category of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. According to the commission, 8 Views of Lake Biwa is an interesting and unique interpretation of stories originating from Japanese culture in the Estonian landscape. It is a film that is, on the one hand, personal, but on the other hand, the story and its execution have a grand and international impact.
Stalwart Estonian producers Ivo Felt and Dora Nedeczky of Allfilm produced the title along with Mark Lwoff and Misha Jaari of Finland’s Bufo.
8 Views of Lake Biwa is a drama and it was filmed in Lake Peipsi by the Estonian and Russian border.
To check out all previous submissions for Estonia, click HERE.
STARRING: Elina Masing, Tiina Tauraite, Hendrik Toompere Jr., Meelis Rammeld, Kart Kokkota
RUNNING TIME: 2 hrs 1 minutes
LANGUAGE: Estonian
On the shimmering shores of Europe's otherworldly edge, two teenage girls, Hanake and her best friend are discussing their first love interest while gazing out at yachts sailing to Kyoto. But the magic is fading in their isolated fishing village as they're dealing with a recent disaster. It becomes clear that intimacy alone won't help them process their loss.
***
8 Views of Lake Biwa is based on the book of the same name published by the German Japanophile Max Dauthendy in 1911. The director-screenwriter of the film is Marko Raat. Raat has been making features since 2002, with this his ninth effort and first time representing his country for the Oscars. The film premiered in the competition program at the Rotterdam Film Festival in the beginning of 2024, followed by a local release in March. The film stars Elina Masing and Tiina Tauraite.
The committee convened by the Estonian Film Institute (EFI) selected Marko Raat's feature film 8 Views of Lake Biwa as their candidate for the Best International Film category of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. According to the commission, 8 Views of Lake Biwa is an interesting and unique interpretation of stories originating from Japanese culture in the Estonian landscape. It is a film that is, on the one hand, personal, but on the other hand, the story and its execution have a grand and international impact.
Stalwart Estonian producers Ivo Felt and Dora Nedeczky of Allfilm produced the title along with Mark Lwoff and Misha Jaari of Finland’s Bufo.
8 Views of Lake Biwa is a drama and it was filmed in Lake Peipsi by the Estonian and Russian border.
To check out all previous submissions for Estonia, click HERE.
FILM REVIEW:
(This review contains spoilers.)
“I love you when I watch you go. But you don’t love me because you’re leaving.”
8 Views of Lake Biwa is a haunting, poetic meditation on place, tragedy, and the ways in which communities grapple with loss. Drawing inspiration from the Japanese art tradition of "eight views," the film's episodic structure, paired with the somber and otherworldly tone of a small, isolated community, transforms the lake and its surroundings into a powerful symbol. While the title refers to the famous Lake Biwa, it's actually Lake Peipsi, straddling the Estonian-Russian border, that takes center stage. The lake, with its deep connection to Orthodox Russian refugees, becomes a metaphor for the enduring pain and fractured identity of the people who live there.
The film’s core narrative centers on the aftermath of a boat accident, where only a fisherman and a teenage girl, Haneke, survive. This tragedy serves as the inciting incident that fractures the relationships among the town’s key figures, including the teacher, the fishing inspector Roman, and Haneke herself. What follows is a narrative that drifts between the personal and communal, with each chapter revealing more about the village and its strange customs. The connections between characters and events sometimes defy common logic, but within the film’s dreamlike, self-contained world, they feel perfectly natural.
Director Marko Raat leans heavily into the atmosphere, establishing the mystical and almost surreal world of the lakeside community through whispered voice-overs, poetic nature shots, and cryptic dialogue. These stylistic choices evoke the meditative tone of Terrence Malick’s later films, especially in the way Raat prioritizes mood and environment over straightforward plot mechanics. The use of whispering and prayers, conveying the inner thoughts of characters, contributes to an otherworldly ambiance where irrational thinking and magical beliefs guide the community’s actions and emotions.
Raat’s film also ventures into the realm of the surreal, blending realism with moments of strange, almost magical occurrences. The ferry route that mysteriously extends from Estonia to Japan and the gallery-temple where grieving widows seek solace are just two examples of how 8 Views of Lake Biwa defies logical narrative conventions. Yet, the film’s surrealism never feels forced or out of place, it fits seamlessly into the community’s world, where spirituality, myth, and reality coexist in fluid, often indistinguishable ways. This unique blending of cultures and belief systems adds layers of depth to the film’s exploration of how a community processes collective trauma.
8 Views of Lake Biwa is a film about searching, for meaning, for redemption, and for a sense of belonging. Each character’s journey through the film’s episodic structure reveals not only the unresolved pain of the past but also the impossibility of truly leaving it behind. The lake, both a source of life and death, becomes a metaphor for the community’s struggles. While the film’s cryptic symbolism and unconventional narrative might challenge viewers, those who are willing to immerse themselves in its quiet beauty and existential pondering will find it to be a rewarding and thought-provoking experience. Raat has crafted a film that is as much about place as it is about people, offering a contemplative reflection on the human condition through the lens of a forgotten village by the water.
(This review contains spoilers.)
“I love you when I watch you go. But you don’t love me because you’re leaving.”
8 Views of Lake Biwa is a haunting, poetic meditation on place, tragedy, and the ways in which communities grapple with loss. Drawing inspiration from the Japanese art tradition of "eight views," the film's episodic structure, paired with the somber and otherworldly tone of a small, isolated community, transforms the lake and its surroundings into a powerful symbol. While the title refers to the famous Lake Biwa, it's actually Lake Peipsi, straddling the Estonian-Russian border, that takes center stage. The lake, with its deep connection to Orthodox Russian refugees, becomes a metaphor for the enduring pain and fractured identity of the people who live there.
The film’s core narrative centers on the aftermath of a boat accident, where only a fisherman and a teenage girl, Haneke, survive. This tragedy serves as the inciting incident that fractures the relationships among the town’s key figures, including the teacher, the fishing inspector Roman, and Haneke herself. What follows is a narrative that drifts between the personal and communal, with each chapter revealing more about the village and its strange customs. The connections between characters and events sometimes defy common logic, but within the film’s dreamlike, self-contained world, they feel perfectly natural.
Director Marko Raat leans heavily into the atmosphere, establishing the mystical and almost surreal world of the lakeside community through whispered voice-overs, poetic nature shots, and cryptic dialogue. These stylistic choices evoke the meditative tone of Terrence Malick’s later films, especially in the way Raat prioritizes mood and environment over straightforward plot mechanics. The use of whispering and prayers, conveying the inner thoughts of characters, contributes to an otherworldly ambiance where irrational thinking and magical beliefs guide the community’s actions and emotions.
Raat’s film also ventures into the realm of the surreal, blending realism with moments of strange, almost magical occurrences. The ferry route that mysteriously extends from Estonia to Japan and the gallery-temple where grieving widows seek solace are just two examples of how 8 Views of Lake Biwa defies logical narrative conventions. Yet, the film’s surrealism never feels forced or out of place, it fits seamlessly into the community’s world, where spirituality, myth, and reality coexist in fluid, often indistinguishable ways. This unique blending of cultures and belief systems adds layers of depth to the film’s exploration of how a community processes collective trauma.
8 Views of Lake Biwa is a film about searching, for meaning, for redemption, and for a sense of belonging. Each character’s journey through the film’s episodic structure reveals not only the unresolved pain of the past but also the impossibility of truly leaving it behind. The lake, both a source of life and death, becomes a metaphor for the community’s struggles. While the film’s cryptic symbolism and unconventional narrative might challenge viewers, those who are willing to immerse themselves in its quiet beauty and existential pondering will find it to be a rewarding and thought-provoking experience. Raat has crafted a film that is as much about place as it is about people, offering a contemplative reflection on the human condition through the lens of a forgotten village by the water.
