Synopsis
An ethnographic comedy showing people at leisure in the setting of their “sommerhus”, a sort of summer residence popular in Denmark. Among the cast: a teenage girl who treads water in an indoor swimming pool, two old sisters bemused by a TV system, some drunken friends indulging in a risky game of darts, a man in underpants hooked on virtual reality and a woman with a nervy Shih Tzu who narrates how they spend their day.
A word from Tënk
"Leisure is man's greatest joy and most beautiful conquest".
It's hard not to read this famous quote by French writer Rémy de Gourmont without a touch of irony after watching Leisure Time - A Summer's Day, a brilliant ethnofiction crafted by Adam Paaske. Over the course of a day, the filmmaker exposes us to the most unglamorous aspects of so-called "free" vacation time: the little frustrations, the floundering, the loneliness, the boredom, the miscommunication… everything that's never revealed or shown in the stories we tell after the fact. But this film is also an ode to the little things, to contemplation, to counter-productivity and to idle time. Because often, even on vacation, the inclination is to perform.
A tender yet caustic look at our lives at rest, leading us to ask a profound existential question: How do we use the time we have?
Jason Burnham
Tënk editorial manager
