by DYLAN LUBAO
The Girl, written and directed by David Riker; Dragon Girls, directed by Inigo Westmeier, written by Westmeier and Benjamin Quabeck
A compulsion to look humanity in the face, warts and all, is a vital artistic impulse that can lead to works of refreshing clarity. The lens through which the artist views life, fashioned by his or her own complex social development, can either bring into focus or irreparably blur that visage.
American David Riker and Belgian-born, German-educated Inigo Westmeier are two filmmakers who clearly possess a sympathy for the downtrodden. Their childlike curiosity about individuals struggling against the odds can occasionally deliver penetrating glimpses of the resilience and generosity of ordinary people stuck in unbearable situations. Not surprisingly, children play a central role in each of their films, and it is clear that both directors delight in their company.
Nevertheless, this narrow focus on the individual poses an artistic limitation. Without immersing oneself into the wider social currents that course around the individual and help shape his or her destiny, the artist relegates himself to sketching rough outlines from the shallows. The Girl is American director David Riker’s second time at the helm, after directing the 1998 film La Ciudad (The City), a series of short vignettes of Latin American workers in New York. He also co-wrote the screenplays for the dystopic science fiction film Sleep Dealer and the recent investigative documentary Dirty Wars.
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