From his sundrenched garden in Miami, Iggy Pop reads from Michel Houellebecq’s “To Stay Alive.” In 1991, Houellebecq wrote this thought-provoking essay on insanity, survival and art, describing it as “a weak but clear signal to those on the point of giving up.” Houellebecq urges poets who are weary of life to “return to the origin; that is, to suffering.” A poet should put his finger on society’s wounds and press down hard, he says.
DIRECTIONS. Cannes 2017 Official Selection – Un Certain Regard
DIRECTIONS is a road movie through the dystopia that is present day Bulgaria, a country that remains optimistic, mainly because all the realists and pessimists have left. At a meeting with his banker, a small business owner, who drives a cab to make ends meet, discovers the bribe he will have to pay to get a loan has doubled. The ethics board that reviewed his complaint about extortion now wants its share of the action. At his wit’s end, he shoots the banker and then himself. The incident sparks national debate on talk radio about how despair has taken over civil society. Meanwhile, six taxi drivers and their passengers move through the night, each in hope of finding a brighter way forward.