Gavagai. 2016. Germany/Norway. Directed, photographed, and edited by Rob Tregenza. Screenplay by Tregenza, Kirk Kjeldsen. With Andreas Lust, Anni-Kristiina Juuso, Mikkel Gaup. 90 min.
Tregenza’s most recent film, shot in Norway and written with the novelist Kirk Kjeldsen, is another of his metaphorical road trips, this time undertaken by a nameless writer (Andreas Lust) as an act of devotion to his late wife. Accompanied by a local guide (Mikkel Gaup), he travels to the hometown of the Norwegian poet Tarjei Vesaas, whose work his wife long dreamed of translating into Chinese. “In short, Gavagai is an extraordinary and memorable film; its strong and clear emotional refinement arises from a rare force of imagination, a rare power of observation, a rare cinematic sense to fuse them, and a rare skill to realize them together” (Richard Brody).