"Aquarela" (2018 release from Denmark; 89 min.) is a documentary about water, in its many forms and facets. As the movie opens, we see 3-4 guys walking gingerly on ice, and looking for something. That something turns out to be a car that has sunk into the lake when the ice gave way, and eventually they are able to retrieve the car from the lake. Later on, we see another car partially submerged, and then, incredibly, we see a car driven on the ice, only to be swallowed by the lake. At this point we are 10 min. into the film.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from Russian director VIctor Kossakovsky. Here he brings a 90 min. visual spectacle, without any voice-over or any other information, about water. I tried to figure out where the entire opening scene about the guys retrieving cars from the frozen pond took place, but couldn't. There is no overall narrative as such, the film simply focuses on water. The segment about icebergs shedding large sections of ice is fascinating. Not to imply that other segments aren't good, far from it. The movie really brings home the point that water truly is a force of nature. It amazes how noisy and forceful it is. Needless to say, the photography is eye-candy from start to finish. For outsized documentaries like this one, one might expect the original score to play an equally outsized role, but that is not the case here. There isn't much music in the film, and the music that is there is from none other that Finnish instrumental heavy metal band Apocalyptica! Wow.

"Aquarela" premiered at this year's Sundance film festival to good acclaim. It finally showed this weekend at my local art-house theater here in CIncinnati, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Saturday matinee screening where I saw this at was attended dismally (4 people). That's a darn shame if you ask me. If you like a "bigger than life" nature documentary, I'd readily suggest you check out "Aquarela", be it in the theatre (if you still can),on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

'Documentary' looking at the power and beauty of water across the globe, showing the devastation it can cause, the loss of life, the enjoyment and finally the beauty.

After a fascinating, rather bewildering start that is ultimately quite upsetting, the film photographs, often stunningly, ice and water in various forms. Much of this is almost hypnotising and surreal, some of it goes on too long, but in the end it's an enjoyable and eye opening ride.

Wasn't remotely a fan of the soundtrack.

The first 20 minutes had me hooked. The sound was incredible detailed and the visuals were truly stunning. The camera follows the story of a team who were helping to recover cars and people who had fell through a frozen lake. A man was trapped under ice and they frantically try to get him out.

And then it just cuts away. No conclusion, no payoff. This is when I realised what type of film I was watching.

The following hour features repetitive shots of water and ice, with an equally repetitive soundtrack and audio.

I am definitely the wrong audience (I can only assume),but I gained nothing from watching this absolute slog of a film.