THE MAN IN THE ORANGE JACKET (2014)

Latvia-Estonia. Direction: Aik Karapetian. Production: Roberts Vinovskis / Locomotive Productions. Screenplay: Aik Karapetian. Photography: Janis Eglitis, Jurgis Kmins. Music: Anna Kirse-Aunina, Toms Aunins, Andris Dzenitis. Edition: Andris Grants, Aik Karapetian. Cast: Maxim Lazarev, Aris Rozentals, Anta Aizupe. Running time: 71 min

LANGUAGE: Latvian / SUBTITLES: English, Spanish

Latvia, a good country for one of its inhabitants to tell us a story. Better if it’s scary, evidently, but remember, dammit, that Latvian is, for example, Signe Baumane, author of the perversely imperial Rocks in My Pockets (2014). Latvian is the nationality of this flick premiered to the world in the Camera Lucida section of Montreal’s Fantasia fest. Lucid is precisely the description of this tale of a shipbuilding worker fired along with hundreds of other employees in a brutal layoff move who sets out to murder the crass impresario and enjoy his high life plus perks until something starts to do more than tickle him in his sleep, along the lines of Poe’s unforgettable The Tell-Tale Heart since the bodies are right there, down in the basement. Unemployment. Revenge. Delirium. Paranoia. No, no, it’s not a slasher, it’s a... social film.