Svečias / The Visitor

Danielius has just become a father in Norway, but circumstances require him to leave his family alone for a while. He needs to go back to his small, old hometown on the Baltic Sea in Lithuania to sell his late father's flat. But Danielius ends up staying longer than planned. He meets former friends and his ex Vismanté, and walks along the coast and through the forests. Everything is familiar to him, and he still remembers the secret paths to the sea – but the camera always shows him at the edge of the scene. He is a guest in a world that no longer seems to know him and that he has to rediscover. This feature-film debut reflects his situation in beautiful visuals. While walking his ex's huge dog, the dog takes the lead. To escape his aimlessness, Danielius starts hanging out with Vismantés father. They sit together in silence in front of the TV set, each man with a beer in his hands. With unexpected jumps in time, an imaginative dance scene, and a conversation in song, the film intentionally undermines the melancholic mood; tension enters the narrative.