Absurdistan

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Legend has it that when God split up all of his lands, there was one group of representatives that showed up late. But because they were a cheerful lot, God gave up the land he planned to keep for himself and retired to Heaven. He’s probably still laughing, because the arid wasteland he gave them is as dry as a bone. Welcome to Absurdistan…

In this small nothing village in the middle of nowhere, a place where 14 families somehow manage to call home, the young Temelko and Aya have reached the age where their friendship has turned into love. But when Aya’s grandmother consults the stars and sets the ideal date for their “first time,” it comes with a catch – they have to wait four years - and both must bathe beforehand.

With the town’s ancient water pipe now producing only a dribble, the young men are shipped off to the city to learn how to fix the water problem. Just short of four years later, the young men solved their problem – they simply never came back. Temelko is the only one that returns…

In his absence though, the village has gotten dirtier and the women angrier with their lazy, good-for-nothing men who haven’t lifted a finger to solve the water shortage. Then, when Temelko steals precious water to fill a small swimming pool so that he and Aya can have their all-important bath, she furiously tells him that until he fixes the water problem, he may not lay a hand on her. Soon, all the village women take up her defiant cry of “No water, no sex!,” leaving the disbelieving men helplessly scratching their empty heads.

The “Sex Strike” rapidly turns into an insane power struggle as the women and men, arming themselves with guns, hammers, pitchforks and anything they can get their hands on, split the village into two warring camps. Soon a painted white stripe appears down the town’s center, followed rapidly by barbed wire. It’s not long before the men get thirsty - and not for water - so they attempt to sneak off to the city under the cover of darkness. The women, however, capture them in a well-laid ambush and herd them back into town with shotguns.

With time rapidly slipping away, the madly determined Temelko enters the dangerous cave that contains the village’s water source to make one last frantic attempt at a repair. It might be too late though, because Aya and the other women, no longer willing to go with the flow…or lack of a flow…have decided to leave the village and their men in the dust…

Music by Shigeru Umebayashi, Lars Löhn and Tofiq Guliev

Shigeru Umebayashi's ( aka UME) outstanding work has been recognized internationally by his famous film music. Once the leader of Japan's legendary new-wave rock band EX. In 1984 he had the opportunity to produce the song for Japanese actor Yusaku Matsuda ( 'Black Rain' - Ridley Scott ) this made him start his film music carrier. UME began scoring films in 1985 when the band broke up. He has more than 40 Japanese and Chinese films to his credit. So far he is best known for scoring: In the Mood for Love (2001), to Zhang Yimou's masterpiece House of Flying Daggers (2004) Wong Kar-Wai's 2046 (2004) and Peter Webber's Hannibal Rising (2007).

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