Forever Professor is … we found it hard to call it a documentary, even though this is what it represents. Director Mika Johnson has such a refined style of visually narrating events that nearly confuse the public… is it fiction? Is it real? These questions even match the character’s life which is at the edge of imaginary and reality.
As the title says it is easy to guess that this one is a documentary about a professor. Sounds dull to you? Well it’s far far far… from being anything than you can imagine. Through its personality and character the professor is something you’ve never seen before. What he teaches, the habits he has, the hobbies he keeps they coalesce together so much that you will not be able to tell one from another: is the man speaking or is it a lecture from the subject he teaches? Is it a collection (and what a collection that is!) or is it an obsession that pushes the mind to madness? Is it a habit that optimizes time or is it just an exaggeration of a mind that spent too much time among theories and scientific concepts?
Now imagine, as a director, the ability you must have in order to visually express everything above and not to mislead the public, regarding the real truth about the professor.
We won’t spoil it for you and tell you what the truth is but we’ll tell you that this film will cast a very special light on time and its value, of what a man can be and what his limits are, on how a man can learn to accommodate with time and the way he chooses to capitalize it, how he manages to squeeze in a hobby and the way this hobby can crowd his living and how all of these things influence and change his life, what he has received and what he has chosen to receive from it.
Will it be madness? Will it be modesty and purposefulness? What is it about the professor that is so special? What is the hobby? Aren’t you curious?
One of the best documentary short films ever seen… truly.
TMFF RATING:
