Tlamess (2019) dir. Ala Eddine Slim

In Tunisian director Ala Eddine Slims experimental second feature, a soldier deserts his unit and lives on his instincts in the woods. An experimental anomaly on the Tunisian film front, writerdirector Ala Eddine Slim has won a following with two films that leave logic and realism behind to chart a muddy course through the minefield of experimentalapocalyptic narrative. Although their meaning is hard to grasp (perhaps on purpose ), they have attracted attention. After Eddine Slims first feature The Last of Us was shown in New Directors, New Films in New York, his new but cutfromthesamecloth Tlamess turned up in Cannes Directors Fortnight. Wherever these enigmatic, schematic and often pretentious works are shown, their basic lack of dramatic truth haunts them and they run the risk of hearing frustrated audiences demand the emperor put some clothes on