Sea Shadow was
only the 9th feature film made in UAE and second of the Emirati
filmmaker Nawaf Al-Janahi, yet it is a work of surprising maturity. A simple,
heartwarming and lyrical coming-of-age tale of teenage love, heartbreak and the
consequent process of growing up, this film is marked by its technical polish,
as also the director’s eyes for subtlety and detailing. The central protagonist
of the story is Mansoor (Omar Al Mulla), a teenage boy belonging to a lower
middle-class family. He spends most of his time either hanging out with a close
friend of his, or delivering food items prepared by his mother. He is also
silently in love with Kaltham (Neven Madi), a very pretty, sweet and shy girl
living in his neighbourhood, and who too silently reciprocates his feelings;
the strong social and familial traditions, however, prevent either of them from
taking the next step. Mansoor also happens to be a secretly ambitious guy, and
when he meets an alluring girl older to him, who, on account of her oozing
sensuality (which she is well aware of), maturity and wealthy family
backgrounds, make him feel cuckolded, and, blinded by her dazzling beauty, he
starts dreaming for the elusive stars. Though the film also comprised of a few
asides – both for dramatic and humorous effects, and for making commentaries
about the deeply orthodox society, never did Janahi lose track of his basic
plot, nor did he veer from the understated style of storytelling. The lovely,
memorable finale of this bittersweet, beautifully photographed film seamlessly
transported me to the fond memories of my own long disappeared teenage days.
p.s. Watched this as part of 2012 Kolkata International Film Festival (KFF)
Director: Nawaf Al-Janahi
Genre: Drama/Romantic Comedy/Coming-of-Age
Language: Arabic
Country: UAE
Films that have ventured beyond the “happily
ever after” finale over the years, have mostly focused on familial disharmony
or breakdown of marriage. Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke dared to pursue a
divergent route by painting a harrowing picture of a happily married couple
approaching the inevitability of death, in the gut-wrenching and emotionally
devastating masterpiece Amour; in
terms of masterworks, this, along with the complex allegorical drama The White Ribbon, has made it a sweet
one-two for him. Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva)
are a cultured and well-to-do Parisian couple, fellow Western Classical
aficionados and connoisseurs, and well into the final legs of their lives.
However, their blissful existences come to a screeching halt when Anne has a stroke
leaving her partially invalid and in complete care of her husband. As both her
health and sanity continue to disintegrate dramatically, the soft-spoken
Georges, out of the increasing frustration and helplessness borne out of his profound
love for her, is subtly pushed towards such a shocking act that it is bound to
leave the emotionally drained audience reeling with horror and heartbreak. Hanake,
himself in his 70s, painted a bleak and unflinching picture of mortality and
old age – made starker by the near lack of any background score, and through
the sense of claustrophobia and inescapability developed by setting nearly the
entire movie within an upscale apartment. The two legendary thespians, viz. Trintignant
and Riva, gave incredibly naturalistic, restrained and deeply affecting
performances, showing that age has hardly reduced their sheen, while Isabelle
Huppert was also excellent in her brief role as their successful,
grief-stricken daughter.
p.s. Watched this as part of 2012 Kolkata International Film Festival (KFF)
Director: Michael Haneke
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Marriage Drama
Language: French
Country: France/Austria
The searing religious drama Beyond the Hills is Cristian Mungiu’s follow-up to his astounding
last feature 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
The most noteworthy aspect of the film was that, Mungiu made a scathing
indictment on the church without any biases or prejudices. His intent lay in
tackling the fundamentalisms, superstitions, rigid dogmas and the sense of
utter denial prevalent in organized religion, without ever turning those practicing
and preaching religion into mere caricatures. The story, based on an actual
event, began with Voichita (Cosmina Stratan), a demure and compliant nun in a
monastery, being visited by the rebellious and sharp-tongued Alina (Cristina
Flutur), an intimate friend from their days in the orphanage. Alina wants
Voichita to leave with her to Germany, but that turns out to be an exceedingly
difficult task since she has embraced god unequivocally. Meanwhile, the church’s
Father, an upright disciplinarian with a strong sense of authority and rigid
orthodoxy, and its other members, start reacting to her “vulgar” presence,
leading the film to its tragic climax. Tts sharp critique on organized
Christianity apart, the film also addressed the topic of faith vis-à-vis
science, and raised the issue of abuse in orphanages. The scene, shot in a
single take, where Voichita is questioned by a police officer upon her request
for visa, was a powerful moment, as was the satirical sequence where Alina is
weighed against 464 listed sins. The acting was good throughout, but Cosmina
stood out for her marvelously layered performance, in this remarkably
level-headed (though not flawless) film shot in leisurely long takes and
completely bereft of any background score.
p.s. Watched this as part of 2012 Kolkata International Film Festival (KFF)
Director: Cristian Mungiu
Genre: Drama/Religious Drama
Language: Romanian
Country: Romania
British filmmaker Steve McQueen, who had made a
triumphant debut with Hunger, proved
that he isn’t a one-film wonder with Shame
– a psychologically disturbing account of a man’s complex relationships with
his sexuality and his troubled sister. This principal protagonist of this
compelling character study is Brandon (Michael Fassbender), a successful
executive residing in NYC. On surface he is a likeable and easy-going fellow,
who likes hanging out with his gregarious boss (James Badge Dale). However,
when alone in his plush Manhattan apartment, he is not just living in an
emotional vacuum, he’s also a compulsive sex addict, and lacking the ability to
forge any personal relationships – the sequence where he attempts dating a
beautiful colleague brought that out quite superbly. And then his cold,
mechanical life is thrown haywire when his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan), a
deeply vulnerable wannabe singer desperate for love and warmth from his elder
brother, suddenly crashes at his place, leading to both tragic consequences and
forced realizations. The moment where he literally collides with her while she
is bathing, and the one where she inadvertently catches him during
self-gratification, were shocking and revelatory in their nakedness. Though
filled with explicit contents, there was nothing sensual about them; rather,
they starkly highlighted the emotional wasteland that Brandon exists in.
Fassbender, who was astounding in McQueen’s last film, was very good here as
well, while Mulligan was quite brilliant as his sassy but extremely fragile
sister. The film’s extreme emotional coldness and its overt reliance on graphic
content to drive home its point, were, however, tad off-putting for me.
p.s. Watched this as part of 2012 Kolkata International Film Festival (KFF)
Director: Steve McQueen
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama
Language: English
Country: UK
Directed by the cult French filmmaker Leos
Carax, and made a good 8 years after his last film Pola X, Holy Motors was a
viewing experience like few, or no, others. An incredible, audacious and
no-holes-barred experimentation with both form and content, this surrealist
meditation on the medium of cinema was also a deeply personal statement on the
role of a filmmaker in an increasingly consumerist and technology-driven
society. The film’s plot is about Oscar (Denis Lavant), possibly an alter-ego
of the director himself, who is traveling in an opulent limousine who seems to
be on a bizarre journey – that of honouring 9 appointments over the course of
the day, requiring him to dress up and portray a multitude of characters –
ranging from bizarre to mundane. As it turned out, Oscar is essentially a phantasm,
existing in dream-reality, who is playing diverse characters in various movies
cutting across various genres. For film students and cineastes, this movie
is like a journey through a plethora of cinematic references – from pop-culture
icons to obscure arthouse, as well as symbolisms and techno-political
commentary. The beauty of this film, however, lied in the fact that, even those
unable to decipher the various references, would still be able to immerse
themselves in this fascinating, phantasmagoric and metaphoric experience – such was
the viscerally enthralling, visually arresting and gleefully unconventional nature
of this alternately gritty, fantastical, stylized and poignant avant-garde work.
Though perhaps of little consequence in the scheme of things, Lavant gave an absolutely
tour de force performance, while the production values, too, were excellent.
p.s. Watched this as part of 2012 Kolkata International Film Festival (KFF)
Director: Leos Carax
Genre: Avant-Garde/Experimental Film/Fantasy
Language: French
Country: France
