Influences of Tarkovsky (stylistically) and
Bergman (thematically) are immediately discernible in Russian filmmaker Andrey
Zvyagintsev’s brooding psychological drama The
Banishment. While in his next film Leviathan
he focused on a man’s losing battle against the societal corruption surrounding
him, here he dealt with the protagonist’s struggle within, with familial
fissures and ruptures, along with an alienating landscape, forming the key
linkage. The gripping sequence that the film begins with – a seemingly wounded
man driving through a desolate urban-industrial landscape shot in blue-gray
shades – set the tone for what was to follow. The man, Mark (Aleksandr Baluyev),
has connections with the underworld and is having a gunshot wound, as is
revealed, is racing to the house of his brother Alex (Konstantin Lavronenko), the
film’s protagonist, in order to have the slug removed. Soon after, Alex
relocates with his family, comprising of his wife Vera (Maria Bonnevie) and two
young kids, to a cottage he grew up in the countryside, possibly in order to
escape from his past and rebuild his life. However, when his wife informs him
that she’s pregnant and that he’s not the father, it inevitably leads them all
towards disarray and doom. The delicate heteronormative threads that hold a
family together, along with the protagonist’s tussles with his masculinity and
his barely suppressed existential crisis, thus, formed the dominant threads
around which this ominous and leisurely paced movie was woven. The dazzling
photography magnificently captured the empty spaces – both physical and
emotional, and along with the minimalist score and sparse narrative, brilliantly
captured the characters’ inner voids, while the performances, particularly Lavronenko’s
restrained turn as the troubled protagonist, added fuel to its simmering
tragedy.
Director: Andrey Zvygintsev
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Marriage Drama
Language: Russian
Country: Russia
Wenders’ second film and an adaptation by
notorious Austrian writer Peter Handke from his own novel of the same name, the
mischievously titled The Goalkeeper’s Fear of
the Penalty provided an early insight into the director’s penchant for
exploring urban disillusionment, the ironies of existence and America’s
post-WWII cultural influence on Germany. Thematically, the story is bound to
hark memories of Camus’ The Outsider
in the way it raised pointers on existential crisis and society’s preference
for assigning meaning to seemingly random human actions. The film began and
ended with shots of a football match, albeit in contrasting fashion. It started
off with a golie (Arthur Blauss) displaying ludicrously high disenchantment
while the match is in progress; when he inadvertently allows a goal into the
net, he argues with the referee and gets sent off. While aimless wandering
through the streets of Vienna, he picks up the pretty cashier at a local movie
theatre, and then, at a run-down hotel, he inexplicably murders her. Possibly in
order to escape the legal consequences of his crime, he retreats to a village
where he’s reacquainted with his former fiancée, even though, overtly, he seems
rather unconcerned about being caught. The film ended on a memorably ironic
note with the loner man, while watching a local football game, explaining to
his fellow spectator the psychological tussle that takes place during a penalty
kick between the goalkeeper and the one taking the shot – this seemingly non
sequitur conversation wonderfully reinforced the film’s central thematic
concern. The languorous pacing, dreary tone, distancing technique and a rather
lack of plot progression, too, were in congruence with what the film,
essentially, was all about.
Director: Wim Wenders
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama
Language: German
Country: Germany
Rohmer concluded his allegorically titled
quartet Tales of the Four Seasons, which
was the last of three film series that he made in his fecund career and
comprised of A Tale of Springtime, A Tale of Winter and A Summer’s Tale, with Autumn Tale, a delectable and
quintessentially Rohmeresque exploration of matters concerning the heart. With its
understated wit and humour, elegant structuring, serene atmosphere, unhurried
pacing, cheeky plot contrivances and meandering dialogues, the film aptly
referenced its title, viz. attempts at love by people at the autumn of their
lives with regards to forging relationships. Magali (Béatrice Romand), a
quirky, well-read, introverted and widowed 40-something winemaker, is suffering
from loneliness on account of lack of companionship. Hence, her alluring
long-time friend Isabelle (Marie Rivière) takes the help of newspaper ad and
meets a suitable prospect in the form of an affable divorced businessman (Alain
Libolt); meanwhile, her son’s ravishing fiancée (Alexia Portal), intends to
have her hitched with her former teacher and ex-boyfriend (Didier Sandre).
These planned match-making culminates during the wedding reception of
Isabelle’s daughter, leading to both gently comedic and subtly evocative
moments. Rohmer, as was his wont, made use of complex romantic entanglements,
albeit in a manner that was playful, flirtatious and even irreverent, in
chronicling this nicely realized tale where a diverse set of people try with
varying degrees of success in cementing bonds with their anticipated
soul-mates. The mellow tone, vibrant location shooting in the picturesque Rhone
Valley, and fine performances, made this a fine summation of the career of the
master of comedy of manners and romantic complications, and possibly the most
classical of the venerated Nouvelle Vague troupe.
Director: Eric Rohmer
Genre: Comedy/Romantic Comedy/Ensemble Film
Language: French
Country: France
Baumbach’s While We’re Young is a cynical dramedy
centered around the mid-life crises and growing ennui of a 40-something New
York couple. The ironic dichotomy surrounding the suppressed desire of Gen X to
swap places with Gen Y on account of the latter’s carefree living and
spontaneity, while simultaneously being judgemental about their moral choices
commensurate with internet age, along with the debate on evaluating art by the
process of creating it, made for interesting discussion points. Josh (Ben
Stiller), a documentary filmmaker, and his vivacious wife Cornelia (Naomi
Watts) are suffering from relationship issues. Josh, who had earned attention with
his first film, has been struggling for a decade with his ambitious work on a
leftist intellectual, and that, coupled by their being childless, have started
taking toll on their marital well-being; Josh’s complicated relationship with
his father-in-law (Charles Grodin), a once renowned documentarian, is also not
helping. One fine day they become acquainted with aspiring documentary filmmaker
Jamie (Adam Driver) and his spunky wife Darby (Amanda Seyfried), and despite the
initial distance, they soon find themselves being drawn towards the young
couple and drifting towards a very different sort of lifestyle and choices.
However, as is eventually revealed, the meeting might have been planned rather
than incidental, thus throwing them into a crisis, and forcing them to relook
at their ideas of art, marriage and life. Assured turns by Stiller and Watts,
generational conflicts and the shifting camaraderie made this a noteworthy seriocomic
effort, even if the urge to spelt out things that could have been left unsaid,
and plot contrivances, prevented it from being a more nuanced and accomplished
work.
Director: Noah Baumbach
Genre: Comedy Drama/Social Satire/Marriage Drama
Language: English
Country: US
It
is at times difficult to believe that Ray adapted stories starring his
immensely popular literary creation Pradosh C. Mitter aka Feluda only twice,
given their lasting pop-cultural imprints in the urban Bengali milieu – barring
Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, no other film
by him garnered more popularity and repeat telecasts than Sonar Kella, made 6 years after he began this franchise, and Joi Baba Felunath, made 4 years
later. Mukul (Kushal Chakraborty), a young boy haunted by images purportedly
from his previous life, is taken to Rajasthan by parapsychologist Dr. Hajra
(Shailen Mukherjee) for academic reasons; however, two notorious crooks – the
sly Amiyanath (Ajoy Banerjee) and the thuggish Mandar (Kamu Mukherjee) – smell possibilities
of hidden treasure, and decide to join to further their nefarious interests.
Smelling chances of foul play Mukul’s father engages the 21 Rajani Sen Road
residing sleuth (Soumitra Chatterjee), who Ray had created on his own image and
representative of the Bengali ideal, and so he, along with his
nephew-cum-sidekick Topshe (Siddhartha Chatterjee), embarks on a trip to protect
the kid, and what ensues is a tale filled with thrills, mystery and
scintillating adventure. On the way he makes the acquaintance of Lal Mohan
Ganguly (Santosh Dutta), a writer of popular fiction using the pseudonym of
Jatayu, who would become a life-long friend and companion of the PI. Great narrative
pacing ensured an engrossing watch while also investing time on etching
characters, building suspense and capturing the flavours of Rajasthan. The wit
and humour that the script was imbued with, along with fine turns by the cast, interesting
tidbits and the iconic Feluda tune that Ray composed further added to its
engagement quotient.
Director: Satyajit Ray
Genre: Thriller/Crime Thriller/Detective Movie/Adventure
Language: Bengali
Country: India
