An excellent creation from Bindu Gopinath. This Malayalam short film will penetrate through your mind, and the nostalgic memories will make you cry, if not the film.
The International Film Festival of India has turned 45. But
the fest has still maintained its innocence and tenderness once Goa became
the permanent venue in 2004. Entertainment Society of Goa is the
nodal agency for the organization of IFFI in Panaji with all its cheers.
45th International Film Festival of India
inauguration
On 19th November 2014, India's prime film festival IFFI got off to a glittering start, amid the towering presence of legendary actors Amitabh Bachchan
and Rajinikanth, Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, Goa Chief
Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. The
Presidentdirected by Mohsen
Makhmalbaf was the opening film of the fest. It was my esteem that I was also
there at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, Panjim, Goa to take pleasure in
the occasion.
The President
The film legend and film all rounder Mohsen Makhmalbaf has
made more than 20 films and most of them were classics and he is still active
in world cinema field. The President
can be considered as the second part of his classic film The Gardner. The film was inspired when Makhmalbaf was at Darul
Aman Palace in Kabul.
Finding Mr. Right
A 51 - Screened in Kala Academy, 11.30AM, 21/11/2014.
The Film Finding Mr.Right directed by Xue Xiaolu won 16th
Shanghai International Film Festival. Finding Mr.Right was the inaugural film
of Country Focus – China.
Much of the film events take place in Seattle and its huge
popularity has romantic couples heading to American shores to recreate the
film's recreation of a film. The film stars actress Tang Wei as
JiaJia, a spoiled mistress of a Beijing businessman who becomes pregnant. Her
lover sends her to Seattle in order to have the baby in secret and that's where
she meets the film's male protagonist (and possible Mr. Right), Frank. It is a romantic movie and it has really struck a
chord with young women.
The Double Life of Veronique
A 34 – Screened in Inox 3, 06.30 PM, 21/11/2014.
The Double Life of Veronique directed by Krzystof Kieslowski
was the opening film in the Kieslowski Retro. Weronika lives in Poland. Véronique lives in Paris. They don't know
each other. Weronika gets a place in a music school, works hard, but collapses
and dies on her first performance. At this point, Véronique's life seems to
take a turn and she decides not to be a singer. As always in other Kieslowski films life and death
take interesting roles in this film too.
Party Girl
A 55 – Screened in Kala Academy 10.15 PM, 21/11/2014.
Party Girl is a 2014 French film directed by
Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis. It won the Un Certain Regard
Ensemble Prize and the Camera d'Or award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. A
semi-autobiographical story of Theis's mother, Angélique Litzenburger, who
played herself in the film, it also stars the co-director and his siblings
Mario, Severine and Cynthia. The title of the film is derived from the song of
the same name by Chinawoman.
Party Girl is a warm and tender portrait of a
woman of a certain age, a movie that sets out to address the pain of ageing,
the fear of growing old alone, and the realisation that the party's almost
over. There is an engaging realist style here, and some forthright
performances, but it does not quite achieve the depth and narrative
satisfaction that the dramaappeared
at first to promise. The setting is Lorraine on the French-German border, where
the people are unselfconsciously bilingual; it inhabits its locale with good
humour – this is a world of clubs and bars, where no-one has that much money
but everyone likes to have a good time. Angélique Litzenburger plays Angélique,
a woman nearing 60 who has worked all her life as a bar hostess, taking cash in
hand, living for the moment and now entitled to precious few state benefits.
She has the frazzled, leonine look of a serious drinker and
someone who gets her vitamin D not from sunlight, but neon and the subdued
lighting in clubs. The film interestingly shows that even though she is not
young, she still has a very considerable professional presence: the male
customers may come to ogle and grope the beautiful young women pole-dancing and
hanging out at the bar, but these nervous males need mothering and reassuring.
It is Angélique's job to chat to them, to chivvy them into buying bottles of
marked-up champagne, to drink with them, to pretend to fancy them (or at least
like them), and to get the conversational ball rolling with the young women –
although sometimes is Angélique is the object of their desires, precisely
because she is considered unthreatening. It is a wearying business, night after
night.
Then, one of her customers takes a serious shine to her: Michel (Joseph Bour)
is a beefy retired mineworker who is absolutely besotted. One night at the
club, he proposes. This brings Angélique to a crisis. Clearly, Michel expects
her to quit her working at the bar and be an old-fashioned, stay-at-home wife,
although that question is never explicitly discussed. Then there is the
question of the wedding, a public event that will force Angélique, perhaps for
the first time, to examine her choices in life. She will have to invite her
four children from previous relationships, including one who was given to a
foster home, and so old wounds may be reopened. Angélique isn't such a fool
that she thinks she can be a bar hostess forever. He has made a good offer. But
does she, in her heart of hearts, actually love poor, moonstruck Michel?
The stage is set for what could have been a wonderfully moving drama. Instead,
we get a reasonably good drama with a faintly disappointing, throwaway ending,
which does not measure up to the interesting ideas the film raises. And
there'as the question of Michel's family: we see his buddies, amiable,
good-hearted boozers, the lot of them, but how about former lovers, or former
wives? And does he have children? The issue isn't raised.
Party Girl starts with a strong setting and strong characters;
it's genuinely steeped in its world and there is no fakery. But in the end,
there is not quite enough substance there.
Decalogue 1
B 32a – Screened in
Inox 3, 01.00 PM, 22/11/2014.
The first of Decalogue series and a touching film directed by Krzystof Kieslowski made all sad. "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no
other God but me." Ten-year-old Pawel and his father Krzysztof run their
lives on their beloved home computer; while Pawel's aunt worries that his
spiritual education is being neglected. But Pawel is too busy enjoying life,
not least thanks to his father's Christmas present of a pair of ice skates,
because the computer has calculated that the frozen lake is safe to skate
across...
Decalogue 2
B 32b – Screened in
Inox 3, 02.00 PM, 22/11/2014.
The second of Decalogue series directed by
Krzystof Kieslowski "Thou shalt
not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain". An elderly doctor is
approached by a woman with a complicated request. Her husband is gravely ill
and may die, and she is pregnant by someone else. If her husband dies, she
wants to keep the child, but not otherwise, and she wants the doctor to give
him an honest verdict on his chances. But the doctor is disturbed by her
request, because his answer will directly affect the life or death of another
human being. Is he entitled to play God?
Beijing Blues
B 55 Kala Academy 08.00 PM, 22/11/2014.
Director – Qunshu Gao, China. Beijing police officer Zhang
Hui Ling, who patrols Haidian District's Shuangyushu neighborhood in Beijing,
has a job to do. Every day, he has to go out in the street with his cohort of
security guards who speak a bewildering array of accents from all over China,
and track down and arrest thieves, hucksters, and con artists. And he's good at
it; after more than 10 years on the force, Zhang Hui Ling has an uncanny
ability to sniff out criminals from the throngs of people passing through his
district. He needs those skills in Shuangyushu, a migrant neighborhood where
criminals congregate. Like the car thief who steal BMW's and Mercedes with
interface gadgets he buys on the Internet, or the family gang who crash cars
into passing automobiles and demand settlement on the spot, or the currency
counterfeiters, con artists who dress as monks to defraud religious old women
in crisis, or the former thief who was injured during his last arrest and now
hounds his unemployed younger brother for cash, or the retired master thief who
is looking for a way to reclaim his former glory. These thieves, con artists,
and criminals, and the bottomless pain and bitterness buried in their hearts,
are the underworld in this society. And these people, criminals of every sort,
are the type of people Zhang Hui Ling has to deal with every day. There's no
outlet for the humiliation and misery he endures as part of it. His job is to
face it and deal with it, to stop crimes from happening. But he can't help feeling
like it's partly his fault that he's failing, somehow, because the crime and
misery doesn't stop. In the depths of his spirit, the positive and negative
forces in his life grapple, every day, every crime, every arrest, every bit of
mercy and understanding renewing the endless battle for his soul. A boring film.
The Judgement
B 56 Kala Academy, 10.15 PM, 22/11/2014.
Director – Stephan Komandarev, Bulgaria. In a small and poor
village in Bulgaria, located close to the border with Turkey and Greece, Mityo
loses his job and is forced to accept to work for his former commander in order
to keep his house and pay his loans. His job is to smuggle illegal immigrants
from Syria through the Bulgarian-Turkish border into the EU. Since the death of
his wife, the relations between Mityo and his son are strained. The revelation
of a terrible secret will force Mityo to face the past, in order to regain his
internal peace and find forgiveness from his son. A touching film.
Leviathan
C 51 Kala Academy, 09.30 AM, 23/11/2014. Director – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia. In a Russian coastal
town, Dmitri is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his
house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's
arrival brings further misfortune for Dmitri and his family.
It is very happy that Leviathan grabbed the Golden Peacock
Award. Beyond doubt I can say, it deserves this honour.
The Day I Became a Woman
C 32 Inox 3, 01.00 PM, 23/11/2014.
Director – Marzieh Meshkini, Iran. A film comprised of three interconnected vignettes that
depict women at three stages of life in Iran. The first part centers on a young
girl on her ninth birthday who is told that she can no longer play with the
boys she had been playing with only the day before because she is now a woman.
Told from the perspective of a 9-year-old girl who does not feel like or know
what the word "woman" refers to, we see how devastatingly this
affects both the girl and the boy with whom she had been friends. The second
part is about a young woman who decides to enter a bicycle race against her
husband's wishes. As first, the husband and then increasing numbers of men from
her village ride beside her on horseback to convince her to return home. The
race begins to symbolize a freedom that she desperately wants from the
limitations that have been placed on her. Finally, the third part shows us an
old woman who has come into some money and is now free to do what she wants.
The way she chooses to use this freedom, however, makes one wonder just how
free she is.
40 Days of Silence (Chilla)
C 56, Kala Academy, 10.15 PM, 23/11/2014.
Director – Saodat Ismailova, Uzbekistan. 40 Days of Silence is the story of four women in Central
Asia in key moments of their lives, discovered through their different ages. It
is a trip into an unconscious and intimate female world; it is an attempt to
portray broken identities and women who confront their own will to choose and
decide.
Cold in July
D11, Inox 1, 08.30 AM, 24/11/2014.
Director – Jim Mickle, USA. When a protective father meets a murderous ex-con, both need to deviate
from the path they are on as they soon find themselves entangled in a downwards
spiral of lies and violence while having to confront their own inner psyche.
Geronimo
D 52, Kala Academy, 12.00 Noon, 24/11/2014.
Director - Tony Gatilif, France. In the sultry August heat, Geronimo, a young social
educator, tries to ease tensions between the youngsters of the St Pierre
neighborhood. The mood changes when Nil Terzi, a teenage girl of Turkish
origin, flees an arranged marriage, running to the arms of her gypsy lover,
Lucky Molina. Their escape sparks hostilities between the two clans. When the
jousting and the musical battles begin, Geronimo struggles to quell the ensuing
unrest around her.
Rocks in My Pocket
D 55, Kala Academy, 08.00 PM, 24/11/2014.
Director – Signe Baumane, USA/Latvia. Signe Baumane and five
women in her family battle with depression and madness. It was better that we
left the theatre after 15 minutes or else we would have ended up mad and depressed.
Sanabi
E 61, Maquinez Palace 1, 09.30 AM, 25/11/2014.
Director – Aribam Syam Sharma, Assamese. Revolving round the
central character Sanabi or the grey mare, the film develops a story about
Sakhi, a divorced woman, and Sakhi's childhood friend who wants to marry her.
In order to make her agree, the man steals away her dear mare. Sakhi fights
with the man to regain the control of the grey mare.
Blind Massage (Tui Na)
E 52, Kala Academy, 12.00 Noon, 25/11/2014. Director – Lou Ye, China/France. A drama centered on the
employees of a Nanjing massage parlour who share a common trait: they are all blind.
The Singing Pond (Ho Gaanaa Pokuna)
E 42, Inox 4, 02.45 PM, 25/11/2014.
Director – Indika Ferdinando, Sri Lanka. One day, a new teacher, Uma, arrives at a primary school in
a remote little village in Sri Lanka. With Uma's help, her little pupils learn
not to be afraid of dreaming big. One morning, little Upuli, who is blind,
shares her unseen dream with her friends. It becomes the unseen dream, not only
in the eyes of the little ones, but also in the eyes of the entire village. The
perils that the children and Uma encountered in their venture to realize this
dream, and their determination to triumph are portrayed through the innocence
of childhood and the harsh reality of village life. This single dream gives
rise to a little revolution, stirring up the quiet village, as it has never
experienced before.
I can not conclude this short note about IFFI 2014 without mentioning its beautiful Signature Film. Famous Indian Director Mr. Shaji N. Karun made it a great success. Initially I had made all plans to attend the complete programme. But unfortunately I had to cut short the trip due to the illness of my companion. As far as what I saw, I can undoubtedly say that the fest was excellent and had surpassed my expectations. I have decided to make it a point to attend the 46th IFFI next year and I hope it excels and performs better than the one which just concluded.
Goa is the permanent venue for the International Film Festival of India and it attracts a lot of national and international film groups.
IFFI helps to identify with the films of different cultures across the world
and hence reduces the gap among the cultures of different countries.
More than the appreciation of the films screened, the participation
in the 45th International Film Festival of India conducted in Panjim,
Goa
helped me to realize the hospitality of Goan people. Every region of our
country has different people and cultures. The diversity and heritage are the
sources of our pride and unity. For most of the Indians, Goa is their foreign trip
without much expense. Goa gives the average Indian, the freedom to celebrate with
drinks and he can
ecstatically be half naked in the beaches and can even
kiss in public without the usual Indian staring from the passers-by. Panjim is a fun
place to visit as there are so many different items to check out like Goan Feni,
Goan special cuisines etc. In Goa, liquor bars are not restricted and you can
find common restaurants and bars together as we see in the state of Sikkim, unlike the hypocrisy that prevails in other states. I visited several
shops and restaurants in the area. Of them, I love Mhal Baro Bar
& Restaurant the most. It is the common man’s restaurant situated in Timotio
building at General Costa Alvarez Road, Campal, Panjim; which is close to
Inox and Maqiunez Palace, the important screening venues.
The owner cum salesman of the Mhal Baro Bar is Mr. Vilas A. Naik. A
first-rate basket ball player in the college days, he now owns a small restaurant
and bar in a vibrant, busy area. It is a small shop affordable for common men
and no double standards for tourists and locals. I wittily told him that it
seems to be an official bar cum restaurant for IFFI delegates as almost all
the clients are the delegates of the festival. Mr. Karthik, a young salesman of
Opal restaurant near Kala Academy is also worth mentioning here. Nice persons are
to be appreciated, I think.
Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" (1950, Japanese) and Adoor Gopalakrishnan's "Anantharam" (1987, Malayalam) though created around three decades apart, do have some similarities especially in the context of their narrative techniques. Both masterpieces of cinema offer a vast expanse for exploration and study. Both the films tend to make use of multiple narratives to take forward the film in an interesting direction.
The film "Rashomon" was the tool for the creation of a new phrase Rashomon effect. The Rashomon effect is the contradictory interpretations of the same event by different people; like the different versions of the four witnesses' accounts of a rape and murder in the movie 'Rashomon'. The idea of contradicting interpretations has been around for a long time and has ethical implications in theater, journalism and literature.
In the film "Rashomon", various characters provide alternative, self-serving and contradictory versions of the same incident. The film opens on a woodcutter and a priest sitting beneath the Rashomon city gate to stay dry in a downpour. A commoner joins them and they tell him that they've witnessed a disturbing event, which they then begin recounting to him. The woodcutter claims that he found the body of a murdered samurai three days earlier while looking for wood in the forest; upon discovering the body, he says, he fled in panic to notify the authorities. The priest says that he saw the samurai with his wife travelling the same day that the murder happened. Both the men were then summoned to testify in court, where they met the captured bandit Tajomaru, who claimed responsibility for rape and murder.
In the climax of "Rashomon", at the gate, the woodcutter, priest, and commoner are interrupted from their discussion of the woodcutter's account by the sound of a crying baby. They find the baby abandoned in a basket and the commoner takes a kimono and an amulet that have been left for the baby. The woodcutter reproaches the commoner for stealing from the abandoned baby, but the commoner chastises him. We can deduce that the reason the woodcutter did not speak up at the trial was because he was the one who stole the dagger from the scene of the murder. The commoner leaves Rashomon, claiming that all men are motivated only by self-interest.
These deceptions and lies shake the priest's faith in humanity. He is brought back to his senses when the woodcutter reaches for the baby in the priest's arms. The priest is suspicious at first, but the woodcutter explains that he intends to take care of the baby along with his own children. This simple revelation recasts the woodcutter's story and the subsequent theft of the dagger in a new light. The priest gives the baby to the woodcutter, saying that the woodcutter has given him reason to continue having hope in humanity. The film closes on the woodcutter, walking home with the baby. The rain has stopped and the clouds have opened revealing the sun in contrast to the beginning where it was overcast.
In "Anantharam", the story develops through a commentary by the protagonist (Ajayan) about himself in the first person. Later he tells another story about his life with the same background. Finally both these stories fuse together.
The main character Ajayan was born an orphan. He is brought up by a doctor. A brilliant child, Ajayan grows up into an introvert and confused youth. A beautiful girl Suma arrives at their house after marrying Balu, his foster-brother. Ajayan at the very first sight of his sister-in-law gets sexually attracted to her. This creates internal conflict within him and ultimately he leaves the house. In the second story Ajayan narrates his confused youth and about the beautiful girl, Nalini, who enters his life. Ajayan's mind shifts often between reality and an imaginary romantic world. Finally both these stories converge at a point where both Nalini and Suma become a single entity.
The visual technique used by the director Adoor Gopalakrishnan to differentiate the two stories is worth mentioning here. In the final scene we find the boy (Ajayan) stepping down the stairs twice; by counting in odd numbers first and then in even numbers, thereby the Rashomon effect on life. "Rashomon" struck the world of film like a thunderbolt. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, effectively opening the world of Japanese cinema to the West. It won the Academy Award as best foreign film. It set box office records for a subtitled film. "Anantharam" won three National Film Awards. It was included in IBN Live's list of 100 greatest Indian films of all time. Both the films depict the pursuit of truth through multiple narratives.
(This is a modified English translation of my article - അടൂരും അകിരുവും (Adoorum Akiruvum) - published in Cinerama, March 1989).
