14th IFFK – My Review

True Noon is my pick

I had much expectations for the 14th International Film Festival. But unfortunately, fever hit me and my fest ended with just 8 films.

1. The ruins - Mrinal Sen(India) : I opened the fest with the movie of of a legend who inaugurated the festival. The movie had a familiar cast of Naseerudin Shah, Pankaj Kapur and Shabana Azmi. The movie is about a travel of three friends to one’s ancestor’s land and they meet a mother and her daughter in a desperate situation for which they become part of. The movie blossomed like a small poem. The characters have depth and their silence too conveys. The undertone of love turns to hope for the lead characters and the movies ends with lots of thoughts left to the viewer.

2. Treeless Mountain – So Yong Kim(South Korea) : The movie had two kids in the lead roles. Their mother leaves them to a relative and goes in search of her husband. The kids wait anxiously for mother’s return. The innocent doings of the kids with strong wish for their mother to return plays the heart of the film. The kids have performed very very very naturally. And that’s the main highlight of this small film. The kids take the viewer’s sympathy and also they make us laugh in parts.

3. Broken Embraces – Pedro Almodovar(Spain): This movie was a good entertainer with a love story and different narration. There are wonderful frames and the leading lady Penelope Cruz was stunningly beautiful. The applause when she comes for the first time clear the fact. She has done a brilliant performance in the movie. The love story narrated in the flashback is the movie’s soul. A married man falling in love with the actress of the movie directed by him and the silent approval of his wife is beautifully portrayed. The movie has several sensuous scenes, but these establishes the characters’ nature and their desires.

4. True Noon – Nosir Saidov(Tadjikistan) : This was my favourite film of the small fest I had. A subject which is very universal and a simple narration makes this movie much enjoyable. A border is set up in between two friendly villages and their lives are led to much difficulties. There is a powerful scene in which a teacher takes class at the border fence with children on both sides learning. The main build-up is given for a marriage between a boy and girl across the border. The climax has high tension. Love across the borders is what the world is longigng for.

5. Shirin – Abbas Kiarostami(Iran): Shortly after this movie began people started to get out of the theatre. That’s mainly because of the very bold experiment in narration and treatment. A love story is visualised through the the reactions of women audience in a movie theatre. The off screen voice is the audio of the movie and each woman reacts to the situations of the movie accordingly. This movie is a fine example for using sound as the main narration.