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10 Films Recommendation from BIFFES 2017

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The 9th Bengaluru International Film Festival featured 230 great films over the span of a week. I happen to catch a meagre 17 of them. Here is list of top 10 amongst them which would recommend to fellow film lovers: Scarred Hearts | Romania Directed by Radu Jude, this film is based on Max Blecher’s novel of the same name where it depicts the despair, the ideology, the pain and occasional elation of the writer who suffered from Pott’s disease (Spinal tuberculosis), during his days at the sanatorium. Masterfully captured with almost zero camera movement. Instead Radu Jude and his cinematographer let the characters move in the still frame, reflecting the immobility of the protagonist; and the film progresses with one gorgeous frame after another, each one demands to be in the portfolio of any great photographer. Without doubt, my top pick of the festival. In the Last Days of the City | Egypt This is Egyptian director Tamer El Said’s first feature length film, and with t
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DUNKIRK [2017]: WHY THE NON-LINEAR NARRATIVE DIDN’T WORK

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[THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF DUNKIRK BUT MY THOUGHTS ON THE NARRATIVE APPROACH OF THE FILM. AS A REVIEW OF THE FILM, I WOULD SIMPLY SAY THAT I RECOMMEND WATCHING THE FILM.] Christopher Nolan is one of the more popular contemporary directors in the world. One might even go as far as to say that he is a star, a moniker often associated with actors. Even though this fame of his is much due to the Batman Trilogy and Inception (a bit of assumption here, from observation), it was his debut feature that made me admire the craft of Nolan. ‘Following’ was one of the finest low-budget films. Right from ‘Following’ and later vividly in ‘Memento’, what became apparent is that Nolan has a certain affinity for nonlinear narrative. This affinity is reflected in his later works such as ‘Prestige’ and ‘Inception’ too.  So, it is not extremely surprising to see this approach in his latest feature ‘Dunkirk’ based on the Dunkirk evacuation during World War II. The film is shown from three perspecti
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Hacksaw Ridge [2016]

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It has been my belief that in war, most of the time there are no heroes, only participants. But, in Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, there is a hero. A hero in its truest sense. In this year’s another sensational film, La La Land, we saw how it is important to never let go of what you want or what you dream, even if the circumstances are trying. In Hacksaw Ridge, we see even in dire situations and in face of dreadful consequences how it is important to never let go of who you are.  For in Hacksaw Ridge, the protagonist Desmond Doss reminds us that it is the belief, the ideology of person and their actions that define them and not the fulfillment of norms. Based on true events, the film tells the story of an American man who becomes the first Conscientious Objector to win the Medal of Honor. To put in a simpler term, Desmond Doss’ belief and conscience does not allow him to kill another human being, or even pick a gun. He still enlists to serve as a combat medic. W
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The Assassin (2015)

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Often, we hear, regarding a film, that the screenplay was not tidy, the story was non-existent, the pacing was slow et cetera. Why yes, the story of the film is very much the crux of any film, it is, however, possible to achieve greatness without much of a story per se.  Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin not only makes that possible but becomes a marvel at it. It is the sheer beauty of each frame that makes you forget about the story. Each frame, in itself, is a story. You do not mind the snail’s pace of screenplay as you do not want the frame in front of your eyes to pass. You gorge them. This rare feat makes The Assassin one of the truest visual poetry. For it is poetry. Most of the time we treat the film like a novel. Films are indeed often a visual mean of storytelling. In that regard, it becomes as engrossing as a great story should be. But, films can be a mean of poetry too. Poetry need not have three acts, great characters or a fine climax. Poetry is a beaut
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Thithi (2015)

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Once, Satyajit Ray’s widely regarded masterpiece ‘Pather Panchali’ met the criticism of “Selling Poverty” to urban audience. Quite a handful of Indians criticised it citing it depicts the poor class of India to cater to sentimentalism of western audience. Even Francois Truffaut wasn’t a taker of neo­realism of peasants. However, when the rich was depicted on screen, full of arrogance and debauchery, there was hardly any uproar. In this context, popular television series Game of Thrones had a thought through one of its character which says that the only reason the poor repel us is that show us who we truly are without all earthly attachments, tangible and intangible.  Raam Reddy’s Thithi gives us a character that symbolizes the detachment I am talking about. First let’s see, what the film is about.  Thithi is a Kannada word that refers to the ritual that is performed after the death of a person, post cremation. ‘Century’ Gowda, named understandably for the 100
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The Brand New Testament (2015)

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Humor and mockery, there is a fine line between these two and in history of any form of art where humor is an objective for the artist, there has been occasions where the artist failed to make the dichotomy between humor and mockery quite distinct. The line often becomes blurred for many; and therein lie the beauty and novelty of one artist who manages to provide pure humor though the subject of his work appears to take the form mockery. Belgian filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael displays that rare talent of humor in his film The Brand New Testament.  The Brand New Testament’s begins with the premise that God does exist and he lives in Brussels; with his docile wife, the Goddess, and rebellious daughter, Ea. God is tactless towards his wife and abusive towards his daughter. While he is not being those towards his family, he makes up laws on his computer, laws for worldly human. One example of those laws is ‘Your phone will always ring when you are immersed in bathtub.’ I think
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Room (2015)

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Lenny Abrahamson’s Room is poignant. Room is evocative. Room is devastatingly beautiful. There is a magic in creating a world in a child’s perspective. To capture and display the innocence, the purity, the sheer amount of confusing vastness of the world is no mean feat. Writer Emma Donoghue, who is also the writer of the book that the film is based upon, and director Lenny Abrahamson manage to do just that. The film starts with the pair of mother and son, Joy and Jack, played by Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay living their lives while scrapping for resources yet finding solace in each other’s company, in a room. That is right. In a single room (which later revealed to be a garden shed with a skylight as the only source of sun). The reason behind this ordeal revealed to be that Joy had been abducted by person referred only as ‘Old Nick’. Old Nick kept Joy and Jack, who is his biological son, sans any means of communication with the outside world and had them live a life d
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