The Flying Machine
Directors: Martin Clapp, Dorota Kobeila, Geoff Lindsay
Country: Poland,
China, UK
The flying machine is a 3D animation feature film made in
commemoration of the bi-centenary of Chopin. The film treads through various
etudes of Poland’s
most famous musician on three different narrative levels. The first level is
the reality where a family of three, a working woman and her two children, have
come to attend a concert where by famous pianist Lang Lang. The second level is
the animation titled “The Magic Piano”, which plays at the theatre during Lang
Lang’s performance. And the third level where the woman and her kids and Lang
himself, live “The Magic Piano” and enter the world of Chopin.
The entire film comes across as a journey that not only the characters
but even the audiences embark upon. The initial reluctance to pay attention to
the music in the primary level of narrative and then coming across the various
etudes of Chopin in the “Magic Piano” and then finding out about Chopin through
the little boy and girl who travel across the world to find an answer. The
excellent use of visual motifs and metaphors makes this 3D film a visual treat.
And being an educational film, the makers have made it a point that the motifs
and the symbolism is received by the audience and understood. The use of the
piano itself as a vehicle that transports people into Chopin’s world is
appreciable.
In a way, the little boy is shown to represent the mischievousness
and innocence and all in all the spirit of Chopin. To summarize, the film does very well in
achieving its main aim of making an educational film that is attractive. The
graphics are a little primitive but some visual effects do sweep you off your
feet. Overall, ‘The flying Machine’ leaves you with a sense of happiness and a
sense of belonging. Not to forget, it gives you a peek into the maestro that
Chopin really was.
18 Days
Directors: Sherif Arafa, Kamla Abu Zikry, Marwan Hamed, Mohamed
Ali, Sherif El Bendary, Khaled Marei, Mariam, Abou Ouf, Ahmad Abdallah, Yousri
Nasrallah, Ahmed Ala Country: Egypt
It is always amazing to watch a feature film. But what is
more amazing is to sit in a cinema hall for 2 hours and come out watching a
feature film which actually told you more than just one story. We all know how
much we loved Inglorious Basterds, or
Paris: Je T’aime. 18 Days belongs to the same genre, but
the mood is completely different. The purpose is completely different. And the production
level is completely different.
If the brief given in the catalogue is to be believed, this
film is a joint effort of 10 directors, 20 odd actors and a few other
technicians who volunteered to make short films based on the happenings in Egypt, between
25th January 2011 and 11th February 2011 (18 days). Each director has made one
short film roughly 10-15 minutes each. And every short film tells us the same
set of events but from a different perspective.
Retention is a
story of a bunch of Egyptians who are under medical care for having
anti-government stands. The story revolves around their captivity in a small
room and their reactions to the various activities that happened in those 18
days- The speech of President Mubarak, his resignation announcement and the jubilation
on the streets afterwards. Another story God’s
Creation talks about the dilemma of a young Egyptian girl who feels that
she might have to go to hell for having coloured her hair.
On the other hand, she wonders whether god would forgive
this sin of hers were she to die a martyr in the ongoing revolution. 19-19 is a tale of an innocent man held
and tortured by the insecure blindfolded officials who refuse to see reason. When the Flood Hits You is a story of
the poorer sections of the urban Egypt. It dwells over monetary
conflicts of a local flag salesman who sells souvenirs and postcards to the protestors
be it pro government or anti government. On the contrary, it shows a Khalifa
who is first upset about Mubarak’s departure but then participates in the
celebration as the tide turns.
The other stories in the film - Curfew, Revolution Cookies, #Tahrir 2/2, Window, Interior/Exteior,
Ashraf Seberto are also captivating. All the short films are shot on two locations
or less. There is a lot of footage of the actual revolution which has been
taken from Youtube and at the same time there’s recreated reality where the
fiction mixes with the non-fictional footage. The stories give a nice
insider/outsider look on the 18 days of socio-political upheaval that a country
witnessed and now, it is willing to talk about it and how.
Mill & The Cross
Director: Lech Majewski Country: Poland
As students of Cinema, we are always told not to classify
films as commercial films or art films or experimental films. We are told that
there are only two types of films: good films and bad films. But those who saw
the Mill and The Cross will agree
with me when I say that this, in the truest sense of the word, is an art film.
The film is based on Pieter Bruegel’s famous masterpiece The Way to Cavalry.
The painting depicts the story of Christ’s passion during the year of 1564 when
the Spanish occupied the Flanders. It’s the
same year when Bruegel painted the above mentioned masterpiece.
Mill and the Cross
focuses on several stories of different families and assembles them as they become
a part of the large canvas of Bruegel’s work. The film is a visual treat. The images are as
though Bruegel himself wrote the screenplay. Every frame that you see on the
screen is a masterpiece in itself. Also, the regeneration of the colour pigments
that Bruegel must have used is commendable. The filmmaker made it a point to
let the audiences know that the film took 4 years to complete. Two and a half
years of work has been put in just assembling the film in post production. To
give the overall effect of the sixteenth century painting style that Bruegel
was known for, the images that are seen have been intricately designed. Each
frame consists of minimum 40 and maximum 147 layers.
But all said and done, all the effort and time that was put
in this film has been delivered on screen. The lighting used for interior
scenes gives the shots and the scenes a sense of photographic reality. Mill and
the Cross, therefore is an exhibition of photography in itself. At the same
time, the sound design was an example of technical perfection. The background
score is mostly made of ambient sounds and a little background music which
enhances the images which were perfect anyways.
Not much should be said about the story as we all already
know it. The film has very few dialogues mostly spoken by the Bruegel’s
character. This gives a sense of having attended a masterclass with the master
himself. All in all, Mill and the Cross is a good see for
everyone who loves watching nice images. And if you are an art appreciator,
watch it and your day will be made.
What Love May Bring
Director: Claude Lelouch Country: France
It isn’t a film festival, if there isn’t a film from Europe that is set during the World War II. Indeed, the opening
film Consul of Bordeaux was also set in the similar time. But ‘What love may
bring’ is not a war film. It is the love story of a girl, Ilva, who falls in
love too quickly. It is her romantic journey from the start of the war to its
end and after, where she falls in love with not one, not two, but 5 men in total.
As a teenager she is in love with a French Jew when she
learns that her father has been taken hostage by the Nazis. She goes with a
plea to free her father and falls in love with a Nazi officer. Then, when the
tides turned on the Germans and France
was liberated in 1944, Ilva is summoned regarding her affair with a Nazi.
There, she’s saved by 2 American GI’s. She falls for them both and can’t pick
whom she wants to marry. This leads to one of them killing the other. She
marries the other one, an American Billionaire, but isn’t happy. She wants to
get a divorce and files for one. But her husband dies in what could be a murder
or a suicide. At last, she gets a lawyer to defend her, and falls in love with
him.
But in between this long tale of love, the setting of the
war brings to attention the wrath and grief experienced by many. However, the fractured narrative of the film
keeps you guessing who is who. It’s one of those films you wish you had a
notepad along with you. The coincidences, the relations, the time period, it’s
a mess if you can’t keep up. The music is amazing. It accentuates the drama in
the film. All in all, it is an absurd
tale of love, passion and destiny. And you leave the hall with a smile at the irony
of what the war that love has brought into the lives of the characters.
The Artist
Director: Michael Hazanavicius Country: France
The Artist is a story of a Hollywood
superstar of the Silent era. George Valentin is loved by everyone for his
tricks and antics on screen. He, along with his pet dog, can enchant anyone. He
is a true artist who could be called the personification of the phrase “actions
speak louder than words”.
The story of The Artist begins when this iconic star of the
silent era accidentally stumbles upon a beautiful Peppy Miller, who is
struggling to get her name on a neon signboard somewhere in Hollywood. Thanks to her beauty, talent and a
little help from George himself, Peppy starts to climb the staircase of stardom
and fame. But, ironically, with the coming of sound in cinema, George Valentin
falls out of favour with the producers. He is no good now. His actions, which
once mesmerized the audiences, start to come across as loud and exaggerated.
Here onwards, the story focuses on George Valentin’s Kaagaz Ke Phool style downfall – he
auctions all his possessions, sells his house, starts living in a smaller
apartment, becomes a dunk wretch, has no money for food, asks his faithful
butler to leave him and so on. On the other hand, Peppy is slowly becoming the
apple of everyone’s eye. Everybody loves her. Every film that stars her is a
super hit. On hearing what has happened of her mentor/crush, she tries to help
him out to the extent of anonymously buying all of his possessions. Meanwhile,
George cannot stand his failure and attempts suicide. He is rescued and taken
to a hospital from where Peppy takes charge. Brings him home and takes good
care of him, tries to get him back into the industry. But George’s self respect
won’t permit this. He leaves this time with clear intentions to finish himself,
but Peppy stops him and convinces him to work with her. A happy ending follows
with a dance sequence for a certain film.
The film, having been shot in the classic 1:1.33 ratio gives
it a period logic which is then extended and amplified by the fact that it’s a
silent film with inserted text slides. Visually, the contrast provided by Black
& White gives the feel of a classical drama and takes you to the era of the
silent films. For those of us, who have witnessed the phenomenon of silent
films, The Artist is a trip back in time. And for those of us, the unfortunate
many, who were born way after the silent era had ended; The Artist is a
refreshing change.
My Australia
Director: Ami Drozd Country: Israel/Poland
My Australia
tells an autobiographical tale of the director Ami Drozd’s life set in the
1960s. The film begins in Poland
where two brothers are caught prowling with a Polish Anti-Semitic gang of young
boys. As fate would have it, they are later informed by their mother, that they
themselves are Jews.
The younger of the two, is fascinated by the stories and
images he has heard and seen about Australia. His mother, under the
pretext of taking him there, puts him on a boat to Israel along with herself and her
elder son. Due to the circumstances, she has to let both her sons live on a
Kibbutz in Israel.
What follows is a series of events that leave a mark on the life of the young
boy. The film showcases the journey of the young boy- a journey of self
discovery that takes the route of pain and the fear of the unknown.
The film is simple, sensitive and humorous and does what it
should to give the message it wants to. The political comment made by the film
is very contemporary although it is set in the sixties. The helplessness and
dissociation faced by all post-war refugees, mostly Jewish, always makes a
heart wrenching tale. But My Australia is not a tragedy. It is an
uncomplicated, straightforward, firsthand account of the hardships and the
compromises that the boy faces- compromise that not only exists on the
socio-political background, but compromises on a physiological level too.
The success of this film is in its treatment- in the way it
has handled such a complex subject with such ease and simplicity. The performance
of the protagonist, Ofir Leibovitz, takes the film to a whole new level. His
pedestrian attitude of taking every challenge head on, his screen presence and his
confidence in dialogue delivery complimenting the innocence of his baby face.
The boy is a real talent. The recreation
of the sixties is very well done both in Poland
as well as Israel.
The cinematography, screenplay, locations etc. everything is simplistic; which
adds to the sensitivity of the film.
It will be appropriate to say that the film brings back
memories and the nostalgia of everything one has compromised on. It reminds us
of every time we dreamt of our Australia
and had to settle for Israel.
It is a memoir of a struggle, a reminder of pain and a memento of self
acceptance.
Reviews published in Gomantak Times, Goa in November 2011
