Hungarian film about folk dance troupe "Maiden Danced to Death" was first film of first day. It was about two brothers and their passion for Hungarian folk dance. Elder one migrated away to Canada due to circumstances some 20 years ago and is media promoter now with broken marriage & losing stakes in own company. Other remained back with troupe struggling with insufficient resources & motivation. Elements of rivalry exist between both. Elder one returns with hopes of reviving lot of things and after lot of efforts, arguments and bitter revelations, all ends well. Story has undertones of natural vs professional conflict. But what I liked most are the superbly captured folk dance routines and rehearsals with melodious music.
BTW "Maiden Danced to Death" is the name of famous Hungarian folklore in which a maiden girl is made to dance by local guys till she is thrown out of the dance floor, symbolizing her exclusion out of society, which is equivalent to death in those times. Interesting isn't it.
After squeezing tea down our cold throats in shortest interval that we got, we rushed for French relationship drama film "My Little Princess". Film had autobiographical touch of director Eva Inesco's relationship with her mother when she was small. Little girl is ushered into world of modelling by mother without respecting the limits of social decency. Relationship strains when girl's school life starts falling apart due to comments of her friends. Confusion of love and caring with professional ambition takes its toll, with girl ending up in corrections school hating her mother badly. Performance of the both ladies was the hallmark of the film.
I found the presentation of glamour world different in this film. In the sense, it never takes over the focus from relationship between the ladies. Nowhere the glamour is glorified to the extent you start liking the glitz and glitter.
Third film was Albanian drama film "Amnesty". This is second film on Albania in the past two days. Some GK: This small n picturusque country is located in south eastern Europe; considered poorest in Europe, its aiming to improve economically to be able to join European Union.
Now back to film "Amnesty". Word amnesty is generally used in political context and means pardon given for political crimes. So I had expected film to be related to some political tension in Albania or something like that. But it turned out to be another relationship drama about disconnected man and woman brought together by policy of Albanian govt under which normal prisoners were allowed to spend night with spouses in prison once a month. Relationship brews but story twists when govt grants amnesty by releasing several prisoners. The dilemma in front of both leads gets abruptly solved when both are killed by woman's father in law. I felt that ending very compromising and we joked outside that probably writer-director were rushed by producers to finish the film due to lack of budget. But leading lady's efforts are definitely noteworthy.
Next was Russian film "Sparrow". Producer of the film was present for the screening and enthusiastically informed audience about the film's speciality. That it is a film that captures remote Russian village and its common folk, which is very rare in Russian films. That people in Russia do not care about ongoing political controversies in the contry. Common men have common problems just like in India. In the end, he hoped that, as 70% India is rural, we would like the film. This statement seemed funny to me, as PIFF crowd that gathers for films is typically urban.
"Sparrow" is nick-name of smart kid named Mitya in the village whose great great grandfather or so first brought the herd of horses to the village which survived and grew by miracle. So villagers have protected and cherished this herd. But latest village council wants to sell it due to debts and lower production of crops. Most of the film presents Mitya's family and his know-all smartness. Dilemma over herd comes at very end when Mitya attempts something extraordinary.
Sparrow reminded me of Mangesh Hadawale's Marathi Tingya. Both characters Tingya and Mitya have that innocence, charm and smartness that stands out on backdrop of beauty and simplicity of village. I liked beautifully shot (Siberian?) grass landscapes and wild horses. Brilliantly written dialogues of Mitya the Sparrow evoked many laugthers.
Generally, I do not prefer reading synopsis of the film before viewing it. I like watching movie with element of suspense about story. But unfortunately I had to read synopsis of the last film to select between two.
I chose German film called "Sleeping Sickness". Funny part was that synopsis respresented only half or lets say one third of the film about missionary doctor's inability to decide about returning to Germany to his family, when his WHO assignment is ending. However, rest of the film takes place 3 years after when an African-European doctor (born and brought up in Paris) is on WHO evaluation trip to the same assignment of German doctor. Film ends in depths of African jungles raising lot many questions about the story and characters than answers it can provide. Though scene-sequences and dialogues are thought provoking, I found writer-director undecided about the focus of the film. For example, film tries to comment on developmental strategy in African countries and physicality of Africans in couple of unrelated scenes.
Different colours of relationships, starting with brothers, mother-daughter, man-animal, man-woman and lastly man-nature, marked rather absorbing and tiring day.
I have observed that PIFF selection panel makes a point to include films of different subjects, regions and cultures. And I like this approach as it gives me broader understanding of outside world than just the knowledge of art or business of cinema.
Hope to capture more variety in remaining days.
Cheers!!
BTW "Maiden Danced to Death" is the name of famous Hungarian folklore in which a maiden girl is made to dance by local guys till she is thrown out of the dance floor, symbolizing her exclusion out of society, which is equivalent to death in those times. Interesting isn't it.
After squeezing tea down our cold throats in shortest interval that we got, we rushed for French relationship drama film "My Little Princess". Film had autobiographical touch of director Eva Inesco's relationship with her mother when she was small. Little girl is ushered into world of modelling by mother without respecting the limits of social decency. Relationship strains when girl's school life starts falling apart due to comments of her friends. Confusion of love and caring with professional ambition takes its toll, with girl ending up in corrections school hating her mother badly. Performance of the both ladies was the hallmark of the film.
I found the presentation of glamour world different in this film. In the sense, it never takes over the focus from relationship between the ladies. Nowhere the glamour is glorified to the extent you start liking the glitz and glitter.
Third film was Albanian drama film "Amnesty". This is second film on Albania in the past two days. Some GK: This small n picturusque country is located in south eastern Europe; considered poorest in Europe, its aiming to improve economically to be able to join European Union.
Now back to film "Amnesty". Word amnesty is generally used in political context and means pardon given for political crimes. So I had expected film to be related to some political tension in Albania or something like that. But it turned out to be another relationship drama about disconnected man and woman brought together by policy of Albanian govt under which normal prisoners were allowed to spend night with spouses in prison once a month. Relationship brews but story twists when govt grants amnesty by releasing several prisoners. The dilemma in front of both leads gets abruptly solved when both are killed by woman's father in law. I felt that ending very compromising and we joked outside that probably writer-director were rushed by producers to finish the film due to lack of budget. But leading lady's efforts are definitely noteworthy.
Next was Russian film "Sparrow". Producer of the film was present for the screening and enthusiastically informed audience about the film's speciality. That it is a film that captures remote Russian village and its common folk, which is very rare in Russian films. That people in Russia do not care about ongoing political controversies in the contry. Common men have common problems just like in India. In the end, he hoped that, as 70% India is rural, we would like the film. This statement seemed funny to me, as PIFF crowd that gathers for films is typically urban.
"Sparrow" is nick-name of smart kid named Mitya in the village whose great great grandfather or so first brought the herd of horses to the village which survived and grew by miracle. So villagers have protected and cherished this herd. But latest village council wants to sell it due to debts and lower production of crops. Most of the film presents Mitya's family and his know-all smartness. Dilemma over herd comes at very end when Mitya attempts something extraordinary.
Sparrow reminded me of Mangesh Hadawale's Marathi Tingya. Both characters Tingya and Mitya have that innocence, charm and smartness that stands out on backdrop of beauty and simplicity of village. I liked beautifully shot (Siberian?) grass landscapes and wild horses. Brilliantly written dialogues of Mitya the Sparrow evoked many laugthers.
Generally, I do not prefer reading synopsis of the film before viewing it. I like watching movie with element of suspense about story. But unfortunately I had to read synopsis of the last film to select between two.
I chose German film called "Sleeping Sickness". Funny part was that synopsis respresented only half or lets say one third of the film about missionary doctor's inability to decide about returning to Germany to his family, when his WHO assignment is ending. However, rest of the film takes place 3 years after when an African-European doctor (born and brought up in Paris) is on WHO evaluation trip to the same assignment of German doctor. Film ends in depths of African jungles raising lot many questions about the story and characters than answers it can provide. Though scene-sequences and dialogues are thought provoking, I found writer-director undecided about the focus of the film. For example, film tries to comment on developmental strategy in African countries and physicality of Africans in couple of unrelated scenes.
Different colours of relationships, starting with brothers, mother-daughter, man-animal, man-woman and lastly man-nature, marked rather absorbing and tiring day.
I have observed that PIFF selection panel makes a point to include films of different subjects, regions and cultures. And I like this approach as it gives me broader understanding of outside world than just the knowledge of art or business of cinema.
Hope to capture more variety in remaining days.
Cheers!!
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