PIFF 2012 Day 5 and end

Ok. I missed out whole of day 4 due to my office work. But I guess not really good films were shown on that day. So I didn’t really miss much. J

This happens with most of the working people. Most of them attend Film festival only on weekend days. Only true film fans make it point to remain away from work and attend all days; like my friend Anmol. He makes a detour from hometown Kolhapur to every city in which festivals are noteworthy, like MIFF in Mumbai, IFFI in Goa etc. He deserves a special blog post for his “religiousness” about “cinema”.

Coming back to PIFF, on Day 5, I managed to attend.

We started with French film “An Ordinary Execution”. Though film is French, it’s about Russian dictator Stalin’s doctor (or pain-healer to be precise), whose life gets blown away when she is summoned by Stalin, hearing he reputation of pain-healing (using Reki-like technique). Based on true story, film captures the fear of living in communist regime; and proportion in which affects a simple family when one of them gets associated with hyper-sensitive issues like Dictator Stalin’s health. Performance of lead cast was definitely noteworthy.

That’s the magic of movies. You experience life of historical figures as if you are sitting next to them or roaming around with them. Film makers dealing with such subjects pay so much attention to the details in recreating the era and characters of the period, that you cannot help but appreciate the efforts.

Now, I would like to share few words about communist period movies. At times, those movies scare you unbelievably. I don’t deny bit of exaggeration here n there. But what’s most important lesson that I learn from them is, we need to really appreciate and respect the “freedom” that we enjoy in democracy and enjoying that “responsibly” is best way to do that. For example, when you have “liberty” of carrying your cellphones inside theatres, there is “responsibility” of putting them on silent mode. Most of the educated adults tend to forget that.

Second film was Mexican (Spanish) film called a “Stone’s Throw Away”. It is story of simple shepherd in Mexico who chases his strange dream of treasure hunt in snow by making a long journey that includes illegal crossing of US-Mexico border. Kudos to casting of lead, that fits in character of simpleton perfectly. That makes all events in his journey only believable. Film ends in back-to-square- one state as if “nothing” happened. But film works and succeeds in giving audience “something” satisfying.

I made a short journey across the town (to Inox screen) to watch third film. It was Hollywood sports drama “Money Ball” starring Brad Pitt. It’s based on true story and book based on life of baseball team manager Billy Beane who tried economical-statistical theory of “Money Ball” to achieve record breaking streak of 20 consecutive victories with his team Oakland Architects. Theory suggests choosing cheaper players to achieve team’s objectives based on numerical analysis. Film brings out exceptional performance from Brad Pitt and is told quite effectively. Billy’s management acumen, his failure as player, superstition about not watching games, fatherhood and ideal of searching for new “meaning” in baseball instead of chasing money, all comes profoundly. Intuition vs Science debate in sports is also captured.

Fourth film was German-Turkish-Swiss film “180 degree”. Basically it is a relationship drama about multiple families that get tied together due to an accident. All characters are forced to make to 180 degree turnaround in their attitudes or beliefs.  Film has few loose ends and has shorter plotline, but it partly succeeds in showing internal turmoil that all characters pass through in about 12 hours after the accident. Background score plays important part in that success.

I liked one scene in 180 degrees, where father of injured boy and mother of dead girl visit in hospital room. Mother is curious to know more about friendship of her deceased daughter with Turkish boy, like where they met en all. She starts by asking in German if boy met her daughter in school. Now, boy's father doesn't understand German well. He just understands word school and feels that lady is school teacher. He responds by explaining that there was accident and boy would attend school when he gets well. Now lady doesn't understand Turkish and she is confused. So she shows autograph book of daughter in which boy has sketched girl's beautiful face asking whether boy drew that. Now man only gets that she's asking about sketching hobby of his son. He gets emotional and tells how he had once scolded his son for his drawing and how his son was quiet in receiving his anger. Lady feels that man understands boy's affection for girl and is sad about her demise. So both interpret what they wish but in words that mean entirely different. Amazing scene!!

Last film was Canadian "Romeo Eleven" about Algerian polio-crippled boy. It was touching tale of his struggle to cope up with his ambition of living normal life. He lives a virtual life as business man trotting globe, mostly chatting with female friend. His lies are exposed and he breaks down, angry with family and world around. But time is the healer, boy accepts the reality and moves on. Social circle of minority Algerians in Canada, happy and bustling with their joys and togetherness becomes a metaphor for the boy and his aloofness. Film could have been melodramatic but restraint in portraying this tale makes it very realistic and heart-felt as well.

So that summed up my PIFF 2012. As it turns out, while writing this paragraph, I could not make it to 6th and 7th days. Best film was awarded to Germal film "If not us, who" that I had already seen the other day.

Hope to enjoy more films before 11th PIFF 2013.

Cheers!!