Siraj Syed on 18th MFF: Godless, Madly, Red Turtle meets Barakah

Far from catching up on film viewing shortfall, I could see fewer films in the second half of the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) with STAR. It was a deadly combination of several factors: Tickets sold out, no luck with walk-ins, inability to wake up early, traffic jams and unavoidably long travel times, the desire to attend two or three non-screening events, the choice of some films over others shown at the same or almost same times and no luck with the chosen films, the clash with a regular Friday release press screening, and more.

Yes, I might be able to catch up films like I, Daniel Blake (UK-France, directed by Ken Loach, imported by former MFF Director S. Narayanan) and a few other common selections, at IFFI Goa, where I have been more successful in getting entries, for a host of reasons that will be discussed in another posting.

At the end of MFF, here is the second half of my assessment of the fare I was privy to.

>Diamond Island, France

The umpteenth re-enactment of how a young (Cambodian) village-boy gets work in a big city luxury complex (called Diamond Island) and the poverty-ridden tale of his family. It was competently, sometimes slickly, done, but I would not vote for it in a competition.

Rating: ** ½

>Barakah Meets Barakah, Saudi Arabia

By their norms, this must be a really permissive film. Nevertheless, it was amusing, sometimes really funny, and occasionally critical of the social fabric in Saudi Arabia, reminding us that they were liberal just two generations ago. Performances were fluent and the romantic comedy never went over-board.

Rating: ***

>Man with the Binoculars, India

I owed it to Rima Das to attend her show, having written about her film in these columns. A well-intentioned film, it drifted into the boring, vacuous milieu that made t difficult to sit through its 100 minutes. Lush landscapes and solid acting could not make up for slow pace. No rating.

>Autohead, India

Murder, mayhem, prostitution, ‘unnatural’ sex (off-camera), jumpy camera, compendium of choicest swear words, a reality TV show like never before, and what have you. Autohead will have heads bobbing in all directions. Since I managed to see only the second half,

No Rating.

>The Red Turtle, France-Belgium

Delightful fairy-tale, without dialogue, and deliberately chosen primitive animation technique, all add-up to an experience that should be cherished. Just the right length at 80 minutes, the tale is full of allegory and lack of logic that demands a high degree of suspension of disbelief. May the tribe of these red turtles proliferate.        

Rating: *** ½

>Madly, MTV, Six stories from different countries

At 90 minutes, the film is tedious and convoluted, indulgent and ill-conceived, pretentious and pointless. For Indian viewers, the shot of Radhika Apte lifting up her house-coat to reveal unshaven territory (segment Clean Shaven, directed by, yup... Anurag Kashyap) might have some shock value. For the rest, even the Japanese sex club interlude, the other tale which has a narrative, nothing quite works.

Rating: * ½            

>Godless, Bulgaria-Denmark-France

It had a basic premise: a physio-therapist steals the id cards of her old patients and sells them in the black-market. After that, it was luckless, plotless and clueless. Couldn’t think of spending 99 minutes with the Godless, and made my move towards the exit, even as a colleague seated on my right notched-up 40 winks.

No Rating.

As was only to be expected, I was not invited to the closing film screening, and open tickets ran out fast. Likewise, I was not invited to the closing ceremony and announcements of winners. Obviously, no reportage on either count.