5 must-watch films at the Mumbai International Film Festival (MAMI)

Here’s your pick of award-winning films to watch out for at MAMI, which starts on October 12

1. Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev

Loveless

Winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, this film depicts the scars a child bears due to a loveless marriage. Zhenya and Boris want to start fresh lives after a bitter divorce. In the process, 12-year-old Alyosha has become a rag doll they use against each other, until after one of their fights, Alyosha disappears.

2. Call Me By Your Name by Luca Guadagnino

Call Me By Your Name

An adaption from the novel by André Aciman, the film is set in the summer of 1983. Elio Perlman spends days lazily transcribing music in his 17th century family villa in Italy. The arrival of Oliver, a charming American scholar and summer intern with his father, changes everything.

The Square

This won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Christian is the respected curator of a contemporary art museum whose show The Square is an installation that invites passersby to altruism. But when his phone is stolen, chaos ensues as he tries to live up to his own ideals as the museum’s PR agency creates a campaign to garner buzz.

4. Ask The Sexpert by Vaishali Sinha

Ask The Sexpert

This documentary by Vaishali Sinha looks at the life and work of India’s famed 93-year-old sex advice columnist, Dr Mahinder Watsa, who is known for humour mixed with advice when answering the most outrageous questions by readers. In a country where sex is considered taboo, it begins the dialogue on our need to communicate our desires.

5. Mukkabaaz (The Brawler) by Anurag Kashyap

Mukkabaaz

Anurag Kashyap’s guts-and-glory tale of a boxer is the opening film of the festival. Quick-tempered, lower caste Shravan has always been the underdog. His career is threatened after he hits his boss Bhagwan in the face. Bhagwan is the local kingpin and the top boxing promoter in the region. He doles out constant humiliation and even causes problems in Shravan’s love life, but Shravan refuses to be deterred from making it to the Indian National Boxing Championship.

From HT Brunch, October 8, 2017

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