The lines seem to blur between reality and reel-ality, between documentary and feature as 14 films vie for the top prize at the ongoing Osian’s Cinefan 2004. For the themes – war, status of women, prostitution – in the features are but reflections of the stark images that surround us in real life. If the subjects are as old as the hills, the answers they seek through explorations in the cinematic medium prove just as elusive too.
If Ahmad Reza Motamedi’s controversial Iranian film, The Insane Flew Away looks at a daughter attempting to raise funds for her father’s treatment and getting exploited by her own uncle in the process, Atiq Rahimi’s Earth and Ashes surveys the futility of war in Afghanistan through the eyes of an old man who has to inform his son that their entire family has been wiped out in a bomb blast.
Winner of the Silver Bear at Berlinnale 2004, Samaritan Girl by Kim Ki-Duk unravels the teenage mind as two young girls figure that the only way to make some quick money is by prostituting themselves, till one-day things go horribly wrong. The complete breakdown of the moral social fabric in the Korean entry is indicative of a worldwide trend. Incidentally, Kim’s last film Spring, Summer, Fall, Autumn, Winter… and Spring features in the Asian Frescoes section and a must watch as well.
Zhu Wen’s South of the Clouds from China focuses on a relationship gone wrong for a man who seeks happiness outside his marriage with a prostitute for he’s unable to forget his past.
{{/usCountry}}Zhu Wen’s South of the Clouds from China focuses on a relationship gone wrong for a man who seeks happiness outside his marriage with a prostitute for he’s unable to forget his past.
{{/usCountry}}On the other end of the spectrum are Okay Baytong – a comedy, which has as its center the relationship between a 7-year-old girl and her 27-year-old uncle who had renunciated all to turn a monk. Together with Lynn, a family friend who has assumed responsibility for the child temporarily because her mother has been killed in a bomb blast recently, Tum sets out to look for his niece’s father. The trio’s journey of self-discovery changes perspectives for all the three.
The other two films to watch out for in the competition section are Swing My Swing High, My Darling the latest offering by the renowned Malaysian filmmaker U-Wei Bin Hajisaari. Swing My Swing… is about Amran who helps his mistress murder her husband. They try and pass off the death as an automobile accident, until a photographer who presents them some incriminating photographs and proceeds to blackmail the duo.
Finally, if there is one film that absolutely shouldn’t be passed up at the festival it is Takeshi Kitano’s Zatoichi. A most delectable offering from Japan’s very own Bob Hope, Zatoichi returns to an ancient Japanese myth of a blind sword fighter who saves a village from evil designs of the villains. Winner of multiple international awards (including several for Best Director) from Marrakesh to Venice, Vancouver and Toronto, the film is equally sound on the technical front. It won all the top five technical awards at the Japan Oscars – Cinematography, Editing, Sound, Score and Lighting.
So answers or not to life’s troubles, sit back and just enjoy…