Suri Mukherjee reviews some of the films screened in the festival on its 3rd day. Walking home tonight, I realised I had a mammoth task in front of me. I could pick only a few films to review from the many brilliant ones I saw today. I actually managed to watch all of the films screened, and experienced a roller-coaster of emotions.
The honesty in the stories, the diversity in the voices and the visual beauty of them all merged together to create a truly memorable day. But you know what makes it easy to pick three random films from a plethora of options? Being super-sleepy after a very long day. So, without further delay, here are my Iris Reviews for Day 3! It tells a brave truth. But this often inadvertently means that those who do not come out are seen as cowardly.
It is a truth that needs to be heard. The character of the mother in the film is so uniquely wholesome that it demands special notice. In any other movie, the conservative mother could easily become the villain. But not here. That is due to two reasons. Firstly, the role is in the deft hands of veteran actor Shabana Azmi, who is always at the top of her game. This character does not fold neatly into any particular box. And that is delightful. She is complex and deeply relatable as a desi parent figure.
You can read an interview with Fawzia Mirza on p. Scar Tissue One of the functions of art is to articulate truths about the world that we have failed to articulate for ourselves.
We meet Sami on a fateful night in his life. A Syrian refugee from Damascus, he understandably has his guard up. He is free now to pursue life in Amsterdam and does so - meeting a native for a first date. Yet, despite the best intentions of his date Johan, it does not go as planned. The third character, Bashir, is introduced as he asks the duo for a cigarette.
