Comments on appreciable films

Film Appreciation with K S Sivakumaran

Instead of writing about all the films seen in the recent international films in two states in India, I shall give information and comments only on those films that appealed to me. A detailed analysis is not warranted as some of the international films are yet to come to Lanka. A lot of readers after reading what we have been writing on these films also ask us from where they could buy the DVDs of films mentioned.

Honestly I really don't know and I write about the films only if I had seen them. I do not gather information of any film from the Internet and pretend that the views expressed are entirely mine. But there may be some who have access to such DVDs and write about them from their points of view.

Let's go recollecting in small measure three films this week.

A film from Argentina in Spanish with English subtitles was interesting because it had an unattained small girl with her innocence not dissolved as yet handling a big issue in a manner that helps a little grown up 'boy' who had a problem that prevented 'him' to speak to others openly. The young girl out of compassion and concern for someone below her status serves as a bridge between the affected person and the doctor who was her father. In other words the theme of the film is an exposure of some aspects of 'sexuality' with the psychological approach in mind.

I do not wish to relate the plot of the story, but what was true was that the 'boy' was really a girl with underdeveloped bisexual organs that troubled her and she was suffering inside and was crudely treated as a slave by her who supported her.

The English title of the film was 'The Last Summer of La Boyita' (El Ultima Verano de la Boyita) and it was directed by Julia Solomononoff. The acting by the small girl was very natural, controlled. There was quick transition from a carefree young girl to a maturity that was full of confidence and her understanding the suffering of another makes her act with maturity that was plausible.

There is no vulgarism in the film and the film was tastefully done. I liked it because the film added new knowledge for me on a subject that I did not know much.

'A Day in Orange' (Dia Narenja) was also a Spanish film that was co-produced by Venezuela and Argentina. For me this was an entertaining film with three attractive women. They hailed from Buenos Aires, Bogota and Caracass (three big cities in Latin America. Although they were all Latinos and yet they were all different: different in colour of the skin, their accent and different sounds in their respective cities. I liked this variety.

The funniest part of the connection among the women was that they were expecting an unexpected pregnancy.

I do not wish to elaborate the plot. It's pointless until you see it. My purpose is to give you a general idea of the film with its own kind of 'existentialism'. More importantly it's a film by a woman looking at the embarrassing situations of women in agony.

I liked the film because again it was educating me on some aspects of 'femininity'

There was this film from Croatia with English subtitles. Co-produced by Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, it was called 'Just Between Us' (Neka Ostane Medju Nama). This was directed by Rajka Girlic.

Although I didn't see anything aesthetic in this film it was amusing and more on entertaining than on portrayal of any public social themes. Adultery and incest has become commonplace even in former Soviet Union countries. Maybe such happenings are not happening in many countries outside our world and maybe the exposures are exaggerated.

Regarding this film my comments are minimal. So I had to remember the story and to do that I checked the synopsis of the film. I quote:

"The film is a keyhole peek into the painful secrets of a family which consists of two brothers, their wives and lovers. The children are ignorant about the identify of their fathers"

The synopsis had this bold comment as well: " Girlic takes marriage and marital relations from ideal postures on morality, and depicts adultery as an integral part of life"

If this is true then the virtuous and nobles ideas of marriage go for a six. What a pity if the world is going to hell with chaos and bereft of love!

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