IFFI 2024, 17: Exposure, partial and full

Continuing and concluding my experiences of watching films at IFFI 2024, and walking out usually, after 30-40 minutes.

MEETING WITH POL POT France, Cambodia (Kampuchea), Taiwan, Qatar, Turkey 

Three persons credited with the Screenplay, one of them being the author of the book, When the War was over: Cambodia and the, Khmer Rouge Revolution, by Elizabeth Becker, which must have been the basis of the film. Directed by Rithy Panh.

It was nothing like I had expected from the tile and the synopsis. Well into the film, there was only talk-talk and drive-drive, and no Meeting with Pol Pot. Unable to hold on any longer for a glimpse of the Cambodian dictator, I parted company with the auditorium and took a break.

Naturally, no rating.

DRY SEASON Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia Screenwriter and director: Bohdan Slamà

This film was the Closing Film, and used three languages: Czech, Slovak and English.

About two families, one a small farmer and the other a local agri-business overlord, whom the farmer hates. The feelings are mutual. The film became a Romeo and Juliet story about the son of the overlord returning from studying abroad and renewing his love for the daughter of the small farmer. The girl constantly tries to push the boy into a conflict with his father over his unscrupulous methods of exploiting farmers. This happens every few minutes, and I got bored at the repetitive nature of the film, which moved at a snail’s pace. Exit.

MOON Austria Screenplay and direction: Kurdwin Ayub

Another film in which three or more languages are used. Here they are German, English and Arabic.

Set in Jordan, it narrates the tale of a former martial arts practitioner from Austria, Sarah, who is hired to train three sisters of one family in her area of expertise. But the sport does not interest the three girls, so why has she been hired? Indeed, why? The question rebounded and rebounded in my mind as I left the auditorium about 25 minutes into its 92 minutes’ duration. Rating? Not possible.

ALGIERS Algeria, Tunisia, France, Canada Screenplay not credited Directed by Chakib (pronounced Shakib, a Muslim name) Taleb Bendiab.

Using Arabic and French, this was one of the better films screened at the festival, and one which I could sit through till the end. A psychiatrist and a Police Inspector investigate the kidnapping of a young girl. At 92 minutes, it held my attention. Bendiab is one of the writers on the British spy series, Go Dark.

Rating: ** ½

FOTOGENICO France Screenplay not credited Directed by Marcia Romano and Benoît Sabatier

A girl dies in Marseilles. Her father arrives in the city and tries to locate persons she knew or hung out with. In the process, he discovers that she was part of a girl band and had cut a disc with them. He decides to bring the band together, as some kind of tribute to his daughter.

The man and his performance are weird, and the film, though only 94 minutes long, failed to interest me. Rating is out of question.

PUSHER 1996 Restored Classics Denmark Screenplay not credited Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Drugs, drug barons and drug dealers form the thrust of the story. A heroin deal turns sour and the Pusher is indebted to the Balkan drug baron, Milo. This is no restored ‘classic’, from my perspective. A narrow and limited panorama made things dull, although the subject was drug-related. The film had possibilities, but its hazy, jerky, handheld camera and slow narration forced me to leave after I had seen about two-thirds of the film. I will hazard a

Rating: **

THE DRAUGHTSMAN’S CONTRACT (1982) came in the British Film Institute (BFI) package. I had seen it in the 1984 IFFI. A sexual extravaganza, I did not feel the need to see it again. Remembering the contents of the film, there was plenty of exposure, partial and almost full.

The Consulates of Vietnam, Mexico and Belarus provided four contemporary films to IFFI, two coming from Mexico. Sadly, I could not see any of them. A bigger tragedy was the unsuccessful attempts to book a ticket for either of the two shows of All We Imagine as Light. Directed by Film and Television Institute of India alumni Payal Kapadia, her second feature film has been the talk of the country and overseas for some time now. Naturally, some die hard picture-goers woke up early and jammed the Internet with demands to reserve their ticket. I was not one of them. India is only one of the four countries that have funded AWIAL, the other three being France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It uses Malayalam and Hindi languages in its story-telling. IFFI featured it in a section it called ACCOLADES.

It was sad to see Rahul Rawail on a wheel-chair. Until last year, he used to escort wheel-chair bound Randhir Kapoor. Time and ailments spare no one. He must have been there to attend the screening of restored NFDC-NFAI classic, Awara (1951), one of Raj Kapoor’s biggest international hits. 2024 marks the birth centenary of Raj Kapoor, Tapan Sinha, Mohammed Rafi and Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR).

HUM DONO (1961), which I saw, was chosen for the tribute to Rafi. It is one film where we see that Dev Anand had more to him than the lover-boy with a child’s face and jerky mannerisms, which were home territory for mimics, including me. Direction is credited to Amar Jeet, Navketan (the Anands home banner)’s publicist, but one is inclined to believe that it must have been ghost directed or partly directed by Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand, who is credited with the screenplay. Vijay Anand Directed Guide, Navketan’s next, an absolute masterpiece, which had music by S.D. Burman and the musical score would probably just edge past that of Jaidev’s Hum Dono songs by a whisker. Jaidev had earlier assisted S.D. Burman. Dev in a double role, with Nanda and Sadhana, rises to performance heights, aided in no small measure by the one and only Mohammed Rafi. Hum Dono was a treat, and considering the year in which it was made, I have to be generous and give a rating that befits the film, though I saw it for the first time in 2024.

Rating: *** ½

With Accessibility as one of the credos of the festival, I saw several wheel-chair bound persons attending film shows. That was a welcome sight. Making arrangements for physically challenged persons di make IFFI accessible.

JAB KHULI KITAAB was among the gala premières was directed by roly-poly, bearded actor Saurabh Shukla, and featured Pankaj Kapur and Dimple Kapadia in the lead roles. Thodisi Bewafaii (A Little Unfaithfulness, 1980) is most likely the point of reference for this film, which deals with the reactions of an old husband and his old wife, who comes out of coma to reveal to her hubby that, decades ago, she had had brief sexual encounter with another man, whom she loved, while she was already married to her husband. It was polished disappointment, as the lead pair turned in performances of high merit, but once again I found myself watching a film that did not move. Naturally, I escaped well before the 121 minutes could be clocked. Rating it would be unfair.

Score board

Adding up the numbers, of films I went to see, but saw full or half or less than half, I come-up with the figure of 14 films in 9 days. In hindsight, I would not have travelled to Goa from Mumbai, stayed at a hotel for the duration of the festival and a day each before and after the festival, just to watch 14 films, averaging 1.5 films a day, most of them partially. Yes, I did attend part of the closing ceremony, the PIB cocktails and dinner reception, and three parties, thrown aboard an anchored ferry, which deprived me of at least 8 more films. That would make it 22, which is a reasonable figure, averaging 2.4 films a day. So, the message is straight and blunt: If you want to see films, keep away from parties and receptions. But in the present case, I could not ignore the fact that the films I was watching were tedious and boring, so the parties provided some respite. Counted strictly in film terms, it cost me Rs. 1,500 each to see the 14 films, and I have to repeat the truth that almost all of them were disappointing, so the parties provided some respite.

Such a paucity of merit, mainly in the international and the competition sections meant that either the Selection Juries were not competent and discerning enough to choose films of at least a certain standard, or the films that made it to the screenings were the best of the lot. Both premises lead to big disappointments. I must say, based on the films I saw, fully or partially, that IFFI 2024 offered the worst film-fare in many a decade. At an international film festival, held several hundred kms away, nothing hurts as much as finding yourself watching inane, crawling paced and pointless films. Technically, film-making can rarely be faulted in the 2020s, so the problem lies in the screenplay, direction and acting. Why have they hit a new low, I do not know. It is best to try and forget the menu of IFFI 2024 and pray that better vehicles of good cinema prevail in the years to come.

Rating of the festival itself, all things considered: **