Chennai International Film Festival 2014 - Movies & my experience

It is always been a great year ending for the past few years, with me and my friends attending the music season events, year new movies and Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF). Music and movies in December have become a part of the calendar now. In CIFF 2014 I happen to watch few movies and below I am sharing my 2 dollars worth of experience (2 cents is too cheap nowadays).

Party Girl – French – The spirit of a person wouldn’t change, even as they age or come to terms with reality as it is the shell in which they always feel comfortable.

Two Days, One Night – Belgium – Tried on the lines of 12 angry men, trying to make a majority vote shift but not impressive enough.

Geronimo – French – Could have been more musical and dance oriented which is featured only for a brief moment. Ending was like typical Indian film where the Protagonist survives hours after a fatal wound.

Behaviour – Cuban – Excellent one. Great performances by the Kid especially in the scenes where he woos another girl. Wish there are “Carmela”s in every school. Sharp visuals .

Monument to Michael Jackson – Serbia – Laughs and smiles all the way before the climax. Nice movie.

Natural Sciences – Argentina – Short& sweet, pleasing greyish visuals and simple movie.

Kuttram Kadidhal – Tamil – Good attempt. (Movie crew request : nothing should be revealed till public release)

Paris of the North – Iceland – Great view of a mountain. Nothing more than that.

Honeymoon – Czech – Shocking and an open ended climax.

A Girl at my Door – Korean – Good performance by the child artist.

Superegos – German– Nothing special.

Cracks in Concrete – Austria – History repeats itself theme with an open ending.

Deal – Netherlands – Wannabe romantic comedy movie with little lengthy ‘romantic’ scenes.

The Gambler – Lithuania – Great camera work in few scenes. Especially the speeding trolley shot and the climax scene. Good performance the protagonist while he commits suicide.

Fish and Cat – Iran – No story. But great narration and camera work linking slices of various conversations happening at the same period of time.

Mundaspatti – Tamil – Funny and good scenes portraying Nandita.

Kathai, Thiraikathai, Vasanam, Iyakkam – Tamil – Not a movie without a story as it claims. Evidently  showcases a phase of Director’s struggle with open ending.

The Ambassador to Bern – Hungary – Nothing special.

Two Step – American – Sudden violence scenes felt brutal and shocking. Other than that nothing special.

Back Roads – Australian – Couldn’t understand few dialogues of this old Aussie movie. Needed subtitles. Booze all the way in the movie.

Consequences – Turkey – Great opening scenes with music. An eye for an eye theme.

Disturbed Sleep

The handpump on the side of the street creaked and clanked in fast tempo as Kumar hurriedly filled his bucket. With the almost broken bucket in one hand and brushing with his other hand he strolled to the public washroom wondering about the dream he had in the morning. As he stepped in the entrance the tuck of his lungi unfolded which he adeptly caught with his brushing hand and tucked it again while clenching the sweet pasty brush with his teeth. The morning rituals were performed alongside the regular casual abusive exchanges with the regulars of the place fighting for the hardly clean space. The ritual left a vaccum in his already empty stomach and Kumar headed for the tea shop near by the temple on the other end of the street.

‘Boss oru sadha tea podu’, he ordered and took out four salted flour biscuits from the jar. Dipping the biscuits in tea glass, he ate then slowly observing the hurried departures of the street residents and the devotees coming in and out of the temple nearby. Is this going to be just another day of tea and biscuits he wondered realizing that he hasn’t made any theft for the past few weeks and had gone broke few days back. Just that moment of realization, his eyes spotted a flicker coming from the dials of a bike parked outside the temple. One a second look with focus he found that the flicker came from the key chain & key still left on in the bike. Sensing the opportunity, he calmly and quickly put the last unfinished biscuit as a whole in mouth and gulped down the remaining tea and headed for the unattended bike. 

He neared the bike as if praying to the God hovering above the temple tower and checked for any dust cloth in the bike’s headlight. Finding one he started dusting off the mirrors, checking his hair in the mirror and casually sat on the bike. After giving a glance around confirming that no one has noticed him in particular, he ignited the engine and rode the past temple taking a left exiting the street heading towards the main road.  A police vehicle was parked at the junction of the street connecting the main road.  The policeman outside the vehicle regulating traffic waved at Kumar trying to stop him. Not knowing that he was a random check, Kumar panicked and throttled the bike harder trying to jump the signal which was turning red in two seconds and go straight. And it all happened in flash when the policeman yelled at Kumar and vehicles coming on the right honked and budged. Kumar trying to escape already well ahead and moving car coming on the right, got hit by the tanker lorry next to car and blacked out.

Kumaran woke up with a shock, wondering what sort of a dream he had, where he was riding a bike in lungi and getting hit by a water tanker. The alarm clock on his phone buzzed at it gave an additional thump to his already palpitating heart. Cursingly he killed the alarm fighting with the touch screen phone which responded late playing the irritating alarm tone for few more seconds. His heart came to a little more relaxed rhythm and he thought that the dream had done him good as he somehow had got up seconds before the alarm for the first time and planned to go ahead start the day early and reach office one time. While taking the shower his thoughts came upon the dream he had and started pondering for a while how he had ended up in such a situation. Almost five minutes passed and he came back to his sense by the banging on the door with his roommate shouting and demanding that it was the latter’s time to occupy the bathroom. 

The mess boy was surprised to see Kumaran early to have breakfast and serviced him promptly and even tried to coax him to have few more idlis. Finishing the breakfast he walked to the nearby bus stop finding that there was a bigger crowd at an early time than compared to his usual boarding time. Irritated by the crowd of too many school children carry heavy school bags and college going youngsters he wished he had slept on till his regular late wake up time. ‘Damn that dream’, he though as he stood wondering again about how he did he manage to ride bike in lungi wherein he couldn’t even ride a scooter properly in real. By the time has was wondering, the route bus to his office has come and almost most of the students boarded up bus spilling over in the footboards. Sensing a sudden a decrease in crowd he noticed that the bus had come and started leaving. He rushed to catch it and managed to jump on the footboard where the school children and collegegoers were fighting for space trying to impress the window-seaters. 

The bus had covered a few kilometres and gained a steady pace and was whizzing past in the middle and right lane of the main road.  Suddenly the children started gathering near the exits pushing around getting ready to alight. This caused a sudden disturbance in the already tight group in the footboards. A heavy schoolbag punched Kumaran right in his face who was standing hands stretched gripping one of the frames of exit. The force knocked him out and he lost the grip and got thrown by the pace of the bus and landed in road to be hit by an oncoming water tanker and he blacked out.

Kumar woke up with a shock and immediately looked for the beedi in his shirt pocket. Lighting the beedi and having a draw he scratched his head hard and slow wondering how come he was all shaved up and dressed neatly in a dream he just had. He looked up at the thatched roof and the sun warmed and gradually heated up his face through the hole. He got up and picking up the bucket stepped out of his home wondering about his dream.

Of Beggars & Me

The Couple with the Cart

I see them near the market, with my hand full of processed food and loose change in pockets to be put away in a coin jar.

The Mother & the Child

She loiters around the tea shop near my office where my credit runs to thousands on tea and cigarettes and I shoo her off.

The Compartment Cleaner

After few adjustments with TT I settle in my berth pushing the luggage in the clean floor under, where he justs waits and crawls by pushing the trash along with him,

The Girl who tapped the Windshield

My car halts in the signal, bass louder than the honking and her face pops around in the windshield which I wiper it off like a dead dragon fly on a highway ride.

There is no free meal

Asking for 2 idlis he waits outside the restaurant where I tip at large for a half eaten dinner.

The Watchmen of the Gods

Breaking 108 coconuts I come out of the temple and find my footwear not stolen, I wear them and hurry away deaf to the calls of them praying around.

& Me

Back from a local trip, two dozen pics are uploaded face & hash tagged, I refresh every minute to check the no. of likes.