MFF 17, by Jio-MAMI, Festival Diary, V

Long festivals and so many films to watch, besides the regular weekly releases to see and review—not unexpectedly, festival diaries go into several parts, and even get interrupted by another festival that follows on the heels of the earlier one. MFF17 was followed by IFFI. But there still so much to day about MFF, so here’s one more instalment of the Diary.

Thithi is a two-hour long Kannada film set in rural Karnataka. It has earned rave reviews, some describing it as the ‘film of the year’. Thithi could mean date, but here it refers to the last funeral rites of Century Gowda, a 101 year-old ‘dirty old man’, who dies, leaving behind a small estate. The estate should go to his son, Gadappa, himself an old man, who wanders the country-side aimlessly, swigging liquor and smoking cheap cigarettes. He, in turn, has an unscrupulous son called Thamanna, who is keen on illegally selling off the property. Written and directed by Eregowda Raam Reddy, who studied at the Prague Film School and has made a Telugu short earlier, called Ika (Feather), which won many awards. Not altogether disappointing, Thithi is far from a landmark. For an hour after the beginning, it moved in cyclical manner, not making any worthwhile linear progress. One can sit through it and break into the occasional chuckle, at a regular screening. When it fights for space at an international film festival, it fails to hold its own. A case of reputation preceding a film, and being instrumental in causing great disappointment.

Haraamkhor (written and directed by Shlok Sharma), starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, drew such heavy response that I had to turn back disappointed. Fans waited over two hours to ensure a seat. I had hoped to see him in a film more comprehensible than Anwar Ka Ajeeb Kissa, some film that allows him to present a persona that rises above his known dimensions. 

A tender and touching film waited us in the shape of 45 Years (story by David Constantine, co-writer, director Andrew Haigh, UK). News of the discovery of a body in the Swiss Alps shakes the easy-going life of a British provincial couple. The woman had slipped and died 50 years ago, when the husband, now an old man, was dating her. Now happily married, for 45 years, he has not talked about his earlier affair to his wife, and as he gets jolted by the news, uneasiness and tensions surface. Sensitive and smoothly edited (Haigh used to be an assistant editor), the film forms lump after lump in your throat. Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling are a delight. At 95 minutes, it manages to assimilate the ambience, post-retirement loneliness, and rustic camaraderie into a brilliant composite mosaic. ***1/2

Agnieszka is a Polish film based in Germany, written and directed by 36 year-old Tomasz Emil Rudzik. It is an off-beat story about a woman who escapes Poland to Munich, Germany, to end-up as a “no touching” dominatrix for 70 year-old Madame Lisbeth’s escort agency, and who almost adopts her, till she falls for a 16 year-old boy, Manuel. ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ is the life motto of Agnieszka, who has served a five year prison term, for a crime she did not commit. To begin with, Agnieszka keeps the young Manuel at a distance, but she gives in hesitantly to his unusual attempts to get closer. Manuel is the first to make her laugh and a fragile friendship develops between them. Agnieszka reveals her professional background to Manuel, but he refuses to be put off, and starts ferrying her on his scooter to her jobs. Madame, a former ballet dancer, increasingly loses control over her “best little crocodile”, and finally challenges Agnieszka to choose between her and the boy. Karolina Gorczyca makes a spunky, if confused, Agnieszka. Hildegard Schmahl has a more difficult role, and acquits herself well. Adequate support comes from Lorenzo Nedis Walcher as Manuel. Treatment is jerky and sometimes violent, as the story demands. The film has had severely mixed reviews, with one often completely contradicting the other. Partly heavy but largely interesting, I will go with a middle-of-the road for Agnieszka, with**1/2.

Italy and France have co-produced A Bigger Splash (not to be confused with another film of the same name, directed by Jack Hazan), an erotic murder story, which is in English, and two hours long. It is written by David Kajganich (Town Creek, The Invasion) and Alain Paige, and directed by Italian Luca Guadagnino (Melissa P). Since it was scheduled for release in Italy on 26 November 2015, and in other countries only in 2016, this was an exclusive screening, of sorts.

A remake of Jacques Deray's original French film, La Piscine (1969), A Bigger Splash has attracted some big names: Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson and Matthias Schoenaerts make it a star-spangled vehicle indeed. The other film, also eagerly anticipated, is A Bigger Splash by the Italian Luca Guadagnino. A remake of the French film La Piscine (The Swimming Pool, with Alain Delon and Romy Schneider), A Bigger Splash is the story of Marianne (Tilda Swinton), a famous singer, and her documentary film-maker boyfriend Paul (Schoenaerts), whose usual holiday on the island of Pantelleria is upset by the arrival of an old friend, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), and his young daughter, Penelope (Dakota Johnson).

Ralph Fiennes in the buff is not a usual sight, and there is a lot in this film to make up for that ‘lapse’. He plays a Zoo Story kind of role, a masochist, who almost invites his own murder. Fiennes, Swinton, Johnson and Schoenaerts are all in very good touch, and the character of Swinton is particularly well-crafted, handicapped by a lost voice and forced to communicate by alternate means. Not once does she play second fiddle to immensely talented Fiennes. Dakota oozes requisite sensuality, while Schoenaerts underplays his brawn. Guadagnino restricts the actual murder and the detection by the police to a few scenes, and, instead, lets the story unfold as love triangles that turn into quadrangles. ***1/2

A word about the Belgian Flemish actor. Matthias mainly grew up alongside his father, Julian, a popular actor who worked in both film and theatre. He made his debut at age 12, in a small part, beside his father, in the film Daens. He also loved playing football, as a great fan of Barcelona, ​​but he gave up when he was just about to turn pro, at 16. Though he never wanted to be an actor, he completed his studies at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, in Antwerp. Soon, he bagged another small role in Dutch film-maker Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book (2006), and after Loft (2008), the most successful Flemish film ever at the box office, Schoenaerts went on to play the same role in the American remake of the film, which was shot in 2011, but released in January this year

His real breakthrough came in 2012, with the role of the cattle-farmer on steroids, embroiled in a shady deal, by an unscrupulous veterinarian, in Bullhead. Schoenaerts gained 60 pounds (about 29 kg) to look the part. The other film that would make him famous also required him to put back all those pounds he had lost after Bullhead: Rust and Bone, starring Marion Cotillard and directed by Jacques Audiard. Both his starrers, A Bigger Splash and The Danish Girl (shown at IFFI), were screened at Venice this year.