thought i would write down a bit of precis-cum-review of the movies seen in this years film fest. the first one i have seen is from switzerland, language french, director fredevic Choffat
REAL LIFE IS ELSEWHERE/La vraie vie est allieurs
which at some level looked like a critical analysis of one night stands, two women and one man embarks on their own separate journeys to separate destinations. one an academic looking forward to defend her project in Marseilles, helps a man in the train who, as he says, have lost his purse and other papers... another girl shifting her home to a Naples gets relentlessly annoyed by the lonely guard...another man gets stuck in a platform as he misses the last train to Berlin to meet his girlfriend and his newborn boy, meets the free spirited bohemian. they all go through different experiences, ending up liking their respective companies in various ways and in various degrees only to resume their regular (unreal?) lives from the next day. the actors were really natural, and i don't know what it is with trains and romance, it keeps on coming back to movies, thinking of nayak (the hero, satyajit ray.
the second one i saw this years in one of the few showcase movies from China, director Quing Hong,
SHANGHAI DREAMS
gives a glimpse of unbearable repression in rural China, specially for young girls. on the one hand they are exposed to the western culture which they are helplessly prone to imitate. on the other there is a strict ban on bell bottoms and Bony M. their predicament is worsened by their parents desperate attempts to leave the village to look for a better life in Shanghai, putting on hold their present as a consequence. all leading to terrible tragedy to young Quinghong's life. very touching tale...the movie felt a little longish, but it brought out the slow built up of pressure and tension.
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