Movie reviews

INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL

WRONG SIDE RAJU

Recommended. "Truth is what you can prove in court" - the gripping half-rom-com, half-courtroom-drama was written over 1.5yrs by 3 guys and is full of twists and turns. Set in Gujarat, a city with an alcohol ban (out of respect for Mahatma Ghandi who was born and raised there), where the main protagonist initially is a smuggler. Supremely well-acted.

The movie is available on Netflix.


DWIE KORONY (TWO CROWNS)

Recommended. Who would have thought the famous saint designed spaceships? I had never heard of him setting up a mission in Japan either. I learnt the details of how his charisma manifested during the imprisonment in a concentration camp. That's how religion stops boring. Partly a documentary, partly feature adding a light touch - a combination working out surprisingly well.

VERDWIJNEN (DISAPPEARANCE)

Watchable. Wintry Arctic: vast, empty, snowy landscapes, dog-sledding, vodka, an accident with a moose, sauna, ice-fishing, ice-swimming, an ice-grotto and a story of a toxic daughter-mother  relationship. Reminded me my own Arctic winter holiday which was far better as lacked any toxicity.

On 19th October Kamera Akcja Festival starts in Łódź. PISF (Polish Film Institute) director has just been revoked by the Minister of Culture and that's going to be one of main topics discussed.


INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL

DEAR MAYA

Recommended. What happens if you meddle in somebody's affairs? Do you give them a new lease of life or do you destroy it? Two 16-year-old girls give a middle-aged lady a false hope of love and then spend 6 years trying to find out if she survived. Gripping and very emotional: true Bollywood.

BAANDHON (WAVES OF SILENCE)

Watchable. Relatively subdued colours and no interval. Gets you fond of an elderly couple who are trying to divorce over and over again about tiny issues from their school years which only show how much they love each other. Then they get hit with a terrible loss. It ends sad. The movie's devoted to those who lost their loved ones in terror attacks in Mumbai.