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Dasatskisi (2020)
Beginning: A stunning dark film
Dea Kulumbegashvili's debut feature film is a daring arthouse drama. It is an open narrative for multiple interpretations. The film's beginning and ending both are breathtaking and gives a chance to the viewer to pick a 'beginning' of their own. A Jehovah's witness leader is facing threat by the orthodox Christians. At the beginning of the film, we can see how the leader is presenting a different interpretation of Abraham's tale. The killing of the ram is altered by the killing of the actual son Isaac. To understand this narrative in the religious context one needs to know a few things about this Jehovah's witness group. According to many critics, the practice of this group closely resembles a totalitarian structure. As it has a strict internal structure. Hence, the leader and the husband of Yana represent the agent of patriarchy and at the same time, he is a hardcore Jehovah's witness follower. The isolated family lives in a remote place. The orthodox Christians are making them feel like outsiders. Yana is an outsider for everyone. Being a Jehovah's follower she is not social. She lost her independence and career because of her husband. At the same time, she is within the religion but her soul is not totally committed to it. So, certainly, she is an outsider to her husband. Yana is a mother but she is not the so-called 'mother'. She is surrounded by her own problems. So, she is neither too close to her son. After the orthodox group tries to set fire on Jehovah's meeting hall, an investigation is going on. A detective arrives and it seems he is more interested in Yana's private life. Is Yana scared? Or is hesitant because of her religion? The static mid shots focused on her, express less. It is an old technique of what you want to find out is there but ain't there as well. Jehovah's witness group believes in a second-person witness which is highly criticized by other religions. Here, there is a scene where the detective will rape Yana beside a wild stream. Is it really a rape?? Is it consensual but the religious veil is suppressing Yana to enjoy the illicit encounter? Is it about a tormented soul's sadistic gratification? Or is it about the sacrifice of Yana in the hope of liberation? The extreme long shot like a landscape painting can provide multiple interpretations. There is another beautiful hypnotic shot in this film. Yana lying in the forest and the sunlight is playing hide and seek with her sleeping eyes. The nearly four-minute-long shot is just like a faint ray of hope within Yana's distorted mind. This is the first time the viewers will see a little smile of pleasure on Yana's face. Most of the time in this film Yana acts in situations rather than conveying a bit more about herself. At the end of the film, Yana reveals that she has killed her son and immediately turns away from her husband and the viewers refusing to give any explanation. One can interpret it as an abstract way of telling the story from the director's pov. Also, Jehovah's followers are strict about their norms. So, it can be interpreted in that way too. In that case, Yana is attaining liberation from motherhood, or is she still somewhere down the line a blind follower ?? Is she moving towards a new beginning or is she following the old path in the hope of a new path? In the last scene, we can see a body transforming to sand but still breathing. Isn't that also biblical symbolism? As we know that Jehovah's followers believe. In my opinion, 'Beginning' is a circular narrative. It blurs the point between the 'beginning' and the 'end'. The slow takes and camera focusing on particular characters is a hypnotic experience. The film is not about good or evil. It is more about the pros and cons of mere human existence.
Der goldene Handschuh (2019)
The ugly beauty of the golden glove : A comparison with von triers 'The house that jack built
Lars von trier introduced us with a new approach towards a new style when he made nymphomaniac . an approach of looking at a social taboo from completely the opposite perspective. An attempt to ethically support the moral norms created by the so called society. The same approach he tried with his film 'the house that jack built'. The house that jack built can be considered by one as an artistic depiction of killing . At the same time the conflict that he has portrayed within the mind of his protagonist just questions the pov of the protagonist throughout the film. So, the film will confuse you rather than celebrating an artist's greatest achievement as the artist himself drowns in the river of hell at the end of the film. Even if I ignore that fact then also it looks more like an agile way of creating a fabricated sophisticated world of committing crime rather than a mundane depiction of brutality. Ultimately it is always a director's choice how he would deal with his subject and I truely respect that. Still I feel that such depiction of glorifying serial killers is another american dream of selling anything in an attractive package.
Now Fatih Akin's 'Golden Glove' is a highly criticised film and according to many critics it is a horrible portrayal of the artistic novel by the same name. Now in this context it is important to raise a significant question -What is good or bad cinema ?? I know the question is quite ambiguous and ultimately it is a subjective thing. So rather i would like to rephrase this question - Which films gets a higher rating and which one gets a lower? The answer is quite simple. The higher rating by web critics generally goes to commercially successful and the film which made to the big festivals. Apart from that a higher rating film normally caters to a general audience with the images they want to see or what's trending in the market. So certainly a film which will provide you no ethics, a zero moral vibe with such images that might made you puke is nonetheless fails to cater in that category. Fatih Akin is a well known film maker who made a lot of acclaimed films before but his sensibilities are more dedicated to european cinema rather than a particular genre that the American people appreciate. Golden Glove is a film about a real german serial killer Fritz Honka. First of all I would appreciate the amazing make up that transformed a young guy to a middle aged nasty serial killer. A serial killer's room depicts the person behind the flesh. here Akin again did a fantastic job boy keeping his apartment simple and full of such images that would help to relate with the psychology of the killer. A shady room which avoids the sunlight. A room that stinks with human severed body parts. On the walls there are nude photos from the popular X rated magazines that arouses the protagonist to perform his sexual fantasies. First of all Akin clearly gives you an outline of the character. The guy is pervert and he transformation towards his perverseness lies on his inability to penetrate a woman. A guy who is always drunk while his off to his work will naturally unable to fulfil his lust even if he is not completely impotent. So he always finds an alternative option to his penis to derive his pleasure (sexual fetishism). The protagonist looks ugly and he is quite lonely. Somewhere down the line he is just another victim of the society who is performing his regular shifts and has an urge of a partner. Since his odd appearance turns away most of the people he has become quite secluded and his definition of love and romance has altered to sexual exploitation and keeping severed body parts. It is interesting how all of his victims are somewhat similar to him. They are all vulnerable and despite his intention of exploitation his victims surrender themselves for some mere gratification. The film is not about elite people and a moral disorder but about some mean people with a very low lifestyle. All these people including Honka are victims and a shadow of the post impact of german concentration camp's is quite prominent. The severed body parts are representation of the fragile existence of humanbeing . Despite a person's choice, ego, pride that person is nothing but mere flesh and bones and a deranged criminal like Honka just wants return those souls to their primary state to make them realise what they are. Now that sounds philosophical and Honka's subconscious mind might be responsible for doing such a thing rather than considering it an intentional approach. Maybe Honka loves the smell of rotten meat and the purpose of the severing body parts is nothing but subtle reference for the moviegoers. Another interesting thing that I really liked in this film is that the protagonist can be dangerous or too violent but he is just scared and vulnerable like a little rat , when he is in a normal state. A lizard is a timid reptile and it waits when the moth be within its grasp. Similarly Honka Who refuses to mess up in his work place but patiently waits when he would get the oppertunity to devour the cleaning girl. Von trier would have used a small clip of lizard and the moth to signify his motive but Akin's approach is never direct. Through out the film he refused to use any kind of metaphorical or symbolic images and kept those elements personal and open for interpretation. He remained faithful towards telling a very simple and nasty tale because he wanted to make his audience feel the same. Well, fatih Akin is not first in this craft and film makers like passolini or among the new film makers Ulrich Seidl with his paradise trilogy has done the same. In an interview Akin has clearly has stated that he wanted this film to be a dark tale with out any fabrication. He has also mentioned his liking towards austrian film makers and named Haneke as one of his favourite among this kind of films.
So I will definitely keep Golden Glove over The house that jack built simply because its treatment is different and has a unique honest appeal. Now looking at the overall film there might be a few loopholes. Considering the ending happens too suddenly, a dramatic element could have happened there. Also the court proceedings could have been interesting since the real Honka accepted the allegations and later said that he didn't remember anything. On the other hand the whole film we perceive from Honka's pov and that just gives us a little about the person and not what the others think about this strange man. I have nothing to say about the cinematography as there is a perfect balance between his apartment and the outdoors and the golden glove pub. Often the camera of Akin won't show you the brutal scenes but the expression of the brutality through the facial expression of Honka and giving an indication what he is actually doing. That's quite an interesting approach since the gore films have different technique of compelling you to witness the horror directly through nasty images. Golden Glove contains many frontal nude scenes to elaborate the killer's vegetated state more precisely. Maybe that's another reason for getting lower ratings since most of the critics are still not too open minded about nudity without proper justification. Anyway, I found it gripping and quite interesting though of course it will cater to a marginalised section of filmgoers.