Collective Chaos ...

Looking at the sun, up a Banyan tree.

Makhmalbaf family film festival by collective chaos; Never before have I watched six movies in a single day, though of much shorter lengths than the more popular versions. And quite to the contrary of expectation, I did not end up with an aching head. End of the day, it could aptly be described as an aesthetic, visual, musical, provocative, sensual and semantic overload.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf's 'The Cyclist' somehow reminded me of Paulo Coelho and his novels. In the movie and in Coelho's novels I sense and feel similar kinds of expression, the connection mostly indescribable but not intangible. Probably might have to do with viewing life as something hypothetical, but not just that either. Maybe I should say it rather makes me 'observe' feelings, and hence I can't really say I felt them. Or maybe I should say the plane that splits the 'sensual' and the 'elicited' in any form of artistic expression is more tangible in them for me. And I particularly liked the way he uses darkness, and light, in so many parts along the whole movie.

Samira Makhmalbaf's 'The Apple' is a crisp, sensual and poignant tale told very skillfully, which in some sense ended up being my pick of the day. Not very sure if I'm just prejudiced, but somehow I could sense a feminine charm in story telling compared to the previous one. And boy! didn't I like the background score, is it Iranian traditional songs, Quawaali, Sufi or Gypsy songs? Where will I get them?

Five in the afternoon, again by Samira, is one much visually appealing film. It's poetic in its visuals, coherent in its theme and sincere. Agheleh Rezaee who played 'Noghre' the protagonist has done a splendid job and looks just the right person to do it. I could say, the two films together made me a fan of Samira. And again, I was riveted to the background score.

From 'When I became a Woman' what do I remember; I remember 'Hava'. Hava inevitably reminded me of totto chan, and made me sad. And in some minutes something made me very happy and I smiled, it was the sparking moment when I kind of figured out how it was possible to execute those looong smoooth steady shots following the cycles by the side as they race along a beautiful coastline. I hope thats how it was :-D I'm not killing the suspense here if you ever get to watch the movie :-D And I felt something, something non-opposing, with the old lady who buys everything she ever wanted, with colorful knots tied on her fingers to remind her, and I liked the way the three strands of the film were glued together at the end. And I was ah, happy to see Hava again, at the end.

'Afghan Alphabet' by Mohsen is a very stark, disturbing, and provocative short film. One thing striking in that, the twelve year old girl who refuses to uncover her face in fear of the punishing God did not feel stupid to me; she's indeed very intelligent and she argues very coherently; she's not a fool at all. And as I kind of guessed, her face did look very intelligent to me when she finally lifted her veil. Its just that she is not initialized in a way that is consistent with what we feel is better. As a child I used to scheme of inventing a device which would change the way what all is taught and how, in all schools, all of them, across the world. Maybe everybody hopes so once, and forgets.

The last film was 'Gabbeh' by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, in close contention for being my pick of the day. Maybe the one thing that made me choose 'The Apple' is the crispness. 'Gabbeh' is rather like a flowing stream, dotted with lots of swirls and placid corners and rushes and bubbles, an idyllic visual treat. And brimming with some slow sweet pain refusing to stay still in my cupped palms. If I want to watch one of these films again, that would be 'Gabbeh', not just for the stunningly poetic visuals only.