Movies You Can’t Afford to Miss at MAMI 2016

Gearing up for the Mumbai Film Festival? Check out the films that should be on your must-watch list.

Mahmoud Sabbagh’s Barakah Meets Barakah. 

Mumbai’s annual pilgrimage to the god of moving images is about to begin. Mumbai Film Festival, organized by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) will commence on October 20, and cinefans can hardly contain their excitement.

Like every year, the festival has a mixed bag of enchantment up its sleeves, and we, at The Quint, are looking forward to the following titles.

The Red Turtle

When Studio Ghibli announced a temporary stop in their production, our planet became sad. But with The Red Turtle, there is hope. Michaël Dudok de Wit’s ecological fable is the first international co-production by Ghibli, and the glorious reception reflects why Japan’s premiere studio chose it to be so. Following a castaway on a tropical island, this dialogue-free film was reportedly created under the guidance of Isao Takahata. Expect the beauty of transcendental depth.

The Wailing

Na Hong-Jin’s films are deliciously violent excursions in the thriller genre, and there is a dedicated fan following for The Chaser (2008) and The Yellow Sea (2010). But with his latest, The Wailing, he has delivered his finest work. The film, part detective tale, part thriller is overall a creepy tale of unmitigated horrors, and a triumph of mood and subversion. It’s one of those rare works that constantly keeps you on your toes, and is always ahead of you, no matter how clever you are. The Wailing is destined to be a horror classic.

Endless Poetry

Critics and fanboys are really waiting to be dazzled by this year’s oldest entrant, Alejandro Jodorowsky. With Endless Poetry, the filmmaker looks back at his life, through an autobiographical lens to present a tribute to Chile’s artistic heritage in a coming-of-age yarn. And if the reviews are to be believed, it’s one of his best works.

After The Storm

The spiritual descendent of Yasujirō Ozu, Hirokazu Koreeda’s every new entry is a rousing event for cinema lovers. Telling a tale of an indolent middle-aged dreamer who struggles to balance his old and new familial bonds, the Japanese master yet again takes us on a contemplative journey.

Neruda

This Chilean Oscar entry is not a conventional biopic of Pablo Neruda, but an ambitious mix of politics and noir. Pablo Larraín wishes to capture the eminent poet on the run for his communist allegiance, and also bring to life his peculiar definition of self. Larraín has been a commanding voice for mixing style with powerful subjects, and Neruda appears to be a very potent one.

Aquarious

This film which deals with a music critic fighting it out with a property developer, has received widespread praise since its debut at Cannes, but has polarised viewers in its home country Brazil. If you are one of the rare people who has watched Neighbouring Sounds, you know Kleber Mendonça Filho is a filmmaker whose observational route to narrative is a thing of beauty.

Under the Shadow

A mother-daughter duo fighting a mysterious spirit in 1980s Tehran, during the Iran-Iraq war is a premise too delectable to ignore. Iranian director Babak Anvari’s film has garnered unanimous acclaim for its feminist spin on the horror genre since its premiere at Sundance, and is poised to be the first Farsi-language film with a potential to truly cross over to the mainstream audience.

The Lovers and the Despot

With dictatorship reigning supreme, North Korea is a country that never ceases to amuse and shock. Rob Cannan and Ross Adam’s documentary about kidnappings of a famed South Korean actress and her ex-husband, a leading director from Seoul sounds like a goofy comedy, but this being a true story is sure to make jaws drop. This politics meets film nerd venture has the echoes of The King of Comedy (1982), and the cold war intrigue only adds to it.

Elle

Paul Verhoeven directing Isabelle Huppert as a woman who begins stalking her rapist sounds as crazy as the filmmaker’s virulent oeuvre. This belongs to the family of narratives in which angels may fear to tread, but Verhoeven takes charge with ease and has the audacity to provoke.

The Salesman

Known for weaving allegorical tales within the walls of domesticity, Asghar Farhadi is one director who could give the late Hitchcock a moral dilemma. The Salesman focuses on a married couple whose lives become tumultuous thanks to an incident linked to the previous tenant of their Tehran apartment.

Swiss Army Man

Paul Dano’s hopeless suicidal man gets rescued by Daniel Radcliffe’s farting corpse – this is the kind of premise that can make a film festival easily excited. Director duo Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s absurdist take on bromance in the wilderness has been pronounced as highly original and Gondryesque, and that’s nothing short of an achievement.

Manchester by the Sea

An uncle who reluctantly becomes the guardian of his nephew, a high-spirited 15-year-old, and is forced to deal with his past, and his hometown, Kenneth Lonergan’s film has been widely applauded for its deft balance of wisdom and drama. With impassioned performances by Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, and Lucas Hedges, it’s time to smile fighting the tears.

Barakah Meeta Barakah

A romantic comedy set in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mahmoud Sabbagh’s first feature film, Barakah Meets Barakah, is a rare entry from the oil-rich country which sees very little merit in the magic of movies. What’s really fascinating is that the film takes the humorous route to tell the tale of a millennial couple who have to find a way through political and social restrictions.

Special Mention: Restored Beauties

The festival will also be screening some classics in restored glory. This is one of our favourite sections that celebrates the great works of the past on big screen.

Man with A Movie Camera

Dziga Vertov’s persuasive masterpiece Man With A Movie Camera tops our list since the screening will be accompanied by a live score performance by the Vitaly Tkachuk Quartet from Ukraine.

The Bride

Ömer Lütfi Akad’s film is about a young Anatolian woman’s crisis when her son becomes ill and needs urgent medical attention, and her family is in two minds since the family business requires fresh investment. One of the seminal classics of Turkish cinema, this is an extraordinary opportunity for cinephiles to experience one of the lesser known masterworks.

The Saragossa Manuscript

Wojciech Has’ three-hour long adaptation of Jan Potocki’s epic 1815 novel The Manuscript Found in Saragossa is one of the majestic beasts of cinema that every fan of cinema must watch. Traversing through space, time and memory, and interweaving tales, this Polish film is revered for its dazzling ambition and baroque photography.

Kalpana

Uday Shankar’s Kalpana (1948) restored by the World Cinema Foundation is an unmissable film, a rare artefact that matches cinema’s fluidity with the grace of dance.

(The writer is a journalist and a screenwriter who believes in the insanity of words, in print or otherwise. Follow him on Twitter: @RanjibMazumder)