These films span the globe – from Brazil and Argentina to Nigeria and Ghana, from Canada and France to Denmark and Hungary
EntertainmentWritten by Saibal Chatterjee
You have all the time in the world. But that is no reason to be profligate. Junk old habits – and the lure of syrupy, souped-up entertainment. There is plenty available of that kind of stuff all around. Take a deep breath and dig deeper into Netflix. There, you’ll find a veritable goldmine of not-so-buzzed titles that ask questions, provoke thought, and see mankind and its foibles in a new light. None of these films is either pretentious or flirts with drudgery. Yes, a few might induce a contemplative mood. Many of them will keep playing in our mind long after the lockdown ends and life is back to normal.
These films span the globe – from Brazil and Argentina to Nigeria and Ghana, from Canada and France to Denmark and Hungary. And there is a range of genres here – thrillers, dramas, social comedies, feminist fables – all purposed to articulate home truths about the world we inhabit in an era where nothing seems to be going right. But we can at least lavish our downtime on the right films!
93 Days
As the world faces an unprecedented health crisis, let’s cast our minds back to Steve Gukas’s 93 Days. The 2016 Nigerian drama that chronicles the concerted battle to prevent an Ebola outbreak in Lagos, a bustling commercial centre with a population of 20 million plus, in 2014. The cast is led by Danny Glover and includes several big-name Nigerian stars (Bimbo Akintola, Somkele Idhalama, Keppy Ekpenyong). 93 Days – the title refers to the time the doctors took to conquer the virus – is a serious-minded, occasionally ponderous, account of a real-life crisis that gripped Africa’s most populous nation. But the drama is consistently compelling. If nothing else, it encourages an appreciation of what heroes on the medical frontline have to endure when they fight a deadly, unseen enemy.
Sand Storm
The world is forever in a state of flux. When the changes play out in the lives of ‘powerless’ women in a remote desert community caught between tradition and personal choices, they assume great urgency. As they do in director Elite Zexer’s debut film, Sand Storm, set in a Bedouin village in southern Israel. It crafts a complex, insightful portrait of a mother-daughter relationship at a crossroads. Both women – a 42-year-old whose husband has just brought home a much younger bride and an 18-year-old in a furtive, forbidden relationship – have to adhere to entrenched custom while they seek to respond to the social shifts that have insinuated themselves into a close-knit society. Sand Storm is a restrained, perceptive piece of cinema.
The Decline
No matter how much the world mutates, human nature remains intractable in The Decline, Quebecois director Patrice Laliberte’s robust maiden feature. In a remote training camp for survivalists readying themselves for any global eventuality – climate change, natural calamity, epidemic or war – an accident triggers a serious rift between two groups. It threatens to snowball into violence. A competently crafted thriller that employs genre elements to comment on humanity’s difficult-to-conceal chinks. It tends to skim over the political issues it brings up. The French-language film’s modest polemical ambition is more than compensated for by top-notch cinematography. The fresh-off-the-oven French-language Canadian film is a gripping thriller but is more than just that. Even in its shallowness, there’s undeniable style.
Layla M.
The pressing need for personal freedom and the pull of radical influences clash in Dutch director Mijke de Jong’s Layla M. The protagonist is an 18-year-old girl of Moroccan descent born and raised in Amsterdam. She begins to feel she has no place in an increasingly intolerant Europe, where Islamophobia is on the rise, and is seduced by the idea of jihad. The ideology pushes her to the precipice. She marries and relocates to Amman, Jordan. Out there, life isn’t what she imagined it to be. The director crafts a layered probe into faith and empowerment, handling a difficult theme with exceptional sensitivity and restraint. Lead actress Nora El Koussour is pitch-perfect as the conflicted Layla.
Barakah Meets Barakah
Romance in a conservative society that has no patience for such dalliances is the theme of this wonderful Saudi Arabian dramedy from 2016. Directed by Jeddah-based Mahmoud Sabbagh, who is also the head of the now deferred first Red Sea International Film Festival, the film is about a modest government employee who is smitten by a wealthy girl who has millions of followers on Instagram. Finding a spot where the two can meet in the real world is easier said than done. Barakah Meets Barakah takes jabs at moral/social/cultural shibboleths, but employs humour, rather than self-righteous indignation, to fuel the highly watchable exercise.
Divines
The spectacle of two young women from a working-class Parisian suburb fighting for their place in the world has never been livelier. In Divines, winner of the Camera d’Or in Cannes in 2016, French-Moroccan filmmaker Houda Benyamina takes us into the world of a Roma teenager Dounia (played by Oulaya Amamra, the director’s younger sister) and her best friend Maimouna (Deborah Lukumuena). The two girls dream of breaking free from their modest moorings and making it big. The film blends trenchant satire with sharp social commentary, tempering both with a sense of fun and energy.
Aquarius
A controversial Brazilian film that set the cat among the pigeons for the country’s political establishment, former journalist and film critic Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Aquarius has an indomitable female protagonist, played by Sonia Braga. She takes on a real-estate firm that wants to evict her from an old building so that it could be replaced with a swanky new edifice. The theme is universal and the dirty tricks resorted to by the construction company are familiar. The woman is all alone – her husband died 17 years ago and her children have drifted away – but she pulls no punches. Her fight, and Braga’s unblemished performance, make Aquarius a tour de force.
A Fortunate Man
One of Denmark’s most celebrated directors, Bille August adapts Nobel laureate Henrik Pontoppidan’s sprawling late 19th century novel, Lucky Per, for the screen in his most ambitious project to date. Twice Palme d’Or winner (for Pelle the Conqueror and the Ingmar Bergman-scripted Best Intentions), the director fills the canvas with pathos and refined understanding of the plight of a man weighed down by social and familial expectations. The protagonist escapes his strict Lutheran upbringing in rural Denmark and travels to Copenhagen to become an engineer and seek true freedom. This 2018 film is a fine achievement.
On Body And Soul
Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi’s first film in nearly two decades, On Body And Soul is a delectable and achingly tender exploration of love and communion. The Berlin Golden Bear winner tells the story of a slaughterhouse executive, Endre, and a newly appointed quality inspector, Maria, who discover that they can communicate with each other through dreams. A love story like no other, this is a masterfully crafted, deeply affecting meditation on the human capacity for acceptance and absorption beyond the obvious limits that our faculties impose on us.
I Lost My Body
The sole animated feature on this list of recommendations, I Lost My Body, directed by Jeremy Clapin, is a delightfully off-kilter entertainer that couches a queasy plot premise in an infinitely life-affirming narrative tone. It centres on a severed hand that sets out to find the body it belongs to, a lovelorn delivery boy who is willing to do anything to please the girl he is infatuated with. In the original French, the hero is voiced by Hakim Faris. Dev Patel takes his place in the English version. The biggest draw of I lost My Body is the exquisite hand animation.
Azali
Ghana’s first-ever Oscar submission, Kwabena Gyansah’s Azali tells a simple, emotionally charged story of a 14-year-old girl in northern Ghana fleeing from an arranged marriage to a 70-year-old man. She has to reckon with poverty and the risk of being trafficked as she seeks safety. Her dangerous journey pushes her towards a choice between the devil and the deep sea. Azali is an important film not only because of what it says, but also because of the manner in which it says it. The director never lets the limited resources at his disposal get in the way of his vision.
Barry
Indian-American director Vikram Gandhi’s Barry is an understated drama that focuses on Barack Obama at the age of 20, when the future leader of the free world was a transfer student at Columbia University in New York. The plot is bare-bones, but the screenplay is replete with moments that throw light on the making of a political career that would culminate in two terms in office as the President of the US. A fine performance by Australian newcomer Devon Terrell contributes handsomely to this illuminating character study.
The Son
The dysfunctional family drama assumes ominous undertones in this 2019 Argentinian psychological thriller adapted from a 2013 novel and directed by Sebastian Schindel. A painter in his mid-50s grows increasingly suspicious of his new Norwegian wife during her pregnancy and after childbirth, fearing that she and the midwife she has brought in from Norway are conspiring to take his child away from him. Propelled by a splendid performance from Joaquin Furriel, The Son presents an unsettling portrait of paternity and paranoia.
Una
Screen adaptations of plays often end up being underwhelming, if not completely insipid. But this one makes a smooth transition. Australian theatre director Benedict Andrews, who has since made Seberg (2019), debuted with Una in 2016. Adapted by writer David Harrower from his own play Blackbird, it views the relationship between a paedophilic abuser and the abused with unflinching steadiness. A woman (Rooney Mara) confronts a much older man (Ben Mendelsohn) who sexually exploited her when she was barely in her teens and then slid into a cloak of respectability. The film deals with a tricky theme that strays into problematic areas in gender terms, but all is ironed out by the terrific lead performances.
Juanita
Director Clark Johnson’s drama is centred on a woman seeking self-actualization. At first blush, it may not seem to have much to offer by way of novelty, but Juanita is heartfelt enough to keep the viewer invested in the protagonist’s defiant journey. A mother of three grown children, she is up against all manner of adversity in life and love. She leaves everything behind and hits the road in search of happiness. Admittedly, the film isn’t always on course, but lead actress Alfre Woodard ensures that the heroine’s voyage of discovery never loses steam.