Feasting on films

S Balakrishnan *

I must be crazy watching 32 films in straight eight days – an average of four films each day! On some days the quotient would top as five films. It was a feast of films from all around the world during those eight days. Films from far-eastern Japan to the snow-covered Iceland, and from the Dominican Republic to Ireland, Indonesia, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Palestine, etc, etc.

Surprisingly there was no direct film from China this time in the 20th Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) that was held between 15th and 22nd December 2022. Fear of Coronavirus? December is Chennai’s Music Season when classical concerts/dances/dramas are held across the city in various auditoriums.

Really such a variety that the connoisseur goes mad as to what to attend and what to miss. The film festival during this season only adds to this confusion but one can’t really help because December offers the most pleasant weather in Chennai which is otherwise hot, hotter and hottest.

I love watching movies only on the big screen. I get totally immersed in the film in the darkness. Being a touchy person I can as well shed a few tears, if the movie is emotional, without anyone noticing me.

It is shamelessly convenient. But attending the festival needed much logistic planning, like preparing for a war – the topmost was getting my wife’s permission. As I had not attended the last three film festivals during Covid-19 epidemic, she was gracious enough to accede to my begging.

Of course, I had a counter attack ready in case she rejected my request – ‘if you can watch silly TV serials day in and day out for years together, why can’t I enjoy just for eight days?’ But luckily such a situation did not arise where I had to muster all my courage to question the ‘Serial Killer’.

The second was transport to the venue on daily basis; age had caught up with me or I had caught up with ageing, so riding the ten kms on the bike was ruled out. Ride the bike to the nearest Metro Station (Thirumangalam), park the bike there, take the Green Line Metro to Central Station, change to Blue Line Metro to Thousand Lights Mosque Station and walk for five minutes to reach PVR Sathyam Cinemas, the main venue for the Film Festival … oof!

I undertook a trial dry run when I had to get the pass that I had applied for online. I felt it would work fine. The only hitch was parking of the bike on the roadside itself as the parking space would be housefull.

The third logistic requirement was snacks, lunch and supper. Movie theatres are very strict in not allowing outside food; only drinking water is allowed, even which they do not provide free! The frisking at the entrance is so professional that even airport security would be put to utter shame. How else to force the audience to buy from the costly in-house eateries?

A mere cup of coffee costs just 130 rupees, believe me! A piece of brownie cake is 150 rupees! As there was not much of a gap between two screenings, I had to pay through my nose for such costly bites at the snacks counters.

Later I discovered that the in-house restaurant was somewhat reasonable; the food was also good but they took time to serve the order while I was tense to catch a seat for the next preferred show. The screenings were on a first come first served basis. Like solo travellers, I am a solo movie watcher; so no companion to block a seat for me.

Though such blocking is prohibited, friends did block seats which resulted in heated arguments and even in scuffles. But being a senior citizen I could royally walk past the long winding general queue to occupy a preferred seat. What a blessing! For the first time I felt happy being a senior citizen, an oldy.

Then comes the hardest part - choosing the films to watch out of the total 101 movies. Sometimes the synopsis and IMDb rating could cheat you. I listen to my inner voice in such critical circumstances. I try to watch movies from remote corners of the world which are hard to come by and which I can’t even dream of visiting.

These films showcase such varied and unique themes that are hardly tried in Indian movies. Iranian movies are mostly award-oriented; some could be dead slow – a character walking from this end of the frame to the other end of the frame for five long minutes! The inaugural movie ‘Triangle of sadness’ was quite interesting.

The closing movie, an Iranian-Azerbaijan venture, ‘No Bears’ was a bit boring, in my humble opinion. Oh, well, I am not a professional film critic, so don’t take my words. I generally avoid watching Tamil movies (my mother tongue) at the film festival, as we get to see them sooner or later on the TV.

But this time I chose to watch two Tamil films –Kida (Goat) was good; the other ‘Yuddha Kaandam’ began well but ended sloppy. It is credited as the first single-shot linear commercial movie; I had earlier watched the first single-shot non-linear commercial movie ‘Otha seruppu’ (Single footwear) and found it absorbing.

As always, the two South Korean movies that I watched – Broker and Move the Grave – were appreciated by the audience, though a bit lengthy. In the Indian Panorama I watched only four movies. Cinema Bandi (Cinema Vehicle), the Telugu movie, brought out the truth in a lighter vein that there is a director inside everyone; surprisingly, it was that director’s first movie and in a way his own story.

I love watching movies from the States where I had worked/visited, and this time it was an Odiya movie ‘Pratikshya’ which was a modern story, and so I liked it. The Assamese cinema ‘Soul of Silence’ was ok in the later part.

The Malayalam movie ‘Saudi Vellakka’ was gripping. I missed out on the first Irlua tribal language movie ‘Dhabari Quruvi’ from Tamil Nadu. With my Sikkim connection I chose to watch ‘Tenzin’, a Canadian movie about the Tibetan refugee settlers there, but it was only so-so.

It was indeed a great deal to get to watch 32 movies from across the globe for just Rs.500 (senior citizen concession) in a plush theatre. There is always the feeling of having missed out certain movies or having wrongly chosen certain movies but those eight days were indeed crazy days feeding only on films without any time for proper food or drink.

Feasting on films, why bother about food? Oh, well, when is the next edition of CIFF!