The buzz around the big five at this year's Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) was deafening. Richard Linklater's Boyhood, Xavier Dolan's Mommy, Jimmy's Hall by Ken Loach, Chaitanya Tamhane's Court and Avinash Arun's Killa (The Fort) were big draws, and deservedly so. But as with any cinematic extravaganza, there were lesser-known but equally stellar films that merit mention.
Take for instance Zhang Yimou's masterful Gui Lai (Coming Home), a family drama and love story in equal measure set in the aftermath of China's Cultural Revolution. Then there was Adityavikram Sengupta's non-dialogue Bengali feature Asha Jaoar Majhe (Labour of Love), a poetic story of the lives of a young couple in recession-hit Kolkata.
Also outstanding was Matthew Warchus' Pride, a poignant retelling of the role striking miners played in UK's gay rights movement of 1984. Argentinian filmmaker Diego Lerman's gritty Refugiado, an absorbing tale of a woman and her young son fleeing from her abusive husband, went relatively unnoticed. So did Alonso Ruizpalacios' feisty debut feature Güeros, a Mexican road movie which pays homage to French new wave cinema.
Sonja Prosenc's Slovenian thriller Drevo (The Tree) was excellent in the way it used haunting cinematography and non-linear takes to tell the story of a family trapped in a house under mysterious circumstances. Also noteworthy was Leila Hatami-Ali Mosaffa starrer Dar donyaye to sa'at chand ast? (What's The Time In Your World?), a melancholic film about an Iranian woman who returns to her hometown after 20 years.
In no way did A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night go unnoticed. Yet, this Ana Lily Amirpour-directed Iranian vampire noir deserves a mention for being one of the best films to ever be played at MFF. Not only was this a vampire movie unlike any other — it was also one of the best homages to spaghetti Westerns you'd have been unfortunate to miss if you hadn't booked a seat.
Technical setbacks at MFF
The screening of Avinash Arun's Killa (The Fort) on October 19, arranged on public demand, was interrupted midway when the video blacked out. The issue seemed to have been addressed when the movie took off from where it left, only to be impeded by an audiovisual problem yet again. Fortunately, the glitch caused just a 15-20 minute delay and not a cancellation, as in the case of the Bandit Queen screening.
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