Friday, December 08, 2006

IFFK-day 1 afternoon

Old wine in new bottle

Cease Fire has left a lasting mark on the minds of viewers. One can like or dislike the film and its content. But the pleasantly novel treatment of a rather clichéd subject is quite heart winning. The film deals with a love-marriage-turned divorce subject. The title Cease Fire implies the end of quarrel between the husband and the wife. Those who expected a high drama at the back drop of Iran-Iraq conflict like Border of Life (one of the Iranian films of the previous festival directed by Reza Azamian) must have been disappointed. The film is an out-of-the box view of the lives of two go-getters. They are highly successful in work. They achieve whatever they want in life too, that is until they got married. The husband, as most of the husbands do, wants an obedient wife. But the wife wants to be independent. The film is sometimes utterly satirical. One such scene, wherea clinical psychologist (whom the wife accidentally meets when she goes to file for her divorce) asks the husband whether he had been a secret member of Taliban, is worth mentioning.

The sun is blazing down in Trivandrum city. When you come out of the A/C theatre it is like entering a blast furnace. The next film, Whisky, has already created as buzz around here. It is tipped to one of the unforgettables of this festival. Furthermore the untimely demise of Juan Pablo Rebella, one of its directors, certainly adds an aura of romance to it.

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