A narrative of a ranchland family

This is my first viewing of Lasse Hallström’s. A very casually told story ‘An Unfinished Life’ speaks about fear, belief, apprehensions, relationship and family. Plotted in the ranchland of Wyoming, where two aged males, Einar (Robert Redford) and Mitch (Morgan Freeman) spends their undisturbed days of isolation and inhibitions. They meet some changes when Jean (Jeniffer Lopez), Einar’s daughter-in-law, comes with her daughter Griff (Becca Gardner) to stay. Jean, a widow of Einar’s son and a battered lover to one of her few boy friends, suffers from a guilt, feeling that she is responsible for her husband’s death. The thought is very harshly believed by Einar too, who does not leave any chance to accuse her for same as well. This keeps him away from his grand daughter Griff. In the scantily populated ranchland Einar, Jean and Griff finds only one support, Mitch, who unlike Einar rationally accepted Einar’s son’s death to be an accident.
The story and visual treatment, though not gripping still holds an audience, till the misunderstanding is washed away.
The low budget film is mainly based on its theme and dialogue. The bond among people in a not-so-popular country is very clearly portrayed. The thought of a father who outlived his son and his sustaining relation with the unfinished grave of his son, is quite heart rendering. Similarly is the attachment of Einar and Mitch, who lost his independency to the wounds of a bear attack. Though the usage of a bear as an allegory to Mitch’s fear is bit far fetched still it is a good feel for one who can decipher it.
Undoubtedly, the powerful cast contributed their best. As a debutant, Becca Gardner’s acting as an unaccepted granddaughter who gradually reaps her grandpa’s love and cares for her, is surely mentionable.
Loosely directed and edited ‘An Unfinished Life’ is not a call for all movie goers. Only if you have a real taste and deep feeling for drama, do not miss the screening.

Lost and found at Park Avenue

Hats off to Aparna Sen for offering us ‘15 Park Avenue’. Scripted and directed by her the film is starred by Konkona Sen Sharma, Rahul Bose, Shabana Azmi, Waheeda Rehman, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Kanwaljeet Singh and others. In a sentence the theme webs around the past and present of a schizophrenic, who is in search of an address as suggested by the title.
Mithi (Konkona Sen Sharma) – the schizophrenic- stays with her sister Anjali – a professor - (Shabana Azmi) and her mother (Waheeda Rehman). In the venture of pursuing a career as a journalist and under constant pressure of her betrothed Joydeep (Rahul Bose), she becomes the victim of politicians at Bihar-Bengal border during election coverage. A brutal mass rape at the site aggravates her schizophrenic symptoms and severs her from Joydeep, who fails to keep up to the promise of settling with Mithi and flies to America and marries Lakshmi (Shefali Chaya). The relationship with Joydeep remained so deeply arrested in Mithi’s mind that she even fails to recognize the repented Joydeep in person who accidentally met her during a holiday.
The film portrays the stand of each of every person in such an associative manner that as an audience one would feel as a part of the story. The pain of Mithi, the obsession of Anjali’s caress, the helplessness of mother, the repentance of Joydeep all prove the finest craftsmanship of story telling which is so very natural in Sen.
As a director, this is not Aparna’s first film. Though I haven’t seen much of hers but whatever of Sen’s I’ve seen, it can be said, that 15 Park Avenue echoes her filming competency.
The best part of the film, as felt by me, is the portrayal of a schizophrenic’s world. Dealing with something like psychological disorder is in it self a serious issue. And to offer it in the most lucid way possible makes it more difficult. The way Sen educated the intricacies of the disorder, that it reminded Ray’s mastery of dealing with complicated subject.
Though stringed as one piece, still the presences of individual turbulence are strongly felt through out the film. Anjali’s sacrifice of forming a family of her own with her colleague, or the anxiety of the mother, or even the internal family trauma of Joydeep and Lakshmi once she realized that Joy is meeting his past flame again. All strengthened the core matter – Mithi’s search of her own world staying completely oblivious of her surrounding but not forgetting to mark her presence. The misfit between world of schizophrenia and the world of clinically normal is very boldly felt in the film.
The twist in the tale lies at the conclusion. Very much typical Sen, the last scene helped graduating the film from a regular story to a fairy tale. Once realized what happened in the last sequence, any story teller will agree that a better and positive ending would not have been possible. Finally, finding what was searched and disappearing from the world of clinically fit can only be related to the finding of self actualization.
Though filmed in Kolkata, yet the search of an American address in the city is a nicely set analogy of the search, we are searching every day, every moment.