The last movie I saw at the Mumbai Film Fest and for sometime it looked like I would be going out on a high. The movie grips from the beginning, with a modern dramatized interpretation of an ancient Greek myth setting the stage for a takeover by a shadowy group of armed men and women, their mesmerizing leader thrusting himself as the chief orchestrator of events. The play audience is pulled in to the performance, not realizing that the bizarre turn of events was not part of the programmed script. The tension builds up, and you are hoping that the director can pull of a grand denouement.
The entire movie theatre was gripped - even in the quiet parts there was no restless stirring or chatter. But in the end it doesn't so much fall flat as just fizzle out. We were left puzzled - who were the hostage takers, what were their motives, what did they hope to achieve by hijacking the play and its audience, was there a personal connection/antagonism with any of the cast members ... It was like the director had a stylish premise, a unique plot device that he hoped to build a movie around, but didn't have the story to back it up.
At the end, the tepid applause from a festival audience that gives even mediocre movies a good clap told it all. It was a feeling of deflation, of being let down after a stirring build up, of making a bad choice when what was playing in the next auditorium was possibly the better movie.
The entire movie theatre was gripped - even in the quiet parts there was no restless stirring or chatter. But in the end it doesn't so much fall flat as just fizzle out. We were left puzzled - who were the hostage takers, what were their motives, what did they hope to achieve by hijacking the play and its audience, was there a personal connection/antagonism with any of the cast members ... It was like the director had a stylish premise, a unique plot device that he hoped to build a movie around, but didn't have the story to back it up.
At the end, the tepid applause from a festival audience that gives even mediocre movies a good clap told it all. It was a feeling of deflation, of being let down after a stirring build up, of making a bad choice when what was playing in the next auditorium was possibly the better movie.