The coming-of-age subgenre has seen numerous transformation through the years. Independent films from all over the world have especially taken up the theme of growing up with ultimate grace and sincerity –…
Tag: Alienation
Il Posto [1961] – A Masterful Study of Human Condition in a Compartmentalized World I felt an aching realization while watching Ermanno Olmi’s Il Posto (aka ‘The Job’ or ‘Sound of Trumpets’,…
Icelandic writer/director Runar Runarsson’s feature film debut “Volcano” (2011 – screened at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight) offered a unsentimental take on the day-to-day tribulations of an old couple (Haneke’s “Amour” looked strikingly similar…
Pimps, prostitutes, pornographers, murderers, criminals, uncompassionate individuals, and other inelegant peripheral members of society are the primary subjects in Japanese master Shohei Imamura’s anthropological exploration of alienated society.
Legendary Japanese filmmaker Shohei Imamura’s “The Eel” aka “Unagi” (117 minutes) is an oddly touching, thought provoking drama about two wounded souls. Despite a predictable narrative, it remains entrancing due to Imamura’s fine juxtaposition of gentle and vicious human nature.
The characters in Steve McQueen’s “Shame” (99 minutes) with their little showcase of emotions are constrained inside differently shaped glass structures like fish in the aquariums. It is more about a man’s self-destruction in a controlled and compulsive environment than being a mere psychobabble on sex addiction.
Sins of Father’ is one of recurrent theme in cinematic medium, where the prodigal son would return home to reflect on his past and learn few dark secrets about his family. The theme had been covered to the point of turning it into a cliché. Initially, the characters and the situation they find themselves in “In My Father’s Den” seem a bit banal. Celebrated war photographer Paul Prior (Mathew MacFadyen), who had run away from home as a teenager, returns back to the small New Zealand hometown (after 17 years) to attend his father’s funeral. His elder brother Andrew (Colin Moy) didn’t expect that Paul would return. Andrew has married an ultra-religious woman named Penny (Miranda Otto) whom Paul thinks bears some resemblance to their own deceased, religious mother. Andrew’s teenage son Jonathan (Jimmy Keen) seems to be a lonely, introverted kid. The old photos and brief flashbacks indicate that some dismal thing had happened in their past. The alienated Paul after an argument with his brother decides to stay for few days to help out with selling of their old house, other properties, etc.
