Movie Talk with Rocky: Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles

Just got back from sunny Los Angeles where I attended the 8th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. The festival featured over 30 feature and short films. I managed to see 11 of them. A short review is below. Overall, the festival was an enjoyable experience but was somewhat tempered by the fact that many of the overseas attendees could not come (VOLCANO!).

Fatso – A film by Rajat Kapoor that was a mildly entertaining but flawed reinterpretation of the Oscar-winning film Heaven Can Wait starring Warren Beatty.

Nero’s Guests – A documentary about the growing problem of farmer suicides in the state of Maharashtra. The film follows an impassioned reporter who seeks to build awareness of the growing epidemic. While this economist might quibble with his discussion of the effects of world commodities markets, this movie is excellent in both content and construction.

Babies Made in India – A documentary about commercial surrogacy in India. The film attempts to question the morality of a “womb-rental” by portraying the experience of three couples that come to India to have a child. While the topic was certainly new to me and in that respect interesting, I was put off by the judgmental tone of the narrator. Moreover, some technical issues in editing seemed to give it a some haphazard look.

Shorts Program – The shorts program featured six films of varying quality. Bedlam is a lovely animated short by Rinee Shah featuring the music of Beniot Pioulard. The Cap is a well-animated but uninteresting story of momentary connection between an old Muslim man and a young Hindu boy during the period of partition. Tanuj Chopra’s Clap Clap is a beautifully noir film about a woman choosing between love and a gun deal. The film features excellent performances by Tillotama Shome, Manu Narayan, and Soon Kang. A Drop, also featuring Shome, is about a woman and son that control the only source of water in a Rajasthani village. Betrayal nearly ends a burgeoning friendship between two village girls divided by class in Kunjo. While the plot is somewhat simplistic, the two main characters give good performances. Ravi Kapoor‘s Victor Ramirez, Asesino is a hilarious story of a nerdy son’s unsuccessful attempt to follow in the footsteps of his assassin father.

Raspberry Magic – The first feature by Leena Pendharkar, Raspberry is the story of an eleven-year-old girl’s attempt to save her parents’ marriage by winning the science fair. The film features beautiful shots of Northern California and good performances by Ravi Kapoor and Meera Simhan as the parents. Unfortunately the film felt flat. The major emotional moments didn’t resonate as they should and it was difficult to engage with the arc of the characters.