Aside from the Japanese offerings, this year's Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival Visions of Asia section also includes a trio of films from Iran and one from India.
Two of the Iranian films, I Am American and Salaam are presented by the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran as part of the Iranian Film Festival, a new addition to the growing roster of Cinemalaya’s Allied Festivals. The remaining Iranian film, the documentary Beloved was selected by NETPAC while the sole Indian movie, The Rooftop was handpicked by Cinemalaya.
I Am American
In Omid Mirzaei's I Am American, an American journalist covering the conflict in Iraq finds himself captured by ISIL forces. His hopes of getting rescued gets dimmer as a fellow prisoner gets executed and negotiations between the US government and his captors fail to materialize.
Investing emotionally in the character of the journalist was a hard sell for he was never fully fleshed out despite efforts to do so via a hallucination meeting his daughter from back home and a brief interaction with a French female prisoner.
Ultimately, the end whisks out a deux ex machina through his rescue by Iranian anti-terrorist forces. It is inevitable to see this ending as a political statement regarding the volatile relationship between the US and Iran throughout the decades.
Salaam
The Mohammad Reza Haji Gholami helmed Salaam gives a peek to the domestic situation of the families, especially the children, of the men who go out to battle whatever their cause may be.
The short film follows Omid who scours his entire neighborhood to greet 1,000 people salaam (hello) as a vow to ensure his father's safe return home from defending the Holy Shrine.
As Omid goes around the neighborhood accompanied by his rascal friend Ali, glimpses of Persian culture are showcased like the power of spoken word Salaam. It also makes one curious to what halva is and why it is usually served at certain occasions.
The untiring quest of Omid managing to greet 999 people with seemingly no one else in the neighborhood left ungreeted amplifies the suspense on whether he will find the last one he needs and on whether his father is still alive.
Both questions are eventually answered at an ending that felt rushed and fell short to be the emotional highlight of this film.
Beloved
Presented by the Network for Promotion of Asian & Asia Pacific Cinema (NETPAC), Beloved is an award winning documentary by Yaser Talebi.
The documentary follows the stubborn and fiercely independent Firouzeh, an 82 year old herder who tends to her cows at the remote mountains of Mazandaran in North Iran. Her normal routine is no joke and her physical capabilities at her age definitely puts couch potatoes to shame.
Although she claims that she prefers the companionship of her livestock than to fellow human beings, she readily admits that she longs for her 11 children as she complains that not one of them has visited her recently.
She shows that she is no pushover as she constantly nags practically everyone from the village women urging her to retire to forestry officials. But she shows that she is also soft at heart when visiting the grave of her late husband. And when left alone with just an umanned camera, she shows her vulnerable side and breaks down as she implores one of her children to take action. One is left to wonder if this impassioned plea has reached the ears of any of her children.
Aside from the endearing Firouzeh, the film also showcases the vast mountain landscape of the Mazandaran. The changing of the seasons gives the viewer a more vibrant and colorful view of the region unlike the filtered look utilized in productions coming from the US that have been the subject of criticism lately.
The Rooftop
India is represented in the festival through Avirup Biswas's The Rooftop, pegged as a love story between a psychiatrist and his neighbor who is suffering from a mental illness afwter a case of sexual assault.
The film attempts to tell a warm, heart tugging story of a love affair blossoming between the two main characters. But the scheme to stage another sexual assault attempt via an accomplice with the doctor eventually coming to her rescue is highly doubtful if this is medically sound and even ethical at all. And to later find out that his accomplice in this staged assault is a fellow doctor and that the two main characters eventually fall in love in end do not make things better also. It begs the question if all this is accepted practice in psychiatry.
This year's Vision of Asia selection at the Cinemalaya 16 was a mixed bag of treats with delightful selections such as Beloved and My Little Goat and an unfortunate dud with The Rooftop which is quite surprising given the prolific Indian film industry.
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