This note comes directly from the Lucky Star Podcast editing suite. In our second episode we discuss the latest film from director Imtiaz Ali, Amar Singh Chamkila, a biopic of the tragically slain Punjabi singer. In the episode we discuss also some of the recent year-end lists published, such as those in Cahiers du Cinéma, Film Comment and Screen Slate. Some of the discussion is probably very reminiscent of some of the things we wrote about in our first Editor’s Note in 2023, but it applies as it relates to a filmmaker like Imtiaz Ali. This is a filmmaker working within the mainstream of Hindi-language cinema who has carved out a singular identity over the last 20 years. But critical engagement with his work in the West, outside of fan circles, is virtually non-existent. The film is streaming on Netflix, it is available, but because this is a filmmaker who does not move through the usual circles where critical discourse might discover him, he is invisible (and when his films do show up there, like Highway did in 2014, playing in a Berlin sidebar, they are brutally ignored).
A film like Kottukkaali (The Adamant Girl) by PS Vinothraj is proof of what we’re talking about. The film premiered at the Berlin Forum, got written up in the usual places, but because the film did not get theatrical distribution in the United States, it is all but invisible in these year-end lists. A fellow traveler, Graham Carter, included it in his Film Comment list, but otherwise it was blanked entirely. When I made an introduction for the opening night film of LAFFD, I spoke about how the market will frequently decide that one film per country is enough. In this year’s case, India’s representative is Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, stamped with the pre-approval of the Cannes Main Competition and its attendant US/Europe promotional engine. But to follow this logic is to follow the logic of the marketplace, not of cinephilia. Vinothraj’s film is, quite simply, extraordinary. The level of detail and character he’s able to pack into this 90-minute film is astonishing. Every moment is packed with meaning, with a sense of gesture, with a hidden violence. And he’s unafraid of shocking images, such as the one of the woman’s tongue heading toward the eye ball (the most startling image I saw all year). Because this is an ensemble film, because this is a road movie, Vinothraj is able to make a community picture, a grand tradition, which discusses the attitudes in his society, the mores and values, in a way that preserves some mystery about them. It’s a way to find yourself in every character, from the longing for romantic freedom of this so-called adamant girl, to the rage and fury of the uncle who stops the caravan to terrorize the entire family with his hurt pride (the scariest movie moment of the year). The final moments pay off the complex game of gazes and point of view throughout the film (who is looking at whom and why?). What are to make of these gestures? What do we leave the film with?
All this talk of year-end lists reminds me that we will be publishing our own list in mid-January. We are taking our time and trying to find some films (these last couple of grids attest to that). We hope the list will be of interest.
Lucky Star 