obnoxious Indian-set drama. The film—the latest from Iranian co-writer/director Majid Majidi ("Baran," "Children of Heaven")—certainly
looks good thanks to cinematographer Anil Mehta's typically
gorgeous presentation of Mumbai's crowded streets and labyrinthine back
alleys. But Mehta's visual compositions are dissatisfying after a point,
mostly because the pseudo-mystical, live-and-let-live philosophy they
espouse doesn't ring true when applied to a story about poor people
struggling to transcend their treacherous living conditions.
Mehta ("Lagaan," "Veer-Zaara") can only do so much in a story that,
like Majidi's most famous '90s films, feels simultaneously too spacey
and too neat to say anything insightful about the plight of Amir (Ishan
Khattar), a teenage drug dealer who must look after Ashik (Goutam
Ghose)—the abusive and now hospitalized husband of
Amir's self-less sister Tara (Malavika Mohanan)—long enough for Ashik to bail Tara out.
From
the start, Tara's tragic circumstances are conflated with Amir's lack
of responsibility. He must become human enough to not only accept
responsibility for his actions, but also realize his responsibility to
her. This is a major challenge since Amir often does whatever it takes
to get ahead, including threatening Ashik's life, and offering to sell a
child into prostitution. Amir is, in this way, unkindly treated like a
product of his environment. Still, the film's dogmatic message is clear:
there are moments of beauty in this teenager's life that are meant to
prove that he is spiritually stronger than all of the seemingly
unavoidable/unforeseeable material obstacles in his way. Even the
mobbed-up gigolo/dealer that Amir works for, and the obstinate
brother-in-law he wants to smash to bits ... all of these problems are
supposedly surmountable.
This unbelievably optimistic mentality
makes it hard to take seriously Majidi and co-writer Mehrad Kashani's
rote scenario. Majidi and Kashani hold Amir's feet to the fire by asking
him to not feel trapped by his complex living situation. He must
forgive Ashik (notice that there's no discussion of the corrupt nature
of the Indian court system). He must save his sister. He must find a way
to support himself. He must be kind to Ashik's estranged mother and
extended family.
Meanwhile, Tara rots in jail. She's only
believably human in the scene where she gets fed up with her Kafka-esque
situation and screams that she needs to be let out immediately. She
paces back and forth, like Jack Nicholson howling with rage in the much-missed Milos Forman's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
And she demands attention, but Amir can only do so much. He follows her
movements from the other side of a see-through glass wall that
separates prisoners like her from visitors like him. This is the most
honest scene in "Beyond the Clouds," a rare moment of clarity where the
filmmakers admit: there are limits to what we can do for our loved ones,
no matter how much we owe them.
Unfortunately, Majidi and
Kashani also often insist on piling the weight of Mumbai's collective
troubles on Amir's shoulders. Never mind that the kid is only 19 years
old, and doesn't have a parent or mentor-like figure that can help him
figure out how to be his best self. What seems to matter most to Majidi
and Kashani is that Amir has enough friends and resources to make bad
decisions. So why shouldn't he be judged like an adult fictional
character? In this unsparing context, it's hard to stomach scenes where
Ghose seduces the camera with his genuinely seductive smile, and antic
energy. He does a charming improvised dance for a former colleague—right
before he stabs his friend in the hand. Amir even looks suave enough to
convince his murderous, tight-wad gigolo boss to pay him on time.
But what's the point of "Beyond the Clouds"? Why tell your
audience that it's more important to go beyond themselves than it is to
be better as themselves? Majidi is clearly drawing on the artistic
tradition of Italian neo-realist films like "Bicycle Thieves," "Umberto D,"
and "Rome, Open City," but shows no signs that he made it through to
the end of the best of those movies. Spoiler alert: people remain
homeless, hungry, and sad at the end of them! They don't get
to transcend their circumstances because that, to put it mildly, would
be a cop-out.
I don't care how stunning the Mehta-lensed
landscape shots of Mumbai are. The point of these scenes is to
watch Ghose find his way through and into the story. But "Beyond the
Clouds" isn't a city symphony: it's a conflicted tribute to a cruel,
and bewitching slum. Majidi and Kashani's shared vision feels
incomplete, as if they were moments away from realizing how to
temper their story's condescending, but well-meaning perspective, but
never got around to doing it.
Director:
Stars:
Release Date:
20 April 2018 (India) See more »Also Known As:
Floating Gardens See more »Filming Locations:
South Mumbai, Mumbai, IndiaCompany Credits
Production Co:
Namah Pictures, Zee StudiosTeenager Amir is constantly dodging trouble while dealing drugs in the underbelly of Mumbai. Following a drug bust, he evades the cops and ends up on the doorstep of his estranged sister Tara. Complications from concealing Amir land Tara in jail, but she still sees her brother as her only hope of living in the outside world again. While their lives have been darkened by despair, hope may shine from beyond the clouds.
Thanks for reading and have fun watching movies.
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