There
are a few places, however, where the story drags. The
most obvious is at the beginning of the film where none
of the characters have really been introduced, and an
English-speaking audience is trying to adjust to the subtitles.
At this point in the film, it was very difficult to tell
who each of the characters were, how they were related
to each other, and what they were doing. Having read a
summary of the film, I had a general idea of what was
supposed to be happening, but I was also pretty lost for
at least the first ten to fifteen minutes of the film.
This point in a film is crucial - you need to be able
to grab your audience's attention right away (especially
an American audience who tend to get distracted very quickly.)
The director provided a printed sheet to Microfilmmaker
with helpful details about the Hindu rituals for the dead
which an Indian audience would already understand. This
information would benefit an American audience with its
predominantly Christian background if it were displayed
in the actual film itself, perhaps given by a black-and-white
title card at the beginning of the film.
The
ending of the film was very good, although it seemed as
though some of the ending scenes could have been cut out
or at least shortened down a bit. I especially liked the
voice-over and short video clips that explained what happened
to the characters after the conclusion of the film. The
terminology was vague enough as well as to leave some
of the ending up to the audience's imagination. This type
of movie necessitates an open-ended ending like this --
when someone dies, life changes for their family, there
is no way around this fact. Changes will have to be made,
and many of the decisions that the family is faced with
are not black and white. Had this story been wrapped up
neatly, the movie would have suffered.
Visual
Look
The
visual look of this film was amazing! There were no white-balance
or exposure issues that I noticed, which can be very difficult
considering that there were many shots both indoors and
outdoors. In addition, many of the rooms in the house
appeared to have either very little natural light or very
large windows, which can easily throw off the lighting
in the room. Cinematographer Sameer Mahajan, however,
seemed to have a very clear understanding of lighting
principles and this gives Suddha a very professional
look. This was made even more amazing when I learned that,
due to the lack of electricity, all the light used in
the film was natural light that was reflected using mirrors
and bounce cards to create both fill, and, at times, key
lights!
One
of the great things about foreign films -- or any film,
for that matter -- is when directors make use of their
natural surroundings by incorporating shots of landscapes
and local color -- without which the film may run the
risk of looking like it was shot in someone's backyard.
(One of my favorite films, as far as visual look is concerned,
is The Truth About Charlie, a modern remake of
the classic Charade. The acting is decent, and
the re-done plot is mediocre at best. But the visual look
is amazing - the filmmakers took the camera up and down
Paris and took full advantage of all the unique local
color to be found in the city.)
Once
again, the filmmakers of Suddha clearly understood
this principle and took the extra time to incorporate
some beautiful wide shots of the Indian landscape. I especially
liked the occasional breaks in action in which they inserted
a group of several close-up shots of the house and surrounding
areas.
