1. Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta: The Worst Person in The World
The Norwegian auteur Joachim Trier’s third film of his Oslo Trilogy, The Worst Person in The World, was one of the best immersive experiences I have had in a long time. Trier takes us through melancholy and a deep sense of alienation in metropolitan life, all through the remarkably realistic story of Julie, an Oslo-based medical student in her 20s. Julie is independent, creative, experimental and evades walking the conventional route almost compulsively. That makes her uncertain at almost all times, even guilty of her unorthodoxy, but still determined enough to arrest cynicism. A cinematic masterpiece.
2. Sravasti Dasgupta: The Banshees of Inisherin
This Irish tragi-comedy came to my notice during this year’s Oscar season. But in all honesty nothing could have prepared me for this gripping tale of friendship, loss and the intersection of culture and politics served in a narrative style that I have never seen or experienced before.
Set in the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, the movie on its surface tells the story of a feud between two close friends while serving as a metaphor for the waning Irish nation, its people, their aspirations and the innate human need to be remembered.
It’s funny, sad, poignant but most importantly it is very enjoyable, will keep you hooked through its running time and will remain in your thoughts well after its over!
3. Soumashree Sarkar: Decision to Leave, Park Chanwook, Korean, 2022
That blue and brown – the colours of the sky and the earth – can melt into each other so seamlessly and yet give the viewer a sense of menace is something this film teaches you. It marries a powerful plot to the plot’s own powerlessness when faced with a rather debilitating sort of a love story. You are left with a sense of having delved into a secret. Park Haeil is a noted actor, a man of many on-screen success, but the hero of the film is Tang Wei, who speaks without speaking and conveys emotions without artifice.
4. Anirudh S.K.: Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom
I liked the Tamil comedy movie Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom. It means ‘Some pages from the middle are missing’. It’s about a guy who gets short-term memory loss before his wedding and how his friends help him keep it under wraps. Even though I struggled with the language, I was able to understand the film’s wholesome humour, which was great.
5. Seema Chishti: Podcasts
As far as audio-visuals go, not films but audio had me hooked. This was the one year, other than the pandemic year of 2020, when podcasts spoke to me. The now discontinued scintillating Sinica podcast, and The Rest is Politics and Empire, each of these would make my day each time a new episode popped up.
6. Faiyaz Ahmad Wajeeh: While We Watched
Watching While We Watched, a documentary about veteran journalist Ravish Kumar, may be a tough and painful experience, but it gives a new perspective on what journalism really means in these dark times for Indian TV media.
This documentary narrates the tale of India’s deteriorating democratic framework and how the media has turned away from journalism on all the fundamental issues and important questions.
It also explains how journalism is not about associating yourself with a sponsored opinion or propaganda, but about speaking the truth even when there is no one to listen to you.
In other words, While We Watched is the war cry of an unarmed journalist fighting for democracy on the battlefield.
7. Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty: Munich
With the horrible Israel-Hamas conflict unfolding, Netflix threw at its viewers a litany of films, famous or otherwise, which have dealt with the bloody history of the Israel-Palestine question.
I re-watched Munich. It not only helped refresh a ghastly episode from that long-drawn-out conflict in West Asia where so many innocent lives have been lost over the decades, but also facilitated making two other observations:
a) on a tiny nation’s resolve to hunt down its perpetrators and meticulously executing it using first-rate espionage;
b) and, that the journey that began then ultimately made Israel forever hinged on victimhood. It is today abhorred not just by the Palestinians for being their perpetrator but also helped craft for itself the dubious perception worldwide that it peddles marketers of ‘spy hood’ to surveillance states to be able to hunt anyone and everyone that those regimes count as their ‘enemies’.
8. Jahnavi Sen: Mast Mein Rehne Ka
I came across this playful-but-poignant movie by accident, and, having gone in with no expectations, was very pleasantly surprised. Jackie Shroff and Neena Gupta portray two elderly people living their loneliness in very different ways, and their unlikely friendship – as well as the stellar acting by Abhishek Chauhan – make for a warm, sometimes sad, and thought-provoking watch.