is the new naseer shah film also playing at the fest? - that one abt the gujrat riots

Just got back from the 7:15 show (not only did waiting in the Rush Line pay off - I even got in free!).

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Not to my knowledge, no. But there are several films from or about South Asia - I'll be watching The Forsaken Land (Vimukthi Jayasundara), Memories in the Mist (Buddhadeb Dasgupta) and John & Jane (Ashim Ahluwalia).

BTW, I forgot to talk about the music for Water - Michael Dyanna (Monsoon Wedding) does the background score here (which is befitting for the most part) while Rahman has about four or five songs featured (only one is used in its entirety). They seemed decent, along the lines of his Earth soundtrack, although it's a known fact that it takes several listenings of a Rahman work to fully appreciate its value.

water will be at the vancouver film fest ait will be the first film shown, and they call it a galla, so does that mean the stars will come on the red carpet or is it just like a reg screening?

Too tired to write an entire review, but here are some quick thoughts:

- This is undoubtedly her best film; she's avoided sensationalism and preachiness (for the most part) and delivered a somber and uncompromising tragedy about oppressive and hierarchical structures that are doomed to repeat themselves unless we have the courage to stop them.
- Major influence here is obviously Ray's Pather Panchali; the widowed matriarch is a familiar figure here, and Chuiya's (the little eight-year-old widow) innocence and mischieviousness recalls the way Ray followed the brother-sister team of Apu and Durga.
- Cinematography is stunning! The visual look of the film totally immerses you in this world; when it finished, I was taken aback to see myself back in a clean, air-conditioned theatre.
- The cast is uniformally excellent; Seema Biswas is flawless in depicting a character torn between her conscience and her faith. Sarala as the little girl is excellent as well, handling range with the talent of a pro. John Abraham adds strong support; he disappears into the role beautifully. Lisa Ray is adequate, however; she is too beautiful for this role, so much so that it stretched credibility at times. Raghuvir Yadav (as a eunuch) rocks in a small role, and Waheeda Rehman and Kulbhushan Kharbanda (!) have cameos.
- However, the flaw in this film is that Mehta all-too-often spills the subtext into the screenplay. Her images speak for themselves, but characters reitterate what we've already realized long before. What's more, the underlying political thread surrounding Gandhi, independence and modernization is too transparent and obvious. I much preferred the film's inital "fly-on-the-wall" approach, simply documenting the daily ongoings of an ashram.
- Still, this is a potent and effective effort.
- Mehta does leave us ultimately with a small shred of hope, but we can never forget the images of hellish inequality that came before... As one widow in the ashram put it - which may be the understatement of the year - "Life is such a disappointment".