This is a visually stunning film. The lush green landscapes, the blue walls of the village homes, the textures of the tile roofs, the bittermelons hanging from the trellis. I loved the details, like the milk getting poured into the gutter, which is a metaphor for this film: how one thing (the gutter) can, for a time, become something completely different.
James falls asleep on a bus returning to Kerala from a pilgrimage to a Catholic basilica on the coast of Tamil Nadu. He leaves the bus, and wanders into a village as Sundaram, who had disappeared two years ago, adopting Sundaram's personality and speaking in Tamil. Sundaram is quite a character, he speaks in an animated manner, and gradually becomes more and more confused as his fellow villagers fail to recognize him.
Eventually, the confusion is sorted out, but Sundaram's dog still chases after the bus. One of the films many small details that stuck with me.
I loved the slow pace, the dreamlike sequences, old cinematic music, and the general lack of anxiety and violence that seems to pervade so much of what I encounter on TV.
James falls asleep on a bus returning to Kerala from a pilgrimage to a Catholic basilica on the coast of Tamil Nadu. He leaves the bus, and wanders into a village as Sundaram, who had disappeared two years ago, adopting Sundaram's personality and speaking in Tamil. Sundaram is quite a character, he speaks in an animated manner, and gradually becomes more and more confused as his fellow villagers fail to recognize him.
Eventually, the confusion is sorted out, but Sundaram's dog still chases after the bus. One of the films many small details that stuck with me.
I loved the slow pace, the dreamlike sequences, old cinematic music, and the general lack of anxiety and violence that seems to pervade so much of what I encounter on TV.