Victoria, Anomalisa to Dheepan: Here's a list of the best films played at MAMI

Under the tutelage of new director Anupama Chopra the 2015 Mumbai Film Festival served film buffs their favourite dessert for a whole week. Firstpost lists some of the best films that played at the fest:

Anomalisa:

Charlie Kaufman’s first film since the seven-year-old Synecdoche New York is beguiling and his ability to find complexity in simplicity still remains unmatched. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind he explored what would happen if you erase your ex, and Anomalisa is kind of a spiritual sequel which has the exact polar opposite scenario. The film raises a few questions on the repetitive nature of relationships and since everyone has been through that phase it’s easy to be moved by the film.

Read the full review here .

The Lobster

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos goes a little more mainstream though sticks closely to themes that he explored in Dogtooth – confinement, forbidden sex, the need to break out and discover a whole new world and the necessity of someone patrolling your emotions. Though the film sort of peters out in the third act it’s still one of the most fascinating films of the year with huge repeat value.

Victoria

By far the most visually stunning film of the fest, Sebastien Schippe’s single take German film plays out like Before Sunrise in thriller mode. It’s also one of those rare films whose stories of pre production, prep and filming would be as interesting, if not far more interesting than the film itself.

Read the full review here .

Placebo

Are Indian college kids merely lab rats that are scurrying around in the maze to get to the cheese piece that isn’t there? Abhay Kumar’s documentary chronicles the lives of a few students in AIIMS and is as important as it is moving. When it isn’t hilarious it’s a damning takedown of India’s feeble education system and also a fascinating deconstruction of its apathetic students disillusioned with the lack of empathy around them.

The Forbidden Room

Fever dreams have never been so entertaining. Director Guy Maddin takes all the energy and madness from an acid trip and distills it into a movie that is absolutely insane. Very little in the movie makes sense, but piecing it together is a fun little exercise for your brain.

Read the full review here .

Interrogation

Aadukalam director Vetrimaaran’s follow up is a terrific neo nor thriller about Tamil immigrants in Andhra Pradesh who are subjected to police brutality as part of a massive conspiracy. Once it gets going the film pretty much explodes in your face and never lets up. Vetrimaaran’s aesthetics and knack for developing characters with grey shades is impeccable. The final thirty minutes are hands down the most thrilling sequences of Indian cinema the year.

Dheepan

After the mild disappointment of Rust and Bone Jacques Audiard returns to great form with a film on a very relevant subject – the immigration crisis in Europe. Whether the film deserved to win the big award at Cannes is moot because there were plenty of other films, but Dheepan has a slow burn quietly powerful intensity that lingers throughout the film. The deafening silence of the first two acts is complemented by sudden burst of violence in the third act that makes you ponder over the ins and outs of the immigration process and how it could psychologically affect people on both sides of the border.

Read the full review here .