DIFF 2010 - My Joy

Sadly we were told at the end of the movie, that the correct translation for 'Schastye Moe' would be 'My Happiness' and not 'My Joy', something that completely changes the viewpoint and puts the whole story in context. Having said that the title falls quite fittingly in place to this excellent piece of very serious cinema.

A very real, de-glorified film on a war-struck city within a degenerated nation. Depressing, dark and uninspiring, the movie captures the several transitions of a war-torn nation and the many personalities that the people have undergone. Keeping its humanism intact while showing extreme barbaric behaviour, the scenes are sketched with both the desperation and despotism of poverty and lawless existence. The movie captures the strength of power and the subsequent extreme of its misuse through its exaggerated, yet believable games of trust and betrayal, sudden jumps and pitfalls.

This movie makes you feel you are somewhere between vieweing several short incidents/stories surrounding the war and watching the story of a single war-inflicted individual. The directors background in documentary film making lends itself here as we see a unique blend of fictionalised screenplay with stories told almost as real life incidents. Very clever metaphors from the time of the year chosen to the type of characterization and contexts used. Screenplay juxtaposition is stunning as it speaks of politics, power game, dictatorship and sexuality, all in the same breath, and with so much realism that it seems all integrated in a single tone of the protagonists personality.

This film is not one that could go down on a single visit and definitely deserves several different viewpoints to peel each layer carefully. The more one analyses, the further intrigued and exciting the process gets. Though set in a very very dark sensibility, this works like a dark chocolate, you would go through it simply for the aftertaste!

9:15pm, 17.12.10 MOE 7