mcw casino Riptide: Sensuously Scoring Male Intimacy
Updated:2024-12-25 06:58 Views:60
A still from the film Photo: International Film Festival of Rotterdam A still from the film Photo: International Film Festival of Rotterdam
Playing in the Kaleidoscope section at the International Film Festival of Kerala, Afrad Vk’s debut, Riptide, skitters between the real and imagined, memory and fantastical. Set in the 1980s, the doomed passionate love story between Suku (Swalah Rahman) and Charlie (Faris Hind), is perched on the end of their college years. An ominous sense of finality already limns impressions of their romance, long before we witness the full, shattering scale of violence and horror. When Suku returns to the hostel after being away on an emergency, there’s just the specter of his lover and roommate waiting for him. As Suku processes his grief, shaken by denial of loss and death, their moments of ecstasy peek through.
A still from the film Photo: International Film Festival of Rotterdam A still from the film Photo: International Film Festival of Rotterdam
DP Abhijith Suresh drapes these in gorgeous, dreamy shades, flitting between neon-drenched and warm, luscious pastels. In this threadbare Malayalam film, images of intimacy soar. Its beauty, however, is serrated. It’s in agonized bursts of reality the filmmaking seems to skid. The loose, languid rhythms of Riptide get railroaded into grim miserablism. In scenes of confrontation, the performances also take on a jarring higher pitch. The film turns imprecise, and the very meter and tone of the storytelling becomes self-annihilating. There are several missteps, including an indulgent monochrome sequence. Riptide judders towards a dreary climax replete with slow-motion tendencies that work brilliantly in other, softer moments but strain here. All the casual grace and humanity of the lovers at the center are whittled out. Thankfully, Rahman and Hind evoke the delicacy and fervor of the romance. An early montage of intimacy and joy between the lovers, scored to an instant earworm, features a moment slunk in a car, caught in the afterglow and fatigue of lovemaking so precise and striking it’s indelible.
A still from the film Photo: International Film Festival of Rotterdam A still from the film Photo: International Film Festival of Rotterdam
However, an odd, discomfiting paradox occupies the film. You marvel at its ambitious flights. The tenderness shared between the lovers feels sacred, textured. As a storyteller, Vk makes audacious diversions with the skill and lightness of regular departures from structure. Little stories and anecdotes sneak their way under the fabric of the narrative. One of the film’s boldest, richest gambits floats up through a digression into the tale of a British forest engineer, Dawson, who drowned in a river. Now, the narrator is Suku. In a long, wordless section, as the aspect ratio shifts, we drift alongside the adventurer on his explorations through day and night. He loved mountains and was terrified of rivers. When he finally takes the plunge and embarks on taming his fear, he disappears. So does Suku. This mystery plays out matter-of-factly; as swiftly, we are pulled back into the act of recounting.
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Sad Letters Of An Imaginary Woman Wistfully Glances Through Shards Of Memories
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It’s in the fleeting space of untethered dreams, the imagined, stolen intimacy Riptide is incredibly arresting. Vk weaves two of the film’s immediate strengths, Suresh’s visuals and Siraj Shameem’s score into a hypnotic, irresistible mix. These pockets of secret, happy spaces, tucked between memory and fantasy, form the most beguiling bits of the film. The effect is gentle, calming and transporting. Vk, who has also edited the film, is most confident in building such charming abstractions, where the lovers scuttle out a space where they can just be. But the three-chapter division of the film provides little emotional intensification, coming off instead as awkwardly workshop-y. When reality crashes in and the heat of trouble, abuse and confrontation emerges, Riptide loses its heady singularity.
Riptide screened at IFFK 2024.mcw casino
