Jonaki

You can take every frame out of Aditya Vikram Sengupta's second feature, put it up on a gallery wall and be rest assured that people will line up to see it. Love, longing and loneliness sucks you in like a deep breath, keeps you inside as long as they feel like and then breathes you out slowly at their own pace. Burnt walls, flickering lights and a brilliant soundscape aptly add to the minimalist performance of the actors who beautifully narrate an unforgiving story in the bleakness of this impressionist dreamscape. The stunning cinematography cajoles you into the chasms of the story, the edit pace unravels at its own speed to reveal things told and untold, the dialogues are minimal and narrated when needed, the production design is breathtaking to say the least and coming back to the sound design, it unravels in the background to express the deep seated emotions that the characters experience and emote from time to time. Jonaki is cinema that needs to be watched and watched again because each immersion is bound to be a new journey into the unknown. It's a deep dive into the senses, an open window in the structure of modern cinema of India and an experience that will linger even after the curtains come down.

Movie: Jonaki

"Jonaki" (Firefly) is a pure Bengali art film which is first premiered at Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2018. It is directed by Aditya Vikram Sengupta. He has already won our heart with the silent drama "Labour of Love". This film was screened at several international film festivals. Aditya was influenced from the classic "The Mirror", a beautiful creation of Russian filmmaker, Tarkovsky.

Jonaki is an old woman who is in comatase state and she's lost in her decaying memories at her deathbed. Late Lolita Chatterjee and Jim Sarbh are the protagonists here. Cinematography, sound design and light effects are amazing. Each frame is like a poem itself. This film has minimal dialogues. Metaphors (like toy soldiers, fire and many more) are used in this movie to symbolise love, pain and loss. Mainly oranges are used as metaphor several times. Visual representation of memories were shown in a haphazard way.

This movie is no doubt experimental. Do not get me wrong, but I must say that "Jonaki" is not everyone's cup of tea. Some of you may find it slow and boring. If you're planning to watch this movie just to entertain yourself then I will suggest you to look for other options. "Jonaki" is not made for mass audience. If you're comfortable with art films then I highly recommend you to watch this. Last but not the least, Jim Sarbh's performance was phenomenal. "Jonaki" is indeed a hidden gem. If you already watched "Labour of Love" then do not miss "Jonaki".

The films of Aditya Vikram Sengupta are like sincerely penned poems, expertly conveying a broad range of thoughts through the most basic and eloquent aspect of cinema-its visuals. His ideas are taken to a new level by the cinematography and screenplay.

This is a fascinating style of filmmaking that can appeal to both cinema studies academics and general moviegoers because each & every frame opens up new possibilities for distinctive interpretations. While the tale of Jonaki isn't flawless, it does deliver an engaging piece of visual storytelling, thus its artistic merits shouldn't be overlooked.

Creating such a film and watching such a film both is a great waste of time. I wish I can undo last 90 mins. Real rating for this film is '0'

Jonaki, an ode to the past, a dreamscape of memories, a portrait of some unrhymed thoughts. This offers us an indolent visit to the joyful past, where intimacy of love was so pure, through the Leaden and melancholic silence of age. A story of a banished life surviving in the foresaken island of memories. It's an extraordinary work of art with surreal visuals of dark aesthetics. The every visual element of this film: dam floor, mossy atmosphere, brokens stairwells, marks the mood of gloom, which completely resonates with the soundtrack. The noisy silence adds to it. In the kaleidoscopic theatre of dreams, the extinction of Jonaki's lumina drowns us inside the dying hopes of life.

Overall, Jonaki reminds me the backward filmmaking of recent Indian cinema where it completely stands against that and that's why I love every film from Sengupta so much. Though it completely owns its narrative and framing style but here I witness a lot influence of Roy anderson's 'about endlessness'. It definitely deserves a five star but I cut that half mark for that mosquito asmr.