The Waiting City

I saw this film recently at the Sydney Film Festival and I still can't stop thinking about it. It was well beyond my expectations. I don't think I've ever been taken so far away and felt so close to home.

I can't recommend this film enough and without giving too much away have to say this is one of the most stand out films I have seen in a very long time. The actors are superb, their chemistry is completely spot on, the way India is filmed made me feel like I was there and in so many moments made me question everything I've ever thought about. The story is touching and so real. I have never seen the lead actors Joel Edgerton and Radha Mitchell look so good or be so likable and I've seen quite few of their movies.

The director spoke at the Q&A after wards and mentioned that she spent a lot of time working in India in the slums of Calcutta and also made a documentary film about her younger sister in India. This really shines through. She has clearly put the time in, done the research and knows the world of this story. Her message in the film is also very moving. She has a balanced view of all the things the film covers in the story. The film does deal with some complex things like stresses between long term relationships, expectations between couples, family and cultural differences and a range of other things but somehow I managed to have quite a lot of laughs all the way through.

A really good balance between the drama and the funnier side. Very grown up film-making and a pleasure to watch.

It is has been a very long time that any film, in particular an Australian film has made me feel even close to what this film has. I cannot recommend THE WAITING CITY enough.

Australian couple Fiona (Radha Mitchell) and Ben Simmons (Joel Edgerton) arrive in Calcutta to adopt and pick up Indian orphan Lakshmi. Fiona is frustrated by the waiting and the bureaucracy. Ben is a laid back musician who reconnects with Scarlett (Isabel Lucas). The couple fights about their different view points and the adoption. They decide to go find Lakshmi at the orphanage while they immerse themselves in the spirituality of India.

The couple starts out as being unappealing and they never recover from that. She's a Type A, entitled westerner. He's uncaring and almost cold to her. The movie confronts that idea quickly. Ben is so clueless to her anxiety that it really frustrated me. The only thing saving Fiona is that she is obviously going to find enlightenment and salvation in the end. I don't like this couple and I stop caring about them.

"You must act out of love, not desperation or need."

I've yet to see a movie set in India that wasn't a visual treat to watch, and The Waiting City definitely earns it's place on that list. The story, about an Australian couple come to Kolkata to adopt a child in the hopes that it will fix their strained relationship, is also interesting, even though I thought it stumbled into predictable, melodramatic territory at times. This is sort of an emotional coming of age story for the two main characters, both as individuals and a couple. The transition from who they are at the beginning to who they are at the end isn't exactly handled in the most organic way, but it is mostly believable.

The movie dabbles in ideas about faith and spirituality, as well, but in a very unfocused way.

I recommend The Waiting City to those interested in India, fans of Radha Mitchell or Joel Edgerton, and movie fans comfortable with subdued, personal storytelling that takes its time to get where it's going.

This post is about the movie The Waiting City, I just finished watching. It is a story of a mystic- love that how an Australian couple come to an unknown land to search for a baby to adopt and finally the couple discovered how much they love each other. They surprisingly become a part of the culture, faith and the society. I am surprised to see the acting of Radha Mitchell,and Joel Edgerton, they did very well. I see Indo-English corroborated films by Mira Nair,Deepa Mehta, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Vic Sarin, Wes Anderson and so many directors but Claire McCarthy, she really did a good work. No Indian film maker can think such movie to their point of view of Indian travelers.

The cinematography of the movie is not satisfactory in the sense of motion picture. It seems like the film is made for television short screen. But overall the film scored very well. I see Samrat Chakrabarti in his other films but in The Waiting City he did very well as a porter. The same story and the same film could be more breath taking by working on the cogitate. Wish all the best for the future projects.

This is one of those films that prove movies can be more than mere entertainment - this was a deeply moving personal experience for me.

I'm an adoptee myself, and being immersed in this world from the side of the prospective parents, well I guess I never really stopped to consider that very much. Now I do.

Set the popcorn aside and watch this film, and then think about family and relationships and the impact the arrival and anticipation of a child can have, especially if that child arrives by 'other means'.

Congrats Claire, and thanks for making me THINK of the thing that most people take for granted - family.