Krustallos

Rather slow and ponderous exploration of the nature of fiction, memory and the alleged change in Indian culture from the spiritual to the materialistic (was there really ever a time when most people weren't materialistic?).

There are some beautiful moments in this, particularly some of the music, dancing and landscape shots, but much of the framing story, set for the most part in domestic interiors, moves more slowly than the content can support.

There is some interesting layering and interweaving of different levels of reality as people from the author's life appear as characters in his various fictions, and he has a long discussion with a film director character presumably intended to represent Gautam Ghose himself.

There are references to earlier films and literature which I am sadly unfamiliar with so much of the nuance would have been lost on me. Rekha for example has played similar roles in several films over the years, most notably Umrao Jaan, so her appearance here will have a resonance lost on western audiences. (However I also detected echoes of Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" and maybe even Tarkovsky's "Mirror").

Having said that, my (Pakistani) companion unfortunately lost patience about 3/4 of the way through and went out for a coffee so I was a little distracted. My advice - don't take a Bollywood fan to see this movie!

I wanted to like this.

I have an abiding interest in South Africa, I like "Carmen", and this seemed like a great idea, however in the event I found myself getting bored about halfway through.

A few of the problems:-

Carmen weighed about 200lbs. I know different cultures have different concepts of beauty, but frankly when you're up against Dorothy Dandridge's spectacular turn in "Carmen Jones" you have to raise your game a little.

I didn't buy any of the characters' attraction to each other. Carmen displayed almost no interest in Jongikhaya, or indeed in the 'Escamillo' character (here a singer rather than a bullfighter or a boxer). Jongikhaya didn't seem particularly interested in Carmen either. OK, sex is more of a private matter in Africa and public displays of affection are more subdued, but there was no discernible chemistry at all here.

Also, the Toreador song has been inexplicably cut out of the film (except for a brief excerpt towards the end). This is one of the high points of the opera, a major plot pivot, and the actor had a great voice, so this was triply baffling.

The camera-work and mise en scene also suffered badly in comparison to the grace and originality of Preminger's movie.

On the positive side, the singing was good, the township locations gritty, realistic and entirely in keeping with the spirit of the opera, and the story was augmented with flashbacks giving some characters a depth absent from the original (and injecting a bit of politics).

I'd like to see how this went down in Khayalitsha (apparently it was premiered in the sports hall where the film climaxes). You have to assume a Xhosa audience will see a lot a European would miss. Ironically most cinemas in the townships show Hollywood movies rather than anything produced locally. Hopefully films like this will begin to change that.