Karishma Gaur

Why this film was made in 2015 escapes my understanding. There is no message, no presumable justice for the victims, no end to the cabal, no consequences for the heinous religious crimes. It's so solely focused on the women's suffering and the torture cinematic that it forgets to make a point entirely. In this age, any B film or closet sexploitation and exploitation film which so completely preoccupied itself with the female gender and it's overwhelming violation, I cannot believe nor excuse the complete overlook and disregard doled out to the current subjects of FGM, rape, female-centred crime and gender-enabled violence. No wonder it crashed so hard on all good film websites.

My siblings gave me raving reviews about Qala and suckered me in for a final punch by showing me the song (and video) of the one on the boat. What I was intrigued by watching that melée of midnight colours and dancing eyes across the boat was mere whiplash compared to the true intensity and depth of this masterful cinematic work. Triptii Dimri has somehow managed to capture, demonstrate and say nothing all at once about the entire spectrum of anxiety, depression and deep psychosis with just her face and her body. It’s something one rarely gets to see on screen. Every scene with her tense muscles made me want to relax mine, her portrayal of someone suffering from the monsters of their own mind is so on point. It of course left me in a puddle of tears only half informed by how much I resonated with the mother wound (the other half was her performance to be sure). There is a secret at work in this film, turning every shot, every track, every unsaid word and every worried eyebrow into a rare combination of dread and beauty. And you must watch the film to identity which of these evokes the same inside you.

A lovely quick watch. Feel good in a realistic world, very current too. Not your average romcom either. And with the paring of Eve Hewson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt what works best is they both being such heart to their characters that it’s hard not to see them as individuals in a larger scheme. The mother and son theme is beautifully played out and not corny or overdone as it can become at times. Plus, the Dublin backdrop is very specifically aimed at a real depiction of a socio-economic setting to which it does full justice. Took me right back there myself. I would recommend it if you like off-beat soft-edged stories about people who might walk amongst us. :)