47/39
First Indian film to be screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years
Plot
In Mumbai, nurse Prabha’s routine is disrupted when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate Anu tries in vain to find a place in the city to hang out with her boyfriend. This film is made with the overt calculated intent of "bait" Film festivals, awards, and possibly the Oscars, it’s designed to tick all the boxes traditionally valued by Academy voters.
But none of them seem real
The entire film is a case study in Award bait-you’ve got tragic backdrops, over-forced subtle emotional moments, “complicated” moral decisions, and classic tropes of sacrifice, tradition, and liberation. The film has understated bravado and subtle theatrics, but in a way that isn’t too obvious or over the top. The characters have a secret intensity that has been carefully hidden and expressed in a less direct way.
Emotional rhythms are set up and knocked down like dominoes
Characters are just cogs in a machine designed to win awards, not fully realized individuals. Every plot twist, every dramatic moment feels less like a natural progression and more like a checklist. The filmmakers are obviously hoping for an Oscar nomination, which is why there are so many “important” things in this movie.
But the film never feels earned
drama and "in time" conflict as possible in hopes that Academy voters will eat it up with a spoon. Rather, it seems to have been carefully crafted for maximum emotional manipulation. It’s definitely Oscar bait, but with as much subtlety and nuance as a hammer.
these kinds of attempts to distract oneself from the monotony, as if searching for meaning or excitement in the most superficial way
There is a strange union of contempt for a certain society, and the mindset of the reviewers who grossly overrated this dull film is impressive. Lately I have heard a lot of rich people and people who are obedient to the rich or the so-called treacherous people who do not have interesting entertainment.