coming of age - Page 5 of 7

If Only – International Competition – SBIFF

In If Only, Alma and her older brothers are sent to Rome to spend New Years skiing with their dad. Life with him is a world apart from their mother. He’s a disorganised failing scriptwriter with a young partner whilst their mother is a converted orthodox Christian with a strict husband. Instead of skiing, which is just a front to show his ex wife he is a success, he takes them to his friend’s beach house.

By the beach, the kids make friends with some of the locals whilst their father and his younger partner argue, make love, and write. They are your typical dysfunctional family.

Nothing much happens in If Only which feels for the most part like your typical light hearted Italian art house film. As a result, it’s quite hard to describe. However, it succeeds because of the performances of Alma, her dad and his partner.

Alma, the 8 year old daughter, has the benefit of the narrative voice, which she uses to comically picture her dreams of reuniting her mother and father. She’s the naive one – always blissfully unaware of her fathers current relationship with his partner and her and her brothers. Her rose tinted glasses make this a heart warming disfuncional family film rather than a more depressing one.

Her dad plays the stereotypical Italian dad. He’s all over the place and always emotional. One second he’s writing and angry at anyone who disturbs him, the next he’s a loving dad that’s present but will disappear in another second. His partner plays a free loving, spontaneous woman that doesn’t shy away from anything. However she’s always the one in control vs. Alma’s dad.

The other two brothers don’t offer too much, apart from two events which the director uses to help bring the film to a close.

Ultimately, If Only is a nice coming of age Italian art house film featuring a dysfunctional family. It’s a light and enjoyable watch. However, outside of the three characters, there isn’t much to distinguish it from other films in the genre.

Kings of Mulberry Street – Pan African Film Festival 2020

Kings of Mulberry Street feels like it could have been your 9 year old self’s favorite film. A film that your parents would happily let you watch when you’ve grown out of Disney animation, or that your teachers might put on at school when it’s raining at break-time. A film that the adults would end up staying to watch it with you, because it’s a fun coming-of-age story that everyone can enjoy, set in an Indian community in South Africa.

The first minute immediately sets the tone for the rest of the film. It’s where we first meet 11 year old Ticky dancing along to a classic Bollywood action film projected on the big screen in front of him. He knows all the words and all the action routines. He wants to be the next Amitabh Bachchan, and judging by his confidence, his dreams don’t look too farfetched. The opening establishes Ticky’s charisma and energy; a playful energy and humor that carries through Kings of Mulberry Street.

In the next scene we meet his future sidekick Harold, a chubby kid spoiled by his single dad. They’re posh Indians, as demonstrated by their knitted jumpers and English accents. Harold’s dad even pop quizzes his son on his spelling on their way to their new house. They arrive in Ticky’s neighborhood and immediately try to stay away from mingling with any of the neighbors. Even though they’ve just moved to the hood, and the dad is now writing obituaries for a little local paper, they still see themselves as better then everyone else. They’re the stereotypical wannabe English upper class, complete with the stiff upper lips, that want to stay away from anyone that might disrupt their peace and quiet (see Elton’s dad in Rocketman or Stevens in Remains for the Day for two examples). However, despite Harold’s dad’s efforts to keep him from mixing with the local rabble, inevitably, Harold and Ticky become best friends.

Ticky is Harold’s antidote to his reserved ‘English’ inspired father. He helps him break from his dad’s mold to become ‘more Indian’. Ticky teaches him Indian slang, feeds him Indian food, and introduces him to his big family. Bu,t most importantly, Ticky introduces him to Bollywood film, whose heroes provide the inspiration for them to take back their bike from the local crime boss. In welcoming Harold into the community, Ticky helps tug Harold away from the bland English culture that his father lives by, and into the colorful Indian culture that helps dispel his loneliness. It also helps to break their class boundaries by connecting them through their shared cultural roots. It’s a heartwarming message at the center of a fun coming of age film.

Head to our Pan African Film Festival Hub for more reviews and short films from the Pan African Film Festival 2020.

Anishoara – A Country Girl Dreaming of Escape

Anishoara Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Why Watch Anishoara?

Follow a girl quietly determined to forge her own path
Hear the mythical origin story of the Sky Lark
See a rural Moldovan town that looks like it’s preserved in time

From: Moldova, Europe
Watch: Trailer, IMDb
Next: Yara, Mustang, Honeyland

The Breakdown

Anishoara starts with the most unique scene of the whole film. A charismatic man tells the mythical origin story of the Sky Lark in a close up shot with him looking directly at the camera. The story is about a beautiful princess who had suitors lined up for her from across the country. Instead of choosing one of the princes, she chose to love the sun and raced across the land and sea to be with him. But when the sun fell in love with her and embraced her, she burned to ashes and fell back down to earth. Devastated by her fate, the sun decided to reincarnate her as a Sky Lark; a bird that is known for flying vertically before falling back to earth as if it’s trying to reach the sun.

Anishoara a 15 year old is the movie’s Sky Lark. Just like the Princess in the myth, she has suitors lining up to be her partner. There’s a farm boy that teaches her to drive the tractor and a creepy old German tourist that also tries his luck. Instead, she chooses a typical mysterious bad boy named Dragosh that takes her around the country on his motorbike. However, just as the princess was destined to a doom of trying to get close to her love, Anishoara appears destined to chase after Dragosh without getting close to him.

However, her suitors and Dragosh unintentionally change her future, perhaps for the better. Each one of them gives her a gift which helps her to escape from the rural town. The farm boy teaches her how to drive – a method of escape. The old German leaves his binoculars – a tool for her to see outside of the bubble she lives in. Dragosh takes her to the sea, revealing that life exists outside of her town. She uses what she learns from her relationships to seek a new life away from her unchanging home town. Elsewhere she may have the chance to determine her own life. In her escape, she also breaks free from the myth of the Sky Lark.

What to Watch Next

If you’re looking for more films that take place in rural settlements that feel like they’re from another era, check out North Macedonia’s Honeyland and Lebanon’s Yara.

For more films about women trying to escape from their current lives check out Nevia from the streets of Napoli and Mustang from rural Turkey.

Or if you’d like to see more understated films about women chasing after lost relationships, watch Uski Roti, an Indian film about a woman waiting for her unfaithful husband to return, of When the Tenth Month Comes featuring a woman hoping for her husband to return from war.

Flame – Two Girls Fighting for Equality and Independence

Flame Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

You might have seen Saving Private Ryan or Apocalypse Now but how many female fronted war films have you seen? Flame follows two young women who leave their rural village to join the Zimbabwean fight for liberation. However, their fight isn’t just for an independent Zimbabwe free from colonial influence, but also a fight for female liberation from the abuse and subjugation of the patriarchy.

From: Zimbabwe, Africa
Watch: YouTube, Kanopy, Rent on Vimeo
Next: Lucia, War Witch, Battle of Algiers

Death of Nintendo – Berlinale 2020

Death of Nintendo feels a lot like your typical nostalgic American middle school coming of age story. It has a group of friends that are desperate to become more popular than they are and a lot of pop culture references. However, there are a few unique Filipino elements in Death of Nintendo that you’re unlikely to see in American productions: a volcano, a body eating monster, and circumcision. These help the film to stand out in a pretty crowded genre.

A strong nostalgia for the early 1990’s is what hits you at the start of Death of Nintendo. It starts with two kids slotting colorful Nintendo games into their Nintendo, something that many 90’s kids will happily remember doing. Then in the following 15 minutes, you’ll hear hip hop and dancehall, and see them skateboarding and playing basketball in Nike shoes. The combination of visual and aural references quickly sets the film within the 1990’s. The way it’s presented, lit up in vibrant colors under the Filipino sun and with a few slow motion takes, makes sure it looks good enough to evoke a warm nostalgia for the era. If you’re a 90’s kid, this opening will make you want to be back in your happy childhood memories.

We’re knocked out of the nostalgic 1990’s childhood opening by a bully and love. The American bully disrupts their love for all things American, whilst their young love prompts a quick quest to grow up and become men. Being men = being popular and being popular = girls and no bullies. However, to become men, they have to embrace their Filipino identity. They have to come to terms with the volcano which threatens their neighborhood, their fear of the Manananggal (a Filipino man-eating mythical creature), and finally, they have to get circumcised (to help them grow and turn into men). Plus, they have to figure this all out on their own. Neither of the three boys have a fatherly role model to guide them through puberty, which perhaps leads to their strange idea of how to become men.

The 1990’s references and coming-of-age tropes are all taken from American culture. Without the Filipino references (volcano, Manananggal, and circumcision) and Tagalog, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a U.S. film. Whilst every international film shouldn’t have to set out cultural identifiers to situate it within the country it was made, they should try and differentiate themselves from existing films and make something new. Whilst Death of Nintendo is an enjoyable coming of age film from the Philippines, there’s not too much to help it stand out from an already crowded genre of nostalgic coming of age films.

However, don’t let that stop you from watching more films from Raya Martin. Manila, a film he co-directed with Adolfo Alix Jr. is much darker and intriguing. Read our review here.