The Return

The Return: Because of the unique opportunity of watching more than two hundred films in a single festival, you begin to draw certain thematic and narrative links. This is for this type of delivery Leo Tolstoy’s line from Anna Karenina rang a bell: ‘Every unhappy family is unhappy in its unique way, every happy family is the same.’ Be it the Greek royalty or an ex-con’s family or two writer friends with a great dane, these films focus on the ordinary unhappiness that befalls three families.

Another completely different and enthralling melancholic gradually paced large scale swashbuckler drama from the hands of the Italian director Uberto Pasolini ‘The Return’, takes off Odysseus, Penelope and their son Telemachus aka The Oddyssey, who has been adapted for the screen for the umpteenth time. The action of ‘The Return’ takes place in the days when the events described in the end of the book.

The movie shows Odysseus Ralph Fiennes who after 20 years of war in Troy against the Trojans finally comes back to Ithaca. Beaten down, bruised and battered both bodily and emotionally the exiled king gets no such warm welcome; even his subjects have no idea who he is and see him as a homeless beggar.

The remaining Odysseus’s kin are not in the mood to theorize over the far-fetched thought that he is back, the men of the island are demanding from the queen, Penelope (Juliette Binoche), to select one of them as a husband, in order to usurp the crown, while also hatching plans on how to deal with Telemachus (Charlie Plummer), whom they regard as competition.

Clearly, Odysseus has to struggle to place together the lost fragments of his character and dignity owing to the dominant violence which he had assumed was a thing of the past that he had to bear in order to protect his loved ones.

Under this broad and surface-less battle of violence, there lies a poignant and epic tragedy in “The Return” which siesta the audience of the film’s and Pasolini’s works. The cruelest thing that happened in the shooting – Cannes starred Fiennes – indeed because he saw all – buried himself in huge gains clever these gleaned vice plays Odysseus as the hite bother army always bone but as PTSD dissevered king.

Irrespective of the violence depicted, one wishes the suitors –of real life and otherwise- plight and genuine revenge on the female lead or desire the closure in whatever which way it comes about. When the bloodletting begins, it should have been the “exciting” part of the film; sadness fills the heart of the audience, a hallmark of the genius of Pasolini as a master of his art or recalling.

Costumework was also as good as it gets while the action took place on places, such as Corfu island in Greece or the southern peninsula of the west Greece mainland (and so on). The waste we are shown of Ithaca simply is very effective adding the general feeling of unease as one watches.

Another movie that is, however, not very successful in balancing the themes of violence and family is Dito Montiel’s ‘Riff Raff’ which however is redeemed by the power of the cast, most of whom are sadly limited to one dimensional characters as they try and save the film. The role of Vincent (Ed Harris) is that of an ex-con who is tired of criminal activities and tries very hard to become a loving father to Sandy (Gabrielle Union) and her son DJ (Miles J.

When we last saw them, Vincent and Ruth were together, including when she was tortured by Vincent, a bodyguard gangster to whom she was also married. This upbeat atmosphere is, however, short-lived since a few hours after the celebration, the dreaded against Rocco (Lewis Pullman), his lover Marina (Emanuela Postacchini), and his ex-wife Ruth (Jennifer Coolidge) invaded the house.

The purpose of the reunion is quickly revealed, as Rocco demonstrates as much affection for Kristy as he has to his siblings, which suggests that he’s there for the gifts rather than the warmth. Yet, this does not mean that all the action is happening with the family Watson.

There’s this two men leftie (Bill Murray) and his partner Lonnie (Pete Davidson). And those two add up so much violence while cruising around the little city trying to find someone within the family, though what for they want them is not disclosed for a while.

In the house where the action of the film unfolds, which is almost exclusively used in the film, it is interesting to see these personalities interact. At the beginning, the film The Return is very good at establishing the romance or chemistry between its characters, reveling in the fact that it makes a mockery of its fierce polarism and slaps so-called opposites together.

Ruth is the character that stands out, played by Coolidge fabulously, who is in space and into everything without a calm in the world. Even as the tenuous conversations around her are informed by generations of family trauma, causing people to walk on eggshells, Coolidge, without an iota of such shame, has a free-wheeling boldness that I can only attribute to a person who is at peace with herself and liberated.

Sometimes it feels that Montiel and company have come to the very tricky task of moving chairs and have decided to put every cast into a random pairing even if it does not make sense just to kill time before Leftie and Lonnie come which leads to bizarre ways of action.

Each of the characters tends to be centered around a specific mannerism (for example, DJ’s habit to tell science jokes), so that essentially becomes all they have as characters; those characteristics which seem to be the peak of their personality are the other way round where these characters started.

It’s fairly common for a viewer to dismiss “The Friend,” directed by Scott McGehee and David Siege, at first blush, as an exaggerated and over the top hallmark-style movie (we do hear Christmas music within the first couple of scenes). Yet, this is a seemingly innocent but deep investigation of how we can deal with the not fulfilling friendships that we could never come to terms with.

With heavy themes, its a good narrative such that of the best performing dog on this side of the Messi resurgence from Anatomy of a Fall. Directly adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s novel of the same name, the film follows slender widow Iris (Naomi Watts) as she looks after Walter’s pet, a massive 180 pound Great Dane named Apollo (the dog Bing) who had been abandoned by his master following the latter’s suicide.

Iris is not a dog person but still takes up the role of the custodian, despite being seemingly unfit, once she is handed the responsibility of Apollo. She had a hard time letting go of Walter, a teacher, lover and co-writer. These voids – or behaviours – and film techniques, will not be lost, though circumstances will dictate how.

For those who, like Iris at the beginning of the movie The Return, are not really venturing into dog loving territory, “The Friend” is among the very few movies that first brings out the very basic aspect in life of the importance and the role pets play in our lives, how they become vessels of stories for people who are no more, how their silence and their affection are all calls for us to be present inside ourselves and tackle the inner whirlpool.

Watts delivers an absolute career best reprise as Iris, who is a rough woman from the start of the film, who has never allowed herself to bathe in the catharsis of sadness by extension breaking down because of her need to keep strength while containing basal sorrow. Apollo’s self-centeredness rescues her from her spiral and compels her to confront the issues that trouble her.

The relation between Watts and Bing is nice but they do not come across as mushy which is due mostly to the hard work of McGehee and Siege; in shots where the two are together, particularly given the size of Apollo, Watts is almost always cuddling or lying flat against Apollo’s fur, which caresses her cheeks, especially during the mournful scenes.

Early on in the film The Return , a character asks: ‘How does one explain death to a dog?’ By the time we reach the end of ‘The Friend’, we, however, know that we humans are still searching for an answer to this question. They stress less on the fact that the film is about devoid of humans that in their absence of sorrow, there also remains room for a pet as a faint note that enhances the whole picture.

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