The Movie Mystic

“Let everything happen to you beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”   What happens when you meet someone for the first time and all your beliefs, convictions and ideologies turn upside-down? Well this is the predicament our protagonist Jojo finds himself in. New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi’s 2019 film Jojo Rabbit explores concepts like the perils of racial hatred, the impact of indoctrination on children, and the vagueness of political ideologies using satire and humour in the backdrop of one of the most horrific times in human history. Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), a radicalised 10-year-old Nazi, joins the Youth Hitler sometime during the later stages of the Second World War. A lonely child living with his progressive single mother Rosie (Scarlet Johansen), Jojo has an imaginary friend, a buffoonish version of Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi). Although sidelined and largely ignored by his peer group at the Youth Hitler camp led by Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwel...

Master of minimalism Abbas Kiarostami is one the greatest craftsmen to have ever helmed the affairs behind the camera. Where is the Friend's Home? is the Iranian auteur's first in a string of movies to have received global acclaim. In this film, the first of what is called the Koker Trilogy (the other ones are Life, and Nothing More...& Through the Olive Trees), an eight-year-old boy (Ahmed) mistakenly brings home from school his friend's notebook. He must give it back to his friend, who lives in a neighbouring village, otherwise the poor boy will be expelled from class by their hyper-strict teacher. Ahmed's predicament is he doesn't know 'where is the friend's home.' Ahmed's altruistic pursuit leads him to comeacrsoss a bunch of adults, most of whom are indifferent and apathetic towards his concern and often misguide him in his quest. As our protagonist zigzags between the two villages -- Koker and Posteh -- unrelentingly, the film exposes us to...