A YELLOW BIRD (2016)
Director: K.Rajagopal
Casts:
Sivakumar
Palakrishnan, Huang Lu, Seema Biswas,Udaya Soundari, Indra
Chandran, Nithya Rao
Language: Tamil
Genre: Drama
Plot: An ex-convict who sets on a quest to
reunite with his family forms a complex bond with an illegal Chinese sex worker
while serving as her bodyguard.
Review:
Right
from the first frame, K.Rajagopal’s ‘A
Yellow Bird’ flows like a silent symphony and sets off deeper as a
character study of the protagonist, Siva as it progresses. We get to see the
frustration of a man who is walking on a thin line between his unaccepting
family and the shunning society. We also get to see a sign of his past that he
is seeking for, through his mother, crude sister-in-law and his new friend,
Chen Chen (Huang Lu).
The
film is more visual if we minus away the over the top swearing at times. The
bond between the two ‘trapped’ souls like Chen Chen and Siva is beautifully
portrayed on screen transcending the language barrier. More of the emotions are
shared, understood and supported rather than the words. This episode somehow
gives more heart to the film than the main plot. The symbolic storytelling and
the way Rajagopal sets his situations to address the racial tension in the
society are quite interesting. As a minority, we see the filmmaker’s voice of
frustration in the film in of course a foreshadowed fashion very relevantly
weaved in the narrative.
Among
the performances, Huang scores the best by holding such a complex character in
hand. Siva displays a mixed bag of anger, sadness, alienation and
disappointment quite excellently. Not a straightforward likable character but
Siva’s objective gradually grows on us. Biswas who plays Siva’s mother, talks
very little throughout the film. While she says plenty through her nuanced
expressions, we wish the veteran actress had has a bigger part in this.
Technically
‘A Yellow Bird’ is presented in
a gloomy and murky way as the
characters. Micheal Zaw’s handheld cinematography brings us closer towards each
characters and their agony. Most of the time the scenes are dark and Siva is
often placed behind metal bars windows. The juxtaposition that life is still
constrained and depressing outside the prison is beautifully portrayed here.
The natural sound design and subtle score also aids the sombre mood as well.
Despite
the beautiful monotony and mood, the film lacks the essential pace needed for a
film that focuses on redemption. The high moments are often muted by a
following dreary scene. For the amount of artistic splendour these could have
been ignored but the baffling way the story ends, gives us no reason to
disregard its minor shortcomings.
VERDICT:
'A Yellow Bird' is an engaging, beautiful drama about
alienation, redemption and hidden racial tensions that is intense but also self
indulgent at parts.
CELLULOID
METER- 3.5/5:
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