2
2
Directed by Marcelo Presotto | Review byTriptayan Chatterjee
A white cat jumps down on the floor from a table rack, breaks apart some soft utensils and directs the lifeless life of Lis towards another direction, forecasting a dark cloud in her life. What a wonder! At the same time, a large black-brown cat represents the other side of Lis’s mind, which is full of fear, hatred for Paulo and her wills for revenge. With so depth of analytical cinematic details, here we get a masterpiece, the film 2 by Marcelo Presotto. The film script is based on the universal complex psychological aspects of human life, its social effect and the self-existence of individuals. Fear psychosis and individual’s own livelihood is the backbone of the film. Lis finds her stepbrother on Facebook and unknowingly falls in love with him. Suffering from identity crisis Miguel responds, accepting her invitation to her house. Now the relation between them grows up across various psychological conflicts. Lis accuses their father of making her own mom a prostitute to earn money. Miguel doesn't believe it. At that time by the call of Miguel, their father arrives and the psychological conflict takes another direction. Lis starts to float along the thin border of self-styled life and pop life of enjoyment and sex. At last Miguel understands her heart and wills and kicks out their father. Film 2, here has shown, only two central characters played by Barbara Rithe and Naomi Muro, and their wonderful acting can give us a cinematic masterstroke. Face and body impression of Miguel and Lis is so naturally far from the melodrama, it isn’t wrong to say it is the definition of acting translated with a good sense of light and camera, that enriches the film.
Editing of the film plays a pivotal role in making the film language a grand success here, which is the treasure of this film, particularly in case of cinematic details. The special shots depicting the detailed analysis become even better thanks to the careful post-editing. Particularly the dream and dance of Lis, floating in the ocean of imagination has brought the sense and action of the editor at the extreme hype. The movements of symbolic cats rotational shot editing is masterful as well. The frequent face of Ricardo, face of Lis's original mom and the very first scene of some gloomy scraps give us the definition of what actually editing is. Especially in case of a conversation between Miguel and Lis, being far off the traditional shot, Miguel's face is kept in extreme close up to show even the slightest movement of his veins. Some shots of the film really rock the heart and mind. Miguel is watching the covered light hanging from the ceiling oscillating frequently. It gives the feeling that someone, undoubtedly that is Lis is keeping watch on him just like that hanging light. At the very beginning of the film, Miguel's feet bleed by the fragments of the broken glasses on the floor, which clearly shows that this is the starting of the distress and conflict he will have to suffer throughout the entire film. And thus everywhere in the film, in every nook and corner, these explanatory shots are kept bright.
The name of the film 2, is cinematically shown through the entire story. Central characters are two. Their psychological interaction has brought the film in such a place where the ultimate news of human psychological existence comes from. Two deity of Lis and Miguel is also a factor. One is represented by a white cat and another is represented by a big black cat. Here the figure is also two. The life which is described to be analyzed here also two, one is creative self-styled life and another one is pop life full of enjoyment and sex. All these are depicted in the film ‘2’.
Triptayan is a filmmaker looking for a different horizon. Earlier a journalist Triptayan has done intensive research on film language and made different documentaries so far. He is now concentrating upon feature film in a vast landscape. Professionally a teacher, Triptayan has also passion for making films threaded with the international and universal thoughts.
