EYE TWO TIMES MOUTH(2023)
The condensed feature form, to me, brings all necessary elements to a coherent point from where they can be expressed favourably. Lila Aviles' twenty-three minute short hence makes a strong case for the power of storytelling, in a way where the duration simply doesn't matter as long as the inner world and delicacy of portrayal is supreme.
EYE TWO TIMES MOUTH is triumphant primarily because of its casting choices. The lead protagonist here is a Mexican woman(Akemi Endo), her musical mentor, friend and singing tutor is a specially abled man(Alan Pingarron) while her diction and mannerism coach is a Japanese/ Latinx polyglot( Irene Akiko)
Their cumulative efforts are in the direction of producing a favourable audition for the opera Madame Butterfly, the ultimate test for an artist who wishes to stride into the world of performative aptitude. Akemi is wonderful here as she imbibes the minutiae of body language, a degree of extraordinary patience observed for the same and the literary nuances of spoken language translated to expressive feats on stage. Mr. Alan and Ms. Irene are just as indispensable to the proceedings as they train and root for the young woman who patiently divides her time as an invigilator in an art gallery section and devotes her waking hours to being the best artist she can hone herself to be. The support of her friends and fellow creative minds lift her spirits, ultimately producing a dazzling audition where all that she learned alchemically comes to fruition.
By making Akemi's perspective colour the conversations and training routine, 'Eye Two Times Mouth' becomes an exercise in understanding the sheer aesthetics of one's evolving artistry, away from the dictated semantics of elitism that seemingly govern such forms as opera or art galleries. She is the anchor of humility whose ambitions get under our skin.
Ambitions and creative pursuits ultimately spring from sincerity and conscientious practice. Accomplishment is, after all, no one class' domain. It is realised here beautifully.
***
INVOLUNTARY (2008)
Ruben Ostlund's quintet of matter of fact vignettes in 'Involuntary' wryly observes human nature under duress.
Simple, shot in unbroken takes, Ostlund's camera is an observer of instances of solidarity, horror of voyeurism and physical actions by those who self-destruct or initiate civic change.
Effective moments abound here because the stark tonality and documentary realism blur lines. It attests to a school teacher standing up for a child's integrity when he's physically roughed up by a senior staff member, refusing to listen to judgemental preliminaries about his troublemaking antics or his overburdened mother's personal life. Or it could be a culture of toxic sexuality that infects teenagers who stumble their way around growing up and are justly reprimanded by concerned guardians.
It is about a community of men that abuses one of its own, a coterie of 'friends' that traumatises one, tracing a pattern since childhood that has now morphed into adult reckoning where the victim hardly knows what the resolution must be. It is also about an elderly patriarch's loneliness that sits seamlessly with his casual attitude towards an eye-injury, a step closer to the anticipation of his mortal coil snapping while a bus driver's anger is actually a civil display of protest against his passengers who wouldn't deign to take accountability for damage to the bus' property.
Class tensions, gender relationships, the confounding ballast among both men and women when confronting harsh reality as well as cultural toxicity impact these slices of life in modern-day Sweden. A recessive and repressive social order doesn't help the causes.
INVOLUNTARY ultimately is about the universal idea of community which is more of an illusion than a source of comfort. Individual stands here make a difference. So the young teacher validates her concerns when she demands her peers to register her presence and is recognised for it while a passenger finally admits, to the bus-driver, about his young child breaking the curtain in the washroom. The rest hang in uncomfortable pockets of social mores and desolation.
It is compelling and the format of storytelling is perfectly suited.
***
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