​​Written by Devin Ring

I went to the SCAD Savannah’s film fest for “The Daughter” a short film followed by the showing of “Crows are White” the two together were magnificent and I think that putting these films together wasn’t a pure accident. I want to give this warning that I watched these films and I’m going to talk about what happens in them. If you wanted to watch these films do that before! 

Let’s hop right in with the short film “The Daughter” which is a film with some phenomenal acting in it we will start with “the daughter” Ira Dubey she has fantastic chemistry with her father in the film Naseeruddin Shah who uses poetry in the pair’s conquest to search for a doctor with the needs of Ira’s character. It has a melancholy feeling right from the start of the sixteen-minute film. When we meet Chitrangada Satarupa’s character, she is Ira’s sister in the film and a doctor in a town with a curfew. Her sister’s downing attitude which to us is somewhat confusing, Ira’s character leaves with the bracelets her sister gives her, she’s heading down the road with Naseeruddin’s character and he begins to recite poetry throughout the whole movie which gives it a very nice flow. 

She has a very emotional scene behind the wheel and tells her father that she cannot do it. When she brings the man back to her sister’s hospital after giving him her mother’s bracelets it’s clear he has the chemicals to euthanize a man. Her father did not travel with her telling poetry, he was in the hospital. The doctor Ira’s character brings in begins the euthanization and Ira’s character holds her father’s hands for the last time. 

I thought that was a fantastic way to use her time and seal everything up in a tiny little bow. How could I forget the music in this film it has its very own orchestra with gives it a certain avant-garde feeling, with the use of poetry and classical music on the backdrop of a restrictive area with a woman coming to terms with saying goodbye for the last time to her dying father. 

Now on to the film “Crows are White” a Documentary film, I believe that this film should be on everyone’s must-watch list, prior to this film I hadn’t seen or even frankly heard of Ahsen Nadeem or his work but now I’m going to have to do a deep dive into his filmography. 

If you don’t love documentaries this is a great introduction, it’s set up almost like “Documentary Now!” He still tackles very serious subjects, Parents’ Approval even later in life is the whole story’s focal point. This film is supposed to be about the monastery he travels to Kyoto, Japan. He wants to follow this one monk who he thinks will shed some light on the emotional turmoil he feels toward his own religion/ his parents. 

When he arrives, he finds out the monk has taken a vow of silence and the only coverage he can get on him is on his marathon walk where if he has to stop for any reason, he has to commit suicide. If he passes the seven-year-long journey, he will become a living buddha. Once he is kicked out, he then meets Ryushin, he does the calligraphy for the monastery which is not that important, and he knows and he talks to Nadeem about how he is very depressed and hates his job but, he must take over the family temple or his family’s legacy will end with him. We see Ryushin the calligrapher, get drunk, eat meat, and even listen to death metal, citing that slipknot is his favorite, making the scenes even funnier with the very quiet monk jamming along to screamo driving down the roads of Japan. Then the film starts to take a very inwards perspective on the director when he gets married in a semi-traditional Muslim wedding, He realizes that he values what his parents think. He lets the project go and just lets himself go as well, this creates a lot of friction in his relationship with his wife dawn.

When the interview starts with the monk he has been waiting five years to have. When he does the living god begins to answer and within one sentence, he receives a phone call and the interview ends. He makes the executive decision to go to Ireland and introduce his parents to his wife. The final scene depicts dawn outside of their Airbnb or wherever they are staying in Ireland, pacing and entering the home repeatedly. Then Nadeem and his Parents turn the corner with flowers.

 I have nothing but praise. This was a fantastic film and if you have the chance to watch it you should take the offer up. The imagery has a certain home-esqe feel, and I don’t live in Kyoto unless you count Phoebe Bridgers. All jokes aside this movie on any level will find something inside you and stir. it. up. To make you feel emotions you have suppressed or even conquered will make you feel happy to know that other people go through this and that you are not alone.