It’s for sentimental trip down memory lane. Reflect back upon trials and tribulations of growing up, of coming of age. Ruminate on lingering, lilting memories, past pleasures, those idyllic days, et al. Bangalore Film Society, as part of its monthly cinema visitations, presents melange of movies that speak of Years Gone By, full of fond nostalgia. On show is a Chilean beauty (Friday), heart-warming Russian classic road movie (Saturday) and an awe-inspiring Japanese masterpiece (Sunday).
Set in 1973 Santiago during Salvador Allende’s socialist government and shortly before General Augusto Pinochet’s military coup, director Andres Wood’s evocative rites-of-passage Machuca, is soul-searing saga of two friends, one very poor and integrated into the elite school of his friend. Told from perspective of privileged boy who catches a glimpse of world of lower class at a moment when lower classes are politically mobilised to demand their rights, the film is a bitter-sweet, semi-autobiographical coming of age tale. A quiet film, which moves sadly towards its inevitable climax, Machuca is a reminder that politics affect every aspect of daily life.
A directorial debut by duo of Boris Khlebnikov & Alexei Popogrebsky Koktebel in Crimean Tatar means “the land of the blue hills”, follows the sojourn of father and son as they try to reach Koktebel from Moscow after the death of the mother and loss of father’s job. Conflating a boy’s coming-of-age with country’s bourgeoning social and political upheavals, Koktebel is a  road movie spotlighting on relationship between the two escaping from bad memories in Moscow. Deceptively simple, Koktebel is stunningly static, focusing on discrete moments in time and essentially series of separate vignettes, with each tableau clearly demarcated.
Minimalistic in style, virtually devoid of any dialogue, Takeshi Kitano’s evocative A Scene at the Sea, is a heart-warming saga of a young deaf-mute garbage collector and his devoted girlfriend who follows him everywhere, six paces behind. A must-see movie, the Japanes film is a lyrical masterpiece that, as with cult favourite and auteur of ganster chic Kitano’s other films, has sharp eye for human frailties and love for courage of the underdog.
Screenings 6.30 pm at Ashirvad, 30, St Mark’s Road Cross, Opp SBI. For details call: 2549 2774/ 2549 3705 Mob: 9886213516 (Siddarth). Admission for members and membership only.