Falling in love is a reckoning of sorts: a stroll down a twisty trail. It begins with a silent curiosity for the other person, with everythig they do seemingly, a mystery. The infatuation then slowly kicks in, making the object of love seem larger than life, resplendent, and glorious. This might lead to self loathing, for the inadequacies and insufficiencies that are perceieved in oneself. Occasionally, there is anger and hatred, for a desire that's tangible yet out of reach. And if paths were to align, there is consolation, and of course, passion and love: the hurried cascade of affection for the loved one, the myopic disdain for every other thing or person in the vicinity, the smudgy yet starkly distinct first moments of intimacy and lovemaking, the incessant wave of joy.
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A man and his estranged wife, meet after a hiatus. They are on the opposite sides of a glass wall, one of those one-way mirrors. The man can see his wife - and in turn, face all the guilts of his past. The wife can only hear the man, and thus he remains as enigmatic and whimsical as ever. The setting is one of those places where lonely men can go to talk to women of their fantasies, over a phone, separated by the aforementioned glass wall. What other setting can be so unique for a reckoning like this, so intimate yet detached, so close yet so far. What brought the man and the woman there, is secondary. What matters is that they talk, about their past, and about their future.
Most anthology films invest huge faith in chance, of things happening in the same time at the same place. Most hyperlink films invest their faith in the semblances of the human condition, of different lives being strung together by a common scenario playing out in different ways. This much exploited genre has always remained inspired, intriguing, and introspective, strictly owing to the richly chaotic and diverse nature of humanity's existence. Telugu Cinema has seldom ventured here, the most recent example only being Krish's "Vedam". It's a pity the intense fabric of life in the Telugu states doesn't get any attention from writers in Telugu Cinema. Prashant Varma's "Awe!", thankfully, takes a few strings from this fabric, albeit using outliers for dramatic effect. The different segments of this anthology film span multiple genres, from horror, thriller, everyday humor to satire. To Varma's credit, each is very carefully written, setup, and directed. Handling multiple genres that eventually blend into each other is a recipe for disaster, but Varma wisely uses all the usually ignored cinematic tricks in the book to his advantage. This is a film that adores textbook lessons of storytelling via cinematography and editing. The angles, frames, pans, cuts, and transitions that are usually placebo or even awkward in other Telugu films come together adeptly in this film, helping pace the film and its mood. This allows for a great balance of the film's main texts whilst enabling a great stage setting for its subtext to pop out. Yes, the overall writing is over-expository or preachy at times, but for a film with an unusual pretext like this to be completely subtle is impossible in the times Telugu Cinema is going through now. That subtext of the film, is usually used for dramatic abuse and never with an empathetic angle elsewhere, but that's not the case here. Kajal Aggarwal delivers, what is possibly, her best work here. Thoroughly emphatic, it calls attention to all the directors who have failed to give her better roles over the years. The rest of the cast includes a slew of capable actors, all very good here - Nithya Menen, Regina Cassandra, Priyadarshi, Srinivas Avasarala, Eesha Rebba, Murli Sharma, Devadarshini Chetan and Kaitlyn D'Mello. Mark K. Robin's music is ample mostly, so is Karthik Gattamneni's camera work. But it is Gowtham Nerusu's editing, as aforementioned, that makes the film all the more savory.
It maybe a bit under-appreciated now, but "Awe!" will surely remain one of the more study-able works ever produced in Telugu Cinema. Out in theaters now.... |
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