the science of sleep . riyaaz . and i still don’t understand anything

the fantasy world of the strange but lovely gael garcia bernal is one of the dream worlds of michel gondry’s bjork videos. cardboard cartons and duct tape become the props for a brilliant show about the dream life of a weirdo. the hand crafted becomes beautiful. in the music videos though there is no particular rationale for the flights of fancy and were somehow more convincing. here the careful characterization of bernal as a dreamer-boy with a strange fixation for his neighbor seemed like a plot device to allow gondry to have some fun. the playfulness thankfully does not bury the sweet sentimentality of the story.

whatever one may call it ‘prayoga’ or experimental- the reasoning behind making the difference is beyond my understanding- something about western and eastern philosophy with lots of italicized sanskrit thrown in; the fact is that i did not like it much. the installations in the lobby of the ncpa were deified into holy objects by the low lighting and the silence that seemed to descend on the awestruck audience. ‘riyaaz’ depoliticized and gawked at the spectacle of a steel plant. all very gorgeous until it was intercut with more slow shots of a village and a historical monument. then it revealed its emptiness. ‘and i still don’t understand anything’ purported profundity regarding human relationships or at least regarding film itself and unfortunately for me it felt like commonplaces were being bandied around in very ordinary ways. we were being asked throughout to raise our own consciousness to such extraordinary levels that the ordinary was to become sublime. and if we did not get it. tough. the question answer session did not help ease my unease about the pretentiousness.

just before going to town for the show mukul and me sat and saw some experimental films from the 20’s by man ray. the difference between the former and the latter was remarkable.