Kolkata International Film Fest celebrates nudity in world cinema

Bold films are to take the festival by storm
It’s often seen that films celebrating nudity and sex tend to become sure-shot winners at various film festivals across the globe. The Kolkata International Film Festival is no different. For this year too, one can take a pick or more from a plethora of ‘bold’ films scheduled to be screened, like The Look of Love, Paradise: Love, Young & Beautiful, Pieta, Love Battles et al.So, those, who had been harbouring a secret desire for so long but couldn’t make it to the festival yet, here’s a golden opportunity.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY
French filmmaker and writer, Claire Denis doesn’t often try anything conventional. Her noir thriller, Bastards, is all about families, money and sexual turmoil.
As a storyteller, she’s consistently drawn to subjects that dig out the murkiest depths of human relationships. Thus, we see captain Marco Silvestri, who is called back urgently to Paris. His sister Sandra is desperate — her husband has committed suicide, the family business has gone under, her daughter Lola is spiralling downwards. The pleasures of Denis’ films lie in the mystery of her images. It may come across as a bit abstract initially, but as the film progresses, the money, the sex and the bodies gradually fall into place.
The Future, directed by Chilean director Alicia Scherson, is adapted from Roberto Bolano’s novel, Una novelita lumpen. Narrated from the future, this drama focuses on a pair of teenage orphans in Rome. Bianca struggles to hold it together, taking care of her brother, Tomas. Then Tomas brings home two bodybuilders from his gym. The two guests plan a heist for which they convince Bianca to initiate a sexual relationship with a former action movie-star, Maciste. The lead actors, Manuela Martelli and Rutger Hauer, have done a fantastic job, earning rave reviews from critics all over.