IFFI Goa 2025, 11: Film selection--The Good (rare), the Bad (many) and the Ugly (too many)

IFFI Goa 2025, 11: Film selection--The Good (rare), the Bad (many) and the Ugly (too many)

Beginning where I left off.

My Daughter’s Hair/Iran/2025/Hesam Farahmand

Curious and off-beat title, but only in the English version. In Farsi (Persian), it is named after its lead character, a girl called Raha. Even that could be a bit of a misnomer, because it is as much the story of Raha’s father and brother, as it is of Raha. Interestingly, another film in the competition section is titled My Father’s Shadow. As expectations from Iranian films go, this one was not among their best. And being featured in a festival where Jafar Panahi is world-acclaimed It Was Just an Accident, it suffered by comparison. Moving along different lines, like the locks of a girl’s beautiful hair, it is still watchable. And it does continue the Iranian tradition of picking out stories from everyday life that would escape the imagination of many film-makers.

Rating: ** ½

Dreams (Sex Love)/Norway/2024/Dog Johan Dogeroud

Now this was the top misnomer of the festival. Nobody expected the film to unfold as the story of a school-girl who is obsessed by her female teacher, and fantasises about her, in a way that can be called platonic sex. She records her feelings in the form of a chronicle, day by day. It would remain an innocuous account of a girl’s crush, but her mother and grandmother get to read it. Though they are initially shocked, they see literary merit, and not lust, in the jottings. Each of them has a slightly differing perspective on the ‘affair’, which reflects their generational values. It had a thin story and the script failed to develop into anything compelling or exciting. The film is part of a trilogy, focussing on Sex, Love and Dreams. Haven’t seen the other two, but this one was not up to the mark.

Rating: **

It was Just an Accident/2025/Iran, France, Luxembourg/Jafar Panahi

The master is not the genius here, but master he is. When Panahi is around, politics cannot be far behind. This time the protagonist is an Azerbaijani mechanic. It would have been just a car accident, but Vahid suspects that the man he has encountered is the man who had tortured him as a political prisoner, years ago. Vahid gathers others, who were also victims of torture when it took place, and tries to establish the torturer, Eghbal’s, identity. Tensions rise, with a tinge of dark humour. Panahi was honoured by the most coveted prize in the international film festival circuit, the Palme d’Or, at Cannes, this year. Going by the competition we were dished out at IFFI, it comes as no surprise. Amid all this felicitation come the following news: Iran has sentenced Jafar Panahi, in absentia, to one year in prison, and a travel ban, over “propaganda activities” against the country. The sentence includes a two-year ban on leaving Iran and prohibition from membership of any political or social groups. Last month, he was on a tour of the US, visiting Los Angeles, New York and Telluride, Colorado, to promote his latest Oscar-hopeful movie. The film has been selected by France as its official nomination for the Academy Awards, and is widely expected to make the shortlist for the best international feature, at the gala event, in March.

Rating: ***

The Mastermind/2025/USA/Kelly Reichardt

Massachusetts, 1970s. An out of work carpenter, son of a judge, plans to steal four highly priced paintings from a local museum, with the help of some of his own family members and other accomplices. We see him planning the heist in meticulous detail, but it is not clear how this ‘master’ developed this criminal bent of ‘mind’. Destined to go awry, the clever plan is only mildly attractive, and there are many dull moments. One is surprised at the lack of tight security measures at the museum and the relative ease with which he is able to grab the paintings. The failure of the plan is very convincingly written, but overall, the film lacks the finesse of a slick robbery. There is a slight twist in the end, which might make the film watchable when you do not have a better option. It might be interesting to learn that lady director Kelly Reichardt graduated from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Et tu, Kelly?

Rating: **

Late Shift/2025/Switzerland, Germany/Petra Volpe

Easily the most experimental film I got to see, Late Shift is master class in generating pace by sheer editing, both on paper and post-production. The economy of footage with which it is made is remarkable. Story of a nurse working in a short-staffed hospital in Switzerland, having to attend to as many as 25 patients almost simultaneously and concurrently, some of who do not speak her language. Absolutely committed to her job and highly conscientious, she has only a few moments of relief, and a couple of reasons to smile. Leonie Benesch turns in a compellingly understated performance and writer director Petra Volpe keeps a firm grip on every shot. Late Shift was a welcome surprise, easily among the best seen at IFFI this year.

Rating: ***

Gorgona/2025/Greece, France/Evi Kalogiropoulou

This Gor was a Goner. Set in an imaginary city, in times when oil was the only power, Gorgona follows a woman, who is sold to the rulers of the oil rich city which has nothing but oil, for a can of oil and sent to serve as a sex slave, on a raft, alongside a basket of fruit. The city is ruled by a gun-toting madman, who is about to die, probably due to the pollution. Several of his slaves aspire for his position, but anybody who challenges him is instantly shot dead. The new arrival vies for his attention with a local woman who is a crack-shot at pistol shooting. There is gratis straight sex, lesbian sex, masturbation, dystopian and supernatural elements and mystical power. But all of it pointless. At best, it is soft-porn film, with nothing to redeem it.

Rating: *