Chandradeep Das, son of veteran director Anjan Das, shot this Bengali short in collaboration with Bhavana Goparaju, Nikita Ivanenko (producers) and Rinat Yulushev (associate producer), as the kickstart of Wintry Candles Pproductions, whose purpose is to take their multicultural stories to the global stage.
The film revolves around an elderly woman, whose attachment to the past and particularly her dead husband has led her outside of society and into becoming a nagging old lady who constantly fights with her maid and her neighbors, a woman and a little child who occasionally plays in the shared corridor in the building. The kids in the neighborhood pester her, throwing rocks and breaking her windows any chance they get, with her barely managing to control her nerves. As she considers herself already dead, when she receives a large sum from her husband's insurance, she spends all of it in building a tomb for herself .When the tomb is built, she pays frequent visits to the cemetary nearby. In one of these visits however, a surprise await for her.
“In Loving Memory” is a very beautiful film, as Asim Bose in the cinematography and Tanmoy Chakraborty in the production design have done a wonderful job with the film's visuals. Sanjib Datta's editing is also quite good, and I was impressed by the way he used a picture on the wall to change time frames.
Das dedicates this film to his father; however, the male presence in the film is felt through its absence, and the focus is actually on the one left behind, the wife. His point is that people should never give up and abandon life, since inspiration and hope can come from every place, if one has the patience to look for it. In that fashion, and despite the dramatic base, the film ends in a very positive tone. The only fault I found in the narrative is the lengthy sequence with the narration from a book, which, although beautiful, becomes a bit difficult to follow after a fashion
National-award winner Sreelekha Mukherji is great in the protagonist role, highlighting her nagging and hopeless situation with gusto and elaborateness. The subtle and mellow music from Susan Di Bona and Salvatore Sangiovanni is another of the film's traits, as it accompanies the atmosphere of the short to perfection.
“In Loving Memory” is a more than worthy effort, that benefits the most from the multinational collaboration behind its production. I expect Chandradeep to shoot an impressive family drama very soon.
