Naming your own movie “Boring” is a brave decision, even if the title can be perceived under the prism of irony. In the case of Mahde Hasan, however, his unusual choice worked quite well, with “A Boring Film” becoming the first Bangladeshi production to compete in Locarno.
A Boring Film is Screening at Locarno Film Festival
The film revolves around a man (played by the director) who is in self-quarantine in a housing building under construction. The noise does not let him sleep however, and he spends his day trying to glue a broken vase, watching various people from his window, including a worker who burnishes wooden sticks almost constantly, and playing with his cats. Eventually, he decides to leave his building, and after some pondering, his steps bring him to a zoo, where he tries to sleep.
After “I Am Time” Hasan directs another experimental film in black-and-white, which, additionally, is also without dialogue. Despite the abstract, minimalist approach, his comments are quite eloquent. Bangladesh is one of the world's fastest-growing economies, and this growth is mirrored (as always in these cases) in the surge of construction in the country. Hasan highlights the fact through a number of images, showing newly-constructed buildings, but also stresses that this financial progress has its consequences, particularly for people who have not yet gotten used to the noises and lack of serenity of the modern megalopolis. Furthermore, and despite the significant improvement of the economy, a large part of the population still lives in or below the poverty line, with the aforementioned worker mirroring this aspect. The juxtaposition of these two comments with the ending of the film seems to state that “returning to nature” could be a solution, since the animals that inhabit even an artificial setting such as the zoo seem happy, and able to sleep.
Mahde Hasan and his DP, Dibbyo use a number of point-of-view shots to give the viewer the sense that he/she is the one picking on the “action” and to allow him to see and feel exactly as the protagonist. Occasionally, some long shots are also presented, in an effort to highlight the size of the construction surge in the city. The editing is also unusual, since Hasan uses a number of fade-outs (without fade-ins however) to change the scenery, in a tactic that works, however, quite good for the narrative, giving the short a sense of speed.
“A Boring Film” is another impressive (and not boring at all) effort from Mahde Hasan, both technically and contextually. Time to shoot a feature film, I guess.
