Soham Kundu is an alumni of the London University of the Arts, National Film and Television School (Writing the TV Pilot), Today at Apple Creative Studios London and Auroville Film Institute. He was awarded the JN Tata Scholarship and UAL Postgraduate Scholarship to attend his MA. “Love Death and Everything In Between” his latest student short film, won the Prix Interculturel Award at the 41st Film School Fest Munich.
“Love Death and Everything In Between” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
The film begins with an impressively colored, slow motion, close-up sequence that looks completely outwardly, before getting back to ‘reality'. This reality focuses on a middle-aged couple, Mira and Pradeep, who have arrived to London to collect their recently deceased son's belongings from his apartment. Aubrey, his girlfriend is there to help them, before leaving them to grieve. As they look at the paintings he has made, they also check the videos he has recorded with a camera his mother has given to him. The tension between the two is palpable, however, and their son's death does not seem to be the only reason. As Aubrey starts opening up about their relationship and guilt, she comes closer with Mira. The issues the couple face however, are not so easily bridged and the only thing that can help both their problems is time.
Allow me to start with the obvious. In terms of production values, the movie is impressive. Starting with the excellent coloring, continuing with the framing, and the imposing long shots by Haofeng Li, which showcase the area by the sea the apartment resides, the visuals are definitely the best part of the movie. The introductory scene, which actually appears throughout the movie is probably the most memorable in the whole movie, as all of the aforementioned aspects find their apogee in it. On the other hand, the use of slow motion is somewhat excessive, particularly for a 25-minute short, although not to a point to become a real problem.
The writing on the other hand, could have been better. Evidently, Soham Kundu did not have the time he needed to analyze his characters and the main story as much as he wanted, which led him to implement cliches in order to make his point. The weed smoking, record playing, dancing scene particular is rather unrealistic and excessive in its presentation, essentially detracting from the realism that permeates the movie. Furthermore, the friction between the two parents and the way it is solved is equally problematic, something that also hampers the generally convincing acting of Siddiqua Akhter as Mira, Bhasker Patel as Pradeep and Xuemeng Li as Aubrey. The comment of how time and communication can help all kinds of human relationships is there, but again, it could have been communicated better.
Soham Kundu seems to have an eye for composition and he has managed to pick some very capable collaborators in his filmmaking. However, he definitely needs to work on his writing moving forward, if he is to get to the next level. Perhaps the feature duration suits him more.
