When it comes to family drama, the sheer multitude of them makes it hard to distinguish one from the other. While there are certain layers making them distinctive, these are sometimes purely superficial, as the core idea of the family, its identity and the conflicts it has to overcome stay the same, making most of them somewhat redundant or at the very least, repetitive. What sets some of them apart from the rest is how the concept itself comes into question, after a tragedy, for example, setting the foundation for a fundamental alteration of the family itself. It seems this structure is what drives a short feature such as Jhanvi Motla's Mirage, even though its duration makes it tough to say for sure this is what the writer/director was aiming for.
Mirage is screening at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
After the death of her husband, Nitya (Shavya Samala) leaves her home in India to come to work for her cousin Mohan (Abimanyu Katal), the owner of a highway motel named El Mirage. Her duties are to the reception, the handling of new guests and cleaning the rooms every day, while she can stay in one of the rooms. After a while she feels she may have the chance for a new life in the United States, and working with her cousin is the right start for this new chapter in her life. However, as she finds a used syringe in one of the rooms, she gets an impression of the cost the American Dream comes with.
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Whereas the portrayal of the American Dream is one layer of the feature, perhaps its most interesting aspect is the concept of family. Motla presents two characters, one who has lost her family and one who has found a surrogate in the form of the country he lives in. The motel, a typical American landmark, has become the embodiment of this dream of freedom and new life, a notion Nitya also becomes attracted to after some time working for her cousin. At the same time, the motel seems more of a refuge, or even a resort for some, to hide something and to be alone, which is something the main character also comes to realise. The American landscape is vast and empty, full of opportunities, but it also shows the unknown darkness which lies in front of these characters.
“Mirage” relies on subtlety and hints, which is especially evident in its production design and the cinematography. DOP Alan Torres and production designer Joel Ruiz highlight the vastness of the landscape, while also addressing issues such as loneliness, grief and uncertainty in the various scenes of the feature. At the same time, both actors, Shavya Samala and Abimanyu Katal, give solid performances as two people trying to seize the opportunities this new country has to offer, while the latter has realized at what cost the dream of freedom comes.
In the end, “Mirage” is a well-directed and -shot feature. Jhanvi Motla tells the story of a family at the brink of change in a new country, and thus makes a point about the availability of the American Dream.
