Suman is a filmmaker, presently living in Mumbai, India. Suman's debut Oscar® Qualified short film ‘The Silent Echo' has won the ‘Best Short of the Festival' at the Raindance Film Festival, ‘Asian New Wave Award' at the Kaohsiung Film Festival, ‘Best Film' & ‘Best Cinematography' at the ‘Critic's Choice Award' by Film Critic's Guild, India. His second short film, ‘Cry Me A River', set in Taiwan, is having its World Premiere at Palm Springs International ShortFest and European premiere at Raindance Film Festival.
Cry Me a River review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
The short begins with a woman looking herself at the mirror, while putting some drops in her eyes, in an effort to present them as in tears. It turns that her name is Xixi and that she is a professional mourner, hired to weep at funerals in the most intense fashion, even carrying a microphone during the procession, as the next scene highlights. In the middle of the funeral, though, she bursts into a non-stop nervous laughter, turning all attention to her. The next scene has her at her house, looking at the scars on her feet, probably from walking for long time during her job. A bit later, her landlady visits her, reminding here that she is two months behind in her rent, while also making a snarky comment about her getting a real job.
A visit to a doctor shows that she has been having various issues that actually prevent her from doing her job properly. The doctor tells her that her body is short of water which makes her unable to cry, while he also suggests for her to not use her voice that much. A night our to blow some steam bring a young man flirting with her.
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Suman Sen has come up with a 16-minute short that unfolds in two intermingling axes. The first one, is an approach that could be described as metaphoric, deals with the concept of progress and how professions that used to be prevalent in the past gradually disappear. Xixi's ‘acting' during the funeral reminds of the Japanese benshi, the narrators of the silent movies, in another profession that has essentially disappeared.
The second axis is more literal and evident, about a woman that finds herself in a dead-end situation, as she realizes that her current way of life cannot continue, but at the same time, has no clue where to go after doing the same thing for a long time. Loneliness also hits her door, just like her landlady, adding to her despair. The appearance of the young man, as much as the carousel, could be perceived as a glimmer of hope, but Sen essentially does not give any specific answers, leaving her future to the viewer's imagination.
Lee Yi-chieh gives an imposing performance as Xixi, with the scene in the funeral and the one with the ‘performance' in her house being the highlights. The latter is also the most impressive in the film, with the sounds of the violin accompanying her powerful movements in the best fashion. In general, Mirjam Skal Schnedl's music works quite well throughout the movie, adding a very appealing sense of heaviness to the narrative.
In general, the audiovisual approach here is excellent, with the images, the coloring and the framing, in the funeral, the small apartment, the bus and in general during the night being impressive. DP Ai Chung has done a terrific job overall, while the combination of sound and visuals is definitely top notch. Natalia Gozdzik's editing results in a relatively fast pace that also works well for the movie.
Although the purpose and the comments of the movie could have been a bit clearer, and the film would definitely benefit from some additional duration, “Cry Me a River” showcases a number of traits, particularly in terms of visuals, music and acting, which deem it a production of quality. Considering that Suman Sen is preparing his first feature, it would be interesting to see where his cinematic journey takes him.
