Playthings
of Fortune
by Howard Schumann
Tricks, a new Polish film by
Andrzej Jakimowski, tells of Stefek (Damian UI), a bright and very observant
six-year-old boy who lives with his teenage sister Elka (Ewelina Walendziak)
and their mother (Iwona Fornalczyk) in a Polish village outside of Warsaw.
Stefan has never seen his father (Tomasz Sapryk), who abandoned the
family before he was born, but thinks he recognizes him from a defaced
picture in his wallet as the man boards a train each morning. Tricks
is one of those rare films that you wish would never end. Winner of
the Europa Cinemas prize at the Venice Film Festival, it is a delightful
blend of sensitivity, intelligence, humor, and magical realism that
transforms the simple truths of childhood into cinematic poetry.
The title does
not refer to “turning tricks,” magic shows, or being bamboozled.
It is about the idea, not really a trick at all, that so-called fate
can be bended to our will—and Jakimowski, who studied Philosophy
at the University of Warsaw, makes a very convincing case for the power
of intention. The film comments on contemporary small town life in Poland
as it moves from one vignette to another in an almost documentary-like
manner. Elka has taught Stefek how to “bribe” fate, believing
that it can be manipulated. All that is necessary, she thinks, is to
declare your purpose and sit back and watch the universe comply. Stefek,
on the other hand, thinks that you have to take concrete action rather
than merely observe.
To prove his
point, he crumbles a burger wrapper and throws it neatly into the garbage
bin at the park. Elka, however, simply places the wrapper on the ground
near the bin and watches as it is passed from the owner of a hungry
dog to a homeless man and then into the trash without her doing a thing.
In another scene, Stefek comes to the aid of an ignored apple seller
by buying some of his apples and hopefully setting an example for others.
She tries a different way and succeeds. Fascinated by his sister’s
powers, Stefek sets out to inform fate that he wants his father back,
and he's willing to use any means at his disposal to accomplish that—including
toy soldiers, Elka’s auto-mechanic boyfriend Jerzy (Rafal Guzniczak),
coins that he throws on the railroad tracks, and a flock of pigeons.
Elka denies that the man Stefek identifies is really their father and
refuses to become involved in the boy’s plans, being too busy
washing dishes at a restaurant, studying Italian, and concentrating
on getting a job with an Italian businessman.
Jakimowski has
coaxed outstanding performances from his mainly non-professional cast,
and the film reaches a level of authenticity and poetry that is rare
for a director making only his second feature. Relationships are affectionate,
especially the one that young Stefek strikes up with the man at the
train station, ultimately devising a scheme to try and bring him back
to his mother’s grocery shop. Supported by cinematographer Adam
Bajerski’s stunning close-ups and wide-street shots and a pitch
perfect score by Tomasz Gassowski, Tricks is a genuinely moving
film that may just bribe fate to make it a contender for Best Foreign
Film at next year’s Oscars.
*
Following
the legacy of his deceased father, Amal Kumar (Rupinder Nagra) turned
down a higher paying job at the post office to drive an auto-rickshaw
on the streets of Delhi, India. Maneuvering daily through crowded streets
daily to barely eke out a living, Amal is good natured to a fault, refusing
to accept tips and always charging the meter rate. Shot on location
in India by a Canadian and Indian crew, Richie Mehta’s low-budget
feature Amal is a charming O’Henry-like
tale about class, wealth, and family in India. It is a very worthy first
effort that captures the frenetic street life of the city of Delhi and
provides a sense of immediacy, somewhat in the style of Michael Winterbottom,
but without the hand-held camera cliché.
When
Amal refuses to accept a tip and offers cough drops to a gruff old man
dressed in rags, G.K. Jayaram (Raseeruddin Shah), the older gentleman
is convinced he has finally found a good man, a man of principle. When
he dies suddenly, his family discovers that he has done something no
one expected. Though we hear G.K. beautifully singing a traditional
song in a café, we are still astonished when the eccentric old
man turns out to be a man of means who leaves his fortune to Amal, though
the rickshaw driver remains totally unaware of these events. The story
concerns how the old man’s request is handled by his business
partner Suresh (Roshan Seth), his lawyer Sapna Agarwal (Seema Biswas),
and his scheming sons Harish (Siddhant Beh) and Vivek (Vik Sahay) who
simply want what they feel is owed to them.
G.K.’s
will contains instructions that his assets will remain locked for thirty
days until Amal can be found, and the dead man’s attorney sets
out to locate Amal, not an easy task in a city with thousands of Amals.
Then again, it might be in his attorney’s best interests not to
find him: if Amal doesn’t show up within thirty days, G.K.’s
fortune will revert to his sons, with whom Suresh has a secret deal.
A few subplots spice up the intrigue over the will but serve only to
reinforce the film’s underlying message.
Amal
develops a romantic interest in Pooja Seth (Koel Purie), a passenger
he picks up every day, and he becomes devoted to the health of a young
girl who is run over and injured by his rickshaw while begging in the
streets. Filmed in English and Hindi, Amal was inspired by
a real-life experience and story idea by the director's brother, Shaun
Mehta. Together they turned it into a short and then expanded it into
a full-length feature in time for the Toronto Film Festival in 2007.
While its theme of happiness trumping wealth has been done many times,
Amal feels original, and an impressive performance from Toronto
actor Nagra holds the film together.
©2008 Howard Schumann
CineScene
