Here Are 16 Amazing Films That We Saw At The 2023 Jio MAMI Film Festival

    From gems like Kennedy to Varun Grover's All India Rank!

    by
    Vishal Langthasa
    by Vishal Langthasa

    BuzzFeed Staff

    ,
    aakritianand1
    by aakritianand1

    BuzzFeed Staff

    The cherished Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival made a triumphant return in 2023, rekindling the fervour of cinema enthusiasts. It's as if aficionados had been yearning for this immersive theatre experience. Crowds had been forming hours ahead of time to secure seats for some of the most highly-anticipated films. There were individuals who had even taken time off from work to fully envelop themselves in the vast offering of films.

    Vishal Langthasa

    Armed with our festival bags (that are now brimming with cherished memories) and our film schedule sheets (which have been consulted countless times, each day), we successfully attended a diverse array of screenings, spanning both high-profile and lesser-known films. Here are some of the standouts:

    1. Stolen

    2. Kennedy

    Good Bad Films

    A film festival favourite is bound to be overburdened with expectations, but, to the audiences' delight, Anurag Kashyap's Kennedy does justice to all the buzz. Sunny Leone may have finally found a character that allows her to explore her acting chops and Rahul Bhat, with minimal dialogues, shines through. Mumbai city is an excellent co-star to the both of them.

    3. Afire

    Schramm Film Koerner & Weber

    A subtle but effective commentary on changing human relationships, chasing dreams, and good-old romance, Afire throws light on how nothing matters when the planet decides to give up.

    4. Dear Latika

    5. Inshallah A Boy

    The Imaginarium

    While there are a plethora of movies that serve as a commentary on human struggles, very few manage to make them memorable without overly valorising victimhood. In Inshallah A Boy, we had the opportunity to smile at the ridiculousness of life’s struggles.

    6. Hoard

    Erebus Pictures

    This movie is not for the faint-hearted and will deeply move people who are still unpacking and dealing with their childhood traumas. While Hoard is a rather extreme representation of the manifestation of said traumas, it strikes a chord once you successfully tread through the filth. In a more unconventional observation, I can say that you can smell this film.

    7. 20,000 Species of Bees

    Gariza Films

    While the movie, that wonderfully explores femininity, felt dragged owing to several self-indulgent choices by the makers, the final thirty minutes were totally worth the wait. This is a film that celebrates caregivers of queer children and their journey towards acceptance, amidst societal pressures.

    8. Thadavu (The Sentence)

    Bunch of Coconuts

    I'll be honest — I was more interested in the story of the making of Thadavu than the film's storyline as the cast and crew gave us a gist of their humble film-making process — many of them being first-time actors, including the lead actress, who is a teacher. The movie, however, got unintentionally comedic given the trials and tribulations of Geetha's character. It felt like a bit of an ambitionless sob story that merely wanted to make its title make sense. The makers certainly have a long way to go.

    9. While We Watched

    Britdoc Films

    Being at this screening was nothing short of an event, especially with the man himself, Ravish Kumar, participating in the post-screening Q&A session. The film is a documentary that pulls no punches about the state of affairs during Ravish's last few years as part of NDTV, leading up to the 2019 Indian general elections. It is heartbreaking as it emphasises the hopelessness that shrouds mainstream journalism, and yet, it is a courageous and heartfelt nod to a man who is merely doing his job, to the best of his ability, against all odds.

    10. Fremont

    Butimar Productions

    This film lives in black and white and brings forth the loneliness and displacement of Afghan refugees in the United States of America, through the life of a woman who must find a way to write hopeful, yet truthful, and "just right" fortune cookie slips. Her navigations through work, love, loneliness, and an inner turmoil that’s never fully voiced, make for a warming film, with a delightful appearance by Jeremy Allen White (of The Bear and Shameless fame). 

    11. Daaaaaali!

    Atelier de Production

    Absurdist comedy rarely finds a massive audience queuing up in anticipation, but this film got all of that and then some. With a stage set for a larger-than-life interview with Salvador Dali, Daaaaaali! is as surreal as his art, in all the hilarious ways. Honestly, a movie such as this one can only be experienced, not explained (because anything could spoil the fun of it all!).

    12. The Contestant

    Misfits Entertainment

    We weren’t expecting to be shocked to our very core by this absolutely true story about reality TV. This well-executed documentary, detailing the events of a few seasons of the Japanese reality show, Susunu! Denpa Shōnen, and what happened when a man was isolated for over a year and his trials were filmed and broadcasted for frothy laughs, really got us squirming in our seats, seeing what, possibly, is the advent of the hot mess that reality TV is today. It’s asking all the right questions — that’s for sure! 

    13. All India Rank

    Matchbox Shots

    Right off the bat, we knew that this isn’t a new story about teenagers going to Kota in Rajasthan to prepare for the IIT entrance examinations. There’s friendship, love, family pressure, and the whole gamut. The difference we went looking for was in the story-telling, and the nuance in the writing, which we got in spades, thanks to writer and debutant director Varun Grover. Some earnest performances and catchy music, replete with 90s references, made this an enjoyable watch and well worth the hours we spent queueing up for it.

    14. Sahela (Companion)

    Picture Works Australia

    This auto-fictional film by debutant director Raghuvir Joshi, is a documentation of repressed homosexuality in a man and the toll it takes on his marriage. The film urges people to have conversations about self-exploration, and presents an authentic, and deeply moving portrait of a man who simply didn’t know better about his own self-identity, until it pulled the rug out from beneath him. We especially loved the portrayal of diaspora Indian families, which was more realistic and heartwarming than the borderline parody versions we’re used to seeing on screen.

    15. Maestro

    Amblin Entertainment

    Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan star in what is only Cooper’s second directorial outing, and is a biopic on Leonard Bernstein. He’s a composer we know from West Side Story and a conductor who was one of the brightest stars of America. However, the film is a deeply personal, almost intrusive look into his life, his marriage, his fluid sexuality, and the conflicts that emerged from his simple want to just be more than one thing, or one dimensional. The fact that the film brought out difficult conversations — particularly between parent and child — about sexuality, without so much as uttering the words, is one of its many wins. 

    16. Rapture (Rimdogittanga)

    Doha Film Institute

    This film provides a compelling exploration of life in the Garo hills of Meghalaya with Kasan, the central character, and skilfully weaves a narrative that seamlessly transitions between haunting and nostalgic. The cinematography enhances the dreamlike essence of the story, all without resorting to exoticization. One of the most striking aspects of Rapture is its portrayal of the village residents as imperfect characters, much like anyone else.