SOME LIKE IT HOT?: The Last Painting May Be Too Steamy To Handle By India’s Upcoming International Film Festivals
Will any of the International Film Festivals in India screen The Last Painting, a critically acclaimed film from Taiwan about a temperamental artist and his muses?...
The international film
festival season is upon us -- a showcase of world cinema, where films from
different parts of the world are exempt from censorship.
Mumbai’s MAMI festival is already done.
The Last Painting Poster
International festivals will be held in the
weeks to come in Goa (organised by the government’s Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting), plus there will be similar events in Thiruvanthapuram, Kolkata
and Pune.
Now the question is: will any of these festivals
screen The Last Painting, a critically acclaimed film from Taiwan about a
temperamental artist and his muses?
The Last Painting
Sexually volatile, besides blending in comments
about politics and violence, it is learnt that the film has been submitted as
an entry to some of the festivals.
However, insiders say that The Last Painting is
too graphic in its depiction of sex, including a same-gender liaison. A scene
which depicts the gouging out of a woman’s eyes may prove to be far too
excessive, even for a festival going audience accustomed to shock tactics and
nudity.
Screened in Netherlands, at the Rotterdam
festival earlier this year, a review stated, “At moments graphically grisly, at
others sexually raunchy, the film by Chen Hung-I, has a distinct touch of an
‘80s erotic thriller, with a complex, sometimes confusing storyline. But it’s
crammed with enough ideas to fuel a whole Film Studies course on Genre and
Gender, with a glamorous sheen that could take it onto a wider canvas than the
Asian distribution scene.”
The Last Painting
On another note altogether, our former chief of
the Central Board of Film Certification Pahlaj Nihalani, in a fit of bravado,
had stated that the films at international festivals in India, would have to be
scrutinised by the CBFC. This would have been in contravention to the rules of
any leading film festival in the world. Fortunately, Nihalani’s diktat has
evaporated with his exit from the hot seat.
Nihalani or no Nihalani, strong chances are that
The Last Painting will not find a slot at the upcoming festivals.
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