Double-bill from the London Migration Film Festival 2018

Kai Ellis — 2018-11-15T08:36:14Z

The Postman by Vahid Keshavarz

Vahid Keshavarz's documentary short The Postman profiles Hadi, an Iranian poet living in London and working as a postman. There is a quiet dignity to Hadi as he goes about his round, scribbling his verses as they come to him on Royal Mail delivery cards, fearful of forgetting them later on. Hadi doesn't talk of fleeing Iran, but rather of coming to London to follow his wife as she undertook a post-graduate course in 2004. We see him contemplatively take a smoking break while sat on a wall as we hear him read his poetry in Farsi. It's unfortunate that in places the English sub-titles have not been proof-read, which is a distraction at times. He laments that “there is not much eye contact here between the people.” Keshavarz takes a considered pace for this simple portrait, but I couldn't help feeling that we could have got to know Hadi more than we do. At one point we see him return home to collate the day's stanzas and he calls up to his child, but this is not developed, and there is seemingly no sign of his wife either, leaving the viewer to wonder if she remains a part of his life. Still, it's a timely reminder of those who visit us every day, often taken for granted, and have a story of their own to tell.

Watch the film in our Short of the Week section.

Our Kind of Love by Azeem Bhati, Elham Ehsas

Azeem Bhati and Elham Ehsas share writing and directing credit on this charming short that tells the story of a young couple, Samira (Afsaneh Dehrouyeh) and Harun (Elham Ehsas), who are seemingly on a blind date. We meet them in a London sushi restaurant, both nervous yet clearly attracted to each other. We learn that Samira has only recently arrived from Afghanistan whereas Harun is evidently a seasoned Londoner, albeit of Afghani heritage. Initial small talk of the difference between dogs in London and Kabul (in the former they are pets, in the latter guard dogs) and their shared love of Afghan music soon turns to more heart-felt conversation. Samira pines for someone who remains in Aghanistan, clutching a letter and a passport photograph of them close by. Meanwhile, Harun is distracted by phone calls he initially tries to ignore before giving in and trying to cut ties with the caller, who is seemingly from his recent past. Samira returns to thoughts of home as we see projections of her inner memories: birds flocking above the streets of Kabul, accompanied by the distant sound of children's voices. Samira and Harun stand on the precipice of a new life together, yet with its foundations clearly rooted in their
shared traditional heritage. Can they leave their old lives behind and step into the future together? Our Kind of Love is elegantly paced with a simple, yet heart-felt, story and Ehsas and Dehrouyeh give touching performances, portraying a genuine, human connection throughout.

The London Migration Film Festival runs from 29 November to 5 December. More information and full programme of films and talks here.

Possum

Kai Ellis — 2018-10-25T10:08:26Z

Matthew Holness, perhaps best known as the creator of cult pastiche television horror comedy Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, makes his debut as a feature director in much darker territory with Possum. Originally a short story written by Holness in response to Freud's essay ‘Das Unheimliche' (The Uncanny), Possum takes us to the near-deserted fenlands of Norfolk, where Sean Harris' Philip, a children's puppeteer, has returned to his run-down, boarded-up family home. He carries with him a compact leather bag, inside which the titular Possum is contained. Rather than the small furry Australian mammal initially brought to mind by the title, it is instead a manifestation of Philip's worst fears, initially seen just off-screen as a bundle of spindly, spider-like legs, and later revealed to be a strange hybrid of spider and man, a body-less creature with a human head. Philip is haunted by this mutated spider-man throughout the film, its mask mirroring his own features, in a permanent dark-eyed, tortured expression. Also at the family home is Maurice, Philip's Uncle, played with understated menace by veteran actor Alun Armstrong. Uncle Maurice is a malevolent, nicotine-fingered presence throughout the film, goading Philip to show him his puppetry skills using The Possum, as well as referring to a recent scandal Philip is evidently fleeing from and taunting him to retell a particularly painful memory from his childhood about the death of a fox.

Holness is clearly an aficionado of British horror in the 1960s and 70s, both on film and television, as well as early silent films such as Nosferatu and M. The opening credits, the British Rail station with its antiquated signage and slam door trains, as well as an eerie electronic soundtrack courtesy of The Radiophonic Workshop, all evoke a sense of 70s British horror director Pete Walker's Frightmare or Dr Who (late member of The Radiophonic Workshop, Delia Derbyshire - who died in 2001 - is credited with "additional sound design elements.") The dilapidated family home calls to mind The Overlook hotel, with its garish patterned, faded orange and brown furnishings. Along with a deserted Army Cadet barracks, and the school Philip attended long ago, these largely empty locations start to represent Philip's inner state, where he is simultaneously in the present yet haunted by a lonely past, unable to escape his own experiences.

Both disturbing and scary, Possum and is an assured debut from Holness, anchored by strong performances from both Harris and Armstrong. Harris's central performance hearkens to those of the silent era, his character largely wordless throughout the duration of the film. Harris, who always brings a sense of unnerving, lived-through darkness to his roles, brings the same sense of unresolved trauma here. Philip is simultaneously a trapped child and a traumatised man, unable to reconcile with his past and fully move into adulthood. As the film progresses, it becomes clear what is manifested in the disturbing, unrelenting figure of the Possum. Despite Philip's best efforts to destroy it through drowning, burning or beating it to death, it returns again and again to haunt him and chase him until he finally confronts what it represents, perhaps by which time it is too late, in a harrowing final scene.

Possum will be released in cinemas on 26 Oct. There will be Q&A screenings in Edinburgh and Glasgow on 2nd and 3rd November.

myDylarama

Double-bill from the London Migration Film Festival 2018

Possum