Three apples fell from the sky
The first two short feature films directed by Nurlan Hasanli (Save the Cat and When the Limit Approaches Infinity), are responses to the events experienced during the pandemic. The director takes an interesting approach to the confusion and uncertainty faced by the human-being entering in pandemic’s new reality shaped by the pandemic; his characters encapsulate the emotional state of a person (or the world) who does not know how to live during that phase. Chaos and uncertainty about the future discover their artistic expression through a somewhat disordered structure and surreal language in the director’s interpretation.
The film “Save the Cat”, which interlaces several storylines, begins with Jala’s life (Gunel Imanova), a journalist or social activist who stands in the core of the story. Jala, a protector of animal rights — generally, of the oppressed — can be most likely characterized as one of new types of women. Jala makes the impression of a feminist, self-confident, unpermissive figure (possibly violated by her father in the past) and slightly marginal character. She attends courses to develop and control her body language better. She endangers her freedom for the sake of others and behaves boldly in citizen-police confrontation during the pandemic when strict restrictions were widely enforced.
However, such a fearless and decisive woman hesitatingly requires a COVID test when her boyfriend wishes to kiss her. I don’t know whether the screenwriter, Nurlan Hasanli, deliberately generated conflict (on one hand the woman boldly endangers herself, on the other hand she fears of getting infected with the virus by refusing to kiss her beloved) or something that arose unconsciously. In any case, it seemed like a situation that represented the vital conflict profoundly. Thus, the depiction of biographical details and characteristic specifications related to Jala is reflected within artistic situations. Fortunately, the author almost refrains from explanatory dialogues; techniques which almost seem non-cinematographic.
In the next act, the new story is shifted with participation of Jala: She goes to one of neighborhoods in Baku to save a cat physically abused by a drug addict (Nofal Shahlaroghlu). The new story begins with the anxiety of typical citizen characters only when they get harmed, but not for their public interest. The citizens (the women) in the aforementioned situations and the men from neighborhood are filmed with a hidden camera (cinematographer: Natiq Husiyev); only the voices of the complaining women are heard in close-up. And the director confines the viewer to Jala’s reactions. Such a point of view coincides with the content of cat-related story: in a sense the director conveys the true feelings of a citizen who refrains from contact with the policeman and journalist; additionally, that episode acquires a documentary quality and sets the story into an anxious, suspenseful rhythm. However perhaps filming that episode entirely as covert video surveillance (observation) would not only suit to the content of the story, but also enrich the film formally.
The violated victim is not literally a cat, but rather a person in cat costume (and that person is a woman) — her presentation in irrational character is perceived as a norm in the story. Because when the new formed reality and psychotic state are incapable to comprehend, the irrational and surreal metaphorical approaches often express it more precisely. This incomprehensibility is displayed in other scenes as well: One of Jala’s classmates tells how he was forced (due to the pandemic) to bury his friend’s deceased father in the courtyard of his home. At night they leave the house to search for the grave after hearing the news. Or other subplot seamlessly integrated into the film – the woman (Tarana Valiyeva), who rented out wedding dresses and been unemployed due to current pandemic, suddenly appears on her balcony in a bridal gown like a ghost. The woman in this appearance serves as an irrational character in the overall story: even though her intention is to frighten the drug addict looking for the cat. The opening scene of the film is also metaphorical: one of the two children playing a game “kills” the other for being “the virus”. The story opens the scene with silent and lifeless cityscapes. It makes a finale through the gaze of a cat deprived of hearing (possibly due to the physical violence) by seeing the surrounding world into blurs and distortions (This, at the same time, symbolizes the face of the pandemic era.
The story titled When the Limit Approaches Infinity belongs personally to the author. Nurlan Hasanli tries to maintain his physical form throughout the pandemic period. He practices yoga, listens to Kurosawa, follows McKee’s structure in his screenplay, yet still flounders in the chaotic thoughts dictated by reality. Here the author rejects traditional narrative structure, resolves the prevailing chaos not only verbally but also visually. Various television news reports sound like a means of pressure on the brain and through rapid editing, turn againts the protagonist’s life rhythm, which transits from order into chaos.
To convey the power of chaos, the director references the works of surrealist artist René Magritte. Through non-traditional approaches of Magritte’s works, the director portrays (cinematographer Daniel Guliyev) the protagonist’s state. The appearance of the protagonist’s wife with only her face covered by a bouquet of flowers is referred to Magritte’s “The Great War” (1964). In that painting, where the face of a woman in a white dress is hidden by flowers, the experts evaluate it as the artist’s view on war; the lonely woman symbolizes lovers separated by the war. Nurlan Hasanli shares the same interpretation with the experts. But here the coronavirus separates lovers. However the director reunites the lovers (husband and wife) by referring to another work by Magritte: the husband and wife kiss with pillowcases veiling their heads, as depicted in his famous painting “The Lovers”. As a result of protagonist becomes infected with COVID, the death-laden pauses, brief scenes of domestic routine and the music composed by Rufat Tahirov deepen in tandem. As a consequence of the disconnection from active social life, the citizen’s efforts to find an answer the question “how can one live?” are also reflected in documentary feature film “About a Father” made by Nurlan’s (together with Toghrul Musa) over this period.
Nurlan Hasanli’s post-pandemic film “Early Feelings” relies on a traditional storytelling, without any claim to explore form or style. The film portrays the confrontation between little Ziya’s (Shafi Sadig – a graduate of the “Oyuq” studio) dream world, his desires, and reality. According to the plot, a girl at their age, accompanied by her family, arrives at the house in their neighborhood where a mourning ceremony takes place. The young boys of the neighborhood eagerly try to get contact with the girl. Meanwhile, in Ziya’s heart, deeper feelings for the girl start to grow…
The short feature film “Early Feelings” tells a story about Ziya who tries to prove himself in his family and society but remains outsider. From the film subtly emphasizes his “out of the play (outsider) status” from its early scenes: the kids adjust them under the fast-moving train by placing metal scraps on the rails. In the next sequence scene, Ziya doesn’t know what to do with the flattened knife, how to sharpen it. Like his age-mates he is unable to find his position while playing football and legs behind his friends in agility.
The director doesn’t content with the scenes that make the protagonist feel inadequate. He tests Ziya under more uncomfortable situations: he fails to deliver the freights given by the mourning woman to the destination; sugar lumps fall out of the torn plastic bag. On the other hand, the fact that he is a supporter of separate football teams with his father causes minor conflicts. When Ziya makes an effort to prove him, he becomes a loser and an outsider. Dramaturgical tension is conveyed not through ‘shouting’ or hyperbolic situations and imagery (cinematographed by Daniel Guliyev), but through a discreet, silent visual language.
“Early Feelings” is a story of a child’s growth, experiences by a single incident. Nonetheless, definite weaknesses in the film are considerable. The opening scene depicts children crafting a knife from a piece of metal, but the role of knife is not seemingly such a functional throughout the film. The knife appears again, somewhat unexpectedly, in the middle of the story; Ziya angrily scratches a stone with it. In the final scene, after the funeral ceremony, the child disappointed by the man’s departure intents to kill him running after neighbor (the host of the ceremony) with the knife in hand. The emotional state that would push the child to the brink of killing Ziya is not fully developed. To make such a reckless action, there needed to set the stage for an emotional outburst by driving the child into a state of more intense and irritable. And of course, the knife factor remains crucial.
In the next episode, Ziya, holding a knife in his father’s arms, comes out of the block. The event inside the block remains unclear but we can only presume: the child, running after the neighbor, comes across with his father and takes him to play football. Guided by his father’s support, he finally discovers his own place. The finale is optimistic. The reflection of his father’s support for the child is an important throughout the film. But I could not feel the sense of the child’s joy and empathize with him because of incomplete and schematic final episode. Because there was a need for a confrontation and conversation between the father and son whose relations are strained. How did that child, who decided to kill, suddenly, tune into such a happy mood? Briefly, we are not given opportunity to explore Ziya’s inner life or get closer to his character.
In any case, the film Early Feelings shines with optimism, one of the bright features is an authentic depiction of contrast between death and life: the children, who observe to the carrying process of coffin. Later they resume playing football as if nothing has happened.
On the whole, the cast’s performances, including Vusala Aghayeva as the mother and Tural Bakhish as the father, alongside Shafi Sadig and other members of the “Oyuq” studio, are marked by vitality and authenticity.
Unlike the director’s previous two films, Early Feelings was produced with financial support from the Cinema Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (CARA). The executive producer of the film is Elmaddin Aliyev, and the producer is Emin Najafov.
In the first two short feature films, Nurlan has unique approach and style to the subject matter alongside his search for curious visual styles. Compared to the abovementioned films, Early Feelings appears less remarkable. While the first two films featured an original narrative approach, a classical narrative structure was preferred in the latest film.
Sevda Sultanova