'മൂസയിലെ കുതിര മീനുകൾ' : മുക്കുവന്റെ പ്രണയ കാവ്യവും ചില ചോദ്യങ്ങളും

'മൂസയിലെ കുതിര മീനുകൾ' കണ്ടു. അജിത്‌ പിള്ളയുടെ ആദ്യത്തെ സംവിധാന ,സംരഭം. ലക്ഷദ്വീപിന്റെ ദൃശ്യ ഭംഗി നന്നായി പ്രമേയവുമായി സമ്ന്വയിപിചിരിക്കുന്നു.  കഥയിലെ വിവിധങ്ങളായ സ്ഥലകാലങ്ങൾ യുക്തിപൂർവമായി ഭാവങ്ങളുടെ ഒരു തുടര്ച്ച സൃഷ്ടിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു.

എന്നാലും ചില വസ്തുതകൾ പറയേണ്ടതുണ്ട്. കുതിര മീനുകള എന്ന സങ്കല്പത്തെ അതിന്റെ പൂര്ണമായ ശക്തിയിൽ പ്രയോഗിക്കാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞിട്ടില്ല. കഥയിലെ നായക കഥപാത്രങ്ങളുടെ സ്വഭാവ വിശേഷങ്ങളായി കുതിര മീനുകൾ  അവശേഷിക്കുന്നു. അത് പോലെ തിമിഗല  വേട്ടയുടെ ചിത്രീകരണവും അതിന്റെ സജീവതയോടെ ഉപയോഗിക്കാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞിട്ടില്ല.

കാല്പനികതയുടെ ഒരു വ്യഗ്രത ചിത്ര  സന്നിവേശത്തിൽ തെളിഞ്ഞു കാണാം. എന്നാൽ വ്യഗ്രതയോടെ പ്രണയത്തിന്റെയും സമാഗമത്തിന്റെയും പരിസമാപ്തി സൃഷ്ടിച്ചു കഴിയുമ്പോൾ പിന്നെ ഒന്നും പറയാനില്ലാത്ത ശൂന്യത നമുക്കനുഭവപെദുന്നു.

ഇതു പുത്തൻ സിനിമകളുടെ ഒരു  പാരിമിതി ആയിത്തീരുന്നു.പുത്തൻ സാമൂഹ്യ അന്തരീക്ഷം ഉള്ളപോഴും പുതിയ സങ്കേതങ്ങൾ ഉള്ളപോഴും പഴയ ചോദ്യങ്ങളും പഴയ ഉത്തരങ്ങളും ഒട്ടുമിക്ക ഉദ്യമങ്ങളിലും പ്രതിഫലിക്കുന്നു.

അങ്ങനെ 'മൂസയിലെ കുതിര മീനുകൾ' മൂസ എവിടെയാണെന്നോ കുതിര മീനുകൾ കണ്ടാൽ എങ്ങനെ ഉണ്ടെന്നോ പറയാതെ, ചൂണ്ടി കാണിക്കാതെ ഒരു മുക്കുവന്റെ പ്രണയ കാവ്യം സൃഷ്ടിക്കുന്നു. 

Constructivism and the world of art: Beyond the noise

Investigations on the major milestones of Russian formalism took me to the foundations of constructivism. I found the following books informative on the historic role of constructivism in shaping a social aesthetics of art and literature in the modern times. However my pursuit to find the critical role of constructivism in shaping up a materialist consciousness in the emerging literary groups of Soviet Union needs further references.

In the book: Constructionism in Practice: Designing, Thinking, and Learning in A Digital World, I came across an interesting article by Mayakovsky here: How are Verses Made?. Quite thoughtful indeed. This book mentions that environment design and artifact design need to be worked upon separately.

The same book says about another conjecture that the markets are inherently reflexive when the author is speaking about the ‘open textured’ nature of designs. The rationale is that whenever the interpretations of human action can change the course of subsequent action and interpretation, it is said to be reflexive. While searching online, I could see that constructivism is almost used synonymous with the category ‘social constructionism’ and many authors perceive Marxism itself as a philosophy centered on social constructionism.

Going through one such book, Building Knowledge Cultures, we can see that there is a recent attempt to create mystery around the concept of constructivism. This book presents an argument that constructionism and constructivism are entirely different schools of thought. I will need to examine the authenticity of this laughable proposition.

On going further, the book Unfolding Social Constructionism speaks about a critical approach to cognitive psychology and its representational paradigms. It says that memories, perceptions, motives etc are not psychological entities, rather constructed in conversation.

The book, The Russian Experiment in Art, 1863-1922 says that constructivism achieved its most complete realization in the early films of Sergei Eisenstein. Another book, Realist Constructivism says that a constructivist will take a clearer position on the ontological role between individual and society than on the questions surrounding the power.

Constructivism in Film: The Man with the Movie Camera : a Cinematic Analysis has finally landed me on the history of the movement in Russia at least. According to this book, constructivism was famously defined in the ‘Realist Manifesto’ issued by the brothers Naum Gabo and Antonin Pevsner. They wrote that ‘art is the realization of our spatial perception of the world’. The rhythms of the working men and the machines play an important role in the constructivist theater. Constructivist photo-montage is based on the principle of self reference and it precedes the emergence of the self referential cinema.

Like other constructivists, Alexander Rodchenko emphasized the self referential aspect of the photograph achieved through the dualistic relationship between the images content and the means by which the image is constructed. He suggested that the photographer should find the most expressive view point that would alert the viewer of the potential use of the medium. Implicit in this approach is the formalist’s method of ‘defamilarization’. This is an interesting development that constructivism becomes a tool to break the false consciousness.

Can cinema be an art of deception?

Film Review: Malayalam movie 'Drishyam'

Not getting into the controversies about the originality of the cinematic theme, let me express some of my thoughts about a movie I watched recently. It is Drishyam directed by Jithu Joseph. Mohan Lal, Asha Sharath, Meena and Siddhik are part of the main cast. It has become a block buster and getting popular review comments and word of mouth publicity. 

The movie begins with the tag line 'Visuals can be deceiving'. At the end of the 150 minutes, one may wonder what is the visual that deceived us. It was the narrative and the entire movie screenplay that deceived us. Moreover it raised a few questions on my mind. 

Can cinema / literature be the art form of deception? The movie goes at length to showcase the efforts of the commonsensical hero to hide a secret. The hero is on a war of survival against the brilliant but morally drained and personally shattered police officer who has lost all sense of humanity to prove a crime.

So on onside we have a villager trying to hide a grave secret and on the other side we have a police officer who goes brutal to unravel the mysteries surrounding her son. Where is a social conflict here? 

There are sexual abuses happening at various parts of our country. Then where should we begin the story? Should we keep the camera on the life a person who commits a crime to protest the abuse and then praise his efforts and brilliance in hiding the secret for eternity? Of course not. 

Despite a decent behavioural acting by Mohan Lal and the other crew, the movie is a pack of spades and strained imagination. Like every other commercial film that boasts about the marvels of editing, this film tries to create a perspective that is just dependent on an actor. The story is dead somewhere in the middle. 

Not only visuals but every art form can be used as a device for deception. It is artist who applies creativity to expose anti social elements and express truth in its highest form of existence, whether it is dream or reality.