Uptown Magazine Online - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News

Uptown Magazine - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News

May 21, 2009


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2009-05-21

The Pool

Opens Friday

Chris Smith, director of American Movie, the infamous documentary about a clueless yet persistent amateur horror filmmaker, treads decidedly different water with this narrative about the vagaries of India's (and to some extent, the world's) class systems.

It's slow-moving and delicate, but minor pleasures are to be had in the film's marginally complicated portrayals of the rich, the poor and the huge divide between them.

Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan), an underprivileged rural youth from Goa, India, is a housekeeper at a hotel in the larger city of Panjim. He pals around with the younger, more cunning Jahangir (Jahangir Badshah). In between meandering discussions, the two pick up extra cash by selling plastic bags to people on the street.

Venkatesh's life chugs along unfulfilled - until he casually scopes out a hillside pool located in the back of an expansive estate. He begins to obsess about this largely unoccupied, gleaming sign of luxury before manufacturing a meeting with the wealthy owners, Nana Patekar and his quick-witted daughter, Ayesha (Ayesha Mohan).

How Venkatesh's insulated world turns upside down becomes The Pool's main focus.

The three begin to bond over their shared points of interest (namely gardening) while their financial differences remain in the background. Their relaxed conversations fend off any accusations of falsely rendered sympathy for the poor Venkatesh, nor any ill-will towards the affluent family, a usual cinematic scapegoat.

Once the family dynamic is introduced, Smith can't help but pick up on more of the family's end of the story, briefly relegating Venkatesh to the sidelines. In another movie this move might prove a false step, but here, Smith's curiosity into what makes other people tick feels just right.

Smith serves as his own cameraman, and his natural eye for capturing the incorporated and truthful back-stories reveals his documentarian background.

The fact that three of the four lead actors (minus Patekar, a Bollywood star) are all untrained gives a realistic dimension to their performances. Venkatesh, though initially overshadowed by Jahangir's bravado, is the acknowledged hero of Smith's picture, and it's remarkable how he carries it so effortlessly on his shoulders.
— Aaron Graham

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