This interesting film conversation was not quite what I
expected, but was nonetheless thought –provoking and rewarding. The film had the feeling of a truly
spontaneous dialogue between Mania Akbari and Mark Cousins (something that was
confirmed in the post-film Q&A) rather than the more structured,
collaborative essay that I was expecting.
However, the film had an authenticity and meditativeness that it might
not have had if it had been a more formal collaboration.
The film therefore seems to have been made the way it is
presented. It opens with a letter from Cousins to Akbari, a wonderful,
impassioned, rambling look at Akbari’s previous films. Akbari responds with the
tale of her exile from Iran and journey to London via Dubai and Malmo, framing
it with the contrasting views in each of those cities of freedom, of women, of
art and culture and much more. Cousins
runs with some of the themes raised in Akbari’s reply – such as depiction of
bodies and nudity in art, film and society; and memorialisation of conflict.
Akbari responds and expands on Cousins’ trains of thought. Finally Cousins
leaves us with a sort of visual poem as a coda.
One of the interesting ways about how the film is presented
is the contrasts between the two film makers’ approach. Cousins has an
enthusiastically magpie-like approach, grabbing everything around him and
everything pouring out his mind and meshing it together to try draw out
universal themes. Akbari takes these
themes and explores them in a much more personal way. Although she also references and integrates
many cultural touchstones, she illuminates them through her own extraordinary
life experiences.
What is particularly appealing about the film is although it
is very much defined by the filmmakers’ own styles, and really does feel like a
genuine conversation between the two, it is not a closed conversation or an
exclusive one. Both raise their issues
and opinions in a way that invites the audience to reflect themselves on the
themes explored by the film and I think it would be pretty hard to watch the
film and not wonder what your own film letter response would be.
Although I was a little disappointed that the conversation
wasn't as much about film and film making as I was hoping, Life May Be felt
like the start of a discourse, not the complete conversation and I would be
delighted to see these two continue their dialogue on whatever topic they like.
Perhaps this could be the first of several of conversations of this type. The two film makers clearly have a lot of
fascinating this to say in a fantastically engaging way, - proved by their
previous film work – and they also seem to draw a great deal of perspective thinking
from the other. It was nice to eavesdrop
for a little while.
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