Jonaki (2018) User Reviews

Looking back is not a nostalgia, its the path of time.

[munaigold · 7/10 · 16 November 2018]

A movie about love and the social pressure that held it back. The most interesting idea that blew my mind, was the representation of a nineteen-year-old girl by an eighty years old grandmother. Although it is assumed that the old age is only for dying quietly, their heart also flutters like few pigeons in an almost empty house (body), whose soul is still thriving. At first the relationship between Lolita Chatterjee and Jim Sarbh feels like the mismatch that was not supposed to be but as we all have heard the phrase that, "the heart wants what the heart wants", the want of a life, of love is clearly found in Lolita Chatterjee's heart wrenching performance. Yes, it's a tale of an old woman we all have known in our family but what if she in reality wants something else than a prayer in her last days? What if for our own sakes we have closed our eyes and convinced ourselves of her personality which might be something different in reality? For example, instead of being a grandma, what if she is a young soul by heart who looks for her solace in the world? Without a single word, Lolita Chatterjee asks these questions through her acting. The movie contains many unnecessarily prolonged scenes but the artistic play with shades that portrays this common yet uncommon love is something not found before. Where dilemma in love have been perceived through the tears of petals in other artistic mediums, we see it here with a different view: its either the peels of the orange that tinkers the fire or nothing but a match stick that catches fire and burns. Jonaki is not a story about a single person. When family and friends misunderstand, and one loses the courage to fight, she becomes a jonaki (Firefly). They all try to shine in the darkness but their life span is too short to erase the darkness completely. They glow in the dark from time to time, till no one remembers their existence anymore. Aditya Vikram Sengupta is truly an artist. Must keep my eyes open for his next performance.

Jonaki, a dreamscape of memories

[atibsarkar · 8/10 · 27 February 2024]

Jonaki, an ode to the past, a dreamscape of memories, a portrait of some unrhymed thoughts. This offers us an indolent visit to the joyful past, where intimacy of love was so pure, through the Leaden and melancholic silence of age. A story of a banished life surviving in the foresaken island of memories. It's an extraordinary work of art with surreal visuals of dark aesthetics. The every visual element of this film: dam floor, mossy atmosphere, brokens stairwells, marks the mood of gloom, which completely resonates with the soundtrack. The noisy silence adds to it. In the kaleidoscopic theatre of dreams, the extinction of Jonaki's lumina drowns us inside the dying hopes of life.

Overall, Jonaki reminds me the backward filmmaking of recent Indian cinema where it completely stands against that and that's why I love every film from Sengupta so much. Though it completely owns its narrative and framing style but here I witness a lot influence of Roy anderson's 'about endlessness'. It definitely deserves a five star but I cut that half mark for that mosquito asmr.

A little convoluted, a little lost

[SoumikBanerjee1996 · 7/10 · 5 January 2023]

The films of Aditya Vikram Sengupta are like sincerely penned poems, expertly conveying a broad range of thoughts through the most basic and eloquent aspect of cinema-its visuals. His ideas are taken to a new level by the cinematography and screenplay.

This is a fascinating style of filmmaking that can appeal to both cinema studies academics and general moviegoers because each & every frame opens up new possibilities for distinctive interpretations. While the tale of Jonaki isn't flawless, it does deliver an engaging piece of visual storytelling, thus its artistic merits shouldn't be overlooked.

Jonaki

[arjuncal · 9/10 · 4 November 2018]

You can take every frame out of Aditya Vikram Sengupta's second feature, put it up on a gallery wall and be rest assured that people will line up to see it. Love, longing and loneliness sucks you in like a deep breath, keeps you inside as long as they feel like and then breathes you out slowly at their own pace. Burnt walls, flickering lights and a brilliant soundscape aptly add to the minimalist performance of the actors who beautifully narrate an unforgiving story in the bleakness of this impressionist dreamscape. The stunning cinematography cajoles you into the chasms of the story, the edit pace unravels at its own speed to reveal things told and untold, the dialogues are minimal and narrated when needed, the production design is breathtaking to say the least and coming back to the sound design, it unravels in the background to express the deep seated emotions that the characters experience and emote from time to time. Jonaki is cinema that needs to be watched and watched again because each immersion is bound to be a new journey into the unknown. It's a deep dive into the senses, an open window in the structure of modern cinema of India and an experience that will linger even after the curtains come down.

What a waste of time....

[rafiulamin · 1/10 · 15 October 2019]

Creating such a film and watching such a film both is a great waste of time. I wish I can undo last 90 mins. Real rating for this film is '0'

Masterpiece

[srutimisra · 9/10 · 12 June 2021]

Movie: Jonaki

"Jonaki" (Firefly) is a pure Bengali art film which is first premiered at Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2018. It is directed by Aditya Vikram Sengupta. He has already won our heart with the silent drama "Labour of Love". This film was screened at several international film festivals. Aditya was influenced from the classic "The Mirror", a beautiful creation of Russian filmmaker, Tarkovsky.

Jonaki is an old woman who is in comatase state and she's lost in her decaying memories at her deathbed. Late Lolita Chatterjee and Jim Sarbh are the protagonists here. Cinematography, sound design and light effects are amazing. Each frame is like a poem itself. This film has minimal dialogues. Metaphors (like toy soldiers, fire and many more) are used in this movie to symbolise love, pain and loss. Mainly oranges are used as metaphor several times. Visual representation of memories were shown in a haphazard way.

This movie is no doubt experimental. Do not get me wrong, but I must say that "Jonaki" is not everyone's cup of tea. Some of you may find it slow and boring. If you're planning to watch this movie just to entertain yourself then I will suggest you to look for other options. "Jonaki" is not made for mass audience. If you're comfortable with art films then I highly recommend you to watch this. Last but not the least, Jim Sarbh's performance was phenomenal. "Jonaki" is indeed a hidden gem. If you already watched "Labour of Love" then do not miss "Jonaki".

Poetry in a movie

[mariahossain95 · 9/10 · 23 February 2023]

This movie is a poem. Poems don't give you the whole picture word-for-word. Poems give you snippets and you form the entire picture in your head. The same goes for this movie. The part where an 80+ years old actress plays a 19yo girl's character will make most of the viewers feel odd. But often, when we look back at our memories, do we view ourselves as our current age or our age at the time of the memory? Mostly, we view ourselves as we are remembering it. The same happened here. As the protagonist lays dying in a hospital bed, she looks back at some of the most cherished days of her life. She remembers the love that got away, she remembers how her mother didn't let her be with her star-crossed lover, how her arranged marriage with a much older man ruined her life. Each scene tells you so much. The scene where a little girl walking down a sun-lit corridor finds oranges bouncing down the corridor from unknown sources. She tries to gather them all but she can't. So, she leaves some behind. The meaning behind this, I presume, is that some love we get is so great, we don't have enough hands to gather them all to ourself. So, we leave it behind, just like Jonaki's lover did. Then, there's another corridor, this time dark and ominous, with doors lining up on both sides. A nurse comes out of one door and goes through another, each time carrying a bowl of "something". They indicate how many miscarriages Jonaki suffers. At the end of the movie, an older version of Jonaki's long lost lover visits her in the hospital carrying oranges. In a symbolic scene, his bag of oranges tears and the fruits topple down. He tries to gather them all but he can't. This time, he has lots of love to give to the dying Jonaki but alas, she can't gather them all. It's too late.

This movie isn't for the masses. This is for the intellectual niche. If you're gonna watch it, watch it without any irritation and with tons of patience. This movie is not just almost entirely wordless, it's also without much plot. But it is a masterpiece.