Soosthi (2020)
I went to the theater in an empty background about the movie without even watching the trailer. All I could remember was that it was a road trip movie starring Dasun Pathirana. Until about fifteen minutes into the movie, I thought Dasun would play a main character. :P
If you take the whole idea I had about the film, I have to say GREAT! If polished a bit more, it would have been REALLY GREAT! Right now, a significant number of people in Sri Lanka are at least internationally familiar with quality movies and teledramas. So you can't fool them. It's something that can be felt by a person who usually watches any type of movies. So that's what I think. It's a great job. A little more polish would have made it really great. Nevertheless it's great as a movie made in Sri Lanka. Soosthi is not the kind of movie that most people would watch anyway. But further efforts to diversify the tastes of the majority must continue. No need to be stuck in two 'thousand five hundred' and 'five hundred and fifty'. Soosthi is a film that can appeal to traditional audiences as well. So it should be promoted by the non-majority who has tasted it. This effort is for that.
'Soosthi' is a film that will not fool the audience who are looking for diversity in cinema. I've seen a lot of Hollywood or European movies like this, but this is different. Because behind this road trip, they were able to catch the current truth in Sri Lanka right now. 'Susthi' is a film that punch our face with the nakedness of the society. I love this emerging branch of Sinhala cinema and I wish it to be strong. Because this movie comes from a study of films and society. It doesn't seem to have come out just because there are tools to make films. Such a thing would only come up completely if people watched it in theater.
I knew about Kalana's writings because I had read that he had published a book of poetry. After watching an interview on YouTube, I had the idea that he was a man with a reading about the whereabouts. So there was hope for his writing.
The writing is in a very good place, but I have the impression that it could have been done better. The dialogue that develops within the film is advanced. But behind some dialogues I got caught at one or two places that are not practical. It feels like a glitch in a video. I don't know if those conversations within the movie could be brought down a bit more. Maybe the extension of their discussions about this film will come out in the next production as well.
Much of what was said above is negligible due to the performances of Kalana and Samanali. I have never seen a Samanali act before and I have not even watched Kalanas Koombio teledrama in its entirety. I think Samanali's acting is wonderful throughout the film. Kalana's dialogue delivery is probably very natural maybe because he wrote it himself. Both of them understand the character and realized they are in the scene.
On the other hand, I don't think characters of parents need in this. Those few scenes break the flow and the fact that they didn't exist doesn't bother the theme of the story. Perhaps Kushan and Kalana wanted to put an unreadable angle behind the film during the discussions between the two lead actors.
The vibe is great with the music and the lyrics. Camera operation is a next level job. There were several scenes that were filmed for quite a time in a single shot. I had never seen Sinhala films with such work before. The dialogue behind those long scenes means that the group has taken the work seriously.
I think the current social change in our country (and perhaps in the world) is due to the disruption of education. There are many people who do not know words like patience and discipline. They do not understand how to look at a problem from different angles, and do not understand how to work with mutual respect. It was not an instantaneous thing. With the change in the economic and social systems, the methods of adapting to them are not updated. It is now widespread throughout our society. Something that is so ubiquitous and repetitive. Someone who is tired of all that and bored might want to kill him/ herself. Would a second be enough to make you want to see life differently?
I think this film is an experiment in a way. The distance that a script like this can go in Sri Lanka is being tested. Although there are action level creations about politics, I have not seen a film that was made from a philosophical point of view. I think this is a good approach to work like that. A film that puts a headline reading and conversation about society. Since everyone is a socio-political analyst these days, I think this one would have value. This is what Sri Lanka needs.
This is a modified Google translating of my original Sinhala note.
