Three and a Half (2018)
The story of one house in three different eras. Where 50 years ago it was divided between a school and an apartment, in which a young boy struggles with the pressures of pre-pubescent school life, coupled with being compelled to share a tiny room with his paralysed, disconsolate grandfather. Who in turn has devious plans for the child's 12th birthday which happens to fall on a leap year. The same building 20 years later becomes home to a brothel, where a young unexploited concubine is dealing with her self-proclaimed "first" client who has a strange inability to fulfil his physical desire unless obligated to the duress of a transaction to do so. Now, 30 years later these same walls surround a sublime home which belongs to a soul-stirring 75 year old couple who love, laugh and dance together. They whisper the secrets of time forgone and seemed to have overcome the undying need for love and escape which seems to have plagued the inhabitants of this house in the past.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Reviews
The Worst Film Ever
I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Viewed at Kerala IFF December 2017. Teen aur Aadhya" (Three and a Half) written and directed by Daria Gai a Ukrainian resident of India for several years, and produced by Anurag Kashyap, aroused lively curiosity and discussions throughout the festival week. This is a story in three parts set in the same house at different times years apart. The half in question is the house itself which "observes" each little drama taking place within its confines. The first tale is about a young boy and his bedridden grandfather who stages his own death in a most peculiar manner on leap year day. In tale number two the house has become a brothel with a young prostitute who tries to convince her clients that each time is her first time changing her name on each turn. Her main client is impotent except under certain conditions but keeps giving her money. In part three we meet an elderly couple, who may or may not be people we have encountered earlier. They lie around in bed touching and kissing tenderly while arguing and musing over their long gone sex drive and former passions. submit What makes the film work in a special manner is the fact that each story is shot in a single take with no cuts as the action sweeps around the motionless walls. Various people relate to the three stories in various ways which is precisely what makes it so interesting. I liked them all but liked part three best. Judy Gladstone, a festival delegate from Canada and an astute film observer from Canada, remarked that this experimental debut feature is the work of a true talent. "The the next film by director Dargai will be a masterpiece". I tend to agree.