That Cloud Never Left Directed by Yashaswini Raghunandan
That Cloud Never Left
Directed by Yashaswini Raghunandan
Country: India
Year: 2019
Author Review: Roberto Matteucci
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The world toy market was $90.4 billion in 2018. (1)
A very high amount destined to grow. The forecast for 2023 is for a global turnover of $120 billion. (2)
To make children all over the world happy, it is necessary billion of pieces. Where do these huge quantities of toys produce?
The Indian director Yashaswini Raghunandan in the film That Cloud Never Left, presented at the 55th Pesaro Film Festival, narrates of a special niche of toy production.
The narration does not concern the assembly lines of the very large factories. However, talks about the naive production in Daspada in India, a village about 200 kilometres from Calcutta.
Everyone in Daspada works in toy manufacturing. They use particular materials, such as wood, bamboo, clay, plastic, cables, paper, and celluloid reel films.
The first scenes are short shots. They describe the aspects of life in the country; with women in saris, a toy seller characterized by a close-up on colourful pinwheel. Then there are roads, cars and above all a river with many boats. There is the school with children busy looking for something.
It is a peaceful place, quiet despite the many activities of the people. In the evening radio and television broadcast tragic news, as factory explosion or perpetuals fighting with the Pakistanis.
The story continues with many human and lively situations. An important event is enlivening the village, it is the eclipse, in a few days it will be visible in India.
The author also adopts electronic images and the connotative editing, such as the insertion of a television scene to explain the circular movement of the eclipse. All is red, just the lines are white.
The eclipse is arriving; some men have erected an observation tower. Everything changes, everything is bright red. Even life on the river becomes red.
A primary colour, the red, and a perfect geometric shape, the circle, intersect in the story. The connection is with the pinwheel. The pinwheel is a simple but hypnotic toy, made by a multitude of skilful and rapid hands.
The director favours two shots.
There are the circles of toys and of the eclipse ones. Yashaswini Raghunandan adds other circular forms of the human existence of the village, as the woman who quickly turns the rice.
The second preference is the wrinkled, callusy but still energetic and vigorous hands. Despite age and fatigue, hands move fast and capable. She mainly films in the close-ups to exalt them: the hands are intelligent, in the noble meaning of the thought of Don Bosco.
There is one cultural element in the processing of toys. The author idealizes this aspect: the connection with the old Bollywood movies. They were thrown after cheering up, excited, amused in Indian cinemas. Now the negatives are useless but the ingenious inhabitants of Daspara manage to find a social and playful use: they cut and work them until becoming toys
The night arrives, outside is dark, the interiors of the houses are also obscure, the TV broadcasts Bollywood movies. The only colours are those from television.
That Cloud Never Left has a clear and exact moral. The language is calm but original. The film is divided into many parts, slowly constantly changing, maintaining a precise meaning, through the editing. The match is often between electronic visions and natural sequences to distinguish the two worlds.
The cinematography is refined: in a darkness scene the street light intermittently flashing In the village, there is no light pollution so even a broken street lamp creates a peaceful atmosphere.
The night is not silent, inhabitants do not speak but cicadas intensely sing.
Indian authors love filming small animals or insects, during their quiet labour. Yashaswini Raghunandan does too. There are noisy flies, or centipedes moving lazily, or fireflies forming a circle, participating in the director's game.
It is the beauty of That Cloud Never Left. A genuine paradise surrounds the village, but people are poor because work is badly paid. Nevertheless, they can make very beautiful toys, outside the big billionaire business of the industry.
The director Yashaswini Raghunandan during the presentation of That Cloud Never Left in 55 Pesaro Film Festival, picture by www.popcinema.org
