Vimukthi Jayasundara’s films have always revolved around the endless human struggle to break out of ennui and attain peace of mind in a chaotic world. With his fourth feature and his first in nearly a decade, the Sri Lankan filmmaker has delivered possibly his most emotionally engaging film to date by drawing on the seismic shifts which happened during his time away: the death and destruction wrought by the pandemic, the normalisation of surveillance as a tool for efficient governance, and the atomisation of a technology-obsessed society.
Taking his trademark lush lensing to new heights by setting his story in a dystopian future and teasing a stirring leading performance from Indian actor Indira Tiwari as a bio-scientist seeking more spiritual means to overcome a bereavement, Jayasundara’s French-Sri Lankan-Indian co-production should grab more stops on the circuit after its premiere in the Busan International Film Festival’s main competition.
Set in a world ravaged by what is known as the “illvibe” – a virus vaguely described as the product of out-of-control machines meddling with the human consciousness – Spying Stars revolves around Anadi (Tiwari), whom we first encounter as she lands on a largely rural island to disperse her deceased father’s ashes. Playing on his audience’s inevitable memories of Covid and its discontents, Jayasundara shaped Anadi’s arrival as a bureaucratic nightmare straight out of those apocalyptic times. Forced to go through repeated medical exams in a spankingly new, unnervingly empty airport, she is told she might be infected and is swiftly spirited to a quarantine center.
Rather than a drab decommissioned military barrack, the facility turns out to resemble something like a mountaintop resort, where newly-arrived guests are provided with welcome drinks, served exquisite meals by a tastefully attired staff, and given space-age lodgings with pristine bedding and wide, openable windows. Not that Anadi is wowed by all this, though. Stewing in her room and over her food, she seems unable to jolt herself out of her grief, apart from the sporadic moments when she succumbs to a virus-inducing seizure which brings back memories of her role in this techno-pandemic and her father’s death.
Unfortunately, this is never followed up or thoroughly explained in the film. Sticking to its preference for atmosphere rather than story, Spying Stars zeroes in on Anadi’s alienation and also the effect of the natural environment on her well-being. Fortunately, Anadi’s lethargy – and possibly that of the audience – soon dissolves as she flees the refined confinement of the quarantine center, and seek solace in a forest with the shamanic mother (Kaushalya Fernando) of a sympathetic quarantine center employee (Hidaayath Hazeer).
Contrasting the luxurious-looking yet gloomy interiors in the first half of the film, Jayasundara opens up Anadi’s world – and thus her much suppressed feelings – as she is given the liberty to roam the land. Her initial despair about the artifice at the resort is marked by her dismay in discovering a public address system that broadcasts animal sounds in place of long-extinct fauna on Earth, but gradually gives way to a rekindled sense of awe and wonder. Reconnecting with the lay of the land and literally levitating as she attains a new frame of mind, Anadi concludes her journey to inner peace in an encounter with a scientist (Saumya Liyanage) and his contraption that could reconcile grief-stricken individuals and help them bid a proper farewell to their departed loved ones.
Renowned for his work on more gaudily-hued mainstream TV (such as the Netflix series Dabba Cartel), DP Eeshit Narain proves his versatility by matching Jayasundara’s melancholia with a visual palette drenched in inky greens. Roman Dymny’s sound design also plays a significant role in evoking nature at both its most ominous and glorious: there’s hardly a need to spy the stars when Planet Earth look so intriguing and engaging.
Director, screenwriter: Vimukthi Jayasundara
Producers: Nila Madhab Panda, Vincent Wang
Executive producers: Nayomi Apsara, Anuj Tyagi
Cast: Indira Tiwari, Hidaayath Hazeer, Kaushalya Fernando
Director of photography: Eeshit Narain
Editor: Saman Alvitigala
Production designer: Nuwan Sanurankha
Costume designer: Ama Wijesekara
Music composer: Alokananda Dasgupta
Sound designer: Roman Dymny
Production companies: House on Fire, Eleeanora Images
World sales: Diversion
Venue: Busan International Film Festival (Competition)
In English and Sinhala
99 minutes
