Chatrak
Press
"The cinema of Vimukthi Jayasundara resembles that of Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Palme d'Or 2010 for Uncle Boonmee). In CHATRAK, talking to the ground by digging holes and plunging into the mouth, you
see a turtle moving that reflects the spirit of the ancestors, disoriented, lost in the mud whence arise these habitats standardized, similar to 'giant cages'. The missing brother is mad, he takes refuge in the
treetops of the forest threatened with desecration.
For Jayasundara, the architect makes ??the same trade as the filmmaker: his management of space, his art to circulate the light, springing a type of homes expected to uphold the country's culture. The architect of
CHATRAK betrays its roots and builds emblems of rich countries - an 'architectural Esperanto'. The filmmaker justifies his storytelling by a tenacious will to escape the conventions of Western narrative, a
formatting lives. A madness? Rather the desire to escape a cultural globalization suicidal." - Jean-Luc Douin - Le Monde (19.05.2011)
"Disconcerting though the plot may at least initially be, the film has its wild as well as some comic moments that soon win the viewer over." - Agnieszka Gratza, SIGHT & SOUND (UK)
"A beautiful meditation on modern India. The film seduces by its mise-en-scene filled with absurd and unsettling imaginativeness." - Emily Barnett, LES INROCKUPTIBLES (Weekly, FR)
"We often smile in Chatrak, who distils here and there some touches of humor, funny situations and words. A storytelling with a fine construction, which stimulates with happiness the viewer, and portrays intriguing characters who don’t stop moving. A beautiful success." - Marion Pasquier, CRITIKAT (Website, FR)
"Drama and humor get married, moreover, ideally and until the outcome, the deeply moving explosion which ends on an already indelible picture the friendly speech of his autor." - Hendy Bicaise, VERSUS (Monthly, FR)
"Viewers familiar with Jayasundara's m.o. will be able to piece together a coherent if extremely slow-burning story that involves an architect looking for his lost sibling, and some vague commentary on the Kolkata building boom." - Boyd van Hoeij, Variety
"From the very first pictures, it almost feels like in UNCLE BOONMEE, as the power of the jungle is equaled only the splendor of the photo. We are here in a territory of sensation, not comprehension."
- Jean Roy, L'Humanité (Daily, France)
"Another masterpiece from Cannes: Vimukthi Jayasundara's Chatrak (Mushrooms). A dazzling reworking of themes, imagery and charms of classic Bengalese cinema (Sen, Ray, Ghatak) through the lens of one of the most idiosincratic young auteurs of contemporary cinéma."- Paolo Bertolin, Venice Film Festival