Ankur – Page 26

Brit Marling’s twin indie dramas

Brit Marling is an unlikely candidate for one the hottest upcoming stars on the indie film circuit. Starting off as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, she found herself drawn towards the world of cinema. The result is two spectacular dramas that she screenwrote and acted in: Another Earth and Sound Of My Voice.

Another Earth is a sci-fi drama set around a startling scientific discovery: a new planet is discovered in the solar system which is a carbon copy of ‘our’ Earth, with exactly the same people living on it. The plot follows the story of Rhoda (played by Marling), a bright young high school student who runs over a woman and her son while drunk-driving. The story picks up its thread again after her release from prison, now unemployable, as she tries to reconcile herself with the crime she committed and finds herself falling into a relationship with the man whose wife and son she killed. While the premise of ‘another’ is wildly fantastical and scientifically inaccurate in how it’s portrayed, the film explores Rhoda’s doubts about how differently things have gone for her on the ‘other’ Earth.

Sound Of My Voice has similar roots in sci-fi, about a couple Peter and Lorna filming a documentary trying to expose Maggie (played by Marling) as a hoax, for she is the leader of a cult who claims she is from the future. Much of the film is shot within a single room, showing worship sessions of the cult and the characters’ struggles with accepting whether Maggie is who she claims she is – with some showing blind devotion and others being sceptical. Without giving too much away, Sound Of My Voice ends with one of the most enigmatic cliffhangers I have seen in cinema.

It is easy when writing sci-fi dramas to get distracted by scientific intricacies of making the premise seem accurate. Both films call upon the viewer to take the premise almost as an act-of-faith, and instead focuses on the human aspect of the stories. Is it okay to fall in love with someone whose family you killed – or hide your identity from him? Why do smart people get attracted by a cult anyway? Brit Marling’s brilliance lies in the fact that her films are chock full of what-if questions that makes the viewer think about they would do in the face of a similar dilemma. This is what makes Another Earth and Sound Of My Voice a brilliant, unsettling watch.

‘Lamb’ by Christopher Moore

‘Fantasy comedy’ writer Christopher Moore could not have picked a more controversial topic for his novel Lamb. Inspired by Soviet author Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita (which, in my opinion, is one of the best Soviet literary works because of its satirical nature), Lamb is a retelling of the life of Jesus Christ “through the eyes of his childhood pal, Biff”.

The fictionalised account is a first-person narrative from the perspective of Biff who is brought back to life in the present day to write a gospel that tells the “whole story behind Jesus’s life”. This artistic license arises from the fact the gospels in the New Testament do not cover the early life of Jesus. I was also surprised to learn while reading this novel that much of the commonly held beliefs about Nativity are, in fact, folklore that has been added in relatively modern times.

The novel starts off from the time when Jesus was a kid, tracing his journey as a teenager who realises that he is the Son of God. As they grow up, Jesus and Biff depart on a spiritual journey that takes them across the world to study with three Magi – who are, in the story, a wizard living in Afghanistan, a Buddhist monk in China, and a sage in India. The basis for this is the now mostly-debunked scholarly theory that Jesus travelled to or was otherwise influenced by Buddhism. Regardless, the novel borrows theology heavily from other religious texts such as the Torah (frequently quoted by the characters), the Gnostic Gospels, the Bhagavad Gita, and the works of Eastern sages such as Lao Tzu and Confucius.

The overall tone – the closest parallel I can think of is Monty Python’s The Life of Brian – is somewhat irreverent but at its core, the story is respectful of divinity of Jesus. The controversial aspect of the book arises from the fact that it considers both the fictional Biff and Mary Magdalene as close friends of Jesus, albeit it stops short of calling them apostles. Mary Magdalene, especially, as she plays the role of Jesus’s love interest.

If you’re willing to look past this, Lamb is a rollickingly funny novel that still manages to give food for thought on what morals we should have as human beings. It has Jesus fighting demons, being on first name terms with a Roman legionnaire, rescuing sacrificial kids in India, and making friends with a yeti. In the words of the author, the book has an answer to the ‘eternal’ question: “What if Jesus had known kung-fu?”

Rating: 9 / 10