Grand Tour Review: Miguel Gomes바카라� Oddball, Delightful Travelogue Jumbles The Past and Present

Miguel Gomes바카라� new film Grand Tour has all the whimsical, baffling yet delightful mystery of his best work. It바카라�s like myriad, colorful stripes have come together to make patterns that are as peculiar as alluring. A Gomes film is very much its own universe with a different schema. Open your heart and step in바카라�the real world retreats, replaced by cinema that follows its own dream-logic.

Opening in colonial-era Burma, a narrator (of which there are many in the film, switching motley native languages) introduces one of the two primary characters, Edward (Gonçalo Waddington). A British bureaucrat, though not of great consequence, he바카라�s evading his fiancé, Molly바카라�s (a pert Crista Alfaiate) attempts at intimacy. It바카라�s clear he바카라�s no longer interested in the wedding, dodging its eventuality as well as Molly herself. But she refuses to take the cues.

In the second half, the film pivots to Molly바카라�s exploits. The quest unravels from her perspective. She바카라�s nudged by many about what바카라�s apparent in Edward바카라�s persistent escape, his shirking of every telegram she sends his way. She insists she knows him, trusts him. He바카라�s not a coward, she helplessly asserts. So, wherever he sneaks off to, she manages to get through, informing him triumphantly she바카라�s not far off. 바카라�It바카라�s a mystery how someone can be so tenacious,바카라� Edward remarks mournfully. In stark contrast to the low intensity of his section, the second half injects a fresh spark. While Edward바카라�s portion is more observant and detached, Molly바카라�s is spryly engaged, inserting herself as an active presence.

We follow the two as they cavort across a sweeping expanse. As resigned Edward is to the next adventure that strikes him, Molly is giddy and enthused by the new sights, ripples of tantalizing discovery. Each culture바카라�be it Saigon, Japan, China or the Philippines바카라�presents its own bundle of eccentricities, charming and folksy. Molly can barely contain her memorable, sharp bursts of laughter at an elephant dance. There are mime shows, martial arts matches, puppet dances recounting tales of yore, counterposed with images of bustling urbanity, as well as tarot sessions Molly consults. As they foray through the depths of Asia, the three cinematographers바카라�Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Rui Poças and Gui Liang바카라�alternate between evoking spellbound fascination and dull, regular rhythms. Grand Tour extracts the dynamic of a foreign place바카라�the negotiation between being arresting and alienating.

As staggeringly ambitious and inspired Gomes바카라� filmmaking is, it바카라�s full of playful irreverence. The central tale of lovers plays out against a stage strewn with anachronisms. Studio sets combine with modern equipment even as the frame narrative is very evidently set in the past. The two lead roles are of Brits but played by Portuguese actors never using a word of English. There바카라�s wit and style co-existing with a desire to break free of controlled form. Spanning cities, continents, forests and landscapes, the film braids geography with an exploratory lens. Much is glanced through travellers who aren바카라�t familiar with lands they traverse. Languages are foreign. Therefore, ways of grappling with new places and philosophies emerge as disorienting experiences. Gomes transmits the incomprehension of the characters. So, native languages alien to Edward aren바카라�t subtitled, rendered legible, but remain equally inaccessible to us. How do we then decipher others바카라� rising suspicions, settle their doubts? Documentary footage of every place바카라�s modern avatar strips away the exotic enigma they may have had to the film바카라�s travelers.

As much of the rambling adventures바카라�with coteries of mixed nationalities with their own power verticals바카라�permeate Grand Tour, there바카라�s an equal degree of unpredictability. These Eastern lands may leave Edward and Molly initially wonderstruck but gradually exert danger바카라�a world that can be brutal if they choose to be stubborn.

바카라�Abandon yourself to the world,바카라� a Japanese monk tells Edward at a later point in his journey, 바카라�and see how generous it is to you바카라�. It바카라�s one of those spare moments that unlocks an entire film and its maker바카라�s spirit. Grand Tour is an invitation to partake in life바카라�s sudden mysteries and surprises, its vast splendor. To shut ourselves off in a safe cocoon is only a denial of endlessly rich pleasures. These can blaze before us if we permit porousness, refusing to be bound in certain fixed value-systems. How expansive can our vision, our appetite for curiosity and wonder be? Gomes insists on jousting with those limits, destroying them altogether.

Grand Tour is now streaming on MUBI India.