WATCH THE FILM HERE
First, the Recap:
A bearing of gratefulness. How much do we let just slip by us daily that we take for granted? With so many aspects of our lives to experience and encounter, have we lost the motivation to pause and ascertain how thankful we are for the freedoms we personally take in, not to mention more outwardly through those given to us by others’ efforts? Is it time to cease striving long enough to treasure what we hold most dear in a new, increased way? For if we lose it, how then will we feel? It is a routine valued by a husband (Vick Krishna) and his wife (Piyali Syam), the time spent joking and sharing loving thoughts over a Zoom chat while she remains on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle as a medical professional. When the time comes each day, there’s a celebration of those serving as such, a time to remember those lost and those who keep fighting.
Next, my Mind:
In all truth, I cannot fully wrap my mind around the sheer, overwhelmingly dominant levels of emotional ups and downs that would be faced by those who have anyone, much less a spouse, away from them currently due to one or both having to serve on the battlefront of COVID-19 and the treatment of so many affected by it. To say this is in NO way to lessen, diminish, or downgrade the selfless, inspiring, noble, and brave sacrifice these essential workers put forth for the sake of the rest of us who just see getting through day by day in the sanitized safety of our own homes as a win. No, this is to say that these individuals deserve monumental amounts of praise, encouragement, support, and understanding they’re due all that and then some. That’s, in my opinion, exactly what this three minute twenty second short film delivers.
It was a highly dynamic addition to the “Pandemic Programming” shown at the 2020 ECSA: Escapist Cinema of South Asia online film festival presented by Jingo Media and sister festivals DFW SAFF and NYC SAFF. Through choosing to adapt it’s Zoom chat-based narrative highlighting the calm, softly presented yet so deeply, stirringly formidable, love-and-longing-filled conversation between a doting husband and his weary doctor wife, the film wastes no time tugging on the heartstrings to illustrate both the playful banter and “so what are you doing today” talk between them to the poignant and affecting moment when the daily time comes for a city to show its appreciation for said professionals and all their efforts, which cause him to have to pause their link and take part. Once returning, it’s final thoughts and the end of another day, promising to come back the same time tomorrow to do it all again.
Just the inner upheaval to know that your only connection with the one (or ones) you treasure is involuntarily but understandably made to happen virtually rather than in person is a place I can only imagine, as indicated in my first statement above. And given the intent of the film and the statement it is conveying, it made the effort’s final moments quite an unexpectedly jarring hit to the heart as well, just given what we’ve already witnessed and realizing that for all those workers out there having to push themselves even beyond their limits and be in harm’s way each and every day, there could be a high price to pay for that. Sometimes conjecture is one of the most compelling tools in a filmmaker’s arsenal, and while perhaps I am reading too much into it, the ending here would seem to employ it. If so, it only makes the film’s already profound core and soul that much more evocative.
Additionally, another major plus for the film is its simplicity, the uncomplicated, straight-forward means by which it’s objectives and visual delivery are executed. There’s no need for it to be more “involved” than it is, as said goals and thematic aims are more than efficiently brought to life through the format utilized, and certainly carry a utterly definitive emotional constant that I know had me in tears. It’s the perfection of illustrating the depth of the human capacity to love and miss that love when it isn’t tangibly present to embrace, yet knowing it DOES surpass the physical and is felt in spirit, in a voice inflection, in a smile, in the eyes, in body language. I feel that’s why the Zoom chat concept really works wonders here to carry all that weight and make US as the viewer absolutely feel it in our very being.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting both filmmakers, a real life couple, and the sincerity and genuineness that radiates from them deftly carries through to their performances here as a husband and wife so desperately yearning to be together again while circumstances called COVID-19 and her profession prevent it from happening. Her flirtatious, light-hearted manner belies the total exhaustion she feels while his docile demeanor likewise belies the churning fire within him to hold his wife again. It’s an emotive pair of performances that serves the nature of the film and its subject so well, and I give full measure of credit to both Krishna and Syam for not just be able to put across beautifully realistic and impassioned, dramatic roles, but make the entirety of the film themselves as well. Anyone who would think it looked simple to do, think again. That’s all I’ll say, but again, what an effort and labor of love for this duo, excellently accomplished.
In total, “7 PM” is an essential film that should be viewed, frankly, like all the other offerings that were a part of the “Pandemic Programming” at ECSA 2020, so that we truly capture all the facets of what our current state of being is, but then narrow it down to the importance of knowing that these essential workers are people just like us, needing love, needing rest, needing this all to come to a close in order to return to homes and families and do so with a new name attached to them–heroes.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
