Published in: ECSA 2020

ECSA 2020 Short Film Review “The Last Letter”

Author OneFilmFan

Published on: June 3, 2020

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First, the Recap:

Longstanding decisions. We understand that, so often, many of life’s moments and how we would react to them arrive via spontaneous, in-the-moment choices that impact the now, but not necessarily any further. However, there are then additional choices that might have had a lifetime’s worth of influence, which having to revisit or recall engenders pain, regret, and newly felt loss. For 70-year old Mohan (Ravi Kumar), there’s a truth of who he really is that’s been both his identity yet also his prison. Stuck in a marriage he never wished for while being separated from all that he ever wanted, the realities of this have once more caught up with him, and it could spell both fond reverie, or a final realization of what could, and should, have been.

Next, my Mind:

The second short film featured as part of the LGBTQIA+ programming at the 2020 Escapist Cinema of South Asia online film festival presented by Jingo Media and sister festivals DFW SAFF and NYC SAFF, this 15-minute effort from writer/director/co-producer/editor Vishal Jejurkar along with producer Neeraj Churi and co-producer Sharanya Rajgopal delivers its themes through the strong dynamics found in both the keeping secrets and the often overwhelming power of remembrance. In doing so, we as the viewer are once more treated to an eloquent, deeply touching narrative about one man’s life and all that he sees as having gained yet lost along the way.

Through following his emotive journey that finds him recollecting about that which he once had and then was forced to abandon for the sake of cultural and societal pressures and conventions, it is a vividly candid journey filled with the feelings, sounds, and sense of utter longing he experiences while having to be constrained in an ultimately loveless marriage he never desired. Seeing the depth of this inward and outward friction gives the film such a heartbreaking dominance on us as the viewer, realizing that his whole nature in being gay from youth until now has been weighing this heavily as a constant reminder of what was not allowed to be.

As another project that addresses its themes with an intentionality that is undeniable while not turning it into some needlessly overblown, abrasively blunt commentary on the LGBTQIA+ community, it instead paints us a portrait of the fragility and disheartening sadness found in an individual’s yearning to just be who he is and accepted as such while then having had to stifle all of it for the sake of not being labeled a criminal. How the film so wonderfully shows how he strives to deal with his emotional turmoil through all that reminds him of what he possessed is highly influential and rousing, while also being that additional reminder of the hatred and judgement that is still felt, even if only by conjecture here.

What further adds to the story’s purposeful execution are the letters he is shown to have been writing over time, though to whom it actually isn’t immediately evident, even if we believe we’ve ascertained their intent. How this plays out during the film’s both apparent and speculative finale also grants the film one whopper of a hauntingly evocative ending that will linger with you well after the credits roll. The utilization here of certain objects and flashback-based imagery greatly enhance the story as well, giving us such a full sense of everything this man has had to endure for the sake of his lifestyle choice and all that he couldn’t maintain thanks to, as stated above, non-understanding and discrimination.

Kumar is perfectly cast and so effectively emotive in his role as Mohan, a now 70-year old man whose had his lifestyle choice kept locked away within his own mind, spirit, and overall being since youth, a burden he has weathered, but suffered through via having to likewise be hitched in a marriage that should never have had to be. His deepening sadness yet stalwart defiance of cultural tradition and the hostilities towards those like him has only fostered a stronger desire within Mohan to experience all the elements around him that bring fond memory of that which fulfilled his greatest joys. How he then proceeds through letters and other actions is both inspiring and desperately painful, the end of which might spell even harder realities and decisions.

Throughout the entire runtime, Kumar makes you feel every ounce of his character’s struggle via veiled yet conspicuous emotional expression, and its such a graceful performance by the actor. Primary supporting turns arrive from Lavina Thevar as Mohan’s wife Rajni whose sense of self-worth and being wanted is all but non-existent because of her husband’s actual orientation she’s had to endure, and Manisha Mondal as the couple’s daughter Shanaya who’s been more “in the know” about her father and seems to be accepting of it and just appreciative of his love as a father towards her, which has been a bright spot for him as well.

Additional appearances are made by Ram Ratan as a local shopkeeper, Dhiren Balsane as a police officer, Aarav Mishra as the younger version of Mohan in flashbacks, and Ranvi Satrala as the man in yellow. In total, “The Last Letter” is yet another potent and necessary film that so deeply demonstrates the ongoing plight of the LBGTQIA+ community and the once-present criminality it was seen as, while also illustrating the toll it took on so many individuals as shown here. Even with the changes in India involving it, there is still animosity amongst a slowly growing acceptance, and if anything, regardless of what you personally feel, we can only hope there is at minimum a better truth to be seen here–we are all human.

As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!