MOVIE: THE WAITING CITY
For Director Claire McCarthy, The Waiting City realises notions of poetic, humanist and psychological drama. Ben (Joel Edgerton) and Fiona (Radha Mitchell) have travelled to Calcutta to adopt a little girl, Lakshmi. The couple appear worlds apart from the opening scene and we unsurprisingly learn their marriage is testing the strength of its ‘seams’. Fiona is condescending and self-important, “I think it’d be great if you did something with your music.” She says sardonically to Ben, while he too is overly self-absorbed in his youthfulness to place any worth on their growing differences. The premise for this story of self-discovery (something India inspires in some who visit it) stokes recollections of ‘Brangelina’ or Madonna stories and feigns truth. Edgerton and Mitchell appear simply to shift into the character stereotypes that have been created for these films and lack poetry or humanism McCarthy strives for. The film is colourful but that has more to do with India’s natural colour than the film’s design, however, Denson Baker’s cinematography documents the streets of Calcutta – at dawn, on the river and throughout its temples beautifully and with authenticity. (NG)
