hawk-58
Wish the quality of the film, sound and acting were more consistent. Very distracting when the commercials (on one of our local Asian stations) kick in! I very much enjoyed Sobhana's luminous performance as Lakshmi and could sympathize with her feelings of isolation and frustration.This movie was filmed in my neighborhood, the Bay Area, and I imagine Lakshmi's feelings are quite common among women in the local Indian community whose husbands hold very demanding high-tech jobs, who are not themselves well-educated or social, and whose children are exhibiting the worst characteristics of spoiled California young adults. Lakshmi did a very brave thing in attempting to become more educated and independent. Too bad it backfired on her because of her husband's jealousy and insecurity.Unfortunately the actress who played Divya made her very one-note and negative for most of the movie; her performance was very soap opera, which may have been the director's fault rather than hers. It did nothing to generate sympathy for her, and in fact made one more sympathetic toward her mother's character. Not a good thing, as Lakshmi was too judgmental and interfering in her daughter's life. Lakshmi was right, of course - her daughter was too young and immature to live on her own and made the expected terrible decision in choosing her first boyfriend. Maybe Indian mothers haven't caught on to the fact that the surest way to drive a daughter into the arms of the wrong boy is to forbid her from seeing him! That said, Divya's almost instant transformation from bratty teen to friend and confidante of her mother's was hard to believe. The ending was pretty silly, actually, and I never really figured out who the mysterious Internet presence was. If it was the husband, why didn't he seem to know anything about it and why wasn't he wearing a yellow shirt? It clearly wasn't Steve.........guess I will have to watch again.
Dave Abbott
Mitr has a pretty good concept, interesting story, and a dynamic performance by Shobana who illuminates the screen whenever she is there which, luckily, is most of the movie. Nasir Abdullah, who plays her husband is OK but everyone else in the film seemed like they got their acting chops from Grade D late night cable TV. The daughter, friends, neighbors, -- everyone else -- gave stilted performances as if they were reading their lines. Fortunately, the daughter's performance got better towards the end of the film but the director should have elicited better performances from everyone unless that was their best and the casting crew would have to take the blame for not finding better actors. I would have preferred the over-acting of a lot of Hindi actors than some of the drivel and inane delivery that permeated this film.Despite my misgivings of Mitr, I will still give it a 6 because of Shobana's performance and look forward to seeing her in other projects of better quality. Watching Shobana in action is worth enduring the cringe factor that occurs when watching the other actors.
sarah03mu
Lakshmi, a traditional Indian woman, marries an American-Indian and lives in America with him and their daughter. Both husband and daughter are "American" (i.e., very independent, living for own self) while Lakshmi lives only to please them. Their lack of concern for her leads her to pursue her own life and the other two feel left out and abandoned, instead. I really enjoyed the story, music, and acting. We had the privilege of having the director herself come to present this movie to our university and were permitted to ask questions. She told us that at first, the all-women technical crew was a fluke, until the final member was chosen, when she decided to stick with all females (though would have compromised had an adequate female not been found). To me, the acting was a bit rough at times, and characters and actions seemed misplaced, silly, or over-Americanized. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it as a good cultural pick.
filmislife
Mitr, which is all about alienation an average woman starts feeling when her daughter and lifemate starts blaming her to be orthodox and a nag; and hardly find time to understand her. It also depicts how one forgets to live her own life for relations and a very positive ending marks states that still we can believe in relations.It's a film which is so much refreshing for all those who got a heart to empathise and understand problems of others.The same hands that point out the mistakes being commited doesn't go without touching the deeper core of our soul.cinematography of the film by fowzia is unbelievably merged with the narration and fellings dealt.Also the music score by bhavatharini needs special mention which simply complements the visualisation and moods.If films like this are never being appreciated when can india come out of melooodramas and "got all the crap in this" type of films.Director Revathy and her crew which consists only woman deserves cheers...(but why this gender division? for ads?)never miss this movie.