Bulbul Can Sing is a magnificent example of why I crave and cherish international cinema so goddamn much. 💜

Imbued with a celebration of life from the lens of three rural Assamese youths, this film almost feels like a docufiction in how it intimately navigates the trio's close relationship and daily life experiences while also intricately observing the real lived texture of their village's culture and mores. Thus, I found myself compelled by both the loose narrative (which mainly feels…

BERLINALE '19 - #5

Rima Das is a master of craft, pushing 'DIY' to its very limits - along with Das writing, directing, producing, shooting, editing and handling production design, one of the biggest laughs the film gets is during the credits where the 'Secondary Actors' section consists of about 100 people all with the surname 'Das', presumably related.

Despite cries of amateurism from other sources, I barely noticed. This is an accomplished, tender, harrowing film. It presents an idyllic,…

"you're beautiful. a ghost will come and catch you."

"how do you write poetry?"
"if you fall in love, it just comes out."

"am i the only one in the world like this?"

recommended by: sin
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a sweet coming-of-age story about friendship (my favorite part of the film) and formative adolescent crushes turns ugly as bulbul can sing morphs from a soft, observant slice-of-life story into a jarring all-out tragedy. pretty tough to watch during…

Evolution of Indian cinema challenge

[Late 2010s]

Late 2010s had productions in mainstream becoming increasingly expensive to appeal mass audience. Among those Baahubali 2, Tiger Zinda Hai, Padmaavat, Sanju, 2.0 and War expectedly became biggest hits, whereas Race 3, Thugs of Hindostan and Zero bombed big time at box-office. Some even on a limited budget grossed much higher in Secret Superstar, Hindi Medium, Andhadhun, KGF, Uri & Mission Mangal. Some ambitious experiments were made within a particular genre in Jallikattu, Avane…

This film plays out like a documentary because the children are simply existing. But even their mere existence is pervaded by the patriarchy, eating away at their innocence bit by bit until it suddenly plunges them into the darkest of situations with no turning back. Although never explicitly mentioned, the film manages to highlight the poignancy of the story in context of the country and socioeconomic status of these children. But it also captures the feelings of adolescence and coming…

Rima Das, since her Oscar race is known as a leading name in the world of Indian contemporary cinema. She uses zero budget filmmaking techniques and still manages to make her films more visually appealing and better crafted than most of the big banner Bollywood movies.
'Bulbul Can Sing' is about three friends - Bonnie, Suman and Bulbul - discovering and coming to terms with their sexualities. But since this is India and they live in an Assamese village, the…

Bulbul Can Sing, a coming-of-age docufiction, is an exposition of the rural Indian adolescent by a rising voice in the Indian independent film arena, Rima Das in her latest directorial venture that opens into the heartlands of Das’ native village Chhaygaon, Assam and simultaneously allows a peek into the psyche of the common folk. Rima doesn’t give in to limitations and extracts such fine performances from the young talents at her disposal that it makes her film as much as…