The Rise of The World’s Most Notorious Advertising Agency.
By Mike Archer. Bird Co. Media, a film produced by Daljit DJ Parmar, played at the Landmark Encore Abbotsford Theater Friday night.
Synopsis: Two young entrepreneurs from Canada start a highly controversial business in India which involves exploiting live birds to carry advertising banners across the skies of India. The entrepreneurs are not only thrust into running a company which is suddenly making millions of dollars, but also dealing with the stress placed on their personal relationships, the ever increasing moral question and the public outcry.
The mockumentary is filmed in an edgy, documentary style that melds faltering cellphone or hand held camera angles with interview pieces and candid footage of encounters, meetings, and scenes which tell the story in an engfaging and humourous fashion.
The premise of the film is funny enough and just plausible enough to bring you into the movie. The characters and the ciniematography quickly pick you up and pull you in.
Similar to the television style made famous by such shows as ‘The Office,’ ‘Parks and Recreation,’ and ‘Community,’ the scene changes are professional and effortless and the use of zoom is perfect.
Despite some acting moments at the beginning of the film which seem weak, the actors grow into their roles and the in-your-face, quick-changing, fast-paced narrative and the characters are revealed as vulnerable, odd, powerful and human as the plot evolves.
These are real people stumbling through a real adventure and they pull it off very well.
The story is strong and the storyline changes rapidly and with a ‘real-life’ stress and emotional intensity which doesn’t stop.
The cinematography, while not spectacular, is perfectly fitted to the style of the movie. In the fashion of any of the great documentaries the choice of shots, especially some of trhe outdoor shots, is very evicative and adds a layer of interest to the story which all good films bring.
Some smart graphics and a catchy, smooth and perfectly matched music score provide the perfect backgorund at all the right moments.
I have to admiut I thought the story might not be full enough to keep my interest. But the screenplay and the writing provides enough surprises, twist and turns that I wasn’t able to look away.
The effective moves from indoor to outdoor scenes, splitscreens and numerous cinematographic devices add depth to the story and, where many TV shows and films which have used the same techniques tend to overdo it, DJ Parmar does an admirable job of only using the devices when they make sense and when they add to the storytelling.
While a much simpler and more shallow approach to the storyline would have produced a disasterous, the imaginative twists and turns, unexpected challenges and humourous reactions of the main characters and the secondary characters makes this movie work.
But don’t be fooled. This is not a comedy. The clash between the partners over the girlfriend/secretary is intense and firey, angry and filled with tension. Rather than being a shock to the system it is a natural outgrowth of the very real, human tensions in the story.
Music again plays a very effective role bridging from the intensity of that scene and rest of the story which, just like life, must go on.
And the way it goes on …
I’ll let you find out on your own. Suffice it to say the film takes off on a whole new track and pretty soon you are immersed and another, intense, dreadful and mysterious direction.
It has to be noted that the secondary actors and even bit parts are very well carried off which is a testament, not only to the actors, but to the skills of the director.
In the end this is a beautiful story about two partners who have an idea, start a business, and go on an adveture together.
All-in-all a very well directed, acted and produced film with a tremendous amount of potential. Well worth seeing again.
