Nocturnes

Nocturnes
Nocturnes

The film ‘Nocturnes’ opens with the image of insects swarming to the camera hundreds of moths standing in the foreground and background on a dark screen. There is not much visual context: a flickering of life of chaotic motion. The only sounds are the thudding of the insects’ wings.

The last thing I already mentioned will become very familiar during this movie. The sound follows us everywhere: in our sights are moths frozen on the light grey background with their bodies forming stunning patterns, scientists observing these species, or these moths’ habitat which is located in the mountains. Some faint tunes are heard sometimes (as if there is a need to enhance the concept of the unity of the viewer, the moths and their habitat) and then relies on bzz. It is an ever-present sound, especially in films about climate change where it is suggested that many creatures on this planet are in danger including the viewer while reminding the audience of their beat.

Along with being a sound-and-light embrace that is complimented by the formal structure of the work, which is that of a traditional documentary, Nocturnes features Mansi, a scientist, and her indigenous assistant Bicki who is working with toads. At the edges of Bhutan in Northeastern India, the duo studies moths and their relatives on the edges of their habitat. The scientist participates in an age-old ritual concerning the April study of moths: stretching a dark piece of fabric in the middle of a dark forest, irradiating it with strong heat lamps, and examining the various moths that were startled and remained stationary or were slightly disheveled and fluttered their wings. (Mansi, the biologist, describes fluttering as a lizard’s method to heat its body.) They describe the various groups of insects that they collected from the voice of the British on the cloths they used and note a few species seen for the first time.

However, much of it is simply a visual experience, along the lines of the insect documentary “Microcosmos” or the hallucinogenic work of Godfrey Reggio (“Koyaanisqatsi”). Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan, the filmmakers of this project, have adopted the tempos of both ‘slow cinema’ and the much older conventions of ‘Direct Cinema’ (such as “Salesman” and “Gimme Shelter”) documentaries that immersed the audience in stories and characters without grand soundtracks and instead relied on whatever was in the recording space at the time. A more cinematic approach was used in some situations, where all sounds were incorporated first.

These and many other themes and influences are combined into one (but rather incoherent and incomplete) film that will resonate in every viewer’s mind from a different angle and provoke the ideas of what the stye of this film is and how it was made. Some of the conversations between scientists are rather convincing and ‘captured’, exposing real peoples’ difficulty in finding the right words to finish their sentences, while in others they seem to be situated in particular parts of the frame and slowly articulate words. Is this documentary-factually fictional? Quite a bit of the voiceover is clearly scripted or more accurately performed which is acceptable but creates disjunction with the style of the film presented.

The fact that there is no urgency when it comes to the environmental panic aspects within “Nocturnes” seems to be diverse because it is less stylized with the subject at hand which is of nature and thus separating the audience by creating a strong sense of creative in terms of art to attract them with the beautiful images of nature at the end making them feel happy thus not sad seeing sad issues surrounding the theme of the film. (One of the things that annoyed me about the film is the way it was edited. I cannot tell whether my impression is that it was too drawn out or it was too brief however, I do appear to be in a minority position when it comes to a film that receives so much acclaim).

I suspect they will be right on this issue. Not one person will suppose that the film does not look or sound right. In my opinion, both the camera work and the sound were phenomenal, if we lived in an industry where documentaries were treated on level footing with “real films” that people might actually want to watch, then they would win almost any award in this category. The best way to enjoy ‘Nocturnes’ is in a dark theatre or if you are at home then switch off the lights and put on quality speakers or headphones to fully experience the feel of the movie.’

How witnessing the visceral or physical parts of the movie might actually get into your head and alter your perception of these creatures? It had that effect on me. A long time ago, I ceased to eliminate moths considering catching them first and set them free outside but if they buzz around me, I still swat them away. The new procedure will be that unless I am wearing wool, I will allow them to land on me and stay still. They do not harm anyone and are quite gorgeous.

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