PUBLISHED October 16th, 2021 10:00 am | UPDATED July 25th, 2024 02:30 pm
The picture above is from the introductory scene to the love story that What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? is centred around. With just two pairs of feet, a book to initiate conversation and an innocent exchange between strangers who fumble into each other, we get swept off our feet by director Aleksandre Koberidze’s main characters, footballer Giorgi (Georgi Bochorishvili) and Lisa (Ani Karseladze), a pharmacy student.
When we hear Giorgi ask Lisa out on a date, even though his voice quakes a little, the simplicity and sincerity touch us. No gimmicks, no pickup lines. We get sucked into the budding romance as Lisa obliges. The ship is almost instant.
The set is Kutaisi – a quiet, Gerogian city – under Giorgi Koberidze’s simple and subtle scoring. Having witnessed such a scene, any audience would expect a quaint love story to unfold thereafter. Instead, Koberidze throws us a curveball. But if you’ve learnt anything from his directorial debut Let the Summer Never Come Again, it’s trademark of his unfettered approach towards chaos and uncertainty in romance.
Giorgi and Lisa do not meet the next day. An Evil Eye is cast and both Giorgi and Lisa wake up in the bodies of older adults who look completely different. The curse also strips them off their skills and talents. The two, completely disconnected from who they used to be, not only try to continue on with their lives but try to find a way back to one another. The rest of the story follows their journeys; to find out for ourselves, if love at first sight has a happy ending.
Like all romance stories, there are endearing moments in What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? The beauty of these moments is accentuated by the emotionally intelligent screenplay that reserves dialogues only for the important scenes. For example, Lisa’s inner monologue reflects hope when she takes a job at the cafe she was supposed to meet Giorgi. Yet in the following scene, Giorgi optimistically turns up at the cafe for their date while justifying her absence. The juxtapositions poses a conundrum for the audience.
Conflicts like these hinted that the love story was not about to take a unilateral route to the finish line, and true enough, the plot was a tease. There are a significant number of wide and static shots focusing on quotidian moments and Kutaisi landscapes.
And Koberidze occasionally deviates to comment on social issues in the background, as he did about the humans causing environmental destruction and ecological demise, with a football floating mundanely down a river. It may even get a little distracting when the film-within-a-film gets introduced.
But towards the end of the film, we understood why these diversions were necessary. Koberidze didn’t want a love story that was melodramatic. Rather, he wanted one that was honest. So the slow-paced pastoral romance was, in fact, an ode to reality. Those patient enough to sit till the end will be rewarded.
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? will be screened at the National Gallery Singapore located at #01 – 01, 1 St Andrew’s Road, Singapore 178957 on 27 October 2021, at 7.30pm. Book tickets here.
Top image: Courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes