Cat Sticks, directed by famed photographer Ronny Sen, follows a plenitude of Indian men and their quest to quench their addictive thirst of brown sugar throughout the beautifully ominous streets of Calcutta over one fateful night. From homeless addicts, enabling high flying dealers and the innocent family members caught between the disruptive chaos of their offspring.
Sen’s film is deeply poignant and thrillingly assertive with multiple narratives that collide, converse and reflect each individual plight of torture. Undoubtedly evoking an emotional grandeur assessment and reflection of both the tantalising score of addiction but the severely distressing daily fight of life on the edge.
Intoxicatingly Corruptive
Ronny Sen’s film is terrifyingly immersive and intensely uncomfortable as it develops. Not only through the investing development of character arcs but just via the inviting juxtaposition of the stunning cinematography from Shreya Dev Dube. The obtuse and claustrophobic nature of the composition as well as framing of the image subtextually works wonders to a craft a delightfully inviting albeit intense mise-en-scene. It provokes a dark sense of danger via lighting and environment with a stunning beauty that one can’t peel their eyes away from. Think of its like a combination between the restraint idealistic image of Satyajit Ray spliced in the idiosyncratic of Ridley Scott. It’s subtle but powerfully sweeping in striking abstraction.
It is intoxicatingly corrupting to behold for the viewer to see the deadly sins of Calcutta develop over one terminal and fateful evening. Shot with a monochrome grade utilised, much like Kevin Smith’s breakout hit Clerks, there is a rawness to the setting and production with a clinical eye for authenticity and grittiness. The harshness and bleak lifeless images focus on a far more blunt but restrained framing that highlights the perils of the city in an auspicious claustrophobic environment.
Progressive & Powerful
The context of the plot and depth crafted here by writers Ronny Sen and Soumyak Kanti DeBiswas is brutal with an intensely cynical viewing of the trauma and fallout of the addictive drug in heroin. The level of punishment both physically and psychologically evoked upon the characters we followed is bluntly disturbing, yet appreciative of the wider context of the darkness that surrounds.
Certain sequences are quite frankly unnerving while others full of pity and understanding with the predicament brought about due to dire circumstance. It is a greatly honest and eye-opening approach to an issue that unfortunately goes on silently in a part of the world that won’t treat this addiction. It is a profoundly progressive feature that highlights a troubling a stark reality in the utmost poignant and pragmatic manner possible.
Terrific Performances
The performances are spectacular. Each character has a distinctive unique individualism that stands them out from a rather packed and stellar crowd. Tanmay Dhanania and Joyraj Bhattacharya put forward two stunning turns as victims of this brutal disease. Their plight of infliction ever so distraught and vulnerable via the raw authenticity of each scene is nothing short of wild esoteric devotion to their craft. Gut-wrenching one second and helplessness in the next. This counterintuitive approach is an eye opening account to the brutality of an all consuming disease. Each arc has its own specific thread and trajectory that is both valuable and morally compelling if at times far too chilling and disturbing to withstand. No one character is derivative of the next.
A reminder that the restrictions and turmoil of addiction, while a collective issue, is relative and specific to the addict themselves with a precise cause and effect. This element cuts so ever deep with damning sclerotic condemnation from the characters themselves but the hook of freedom in pain, responsibility and weight of life via such an intoxicating and easily accessible side step is a burden too easy to bare.
Cat Sticks: Conclusion
The ying-yang energy of both poignant heart and strident bitterness in Cat Sticks is strikingly effective. The flip-flop approach, much like the disease of addiction itself is conveyed in a discerning wise and endearing manner. The progressive nature of highlighting such a dark and harrowing story alone is justification to seek out this venture, however, the sheer abstract and outstanding production design namely the cinematography and lighting add an astonishing amount of weight to this outstanding feature.
Have you seen Cat Sticks? What were your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!
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