‘The Grey Part of the Blue’, a 10 minutes short film starring Suhana Khan, is a story of a teenager’s experience of unrequited love.
Directed by- Theodore Gimeno
Written by- Theodore Gimeno
Starring- Suhana Khan, Robin Gonella
Plot
Sandy, played by Suhana Khan, is visiting her parents. And this time, it is not just she and her books. She is meeting her parents with her boyfriend played by Robin Gonella.
Analysis
The opening shot hints at the stagnancy in what is to eventuate. What follows is this young couple on a road trip to the girl’s parents’ home – though they reach or not remains a mystery since it is not shown, neither is meant to.
Khan occupies eight out of the ten minutes of the film with her narrative about how she boasted about him to her parents and how she has been telling them that he is the sweetest guy to bring her a card since that was the first time anyone has given her one as opposed to her sister’s popularity.
The entire short film has only three physical movements; first in the opening when Gonella is seen buying cigarettes – then the scene on the porch where they stop for food – and third is in a hotel room whose purpose is not clear.
The few minutes of shots of all the three movements play as a device to make it look like a travel narrative, but it does not add much to the movement of the story otherwise.
However, they share a caricature of the two people subtly and tell us that the guy smokes, the girl is romantic and passionate at heart. Moreover, the lack of sexual chemistry in the hotel room between the two – indicates the hollowness of their relationship which is mostly one-sided.
In the porch scene, the guy says“… imagine sitting here watching TV” to which she says“ … I think people will have to sit in the grass, by the lake, without a TV for a long time and stare …”.The two indeed have contrasting personalities that get accentuated by the emotional disconnect between the two on the surface.
The girl is madly in love – so much so that she knows a tuna sandwich would be relished by him more than a ham – without him saying it. Her young love in the teen years is so innocent that she is taking him to her parents in the holidays. But her love is not reciprocated in the same innocent way or we are prompted to surmise that it may not be reciprocated at all.
In this short film 10 minutes, Sandy is the prime character as we are told about her family and much about her love life, however, no background of the guy is provided – if not the context of his dispassionateness, his physical presence and his emotional absence in the relationship in which he looks confined, at least by the look of it.
The backdrop of the story has also been kept immobile and inert in the cold dark winter which insinuates the forlorn tale of love.
However, nothing makes sense except if we consider seeing the story from a girl’s point of view (POV) narrative – where she loves without getting it in return. As an audience, you neither feel torn by her innocent unrequited love nor you feel irked by his coldness towards her. If you feel something, it is that unlike other star kids, Suhana Khan has what it takes to be where the star kids often land – deserving or not is a different discussion altogether.
Besides, the intricacies with which the film was shot show that the actor’s and director’s education in the discipline.
