CECIL’S JOURNEY (2002, Rohan Fernando) Rating: NNNN Rating: NNNN
You can’t go home again, but filmmakers keep trying. Director Rohan Fernando takes immigrant cinema’s version of the fish-out-of-water plot and crafts a nuanced return journey with a surprisingly juicy core. Like all the best trips home, it’s a portrait in ambivalence. Fernando travels from Halifax back to Sri Lanka to find himself immersed in domestic intrigue worthy of Rohinton Mistry. Cecil’s Journey is shot with an eye for the beauty of the place, and the tentative intelligence of a young Canadian trying to find his way. It’s not easy, especially when an uncle insists, “You don’t live for you. You live for the community, you live for the family, you live for the country.” Cecil’s Journey premieres in the third annual Filmi South Asian Film Festival running all weekend (August 15-18) at Harbourfront Centre. (August 16 and 18, Studio Theatre)