In the beginning of Bikechess, we see two women being told to play chess while cycling in a gym. And once the camera starts rolling, the main character does ‘announce’ a new sports era in Kazakhstan with the ‘invention’ of a sport that was somehow Government Initiated. One of my favorite things about watching films from around the world is getting to know different cultures and people. Cultures may differ but they have commonalities through humans and human nature is all the same. Likewise with media across globe (in general) which are mouth pieces of the Government, usually giving one sided or sometimes very weird information to public as news. Their idea of reporting news is way different from what might have been taught, making them perform such absurd antics that it becomes impossible not to laugh at them (things are no different back home too). That said I watched Bikechess for Tribeca Film Festival coverage and does it impress, let’s find out.
Bikechess tells us about Dina’s story who works as a journalist at their national station where all her stories keep getting interestingly absurd because their station is government media also called ‘mouth piece’. The story here stays relevant but unfolds as black comedy especially when various news items are reported by protagonist These are genuinely funny sprinkled in laugh out loud format where sequences should be silly too acting as timely reminder on current state of media.The screenplay being 100 minutes long is weirdly funny and tragic even as main character remains hood-winked about silliness integrated with news pieces almost as immediate by-product.
The drama introduces us quickly to Dina, a journalist whose life has been messed up by type of reporting she indulges herself into. Even in her personal life things aren’t going well for her either as she continues having secret affair with married cameraman whilst worrying about rebellious sister who happens to be more vocal about these current crop of issues. The ideologues between these two sisters are clearly separated but none of them steps over the line. Amidst all this Dina spends most her time on field reporting ‘interesting’ stuff which involves book launch by some personnel, accounting for a lazy press conference. The conflict here represents media’s dilemma where they do not want to address people’s issue instead creating them while reporting most absurd & staged occurences all in name of news.
The narrative style is a little fragmented but effective, introducing two more set pieces that are satirical in nature. In the first of these two parts, the main character is asked to “cover” a new initiative where people come up to cops and ask them their standard road safety questions. It was funny because nobody from the public came forward and the cop just sat there smoking or eating peanuts. The protagonist wraps this up by having her driver approach the stage. In the second part, they get really political: The Governor comes to plant trees and free some rabbits that were previously caged. Only for them to be released again later on. They put saplings in parched land that will never grow into anything, which was also pretty funny.
However, what happens in the final act is two simultaneous events. While she’s asked to cover a Government initiative event, her sister and friends do a parallel event awareness on menstruation(a month after Worldwide Women’s day, may I add). There is no getting around it: what happens to them is shocking and infuriating..which doesn’t happen at all with the other one(it’s everywhere isn’t it?). I didn’t like how suddenly this ended without following through with an important plot point, I needed 10 extra minutes of realization followed by helplessness if you ask me but hey! according to me though still well written and makes for great movie
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