Maya (Mia Hansen-Love, 2018): France/Germany

Film reviewed by Michael Wynne. Viewed at AFI Fest 2018.

Maya is a story of rejuvenation. It follows Gabriel, a journalist who is going to India for some time to decompress after months of being held hostage by ISIS. In his time away, Gabriel finds a daily habit that is very therapeutic for him. From walking the city streets, to riding his bike through the country, Gabriel takes in all of India’s beauty. Above all else, it was a young woman who brought Gabriel a peace of mind. Some scenery is beautiful, but there are a more scenes with way to much color to the point where the shot had a unpleasing red glare that outweighed the any beauty the shot had. It was not former award winning cinematographer Helene Louvart’s best work.

Gabriel makes his first stop at his god fathers declining hotel resort. When he arrives he meets Maya, his god fathers daughter. Gabriel finds a family environment that comforts him. Gabriel and Maya explore the beauty of India together during the day. While at night, Gabriel goes through various psychological challenges having to do with his time being held hostage. He smokes hashish to help him sleep through his haunting memories of being a hostage.

After we see the habits of Gabriel and he becomes close to his friend Maya, the film then begins to tell an uncomfortable love story. Maya develops a likeness for Gabriel. The character of Maya seemed to young for Gabriel, as well as a significant difference in the actors ages as well. Aarshi Banerjee who plays Maya is 19. While Roman Kolinka who plays Gabriel is 32. There have been way greater age differences of two characters in love in the history of cinema. However, I still don’t find that the backbone of your story being a young teenage girl getting heartbroken by a 30 year old man is very intriguing.

I believe the film could have been more interesting if it was told through the perspective of Maya rather than Gabriel. There is no presence when Roman Polinka is on screen. The scenes that require him to speak English are terrible, he sounds like he had to remember vocal sounds rather than a character who knows the language. The film lacks in many elements, but does have some positives. There are scenes that can relate emotionally with anyone, but not a lot. If the film did anything it made India look like a beautiful place to vacation.