BobbySandhu-01

It's... strange. Gets almost surreal in the end. But I tell you what, that aussie Coca- Cola song is catchy as hell.

Moments for me in the film -

• Mother and daughter showering together - I don't think I have seen anything like that anywhere. I don't think you can even shoot something like that nowadays.

• McDowel shooting the American kid while the jungle noises intensify.

• The weird train-trucks at McDowel factory.

• Landing of the crop duster on an outback road.

And of course the Aussie Coca-Cola song.

I must mention that I have not had a soft drink in the last 10 years or so and no one in family does either.

I went to the limited screening of The Furnace at Perth to watch it from the perspective of Sikh community, but I ended up forgetting that and got immersed into the film's astonishing narrative. In my opinion there is something for everyone in this film, a weekend watcher will enjoy the quest side of it, a regular watcher will enjoy the exposition of characters without need of too many dialogues, the acting, the beautiful pace of the film and an avid watcher will end up finding a lot of subtle touches within the film like the significance of the dates and the fallen tree.

Roderick is the director and writer of the film and to me that is the most beautiful arrangement. To him I say, keep making movies. Nothing that he creates in future will be dull or lazy. This film could have gone wrong at so many points, but it's very finely put together. It clearly shows that Roderick understands the pitfalls of lazy writing and how Hollywood ruins beautiful constructed plots by giving into establishing larger than life characters or clichéd plot devices. None of that here.

A word has to be said about the editing and the soundtrack of the film. Editing is so subtle, so gentle and well done that it is pretty much a lesson in how to pace a slow burner. A plot like this usually suffers from unnecessary exposition and long monologues or the lack of them and long cinematic shots which try to create importance of the narrative by trying to convince you that this is an important and serious work of art (The Grey comes to mind) - pretty much spoon feeding the viewer. But in The Furnace, the editor balanced the film so well that in my opinion a lot of big budget Hollywood films can learn a lot from it.

And of course, the reason why I was invited by one of my mates to go to this screening. The film is historically quite accurate. Sikhs and Muslims have been part of the Australian outback longer than many could imagine. Their stories, rituals and routines are nicely interwoven into the fabric of the film. The turbans are accurate (for once). Many a times I've been pissed at the ready made look of Sikh turbans but in the Furnace, they are proper. Being a Sikh I can say, yes, that is us.

Well done. It's so fulfilling to see Australian cinema coming into its own. It's a film that me, a Sikh and an Australian, is proud of.

I enjoyed this movie immensely for some reason. Quite atmospheric with extended long takes. I know Delhi and the movie is really a night's ode to the milieu of the city. Very well done. There is no rush, there is no melodrama. A slow paced, character driven film.