246. Palestinian director Elia Suleiman’s fifth feature film “It Must Be Heaven” (2019): A marvellous visual treat and a film appropriately dedicated to John Berger and the director’s late parents
E lia Suleiman’s fifth feature film It Must Be Heaven is one of four important films made in 2019 with semi-autobiographical components from the life of the four respective filmmakers. The three others films are Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory , US/Italian director Abel Ferraro’s Tommaso and the British director Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir. Among the four films, only It Must Be Heaven has its director appearing in front of the camera and that too without hiding under a fictional name/alter ego. Director Elia Suleiman as he appears in the film, travelling in a Parisian metro train M r Suleiman’s film has the director appearing with a signature hat and wearing a dark jacket and spectacles. He does not speak a word while others talk to him. He is obviously absorbing activities physically close to him, sometimes perplexed, sometimes bemused, and sometimes immersed in thought. The viewer would see parallels between his screen persona and J...