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Behind the ‘Fable’
At a time when film direction is gaining favour amongst young creative minds, with ‘Fable’ Nasir promises to deliver sensitively portrayed human emotions in a classic, understated way
Fable is the story of two ordinary people — the young Nora and a man, Jimmy, who strike an unexpected kinship. After the girl’s mother dies of drug overdose, Nora pages the supplier (not the stereotypical sleazy, greasy haired drug pusher) Jimmy who is actually quite averse to the drugs he sells and is in the business from a purely business point of view. He ends up reluctantly walking her to school and the viewer can trace the subtle change in his behaviour towards her — he becomes, at times, grudgingly, fond of Nora. In a moving scene where he sees her holding a discarded syringe close to her arm, out of childish curiosity, he loses his temper and has a violent reaction as only someone who would care about her welfare would. As he sermonizes about the effect of experimenting with drugs one can’t help but find black humour in the irony, considering that pushing drugs is what his chosen line of business is.
Inadvertently as he fills the void in Nora’s life and perhaps she fills the gap in his, he is shown to shun his line of work and assume the role of a father figure. Interesting, despite the age difference and the child-guardian relationship, their friendship seems to grant them both equal footing. Director Nasir Khan portrays the gradual building of the friendship between the two characters without any superficial oomph. The viewer is subtly led to read between the lines and the interplay between the two main characters is handled with mature sensitivity. An almost hostile Nora refuses to hold Jimmy’s extended hand when crossing the road towards the beginning of the film. Later, she voluntarily holds his hand while crossing the same street later.
At a time when film direction is gaining favour amongst young creative minds, Nasir promises to deliver sensitively portrayed human emotions in a classic, understated way. Although he hasn’t ever formally studied filmmaking, he worked for a television company in Canada as a writer and producer for two years and honed his skills there. Not that the lack of a degree in filmmaking has set him back as some of his films, apart from aired on renowned foreign and local channels and local and international festivals, have received critical acclaim.
In 2003 one of his films was nominated for the best short film award in the Toronto Online Film Festival and this month his documentary Muslim Gear is being aired on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Nasir Khan’s company, Talking Filmain, has to its credit a two-minute song video on the tsunami. That video has been picked up the President’s Relief Fund and is being aired on national channels. This young movie maker is definitely one to keep a close eye on.
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