Directed and written by Bishrel Mashbat, Beloved is the story of Anar and Kassy (Iveel Mashbat and Jana Miley), a couple who have been married for five years but have hit a rough patch, a time so tense that they feel more like obligated roommates than a couple in love. But is their failing relationship because of each other or how society and everyone in their lives views their interracial coupling as he’s Mongolian, she’s African-American?
Set to the music of Camile Saint-Saëns, Eric Satie and Chopin and with a high art beginning that scans across paintings by Hayez, Wright and Fuseli, this is a movie of long silences and story told through action instead of long diatribes or wordy monologues. It may feel obtuse to some viewers, but I wonder if the filmmaker wanted that feeling as so often when a relationship gets to the point that love is no longer enough, it often feels like a mystery why two people came together in the first place.
You can learn more about Beloved on the official website.
