Kummatty

Beautifully photographed amid the lush pastoral landscapes of southern India’s Kerala region, this enchanting child’s-eye fable conjures a folkloric world in which the magical exists side by side with the everyday. When Kummatty, a kind of shamanic bogeyman, arrives in a small village, he captivates the children with his music and colorful masks—until he casts a spell that has unexpected consequences for one boy. Bursting with exuberant songs and children’s chants, this fantasy from G. Aravindan, a pioneer of India’s art-house “parallel cinema” movement, is a treasure of imagination and entrancing visual lyricism.