Hyperlink cinema - part I

Hyperlink cinema, the term itself sounds interesting; because it combines something we associate with websites to cinema.

Hyperlink is a genre of cinema in which the multi-threaded storylines tell different tales and the narrative cross and connect at unexpected points. These films are not multimedia and do not have actual hyperlinks, but are multilinear in a more metaphorical sense.

Playing with time and characters' personal history, interwoven storylines between multiple characters, jumping between the beginning and end (flashbacks and flashforwards) are its prime elements, as illustrated brilliantly in Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu's films Amores Perros(2000), 21 grams(2003), and Babel(2006).

Hyperlink cinema are films where the characters or action reside in separate stories, but a connection or influence between those disparate stories is slowly revealed to the audience. The narration is often non linear with no specific timeline and events may be portrayed out of chronological order.

Hyperlink cinema is a term coined by author Alissa Quart, who used the term in her review of the film ‘Happy Endings ’(2005) which was used later by noted critic Roger Ebert when reviewing ‘Syriana’, also in 2005.

There's a growing influence of the world wide web and multitasking in the genre, where captions act as footnotes and splitscreens ,as elements of hyperlink cinema. Quart also
considers the television series '24'and Alan Rudolph's film Welcome to L.A. (1976) as early prototypes. Crash (2004) which beat Brokeback Mountain to the Oscars for best film, is an example of the genre, as are Robert Altman's The Player (1992), Steven Sodenberg's Traffic (2000), City of God (2002),Love Actually (2003) and Syriana (2005).

Mani Ratnam's underrated gem ,Yuva (2004) is a genuine addition from India ,so is its Tamil version Aayitha Ezuthu(he shot them back to back) ,where 3 stories ran parallelly until they all merged at one point in the movie and then there's a racy dash to the climax. Love Actually (2003) written and directed by Richard Cutris had seven stories that are fleetingly connected, and by the end seamlessly blend into each other resulting in an immensely watchable flick. Nikhil Advani tried to adopt the idea in Salaam-e-Ishq (2007) but it was a massive downer as the stories seemed too contrived. Earlier, last month we had Love sex aur Dhokha with its 3 vaguely connected stories, but there, the focus was on shooting it if it all was found footage.


To continue..…..