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‘Nocturnes’ Review: A Hypnotic Documentary About Moths Unfolds to Reveal Climate Change Concerns As Well
With 'Nocturnes,' Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan craft an observational Indian nature doc that makes its case poetically and powerfully.
In northeastern India, bordering Bhutan, scientist Mansi and her indigenous assistant Bicki (belonging to the local Bugun tribe) partake in the nightly ritual of suspending a cloth sheet and illuminating it with bright lights in the middle of the forest. Dutta and Srinivasan have effectively reverse-engineered an aesthetic approach from the basic concept at the heart of these entomologic studies, with sheets painted in light as the central object of allure for the moths, and for the audience. Humans have been around a mere fraction of the time that moths have — despite their individual life spans of less than a week — and for an even smaller portion of our existence, light projected onto fabric at 24 frames per second has monopolized our collective attention.
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