MAYA World Cinema

Roman Kolinka (EDEN, THINGS TO COME) reunites with director Mia Hansen-Løve as Gabriel, a French war reporter who has just been released from months of forced captivity in Syria. He decides to reassess his life and priorities by returning to his childhood home of India, where he meets his godfather’s daughter and the film’s namesake, Maya. The two share a lazy summer filled with subtle tension and looks of longing as they explore the seaside state of Goa and gradually build a gentle romance. Hansen-Løve places the breezy relationship against the backdrop of remote but ongoing war. Via her signature naturalism, she captures the subdued reality of life after wartime and the biting truth that sometimes love is not the most fulfilling desire. – Julia Kipnis