Shalin Shah died at the age of just 22 in 2015 after sharing a post online titled “Thank You Cancer” on the Huffington Post website, and asking for photos of sunsets to be shared.
Mahesh Pailoor’s Paper Flowers dramatises this touching story of a USU graduates message of love and legacy. Kapil Talwalkar plays Shah, who has to face a truncated mortality.
It’s an emotional piece of work, with a beautiful artistic style. Paper Flowers has a strong screenplay by Mari Krell-Oishi, sensitively dealing with a subject matter close to many, but it never reaches into self-pity or mawkishness.
This is a positive film, honouring Shah’s philosophy on the world and his message of love, peace and understanding. Olivia Liang’s Fiona adds a strong layer of support, a core that carries him through adversity.
I felt the parents focusing on family tradition and “the right girl” jarred a little, but enjoyed the metaphors and how the story was set out. There was sweetness here, and spirit.
The film is a little bit too long, with a tad too much filler in some of the scenes and characters, but it gets by on its ideas and respect for the true story it was inspired by.
Your heart will ache a bit for such a short life, but Paper Flowers, like the title, last a long time, always bright and brilliant. And of course, just as they never die, they never live.
Paper Flowers was shown at Dances With Films 2024 as the opening night film. Find out more here.
***.5