“In Retreat” (2024) “Busan” film review: Maisam Ali’s Ladakh-set film evokes a tender pang of homecoming

In Maisam Ali’s In Retreat, a man returns to Ladakh after many years. His brother died. The grief brings him home, but not completely. There is a lot of hiking; a fixed, finite moment in which he crosses the threshold of his family home remains postponed. So he roams the alleys and streets of Ladakh at night.

Ali avoids details and explanations. He is not interested in routine verbalization of family fault lines. Instead, the cracks in the distance that has developed between the man and his family over the years arise from reticence. There is resentment and resentment against him. He arrives at his home turf but keeps postponing entry into his home. Confrontations are held back for as long as possible. However, pain and guilt press heavy and deep in the crevices of every body.

In the melancholic retreat there is only circling,…