film eater's washbasin

Kramasha(2006)

2009-11-15T20:12:00.001-08:00

Director: Amit Dutta

Country: India

Language: Hindi

A village sleeps in the wee hours of the morning. A half asleep, half awake boy has dreams about an ascetic in a black coat, hallucinatory images of his village touching upon the history of the place, his ancestors and his childhood.

At the first viewing, Dutta's film may come across as pure visuals. He uses a vast array of visual techniques like constant change in focus, oscillatory camera shots, frequent jump cuts, almost obscene bird's eye view shots and such. His camera meanders through the village, exploring historical sites, ruins and the greenery in search of untold stories, often using walls, pillars, windows and other such structures as lenses. The colors are so lush that one can almost feel them, smear their hands in them.

But on successive viewings, if one can manage to see beyond the images, only then does the film become totally comprehendible. After all what are only images without the sounds associated, without the stories behind them? History and images cannot exist without each other. As the boy's dreams go on from being weird to weirder, the narration helps us connect the history of the village to the numerous mythological and folklore references. The film's defining moment comes when camera moves up a building, overlooking dark windows, sterile walls, which look like hiding stories of their own, to the terrace where an old man sleeps and we hear the narrator saying "Father once told me about all this in detail. In my conscious state, I find all these tales nonsensical. Only in my dreams are their meanings truly understood." This film is all about the parallel between history and dreams. Because, as the narrator reallizes, all history is but a dream as we see it and put the pieces together in our subconscious.
This would be my most favorite Indian film for some time now.

Continuum(2006)

2009-11-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

Director: Anand Gandhi and Khushboo Ranka.

Country: India

Language: Hindi

This is a short film of 35 minutes duration that deals with the different aspects of human life. It comprises of five seemingly disjoint vignettes titled "hunger", "trade", "love", "death" and "enlightenment". And at the end every story gets connected as everything falls into their place in the greater schemes of the universe. All the incidents, all the characters become a part of the continuum. Not that of space, not that of time. But of life, in general. The camerawork is awesome, the music very fitting to the theme, the script is very witty and hilarious at times, touching at others. From the opening scene to the closing scene, every frame of this short film oozes brilliance. This just might be the best short I have seen till date. Even if its not, it is the most moving one for sure.

301, 302(1995)

2009-11-03T23:15:00.000-08:00

Director: Cheol-su Park

Language: Korean

Park's film centers around two women who live in apartments 301 and 302 of the same building. Both are single, obsessed with something or the other, and alone. One day 302 goes missing and a Police Detective comes looking for her. Thats about all that happens.

The central themes of the film are the two most basic necessities of human life, food and sex. As the film opens we see a little girl talking enthusiastically about all the vegetables, cereals, fruits in her mom's kitchen. She chops vegetables as she talks. And then another little girl who talks coldly about the cold meat in her mom's freezer. We immediately know who they are. The two women meet when they move into neighboring apartments. 301 is plump, happy, spends all her day cooking different delicacies. While 302 is anorexic, depressed, cannot eat a morsel to save her life. Its almost as if they are incomplete without each other. Both their lives revolve around food. For one food is life, for the other its hell. And for both, the obsessions have their roots back in their sexual experiences. So when one goes missing, the viewer can see the climax coming miles away. But still, Park's excellent direction, his to and fro jumping around in the timeline, makes the viewer wait. In anticipation. And at the end when they truly complete each other, the viewer cannot help feeling awestruck. Or even feel like vomitting. This film is almost "The double life of Veronique" made by Takashi Miike. One has to watch it to know that even a mundane activity like eating can be made so revolting, almost obscene. Like bad sex. And all the credit to the cinematography for achieving this. Very interesting film, definitely worth a watch. But not quite before a wholehearted meal, if you know what I mean.

La Cienaga(2001)

2009-10-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

English title: The swamp

Director: Lucrecia Martel

Language: Spanish

Two cousin sisters struggle with their respective families in the unbearable heat and humidity of an Argentinian summer. Children go hunting, people get drunk, people get hurt, the Virgin appears and still the two families get sucked into the swamp that is their life with each passing day.
From the very first shot till the last, this film is all about the visuals. As the credits roll, the film opens with one of the most amazing opening sequences ever. The camera hovers around a poolside. We see middle-aged people with wrinkled skin, on a drinking spree. Their hands tremble, their words muttered, the stealthy camera shows us a perfect picture of the typical bourgeoisie hedonism in the present Argentinian society and thus sets up the mood for the whole film. Throughout the entire film, the camera moves around with utmost stealth, almost like a voyeur. The children of the two family spend their days by the pool or hunting in the forest or sleeping with the maid or even each other. There's always an anticipation of sexual escapades but it is always overcome by violence. The children get into fights, accidents and hurt themselves. No one around seems to be normal except a little boy and the maid. Interestingly, both of them seem to be confined within abnormality. Every frame suggests that confinement, every shot prepares us for something bad to happen to the normal people. The director uses her camera to take us almost into the minds of the characters. Sometimes, the close up shots are so close that you might just hear the characters think. She makes use of the sounds in a regular household as well as the various silences to suggest the fate of the characters. Apart from the physicality of the whole scenario, we see no one answering the telephone throughout the film and the Virgin only appearing before the poor Indians, thus emphasizing the faithlessness and lack of communication amidst the class differences in the Argentinian society. The mostly amateur cast puts in a strong performance within a seemingly erratic but indeed very tightly bound screenplay. But what really makes this film work is the excellent cinematography. The director says almost everything through the empty spaces, the silences and the few recurring motifs. If not for anything else, this film should be a must watch for an extensive lesson in Mise-en-scène.

Charlotte et Véronique, ou Tous les garçons s'appellent Patrick(1959)

2009-05-07T00:46:00.001-07:00

English title: Charlotte and Veronica or All the boys are called Patrick

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Language: French

JLG's first film as a director is a delightful comic short about two girls who set up a date with the same guy on two different days and later find him going out on a date with a third girl. Its perhaps the only JLG film that has a story written by someone else. And when that someone is none other than Eric Rohmer, it shows in every frame of the film. There are no typical JLG trickeries in the film, except maybe for the music and the Chaplinesque portrayal of the protagonists. Instead, the charm, the wit, its all Rohmer. Nevertheless, a very enjoyable film.

La double vie de Veronique(1991)

2009-05-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

English Title: The double life of Veronique

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Language: Polish, French

The much famed director of the Three colors trilogy, in this film, takes us on a peculiar journey that constantly shifts between the erotic and the melancholy. It is really one of those films that hands over a puzzle to the viewer. How he solves it is how he sees the film.
This is essentially the story of Weronicka, a Polish girl and Veronique, a French girl, who seems to have much more than physical appearance in common. But Kieslowski, from the opening scene makes it clear that the surface hides many a haunting images. As the film opens, little Weronicka looks at the sky and sees the beautiful stars while the little Veronique only sees the falling leaves. Then we see a grown up Weronicka waking up from a deep sleep just because she feels someone is out there, with her, always. She is almost an ascetic, almost renouncing everything material. Her relation with her father, her aunt or her lover is almost superficially loving. Her only passion seems to be music which she takes up inspite of a heart condition and dies on stage. And at the same time, Veronique feels an urge to let go of her musical aspirations as she feels something has gone amiss from her life. As the story shifts to her, we understand she is a very earthy human, very much tied in the bonds of humane life. She cares for her father, falls in love with strangers. But whatever she does, the very passion of her nature is imminent. In other words, she completes Weronicka.
Kieslowski's use of music at times gives the film the feel of a haunted supernatural story, at other times the music transforms the film into sheer poetry. He successfully draws parallels between the simultaneous lives of the two girls. The shot where Veronique rushes into a bus, clicking pictures of Weronicka standing, marooned, on a crowded square or the shot where Veronique plays with a puppet, while another lies silently on the table, makes up the mood of the entire film. A huge part of the film is almost a puppet show with Kieslowski playing around with Veronique as the dead Weronicka lies in her grave. And his show becomes all the more interesting due to the puppet he finds in Irene Jacob. She, with her wide array of ever changing expressions, dreamy and almost lost eyes, make Weronicka and Veronique who they were supposed to be. She is quiet for most of the part yet so vocal. Kieslowski is a clever director. He never brings his story to any conclusion. He just leaves it hanging in there, waiting for the viewers to grasp it. Watching this beautiful piece of work is almost like becoming a part of it, where the cinema and the viewer lead a double life, where they make each other complete.

Mon Oncle Antoine(1971)

2009-03-28T22:04:00.001-07:00

English title: My uncle Antoine.

Country: Canada

Language: French

Its a chilly and snow filled december in Quebec. A father leaves his children and wife behind to find work. An undertaker raises a child as his own. An employee has secret liaisons with the wife of his employer. A mother sees her son die. A whole town basks in the joys of christmas and fights the hardships of daily life. And a little boy watches with his big, blue, innocent eyes. We watch through him. We watch with him. And we watch him as he struggles to become a man, in every possible way. Jutra's film about the coming of age of Benoit is so simplistic, so real and so heart wrenching, it reminds us of Apu in "Aparajito". Benoit learns to take on the world, he gets a taste of death, love, betrayal and sex. And at the end, he gazes innocently at the life out there, the real life where there's no uncle Antoine to protect him, no Carmen to love him. This film is a wondeful journey through two fateful days in Christmas time. But a journey that changes lives forever. And one that will change the way you look at life too.

Dev D(2009)

2009-03-06T23:06:00.001-08:00

Director: Anurag Kashyap

Language: Hindi

Kashyap arrived on the scene a few years back with "Black friday" based on the Mumbai blasts. It had its shortcomings but made us wait for his "Paanch", which never came out. Then came "No smoking" and Anurag took Hindi cinema on a ride, a bumpy roller-coaster ride. With "Dev D" the ride comes a full circle. Kashyap has finally given Bollywood what it deserves, a true masala entertainer for the serious cine-lovers. Shed all your inhibitions, this is not your regular Hindi movie. It is a tale of lust, love, lust, obsession, lust, psychedelia and lust. Bollywood finally grows up, with the help of a man who has disgraced the silver screen more than once before. Devdas Mukherjee had always been an epitome of self pity, drunkenness and failed love in Indian cinema. Dev Dhillon is instead an absolute bastard who fondles other women and cracks up at rumors of Paro kissing someone else. Dev Dhillon is essentially just another avatar of Devdas Mukherjee, yet so very different. He drowns himself in vodka, does coke, calls up Paro's house at 4 in the morning, yet he sees Chanda's face when he closes his eyes. Dev D doesn't believe in "moving on", yet he truly does by the end of the film.
What Kashyap does to the much cliched tale is quite unexpected. It has always been about the man, Devdas himself. Kashyap, on the other hand, examines each and every character with utmost sincerity. He gives us the two of the strongest female leads in Indian cinema. Paro sends her nude pictures to Dev, carries a mattress on a bicycle to a field to have sex with Dev and ultimately, on being refused, manages to have her revenge too. Lenny on the other hand is not afraid being filmed while she gives a blowjob to her boyfriend, or accusing her father of getting aroused by her mms, or becoming Chanda by night. Kashyap gives these characters various shades of gray and turns them from mere props to symbols of women empowerment. Not that he accomplishes this all alone. He is helped by the wonderful Mahi Gill and Kalki Koechlin. Kalki's almost deadpan expressions, indifferent moaning and impish smiles alongwith Mahi's big eyed passionate looks mark their arrival on the big scene. Abhay Deol is fantastic as Dev. The use of light throughout is brilliant. Kashyap uses different shades of blue, pink to set the dark, often brooding mood of the film. I already talked about the music before. How it was all different and stuff. But what I was amazed to find was all the 18 songs were used in the film. And still the film didn't stall for a single moment! Kashyap makes use of the music wonderfully well, sometimes to tell a part of the story and take it forward, sometimes to compliment the mood and sometimes just as a background score. His use of music is actually reminiscent of Godard. I don't know if its only me or Lenny reading Moravia's "Contempt" with Brigitte Bardot on the cover alongwith the use of music is really a tribute to the French master. I hope it is because it would be a most befitting one. Kudos to Mr.Kashyap for finally giving us a nouvelle vague Devdas.

P.S : Did anyone else notice three random guys in the film? Once when Dev first goes with Chunni to Chanda's den, next when Dev drunk drives and almost crashes his car? Even if you did, did anyone else think they were the three horsemen of apocalypse? Gah! I see too much into everything!

La Gran Final(2006)

2009-03-04T22:14:00.001-08:00

English Title: The great match

Director: Gerardo Olivares

Language: Kazajo dialect(Mongolia), Tamashek(Niger) and Tupi(Brazil).

Scene 1: A group of Mongolian nomads and a few soldiers play football on the snow-capped peaks of the Altai mountains as a few others try to plug in a television to an electricity pole.

Scene 2: Three African men, clad in yellow and green jerseys dance around foolishly on a desert in Niger as a handful of others watch a television with glum expressions.

Scene 3: A native Indian in the forests of Amazon, "9" painted on his back, climbs the highest tree with an antenna on his back as his tribesmen wait eagerly for reception on a television.

This unique film is all about scenes exactly like these. Its about three very different groups of people with one similarity. They can go to any lengths to watch the final match of the 2002 football World Cup. The nomads risk losing all their savings in paying fines to the Government, the Africans forget all their errands and take a detour, the Indians risk getting shot. All for one reason. To watch Brazil take on Germany in the final. It is the love for the greatest game on earth that is contained in each shot of this film. Every frame speaks of the passion for football. Only that may be more than reason enough to watch this film. Add to it the wonderful cinematography, brilliant use of wide angle shots on the desert and the mountains, absolutely hilarious situations(like an African guy selling pages of Playboy in the midst of a desert) and also the very subtle socio-political undertones. And voila! You can't afford to miss this film.

Angela(2002)

2009-02-17T23:52:00.001-08:00

Director: Roberta Torre

Country: Italy

Angela runs a shoe store with her husband Saro Parlagreco, when actually they deal in drug trafficking. Angela helps put up the shoe store show while Saro with the help of his cousin, controls his well disguised drug business. Problems start when Saro brings a new guy, Masino to help him. Angela and Massino fall for each other and their torrid affair gives the suspecting police a chance to round them all up. This little film is supposedly based on a true incident that took place in Palermo, Italy. The director's use of handheld camera and extreme closeup shots of all the characters make this look like a docudrama more than a film. And her use of closed, dark spaces give this film a very claustrophobic feel. The only saving grace is the very beautiful Donatella Finocchiaro as Angela, on whom the camera hovers for alomost the entire length of the film. She almost carries the film single-handedly and there's really not much else to look out for. What could have been a gripping tale of passion, guilt and organized crime remains only a mellowed Italian drama.

Adoration(1987)

2009-02-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

Director: Olivier Smolders

Country: Belgium

A Japanese man invites the beautiful woman he loves to his place. After they have dinner, she recites some poems and he records them. Then he shoots her with a gun, cuts her body parts and eats them one by one.

This 16 minute long film is based on a real life incident. Its shot entirely in monochrome and has no dialogues except for the part where the girl recites some poems. The special effects are awesome, the director uses very innovative camera movements and angles to make this film technically almost perfect. The film works in its totality too. In the very short time frame, the director succeeds to present a very strong picture of passionate power play. The man looks at the woman with awe, kisses her, listens to her recite. After killing her, he even undresses her with utmost care, strokes her body with his hands and finally consumes her completely. What better way to culminate the ultimate passion that a man feels for the woman of his dreams! Its sick, its perverted. And its still the most basic, most natural form of obsession. Very interesting piece of cinema, this. But definitely not suitable for all.

The Unborn(2009)

2009-02-10T20:43:00.001-08:00

Director: Who cares.

A pathetic excuse for a film.

Une femme est une femme(1961)

2009-02-09T23:33:00.000-08:00

English title: A woman is a woman

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Country: France

Angela is a stripper who lives with her boyfriend Emile. She wants to have a baby with him but Emile refuses. She turns to Emile's close friend Alfred instead. That is about all that there is to the story of this cute little film by JLG. Its his style of film making and Anna Karina, the most beautiful woman on earth, that makes this film work. Godard, notably an American cinema fan, took the b-grade gangster film genre, dissected it and remade it into "A bout de Souffle" in his own sly way. Here, he does the same with the Hollywood musical genre. There are constant references to musicals(Angela wants to star in a musical with Gene Kelly). And the use of background music is the most interesting it can ever get in any film. Godard not only uses discontinuity in music(as in "A bout de Souffle") but he does so much more with it. Sometimes the music is a supplement to the dialogues spoken, sometimes they stop to let the characters speak and at other times they are just too loud to let us hear what the characters are saying. He lets a score stop at the middle and starts another from nowhere and suddenly goes back to the former. To follow it thorughout the film, is absolute fun. The film has its unique moments when the characters interact directly to the audience, they bow to us, wink at us or even asks Jeanne Moreau how her film "Jules et Jim" is doing. Technically this film is outrageous, much as JLG's other works. But on the intellectual level this remains one of his most accessible works. Apart from being playful and comic at different levels, the narration doesn't really test the viewer's intellect.
The film belongs to Anna Karina. She's there in almost every shot. Her mischievous smile, beautiful body and the divine face is utillised to every possible bit. The film kind of reflects how much JLG was in love with this woman. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean-Claude Brialy do justice to their roles. There's an absolute hilarious scene where Brialy and Karina doesn't talk to each other and communicate only through the names of books they choose from their bookshelves. Overall, this is a really nice comedy that should appeal to the common viewer as well as the hardcore JLG fan such as me.

November(2004)

2009-02-04T23:51:00.001-08:00

Director: Greg Harrison

When I picked this dvd up from a local library, I didn't have much hope. I just thought of it to be another run of the mill Hollywoodish thriller. Boy! I was in for some surprise!

The film centers round Sophie, who is a professional photographer in LA. She lives together with her boyfriend Hugh and has a pretty normal life complete with the cheating on her boyfriend with some guy from work. But one evening something happens, something tragic. A held up, followed by a shoot-out in a corner store. And then the dream and the reality starts mixing up for Sophie.

The film is just over an hour long and is divided in three parts viz "denial", "despair" and "acceptance". The three parts are but different takes on the same incident, the shoot-out that takes place on a November evening. They start essentially with same sequence of shots, continue to tell us about the same evening, the same incident, the only difference being the music and the use of light and the way Sophie interprets the incidents. The "denial" part is the darkest of all where Sophie tries to deny the absolute facts in her life, facts that would dawn on the viewer at the very end. In the "despair" part, she sort of comes in terms with these facts but is ridden with pangs of grief. This part uses much brighter though a bit yellowish light to keep up with the theme. The last part, "acceptance", shows Sophie finally accepting the inevitable and seek salvation. This is obviously the brightest part and the background music is also vastly different from the other two.

I won't give out any more details of the plot. Those interested should really go forward and see this. This small independent film makes a statement as strong as any so called "classic". In fact it is a rare film that is both very intelligent and intriguing at the same time. Courtney Cox does a wonderful Sophie, James LeGros is a delight to watch as Hugh. This actually might be the best Hollywood film I have seen in quite a long time.

P.S: IMDB gives "November" 5.5 out of 10. When will they grow up?

Le Samourai(1967)

2009-01-08T00:58:00.000-08:00

English title: The Godson

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Country: France

If you are not a fan of the thriller/neo noir genre, definitely watch this film. Still, if you are not a fan of the thriller/neo noir genre, go die.

"Le Samourai" bears hallmark to the fact that even a virtually plotless tale, with almost no dialogues, actions and drama can still make an absolute cracker of a film. Alain Delon mesmerizes us as the methodical, cunning, devoid of almost all human emotions and deadly assassin Jeff Costello. Jeff, indeed qualifies as the finest to have ever graced the screen. Melville with his meticulously measured sense of framing the shots, his absolute lack of hurriedness and direction which is minimalistic to the point of being sparse makes sure that we are in for the ride of our life.

So, just sit back and enjoy this classic. They just don't make them like this anymore.

La femme Nikita(1997)

2009-01-07T01:21:00.001-08:00

English title: Nikita

Director: Luc Besson

Country: France

This is one of those peculiar films which have me in two minds, where I cannot decide whether I like them or I don't.

A drug-addicted and convicted cop-killer is given a second chance at life by the French government. Nikita is trained at a secret government facility to become one of their top agents, a spy, an assassin. She undergoes the transformation very slowly. And when she is ready, she is given a new social identity and let loose on the streets of Paris. She juggles between love and killing foreign ambassadors and such until a mission is screwed up. Big time. Then Nikita reallizes she has paid her dues to the society and decides to run away from everything that is dear to her.

The acting throughout is top-notch. Anne Parillaud captures the different phases of Nikita's life with equal panache. The build-up, the slow transformation, the screw-up, everything is portrayed beautifully. Luc Besson does a terrific job directing the film. But still, somewhere I got a feeling that this film should have been 15 minutes longer. The dilemmas and the revelations of Nikita's life could have been made to a bit more detail. But still, this is a great film to watch and most viewers would find it very satisfying.

And do look out for Jean Reno. He is fabulous in another Leon-esque "cleaner" role. He steals those 5 minutes of screentime from the otherwise brilliant Anne Parillaud.

La voie lactée(1969)

2009-01-04T23:27:00.000-08:00

English title: The milky way

Director: Luis Bunuel

Country: France

Two pilgrims in a modern France set out for Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where the body of St.James is believed to be buried. Throughout their journey they travel back and forth in space and time as they experience historical scenes referenced in different theological texts, all connected by a common notion. That of christianity, of heresy, of the dogma involving catholicism, of the beliefs and of the contradictions. They come across a priest obsessed with transubstantiation(who changes in his mind about it in a minute), a child with unusual powers, Marquis de Sade trying to preach atheism to a young girl in his own sadistic ways, an archbishop encouraging mass orgy in the name of Christ, nuns crucifying another nun, an angel of death and obviously Jesus who refrains from shaving his beard to make Virgin Mary happy.

Made almost 40 years after the famously notorious Un chien Andalou and L'Age Dor, this film still has some elements of Bunuel's blatant rendezvous with the equally, if not more eccentric Salvador Dali and their ideas of surrealist cinema. But on the whole, this film is much mellow, much more subtle with a tangible coherent structure in the narrative quite in the lines of "The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie". The scenes, the dialogues(co- written by Jean-Claude Carriere) reek of Bunuel's infamous sarcasm and black humor. Unlike his earlier take on Christianity, "Simon of the desert", this film is much closer to his latter work "The phantom of the liberty", only much more straightforward. But the dilemmas of his atheist mind, grown up in a completely catholic surrounding, are nevertheless very much visible. He constantly puts forward miracles, beliefs and ventures to counter them in peculiar and very satirical ways. He seems to believe one of his character's words "my freedom is a phantom" and still mocks it to the very end. The film is a collection of some wonderful moments. The best being the one where a priest sitting outside a room explains to a couple inside how the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. He says that its almost like a sun ray coming through a window. At this very moment we see that at one moment the priest is inside the room, the next he is again outside. This has got to be one of the finest piece of cinematic irony ever.

True, that this film has got a huge number of biblical and theological references. Still for the ignorants such as me, it works completely. Dark, very funny, this film is indeed Bunuel's road trip to blasphemy! :D

Cursed

2008-12-21T11:15:00.000-08:00

Year: 2005

Director: Wes Craven

Cursed be you if you even venture to watch this. God knows what got into the otherwise awesome Wes Craven that he actually made this werewolf crapfest. Avoidable at all costs.

Offside

2008-12-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

Year: 2006

Director: Jafar Panahi

Country: Iran

The year is 2005. 10,000 men wait outside a stadium in Iran to watch the football match between Iran and Bahrain; the match that can send Iran to the World Cup in Germany. Well, not quite 10,000 men. A few among them are women. Dressed as young boys or even soldiers. Waiting with bated breaths; waiting to get inside. Some have come with parents, some with friends. Some have come to pay tribute to friends who died in that stadium, others for the sole love of the beautiful game. The only problem: no women are allowed in the stadium and the cops are looking for them. Six of them get caught. Six women, who are strangers to one another, prisoners to the young cops who keep them inside a makeshift barricade; six women who share the same passion. Football. Iran. As the match progresses, the six women and the cops guarding them develop an inexplicable bond. At the end as Iran wins, the women and the cops get out on the streets together, dance hand in hand, light sparklers and sing. In a society tainted with inequality, football brings harmony. National pride wins.

Panahi actually shot this film entirely during the match mentioned above. And he used non-professional actors to make things look more natural. They sure do a commendable job. The extremely funny and witty script makes sure that there isn't one single dull moment in this film. True this is no "Talaye Sorkh" or "Dayereh"(which btw are excellent films). But this sure is one delightful piece of cinema. If you are looking for a light on your brains yet meaningful comedy, rent this. Its worth all of it. More so if your'e a football fanatic like me.

Jogo Bonito!Beautiful game. Beautiful cinema.

Kozure Ôkami: Kowokashi udekashi tsukamatsuru

2008-11-25T20:19:00.000-08:00

English Title: Lone wolf and the cub: Sword of vengeance

Year: 1972

Director: Kenji Misumi

Country: Japan

This is the original "Kill Bill". And better.

Ogami Itto is the official executioner of the Shogun. After the yagyu clan plans to takeover his job, his wife is brutally murdered and Itto is framed for treason. He escapes with his one year old son Daigoro. In a quest for vengeance, he wanders around the country with his son in a baby cart and offering service as an assassin to people who pay enough. Together, the father and the son come to be known as "the lone wolf and the cub".

This film is the perfect example of a samurai film. At some points, even better than "Yojimbo". And Tomisaburo Wakayama is absolutely badass as Ogami Itto. His portrayal of the measured, often silent, yet deadly samurai fares better than Mifune's Yojimbo or Eastwood's "the man with no name". Whenever he takes out the sword, you have hands and legs and heads lying around with blood gushing out from bodies in steady showers. This gory slaughter fest alongwith the wonderful background scores and the beautiful cinematography, makes it a treat to watch.

This is only the first of a six film series. And I hear that the rest are equally good. I can't wait to get my hands on them.

The name's Bond. James Bond.

2008-11-15T00:59:00.000-08:00

Title: Quantum of Solace

Director: Mark Forster

Year: 2008

First there was Bond. Then there were Bournes. If anyone thinks this was inspired by a Bourne film, go kiss Bourne's ass.

Casino Royale started it all. It gave birth to 007. But he was still a normal human being who loved, cared and placed revenge over duty. Quantum of Solace comes full circle as it makes Bond as we know him. A cold blooded assassin on a mission, and who has a way with his women. Fans cried that there wasn't enough action in Casino Royale. They've got plenty to watch here. Sexy, sultry Bond girls, scheming villains, motorboat chases, car chases, everything. There's still Q to come. With him, the gadgets. But this film is only a platform. It prepares Bond for what he will become in the next films to come, it just makes him the best agent in the business. So just lay back and enjoy the show as Bond becomes James Bond, agent 007. And I have a a strong feeling the next few films are gonna bring back the golden age of Bond films tarnished by Timothy Daltons and Pierce Brosnans.

And Craig IS the BEST Bond ever. Period.

Trzecia Czesc Nocy(1971)

2008-11-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

English Title: Third part of the night

Director: Andrzej Zulawski

Country: Poland

Zulawski's debut film is also his toughest to watch. As passionate as his much acclaimed "Possession", this film is even more darker. This film is fairly biographical as a major part of it is inspired by his father's memoirs of the Nazi and Soviet occupied communist Poland in the 1970s. His very idealistic and strong political sentiments are very imminent in this film.
It starts off with Michal, who is recovering from a terminal illness in a countryside with his family. While he takes a walk in the woods, his wife, son and mother gets killed by Russian soldiers. He returns to the city, goes underground and while attacked by the Gestapo, stunbles upon a woman in labor. The Nazis take in the husband of this woman mistaking him for Michal, while Michal helps the woman to deliver her son. Then Michal works as a lice feeder in a Nazi experiment to earn breads for himself and this woman, who resembles his dead wife. And then he goes on to try and free the husband. The basic storyline runs along on this path while Zulawski plays around with a lot of things. He plays around with the timeline, often disturbing the flow of the narrative to give it a non-linear look, and also with all sorts of metaphors. He uses the whole lice feeding scheme to depict the parasitism creeping into the Polish society, as it gets infected with guilt and oppression. He uses the concept of doppelgangers as parts of an identity by using the same female cast for Michal's dead wife and the pregnant lady. In fact, somewhere these two are not different personas. They are the same individual. The constantly moving camera catches the dynamics of Michal, who seems to be running away from failed relationships, his sense of oppression and guilt through labyrinthine alleyways and dark buildings. He seems to be running away from his dead wife and again coming back to the pregnant lady resembling his wife. His relation with his father, who cannot take any of this anymore and destroys his only belongings, music notes reminds us of the patriarchal society we so often see in a Kafka book. In fact, the guilt, the running away, the metamorphosis of the poilitically oppressed society seen through the eyes of Michal are all very Kafkaesque. This film is Zulawski's vision of the post World War II Polish society from a very compelling point of view. Just for the brilliant direction and lead performances, the film will definitely affect the viewer. This is as intriguing as cinema can get. And I also recommend a second viewing for better understanding of the film.

By far, the best Polish cinema I have ever seen.

Marxism

2008-11-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

A night in Casablanca(1946)

Monkey business(1931)

Animal crackers(1930)

This is Marxism as Karl wouldn't have dreamt of. Effing hilarious. The most insane comedy on screen. Ever.

Amen to almost 20 years of pure comedy that was the Marx Brothers. And I will always be a Marxist.

Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia(1974)

2008-10-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

Director: Sam Peckinpah

Let me warn you first. This is not a film for everybody. If you are a regular romanticised hollywood viewer, this film is not for you. If you are a serious, thinking viewer who likes complex, multidimensional cinema, this film is not for you. If you like humor as black as your coffee, if you have an eye for violence, if you can appreciate the dark macabre, this film is the ultimate joyride for you.
A landlord in rural Mexico discovers that his unmarried daughter has been impregnated by a playboy called Alfredo Garcia. He declares a prize of a million dollars on his head. Bounty hunters start looking for him. But no one except a piano player in a pub seems to know Garcia's whereabouts. The piano man, Benny, agrees to deliver the head to the bounty hunters for ten grands and resolving a personal agenda. Benny sets off on a road trip with his girlfriend with the biunty hunters in silent pursuit, for the head of Alfredo Garcia. Bloodbath follows. Twenty one deaths after, Benny has his revenge, his redemption, his death. Peckinpah in his usual style, makes the fights as violent as possible, the deaths as bloody as they can get. But yu will never feel disgusted by it all. Instead you will enjoy it immensely when Benny drives his car and talks continuosly to the severed head of Alfredo Garcia, wrapped in a sack and kept on the carseat. The script is witty, humorous. Warren Oates is wonderful as the driven to the edge Benny. The bleak rural Mexico provides a perfect backdrop. This film is as dark as it gets. And brutal. Thus, very enjoyable.

Two sides of the same coin

2008-10-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

Film: Mou gaan dou(2002)
English title: Infernal Affairs
Director: Wai-keung Lau & Siu Fai Mak

This film is an absolute classic. It is the story of a mole in a police department and an undercover cop in a mafia gang. Their objectives are the same. To find who is the cop and who is the mole. The acting is brilliant. The directors take all their time in building up the plot. They take utmost care in their treatment of a simple story. And turn it into a twisted tale of honor and betrayal. The two protagonists walk almost the same road for a long long time. They play with the faith of one group of men and show utmost loyalty to another. The only thin line of difference between them is the sense of what is right and what is wrong. And when they cross each other's paths, only sparks follow. The film delves into the psyche of the two men, their emotions and still the tightly woven script doesn't allow the drama and the tension to wither away. It only makes the viewer wait eagerly for the two sequels.

Film: The departed(2006)
Director: Martin Scorsese

This is Scorsese's second attempt in adapting an older film. He didn't make the mark with "Cape fear". And he comes nowhere near with "The departed". This, indeed is an absolute waste of a film. Adopted from "Infernal affairs", the storyline has nothing new to offer. The major scenes are complete rip-offs. Matt damon, Mark Wahlberg are hard to watch. DiCaprio's whining character is still the best performance in this film. Nicholson is just watchable. The direction is wayward to say the least. For example, the undercover cop infiltrates the gang and becomes an important part in only a few months time. Give me a break! Both the protagonists are extremely one dimensional. They ar either good or bad. There's no shade of gray in them. Unlike the original, Scorsese fails to play around with questions of morality and trust. He, in turn makes the film a typical hollywoodish bad guy vs good guy flick. This film, IMHO is Scorsese's weakest production. Ever. And to think of it, he bagged an oscar for this!! Damned be the oscars!!

Trivia: "The departed" ranks 45th in IMDB's top 250 list. And "Infernal affairs" ranks a low 232. Guess I don't know much about films :(

The man who wasn't there(2001)

2008-10-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

Director: Coen brothers

Billy Bob Thornton excels as a chain smoking barber who gets mixed up in a murder mystery in a small town called Santa Rosa circa 1949, as he tries to blackmail his wife's(Frances McDormand) boss(James Gandolfini). The entire film is shot in black and white and the camerawork is no less than exquisite. The Coen brothers uses light and shadow to wonderful effect in this film . The film is definitely slow, but the music, the tight script and the wonderful performances from all the leads as well as from a very young Scarlet Johansson succeeds to keep the viewer more than interested. The unforeseen climax of the film takes it to a completely different height. It transcends to a film about one's identity, sense of guilt and also about the redemption one seeks in his lifetime. This is as close to a perfect noir as the Coen Brothers will ever get. Yes, keeping in mind "Blood simple" and "No country for old men", "The man who wasn't there" will be my favorite Coen Brothers film. For a long time to come.

Righteous kill(2008)

2008-10-10T10:16:00.001-07:00

Director: Who cares

Two great actors doesn't necessarily make a great film. The sooner Hollywood gets this simple fact, the better.

Fitzcarraldo(1982)

2008-10-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

Director: Werner Herzog
Country: Germany

What if you can't move a mountain, you can always move a ship over a mountain. What if you can't find the golden gates of El Dorado, you can always build an opera house on the Amazon. That is exactly what this film is about. It is about dreams. It is about a visionary. It is about how he risks his life to pursue his dreams, his visions.

Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald or "Fitzcarraldo" is a man who once wanted to build a railway through the amazon forests. Now bankrupt, he still dreams to build an opera house on the amazon. He tries ice production to raise money. Failed, he borrows money from his lady love and sets on one of the most ambitious projects ever taken up by man. He sails upstream on river pachitea in hope of setting up a rubber plantation. Deserted by almost his entire crew midway, he goes on with the help of local indians in the pursuit of his dreams.

The film boasts of some wonderful cinematography. Especially the dusk and night shots are no less than mesmerizing. Herzog, being the wonderful director that he is, makes this long, slow film extremely enjoyable. There are very prominent similarities to his earlier film "Aguirre, der zorn gottes". Like the backdrop of the amazon, the hostile indians, the megalomaniac central character and most obviously the last scene, where Fitzcarraldo stands on his ship with a content smile and an opera playing on the deck, which definitely reminds us of another man standing alone on a ship and uttering "when I Aguirre, the wrath of god asks the birds to fall dead from the trees, the birds will drop dead from the trees." He doesn't make this film to show us whether Fitzcarraldo fulfils his dream or not. Rather he shows us the extent to which this man can dare to dream, the extent to which he dares to go to fulfil his dreams.

And everything apart, the one singular thing that makes this film a must see is Fitzcarraldo himself, played by the greatest actor ever on earth. Klaus Kinski. He shouts, stares with mad eyes, gazes lovingly at indian kids, looks lost when he hears an opera playing, dreams, loves with utmost passion, shows authority over the crew of the ship, looks beyond the thinkable, his eyes have it all. If you want to watch this film for one reason, let it be Kinski. And he will have you in his spells. For ever.

Adams æbler(2005)

2008-10-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

English Title: Adam's Apples
Director: Andres Thomaas Jensen
Country: Denmark

I generally drop by my University Grad student lounge every thursday evening with a friend to catch a film. This thursday they weren't screening any. And the friend was busy. So I went out on a chilly evening, all alone in a quest to find the comparative literature department where they were supposedly showing a film. I found the building after a 20 minutes long search, but it was empty. I waited for another 20 minutes and then people started coming. I told to myself, the film better be good. And boy, it was!

The story starts with Adam, a neo-nazi who's serving a sentence. He arrives at a church in a Danish countryside to serve community service. The church has a vicar, Ivan and two more such fugitives, Gunnar and Khalid. Each of these men are unique. Gunnar is an overweight, alcoholic, ex tennis champ who spends his day fondling his cat and drinking and stealing other peoples stuff. He's kleptomaniac. Khalid is an Arab, who's saving money and buying guns because he wants to rob some people and then run away to Saudi Arabia. Ivan puts up a smiling face all the time and finds the best in everything around him. He believes that god is with him in all his endeavors. And there's the village doctor, who plays the perfect devil's advocate. As Adam, the Hitler worshipping neo-nazi ruffian arrives, Ivan assigns him the job of looking after the church apple tree so that later he can bake a pie with them. The film then meanders through the labyrinths of belief, good, evil, redemption. As events unfold we learn that Ivan had such a terrible past(his mother died young, he was raped by his father his wife committed suicide, his only son is spastic) that he become inane to all the evil in this world. He believes in the goodness of life. To Ivan, anything bad happening is the satan testing his goodness. His belief is so strong that he walks joyfully even with a huge brain tumor. It is here where the main conflict of the film is. Adam thinks he is pure evil and he can't help it. He thinks Ivan is just a hopeless liar when he claims that his wife died from an accident or his son is a normal child. Ivan refuses to see the evil Adam poses. Ivan puts another cheek forward when Adam hits him. Adam tries to break through Ivan's demeanor of faith continuously. In the process he starts believing in the goodness of life instead.

Thomsen as Adam and Mikkelsen as Ivan puts up wonderful performances. The constant tension between the two alongwith the director's very very crooked sense of humor adds so much spice to the film. The ensemble of a powerful side cast also helps the cause. Jensen uses some recurrent themes allover the film. Like the song "how deep is your love" which Ivan loves and Adam despises. And there's also the reference to St.Augustine who told that one should read the bible from where one opens it 'cause that is the story of one's life. Jensen uses this beautifully as whenever Adam or Ivan chances to throw away the bible, the book opens at "The book of Job" which is deeply concerned with the same parables of faith and redemption as this film. He uses small things like the apple tree, fruit worms, crows to excellent effect to add to the theme. Boasting of a very tight script, the film definitely catches you and makes you question your own ideas about good and evil.

In short, it was worth so much more than the endeavor :P

The best ever villains on screen

2008-10-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

I have been watching a lot of thrillers lately. Maybe thats the reason I'm writing this post. Whatever, who cares! Here's the list:

1) Joker(The Dark Knight)- not the Nicholson joker Joker. but the Ledger badass Joker. The most terrifying personification of evil on screen. Ever.

2) Max Cady(Cape Fear)- if looks could kill, Cady would be a murderer. One of the very few villains who does little but terrifies most. Again, not the roguish De Niro Cady, but the classic Mitchum Cady.

3) Reverend Harry Powell(Night of the hunter)- "love" and "hate". Mitchum can be any child's nightmare for lives to come.

4) Dr. Hannibal Lecter(Silence of the lambs)- he's going to have you for supper. With chianti and fava beans.

5) Norman Bates(Psycho)- don't dare to book a room at the Bates motel. The mother will come looking for you.

6) Jack Torrance(The shining)- heeeere's Johnny! Be scared when daddy's home. 'Cause he's gonna cut you up in little pieces.

7) Anton Chigurh(No country for old men)- call it. Just call it. You stand to win everything. You lose, he will come for you. Even in your smallest hole in the farthest corner of the earth. He definitely will.

8) Alex DeLarge(A clockwork orange)- rape, Beethoven, drugs. Voila!

9) Hans Beckert(M)- he couldn't help it. So he killed. Only children. How much more terrifying can you get?

10) Harry Lime(The third man)- how can you fight a villain who isn't even there?

11) Dr.Christian Szell(Marathon man)- Hitler died. Some nazis didn't. They still terrorise the face of the earth. And some, like Dr.Szell can make you afraid of dentists. Very much.

12) Freddy Krueger(Nightmare on elm street)- don't fall asleep. Or Freddy is going to tear you apart. The demon who makes nightmares come true, Freddy is right up there.

There are a lot more I wanted to add. Like Leatherface(Texas chain saw massacre), Henry(Portrait of a serial killer) etc. But then its going to be a never ending list. This looks much better.

2008-10-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

Provided that I average around two films a day, I should have been writing this blog quite long ago. The most obvious deterrent was my exceptional expertise in "lyaad khaoa". But I had to write this blog, someday. Today be it. Hence, I start sharing my very little understanding and experience into the wide wide world of the wonderful art that is cinema.

This blog is obviously dedicated to the few people who taught me to watch cinema. I, in turn shall try to inspire a few. Happy viewing everyone.