Cinemascope

film list

2011-12-10T10:33:00.001+05:30

Leader. So,dilip kumar prances about at first as a radical nationalist newspaperman; thenas an astrologer? and later as a posing prince. its complete nonsense andsilly. but mildly entertaining for the songs- apni aazadi and the taj mahalthing.

Black mail.Dharamendra and rakhee in love and shatrughan sinha play best friend turnedevil blackmailer. set in some hill town. pointless really. oh yes- except forthe fact that dharams research lab has found a solution for the worlds powercrisis!

Aaya SawanJhoom Ke _ can't really remember any plot details in this one. except that thatdharam lives in a juhu bungalow and asha parekh does not. he woos her and isabout to marry her when he runs over her father. guilt and suspicion trip up the path of truelove- only for a little while- but too long to bear.

Cadillacrecords. about the music- no complaints as long as the songs are on. the storyof a white man and muddy waters. beyonce stars as etta james- and belts outvocal pyrotechnics. howlin wolf and little walker come in and out. desperatefor respectability the film follows the classic oscar baiting bio clichés.think ray

The great gambler. a riot of a plot- featuring ak2 plan that destroys every metal object within 50 kilometres. evil smugglerswant to send this plan out to marconi in italy through the gyrations of adancing helen- who is promptly killed off and replaced by zeenat aman. amitabhbachchan is double dealing in a nonsense plot. and most times in the search forcosmopolitan cool plot and pacing goes for a toss like the europe/ Egypt tourism and the general hipness. Thedouble dealing is mixed up and half baked.

Ra one - what's to complain about a film that so transparentlysays what it is about and goes ahead and does it- and if ra-one is aboutanything at all - it as about shah rukh khan's crotch- our collective obsessionwith it. so he burns it, puts cold ice on it, pierces it- he even grabs arjunrampals crotch as part of the climax. sometimes he manages to grab kareenakapoors breasts. but that is the side plot. otherwise he mimics badly Tamil accents,puts on a skin tight costume and jumps across Bombay local trains and thegorgeous Battersea power station. fun enough. unlike-

Rockstar - besides the laughable premise of truepain leading to great art and our wimp at the centre of the film finding it inthe love of a married woman- who is vapid and expressionless, for a film aboutmusic - it was unlistenable. the Delhi hindu stephens nonsense in the beginningwas at least mildly amusing, but later when the guy is being beaten up for nodamn reason on the streets of europe and he grows his beard in protest andscowls away- all sanity and structure disappears. he poses angry rock- but likethe fuzzy free tibet posters in sadda haq. it is merely another fashionstatement. dangerous for nobody and nothing.

The mighty wind - a 'this is spinal tap' for folkmusic. affectionate almost about the air headed free love and hippie politicsof a generation.

Johnny mera naam - most of time in katmandu withdev anand playing a double agent for the police trying to infiltrate a gang ofsmugglers and thieves. the highlight must be padma khannas red shorts in 'husnke laakhon rang'

Tere mere sapne - more dev anand - this time as a doctor disillusioned by theungrateful world he finds in the village- forced to come to Mumbai. as heclimbs the ladder of success- a hema mailini's film star falls head over heelsin love with him- but he loses his devoted wife mumtaz.

Bus 174 - a hold up docudrama when a homeless manhijacks a bus in sao paolo. the incident becomes the focus for a debate onhomelessness and what drives young men to crime. talking heads and interspersedfootage from the actual hold up.

Round midnight - tedious- i thought- story of anamerican jazz musician in 1950s paris and the friendship he strikes with afrench fan as he dissolves in alcohol.

Herbert - if only the film wasnt so selfconsciously clever- dropping philosophical concepts and names like bird poo allover this annoyingly pretentious mess of bengali self reflexivity. herbert is adim wit orphan in the care of his aunt and being beaten by his cousin. somewherealong the way maoists insurgencies are pulled in, as is a silly love story. ifthe high pitched drama was meant to be ironical- it was so self consciouslyfarcical- it left you with a feeling that the film makers were too clever byhalf for their own good.

Reds. warren beatty's bio pic about Louise Bryantand john reed- left wing radicals in wartime america with talking heads tellingthe story through real life encounters and a vast landscape of setting rangingfrom new york to moscow through the wintry lands of Norway.

Hamlet. - the LawrenceOlivier version. his blonde coldness offset in the labyrinth of the castle. spacesdissolve into over another as there appears to be no way out. the only time westep out briefly is when ophelia dies and when the ghost appears suddenly atthe top of the castle.

Only yesterday. urban 27 year old reliving a nostalgiafor a better life in the villages remembers the present - sunsets on the farms,and lives in the past, the mystery of eating a pineapple and the firstcrush- in glorious detailed animation.and then there is love.

All about eve- Bette Davis gets the best lines as sheages watching the two faced social climber manipulate her way to stardom.terrific film.

Silk stockings - freed Astaire and cyd charisseplay American and Russian in paris- where love blooms in spite of the repressedred tape that keeps them apart. fashion, pleasure and american band musicbreaks all boundaries. hmm.

Mary pippins - a little too long. and she isreally much to sweet for me. or maybe i am too old. but some of the dancesequences- or at least the one on the top of the roofs of London- is spectacular-and the film knows it- it goes on and on and on and on.

my fair lady -the same year as marry poppins i think. and audrey hepburn is pretty andannoyingly cute-charming. for me the film was all rex harrison- nastysexist and hepburn, even at the end-doesnt bother with his insults and goes back to him to find his slippers.

dial m formurder - hitchcock and grace kelly. a love triangle and murder with a latch keybelow the stair carpet- fifth step. the twist was predictable- but still theskill unbelievable.

dark passage -the first half of the film is Bogart faceless- we only see through his eyes-interesting enough. but when he gets the new face- the film meanders throughplot details and co-incidences too ridiculous to believe. could be a hindifilm. the san Francisco streets have more unpredictable turns.

film list - 6th October 2011

2011-10-06T08:25:00.000+05:30

Bombay ka babu: when dev anand arrives runningaway from a murder he thinks he has committed he arrives in a hill town andimpersonates a runaway son (the same man he has killed). suchitra sen plays hissister/lover. the incestuous tug to the relationship is super interesting untilthen end when the bambai ka babu gives up his love for the sake of his adoptedfamily. for a change the village is the corruptor in the form of the schemingvillian who convinces anand to impersonate the son.

Ramke naam: anand patwardhan's landmark documetary about the babri masjiddemolition folllows the journey of the cavalcade as it attempts to demolish themosque ot make way for the temple. as in most agit prop documentary theargument is flat and so are the characterisations- often though his browbeating and villain casting become too pat and he ends up ridiculing the'common people'. the time that the film rises above i when it looks at theissue through its periphery- like the man with the lost spectacles on thebridge.

Audition.: Takashii Miike ultra violent sweet looking for love story that goes horriblywrong when the audition for a future bride reveals a mad monster girl in theguoise of a delicate ballet dancer. the turn from the sweet wry humour to thedark end with amputated legs builds slowly and hits hard.

Belledu jour: catherine deneuve is stunning as the pristine beauty soiled in mud. a bourgeoisupper class wife of a doctor her fantasies for sadomasochism lead her away inthe afternoons into an upper class whorehouse until her paramour in the otherlife stalks her home.

TheLast emperor: there is of course the famous shot where the young newly cronedepereor runs out of the the curtain clad interior into the courtyard of theforbidden city. The film cuts back and forthe between an older emperor inajapense prisoner of war camp and the story of his life as he grew up withinthe forbidden city into a young man in the swining 20s. As a clash of valuesystems- western ideals of freedom and individuality clash with tradition andcollectivism of the chinese tradtition. everyone speaks in english- which isgrating sometimes- and peter o'toole's grand scottish teacher is often thevaluse system that we are supposed to identify with

Sangam.Vyjayanti in a swim suit as Gopal teases from a tree. Piano songs thatframe one of the vertices between the other two. The love triangle is a screengeometry that multiplies in time. Plots, song lines, spaces triplicate inunending triangles in triangles. Looks exchanged and ignored. Har dil jo pyarkarega... Men choose men over the grieving woman. the triangular patternsReplicate in mountain tops and flight formations tricolour. every relationshipis haunted with its missing third point. and then Bagpipes and accordions aresymbols of European obsessions. So much of the film meanders in Tourism and theplethora of Commodities in the fashion boutiques of paris.

Aah:does love save raj kapoor from dying of tuberculosis? nargis and him fall in love over letters except that she isimpersonating her sister. its all very tragic and morose.

Camerabuff:kieslowski's bitter sweet film about a factory clerks romance with acamera he buys for documenting his growing chld until the world of art takesover his being. from the joy of the thedocumentation of a life And the love of the world to the strange rituals ofnuclear attack Drills with gas masks on. he ends up looking for Something overtranquillity. his obsessions for 'showing' end up in sacrificing a friend andlosing his wife- yet he can only see it through Turning the camera on himself.

The cranes are flying. socievt socailist realismin High perspective. a City of bridges and infrastructure in A liquid dappled light and shadowland. Facesand bodies move within this tapestry like smoothness. when out hero dies in themiddle of the film in his mind the swirling trees remind him of that crazy rushup the stairs to meet his love before he left the city. the heroine is thestrong suffering woman at home as the menfight on the front.

Justcause: a run of the mill courtroom drama with sean connery being duped by a manwho he thinks is innocent.

Wilde: the oscar wilde story with stephen frybrilliant as oscar and jude law bratty and self obsessed as bosie.

Rosencrautz and Guildenstern Are dead. watchinghamlet from the periphery, these two dont know hat there is a play going on.instead they participate int he action from the edge. in between stomblingacross the great discoveries of the Experiments of Galileo and Newton they veerbetween being on Stage and off stage. its all very philipophical and profound-but more than a little tedious.

Badlands. terence malick's foray into the violenceof youthful energy and desperation against the tedium of suburban america.martin sheen is a boy from the other side of the tracks whose edgy charismaseduces the pretty girl into murder and a trip across the animal landscape ofthe americas.

The visit. ingrid bergman returns to the town of guellen as arich heiress out for revenge agains the very town that threw her out. but nowshe has her eyes set on the life of the ex-lover who dumped her for thedaughter of a rich town merchant. she floods the town with commodiites and getsthe townspeople to act agianst its own.

Thenight of the hunter. charles alughton's brilliant thriller. the killer preacherfollows the boy and his sister down the long river. chrisitanity and murder,gospel music in the air, a body under water whoe hair swims like seaweed andthe murder sequence in the church like attic- black and white noir drama.

Carefree: intantly forgettable little musical romcom about a psychoanalyst falling for his patient. happy little golf dance.

Barry Lyndon. the film unfolds like a novel. itsnot only the chapters and the omniscient narrator but time stretching across toallow you to think and the almost model like actors going thorugh the motionsspeaking carefully enunciating every word. the stor is about the rise and fallof adventurer barry.

TheLion in winter: the castle is filled with the heat of language. katherinehepburn and peter o'toole play the queen and king bickering over who gets to beking among their three sons. each has their favourite. the homosexuallionhearted hero vs the idiot child. between them is the cool calculatingmachine.

Zelig:woody allen brilliant and funny mock documentary about the amazing zelig whobecame whoever he was in the company of- a republican, democrat, chinese oreskimo. chameleon. it would be too pat to say the film is about capitalism andthe crisis of identity. it is .. but so what?

Easyrider. the flash fade cuts between the sequences were like a the kicks of amotorcycle until it cruises down the highway smoothly. the film is like a dreamor a nightmare about America and freedom. loved it.

The man who shot liberty valance. moral of thestory : in civilizing the west men like gary cooper brought with them theconstitution, but the men who made it possible were gunslingers like johnwayne. sacrificing themselves for the great american nation.

thefrench connection. terrific action sequences and the amazing chase scene belowthe structure of the train rushing across the city. it is a gritty city ofgarbage on the roadsa dn drug dealers everywhere.

agneepath.vijay dinananth chauhan refuses to deal in drugs- but does everything elese.great action sequences at the ganpati visarjan. and mithun makes an ass ofhimslef with that terrible tamilian accent. i have heard they got rid of thischaracter for the hritik roshan remake. understandably.

thesweet smell of success- the machinations behind the scenes of the americanpublicity mechanism. tony curtis is to break up the love of a girl and her jazzplayer to be able ot satisfy her nasty columnist brother. like dangerousliaisons- a tragedy where words are knives.

kes-to keep away from his future as a miner in the depths of the earth, the boykeeps a falcon. lovely training sequences on the outskirts of the mining town.

mashaal-yash chopra in bombay spends time in a slum called dogarbhatti where anewspaperman reforms local goon anil kapoor by sending him away to bangalore.when the boy returns the tables have turned. again, some surprisingly goodaction sequences.

ankahee:amol palekar's boring and regressive take on the old debate on science vsfaith. his father predicts that his first wife is going to die so he marriesanother girl who has mental problems and proceeds to cure her with sex. what anego trip! when the other girl kills herself she saves the wife.

thelast picture show- a coming of age drama about two friends in a nowhere texantown. the vixen blonde seduces the both of them on her way towards escape.black and white longing.

onthe waterfront- terry malone cant imagine life outside the waterfront- his onlyworld- the only place where he could have been somebody- a contender. brando isdroopy eyed angst when he betrays his godfather to the cops.

filmsocialisme- godards' most recent film is a three part meditiation on eurpoe,palestine and of course film itself. shot in digital high saturated sharpness-the film is in three sections. the first on a cruise line headed for nowhere,the second in a suburban gas station and the third a trip across the europe'smost famous cities. dense allegories pack the film and tear it apartbrilliantly for most- except for the mid section whcih is just plain awful.

film list - 16th september 2011

2011-09-16T10:35:00.001+05:30

damnation:in the desolate landscapes of rural-industrial hngary - a love triangle betweena torch singer in a restaurant, her husband and a lonely man. above them therattle and hum of the perpetually moving coal cart

trolley. black and white longtracking shots stare at cracks on the walls of the crumbling small town.

the last rites: almostpornographic gaze at the dark beauty of the ship breaking yard at chittagong.men's bodies are aestheticized as gorgeous labour, the ships themselves as theydie are beautiful corpses.

gandu: allcontroversy, not that much content. a film about adolescent sexuality where ayoung rap wannabe meets a rickshaw driver with a bruce lee obsession. the shakyhard close up black and white grittiness was mostly style- but adolescentvisual obsessions work for a film about adolescence. example: the graphicsexual scene where gandu loses his sexuality is the only scene in colour.

nadodigal: three friendsin a village kidnap a girl for the sake of someone else's love. the lovers fallout of love. very pointless and not very entertaining regressive stuff. a bighit i am told. whatever.

lan yu: a gay lovestory set in beijing of the early 90s. the tiananmen square incident takesplace off screen. a young architecture student is taken under the wing of acorrupt businessman. a melodrama tear jerker that reminded me of so many douglas sirk films. the tragic end wasunnecessary and completely ineffective.

35 shots of rum; claire denis'drama about the relationship between a train driver on the verge of reitermentand his daughter. they love alone ina building overlooking the train tracks andhave an extended family of neighbours. a movie about letting go.

not on the lips: alain resnais-as far as he can possibly get from the esoteric time space madness of'hiroshima mon amour'. a 'saloon comedy'- does such a term exist? a richbusinessman calls his american partner over for a dinner. unknown to him thisamerican happens to be the ex-husband of his wife. a comedy of errors set to music.light hearted fun

the adventures or baron munchausen: terry gilliamgoes crazy with the irrational impulses in this 'hatim tai' like journey. thereis adventure at every turn. the baron and his companions meet giant headswithout bodies and vice versa, kings of the underworld and giant momsters asthey try and save the kingdom from the invading turks.

the decameron. : pasolini'ssexually liberated world of medieval naples. in the stories as young men makelove to a convent full of nuns, a young couple make love on a terrace, a youngman is cheated out of all he owns, sin and salvation are intertwined in sex anddeath.

the trial of joan of arc: bresson'smodernist take on the story of joan of arc. the look is disconcertinglycontemporary. bodies are fragmented in gestures. her strength lies within herambiguous sexuality.

the magnificent ambersons. a film aboutthe fin de siècle. the ambersons and their mansion disintegrates withtransforming fortunes unable to break with traditions and sceptical of the newworld symbolized by the automobile. exquisite looking black and white noir andthat incredible take of the ball room sequence; or the joy of racing in thesnow.

a matter of life and death. a powell andpressburger rmasterpience- a fantasy film about war and love. when david nivendoes not die and instead finds himself in the arms of a girl he loves theclerks administering the entrance of the after life are distraught and a courtcase begins. the british are held accountable for the atrocities they havecommitted on the world. but love saves the day and paves the path for angloamerican romances. unforgettable image: the escalator to the sky. and thefiling cabinet of the dead.

dont look now: the firstnicholas roeg film. this was a thriller horror film set in the labyrinthinelanes of venice. as donald sutherland tries to restore a church, him and hiswife are haunted by the sudden visions in a red raincoat of his daughter whenshe drowned. the cut-up juxtapositions of space and time here make forunexpected images

walkabout: from theopening city shots showing the main characters in offices, playgrounds and inschools we cut suddenly to the landscape of the autralian outback. here after abrutal suicide a girl and her brother are left to fend for the themselveswithin the wild. as they encounter the aboriginal and the natural the violenceof the civilized is brought into relief. as the animal and the plant confrontthe ghosts of the primitive and the history of colonialism, aborigines dancemad in the carcass of a burnt car; an aboriginal boy performs a love sex deathdance. the cut-up slicing of the space/time is fantastic.

performance:the first nicholas roeg film, where a london gangster on the run from his oldbuddies finds shelter in a bohemian home lorded over by a retiring rock star- apouting made up mick jagger. the time space collisions continue until the langourof the upstairs boudoir takes over and begins to blur boundaries between thevarious inhabitants of the space. people morph into one another, sexuality ispolymorphic, identities are all performed- being a man, being strong, being.

cries andwhispers: distressed grieving sisters in a bourgeois home. one of them isdying and is being cared for by her maid. steeped in a palpable sadness, as athe death brings out the repressed desires and guilt's tied up behind the cageof being a woman and of belonging to a certain class. a film about boredom anddeath.

theexterminating angel. another bunuel dinner party. while in the 'discreetcharm' the dinner never begins; in 'the exterminating angel' it never ends.when the workers within a bourgeois home leave, listlessness begins to set overthe guests of the a dinner party. while the world outside waits to come in,from within none can fid the energy to step out even though death and boredomthreaten.

singham; surya tearsthe screen apart with his growl. a lion appears in sudden bursts when he roars;he cuts arcs through the sky when his strikes. as capital m- man surya isclassic. the girl whimpers and pouts and he

saves the day by beating evilkidnappers into a pulp.

taurus. the last daysof lenin in washed grey green. a dacha where the ailing leader is being takencare a caring wife and a amused group of helpers. to make the myth a person.stalin alternating between caring and calculating comes and meets with him on agarden terrace as lenin contemplates poison.

barsaat:nimmis first film. a ramanand sagar story set in the hills where nubile younggirls with lal dupattas flow free before young men from the city come tocorrupt them with their cynicism and quick love. prem nath plays the cynicalfriend who breaks nimmis heart, while raj kapoor the poet romantic who falls inlove with reshma played by nargis. while one love story ends in happiness, theother in tragedy- with tears of blood

film list - 22nd august 2011

2011-08-22T18:54:00.000+05:30

the empire of the sun .

steven spielberg's version of the j g ballard semi-autobuigraphy is ste in the shanghai of the japanese invasion and the second world war.

tree of life .

gorgeous to watch absoultely. the ambitions of the film are incredible. like tarkovsky- to take everyday life and turn it into something philisophical profound. except here i did not get much except for meditations on christianity, darwin, family and death. no quite the masterpiece it wants to be.

zidane- a 20th century portrait .

more video art than film. zidane the footballer through many many cameras in one match. no voiceover- just him and the ball.

genocyber . (anime)

three episodes where a blonde little girl reveals herself ot be destruction itself. like an atomic bomb. could any other country have imagined the destruction of hong kong in such a simple swish. it disappears. the second episode takes a war machine and makes it come alive eating its crew; while the third is a dramatic departure into the future.

afro-samurai.

anime again. this time it stars samuel jackson as a cool dude samurai looking for revenge. he wears the headband that allows him to challenge the evil samurai who killed his father.

twilight of the dark master . tsunami is the hero trying to save the earth from the evil dark lord. lots of sex and violence.

wicked city .

the underworld and the earth have come to a truce that some evil terrorists want to destroy. women turn into spiders as the world is saved by a noir detective from an american film (almost) and his hot demon partner. half blood is the answer.

x .

tokyo city has embedded within it sites full of explosive potential. the dragons of heaven fight the dragons of earth over domination of the world. terrific animation.

1001 nights .

not the osamu tezuka animation- instead a dreamy watery world of orientalist sexual innuendo. lovingly drawn.

salome .

pedro almodovar's funny short inspired by an oscar wilde story where a father sacrifices his son for a dance from the seductress salome.

something like a war. classic documentary on gender and birth control. women speak of their bodies and control by the state and by men.

nayansukh.

amit dutta's unfortunately flat film on a 1700's rajasthani artist. over composed and stilted- he rearranges the paintings in symmetrical immobility. wide angle vistas and a sound design that echoes the music and lets the birds twitter incessantly.

aranyer din ratri .

an encounter between the city and the wild. the primitive being the tribals that brings out repressed sexual desire in the all concerned. beneath all of our sophistications we stay primitive.

all the harry potter films .

one after the other. in a trance of dumbledore and hogwarths. playing quiddich. the third got dark very suddenly and stayed there for the rest of the films. not really that fantastical- for real otherworldliness go to anime.