Cinemascope

for my own reference

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

film list - 4 july 2012

t men – anthony mann – average noir drama about two undercover agents going undercover in the mob.
it's a wonderful life – frank capra – true blue feel good. jimmy stewart is all american goodness and an angel walks the earth.
the girl who leapt through time – japanese anime classic about a girl who leaps back a day to make a love affair happen- and fails many times. lovingly drawn. science fiction meets coming of age
robot carnival – a series of anime directors playing with robots. the fun ones are the ones with humor. the tedious ones that try make profound the man/machine divide.
the other guys – when the hero cops die after jumping off a building the other guys take their place. loser buddy cop comedy. almost funny.
macbeth – orson welles over the top melodrama set in a craggy landscape. the norse goth chiaroscuro is all very dramatic.
it happened one night – dil hain ki manta nahin with more sweetness and beauty.
shame – new york city and a strange sexuality / morality drama. sex obsessed man in crystal clear skyscrapers and his sister a crumbling wreck
yojimbo – akira kurosawa. epic drama where a traveling samurai plays one clan against another in a a small village torn into two.
faster . dwayne johnson is released from prison and goes an a revenge rampage.
the all round reduced personality .helke sander. terrific film about a berlin. a single mother photographer and another group of women photograph the streets of berlin. long track shots of berlin.
ghost world. sad bitter enough telling of the graphic novel where two girlfriends in small town america spend time being cynical outsiders while vying for acceptance.
le chinoise- godard’s experimental staccato parody(?) on chinese communism and its glamour among the french youth of the 60s. difficult.
of gods and men – true story set in algeria that is based in a christian monastery surorunded by gradually increasing violence. the monks try and withstand but are kidnapped and murdered.
bridesmaids – too nasty to be completely funny. a crisis emerges when one of two girlfriends decides to leave spinsterhood and get married. jealousy rears its ugly head.
money ball – sports film in which brad pitt along with a number cruncher saves a baseball team.
tintin. the animation is lovingly recreated comic book. much nicer than i’d like to admit from steven spielberg. cant complain. and i love snowy though haddock could be better.
father son and holy war – anand patwardhan’s rant making wild and entertaining connections across gender and violence. shrill but that’s the point.
war and peace – another patwardhan classic agit-prop- long anti bomb story. why cant we live happily with one another?
diary of a country priest – bresson and a hero who is an ailing young priest in a small village. not quite ‘a man escaped’
news from ideological antiquity . eisenstein marx das capital – alexander kluge making a film about eisenstein’s aborted film on das capital via james joyce’s ulysses. verbose pontificating galore- except for that fabulous short by tom twyker that catalogues al the material on a street in berlin. cameraman
all that jazz . bob fosse. semi autobiographical musical classic with many over the top and more than slightly annoying songs scattered through. the man dies at the end- i think. ‘the wall’ with broadway songs.
agora – rachel weisz plays greek mathematician woman who is killed for not toeing the line of the new catholic powers in alexandria.
melancholia – lars von trier’s diptych of women suffering. the wedding party of the dangerously on the edge kirsten dunst in a mansion on the edge of the world. and in the second part apocalypse is coming as a blue planet collides with the earth. metaphors and meanings overflow. but the premise still seems very silly. i laughed at all the profundity.
the birth of a nation – d w griffith’s silent extraordinarily racist film about the birth of the kkk. i cant believe it’s political incorrectness.
line of beauty and grace. jock surges takes photographs of beautiful people – mainly naked women in beautiful places. i find them boring. as did i this fanmail.
exit through the gift shop. banksy. twisted doc on the boom of street art which documents the creation of another scam “street artist” thierry guetta. fun.
shanghai. dibakar banerjee’s first mis-step is still very good. more than slightly moralistic the film still manages to make some indelible images of bureaucracy and small town india. the language is where he falters and also in the evocation of place. the decision to make the town a generic indian city- i didn’t think helped.
rowdy rathore – rocking good time. prabhudeva cracks it again this time- in spite of being saddled with akshay kumar.
the saroj khan story – saroj khan is a diva. the story arc is pretty much predictable like a hindi film- but seeing her in the background at aaiye meherbaan is a real trip. and it has madhuri dixit too. so there.
27 down – i am supposed to like this film- but i could not get over the predictable story telling- though some bombay train images were fabulous in black and white.
supermen of malegaon – it is good that the film in the film is a comedy. we laugh then at the places where we are supposed to laugh and not at the people making the film. warm loving film.
a nous la libertie – rene clair doing a chaplin and a tati. two scoundrels let loose on a phonograph company wreak havoc- but also make the factory the incredible machine making for much leisure.
gangs of wasseypur – pissed me off so bad with its idea of bullying as humor. and badly made too. and manoj vajpai hams his ass off.

Labels: anime, bollywood, documentary, english, european experimental, france, germany, hollywood, indian documentary, japan

posted by Anarchytect # 9:14 AM 0 Comments

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

film list - 2 may 2012

autumn afternoon, yasujiro ozu- post war japan comes to terms with the trauma of war and what it does to a family through intertwining stories of the young, the middle aged and the old. military songs are played in bars and sung along with, marriages are arranged and broken. the camera moves in systematic perpendicular movements intercutting between the interiors of offices, restaurants and homes; and fragments of the city.

appunti per un film sull'india, pasolini - a 1968 film in which pasolini searches for a actors for a proposed film where a king sacrifices himself to a starving tiger. in sharp left wing rhetoric he conducts interviews with intellectuals and politicians and men on the streets.

phantom india, louis malle. also 1968 7 part documentary on india by a traveling Louis malle. gorgeously shot all over the country in color. we forgive the orientalism and understand the sarcasm and cant forget the images- dancers in chennai, bal thackeray in bombay, vultures plucking out the eye of a dead bullock.

l'eclisse, antonioni - a drifting story of a woman trying to find love or meaning in a new life- she moves from event to event, mother to lover. the film lifts to another level in the last few minutes when a deserted city waits for an appointment that might never come. the city is itself the narrative.

frost nixon, ron howard - biopic about the famous interview in which nixon admits he was mistaken. and david frost pulling the confession out of him. a war of words. entertaining.

tropic thunder, ben stiller - in which a crew filming a war film actually ends up in the middle of a war. silly and fun. robert downey jr plays a white man playing a black man.

cabaret, bob fosse - liza minelli in berlin in between the wars. complicated relationship issues and a need to be famous.

brief encounter, david lean- the railway station becomes the place for an illicit relationship to begin and swiftly end as the meetings become more and more public. rachmaninov piano concerto 2 plays gorgeously throughout.

the iron lady, phylidia lloyd - meryl streep does thatcher imitations and wins and oscar. where is sokurov when you need him?

fried fish, chicken soup and a movie premiere, mamta murthy- mamtas cinema city film is a making off in manipur. intelligent, fun.

the descendants, alexander payne- george clooney finds out about his wife's affair as she dies in a hospital room. at the heart of it all is ancestral land in paradise. a film about bourgeois american ideals. the american dream and its pastoral beauty.

extremely loud and incredibly close, stephen daldry- the son of a 9/11 victim searches the city for the owner of the lock of the key in a blue vase. warm fuzzy feel good american family dramas seem to be in.

the artist, michel hazanavicius- sentimental mirrors to hollywood's past. the conceit of the silent film only sometimes makes for interesting punctums in otherwise and entertaining but bland film.

hugo, martin scorcese - much better homage- this time an american returns the gift by paying homage to a french master. georges melies allows for some gorgeous images. the railway station in paris, the clocks...

beginners, mike mills - oscar winner christopher plummer in a soft romantic low fi drama about a father who comes out to the world after his wife for many years dies. ewan mcgregor is the son who eventually falls in love with a french actress visiting los angeles.

certified copy, abbas kiorastami- a day in the life of a traveling author and a single mother. they flirt and speak of originals and copies until their lives begin to reflect each other and possibilities. copy or original. intellectually might be interesting but actually a bore.

suddenly last summer, joseph mankievicz - tennessee williams over heated play gets cinematic treatment when the lines are delivered in as deadpan a sarcasm as katherine hepburns, and when the seductress cousin in as drop dead beautiful as elizabeth taylor. yet the film seems false. the sequence of the cannibalistic boys being the most memorable.

a dangerous method, david cronenberg- again the possible darkness of the exploration of sadomasochism, male chemistry and bonding- all seem tepid and safe. keira knightley makes faces quite a bit and the jung / freud love hate is not quite right.

naked civil servant, jack gold - a greta biopic about quentin crisp- gay icon of the 1930s to the 1970s. playful and fun. it rarely - if ever- gets into the sad gay life stories of so many such films.

grey gardens, maysles brothers - masterpiece observational documentary by the maysles in which a mother and her daughter go at each other in a fading mansion by the sea. objects are the residue of another life- longed for. another time.

raw deal, anthony mann – a man wrongfully convicted escapes to go claim the reward for taking the fall aided by his femme fatale girlfriend and her polar opposite- the sweet social worker. silly film.

mera naam joker, rak kapoor – raj kapoor indulging himself in this trudge through the women in his life. the sexuality fo the young rishi kapoor is rather nicely done- in misty hills and boys homes; the russian trapeze artiste story is the most forgettable and pointless- but the self reflexive song picturisation where he pulls bits from his earlier films is interesting; and the final half with padmini playing the boy woman is fun while the sex shift thing lasts. the end is of course made gorgeous only because of the incredible picturization of jaane kahaan… puppets and circus lights. scale shifts and melodrama.

maya darpan, kumar shahani- a illusory mirror? the rajasthani haveli is the prison where a woman listlessly walks through corridors and courtyards, takes long leisurely walks in the hot desert sun and flirts with a romance of sorts with an engineer from the city. dreams of assam and green fields haunt her days. she longs to escape but is held by tradition and duty. until she decides to throw it all away.

mirror mirror, tarsem singh – illusory mirrors from fairy tales- snow white recast as cool. julia roberts makes for a pretty good wicked stepmother. the visuals are stunning- especially the over the top costumes. the prince is cute too- becoming a puppy dog. the jokes are risqué enough for it not to be maudlin- and the end song- i believe i believe i believe i believe… is when tarsem singh lets his bollywood upbringing shine through.

golmaal, rohit shetty – ajay devgan, sharman joshi and tusshar kapoor in this comic caper about the boys running away finding shelter in a blind couples house. loud crass and watchable enough- though i cant really remember much.

the best of youth, marco tullio giordana – mega epic, 6 hours long about three generations of italian middle classes told through two brothers – one becoming a doctor the other a policeman. communist rebels, mafia and love, children and madness in one long long very watchable film.

memories of murder, bong joon-ho – korean dark murder comedy, where a serial killer in a small town has been killing and raping women in the fields when it rains. he plays a song on the radio every time he commits a crime. a small town detective and a city cop try (unsuccessfully) to find him. reminded me a little of the more recent turkish ‘once upon a time in anatolia’. but this was much darker and nastier.

avengers, joss whedon – a smash-up of all the biggest names in the marvel universe. the fun is in watching them fight each other as much as it is in the villains taking over the world. hulk is adorable, black widow hot, iron man is perfect as is thor. i did also not mind hawkeye. i don’t think it it possible for me to see manhattan being demolished by alien invaders without connecting it somewhat to 9/11. propaganda works. from both sides.

whos afraid of virginia woolf, mike nichols – on a saturday night demure college professor and his wife entertain their guests- a biology blonde profesor and his mousy wife, by playing vicious vicious games with each other. claustrophobic, terrific performances and some sharp writing.

don 2, farhan akhtar – farhan akhtar wants so badly to be hollywood- it makes you sad. the plot is a predictable bank robbery and has holes all over the place. shah rukh sneers his way through some terribly misplaced cool lines, poor priyanka scowls her pretty face and lara dutta’s natural warmth is flattened into happy moll-ness. none of the oomph or energy that made the original – i mean the amitabh bachchan one- so enjoyable.

a man escaped, robert bresson – bresson’s world war 2 prison escape drama. precise and exacting- every gesture is perfect. sharp. brilliant.

Le portrait de petit cossette – akiyuki shinbo – three part ova in which objects are haunted by the spirit of a girl murdered by her lover in 18^th century france. The first part is disjointed fragments, the second more conventional in its structure with plot development, while the third is an explosion of images and sounds- none of which makes complete sense.

captain america, joe johnston - the world war 2 story, tesserats, frozen heroes and a evil leering villain- worse even than the nazis. the silly costume and the jingoistic patriotism is couched in innocence to make it palatable. it is no longer the age of rambo.

Labels: anime, bollywood, documentary, english, france, hollywood, indian documentary, indian experimental, iran, italy, japan, korea

posted by Anarchytect # 7:46 AM 0 Comments

Sunday, March 18, 2012

film list 2 - 18th march 2012

never let me go, mark romanek - without the slow burn of the book, but still a spooke slow take on that terrific novel. somehow the mystery is gone by the aura remains. we know almost immediately about the fate that awaits the three main protagonists - but they get to know later. the images are faithul otherwise to the book.

tinker tailor soldier spy, tomas alfresdon - another one of my favourite novels into a film- an stunningly adapted. gary oldman's smiley especially. though we never really see either annor karla- they naturally mirror each other as the ghosts who shape the mans life- and london is stunningly grey, bureaucratic and beautiful.

all watched over by machines of loving grace, adam curtis- the trilogy of documentary films with his trademark random connections and convincing arguments- this time connecting ayn rand to 2008 market collapses; cybernetics to bucky fuller; and trouble in the congo to the hunt for source of the aids virus.

once upon a time in anatolia, nuri bilge ceylan - the rolling hills of anatolia where the search is on for a buried body. sudden flourishes of things happening on the edge of the main action open out vistas of such beauty that it is breathtaking. meanwhile inside the moving car conversation continues discussing mondane matters of family and love.

visage, tasai ming liang - i can generally take long self indulgent films- but this one tested even my patience. i read somewhere that the film is supposed to be tracking a taiwanese film director as he tries to make a film on salome in paris. each little episode is gorgeously shot with tsai ming liang madness of sudden songs and gay subtext. mirrors in a forest and songs in a freezing room.

megamind, tom mcgrath - hilarious anti-hero hero megamind, the arch nemesis of the one and only metro man finally defeats him only to find his life hollow and without meaning. so he makes another hero instead...

Labels: animation, documentary, hollywood, taiwan, turkey

posted by Anarchytect # 5:57 PM 0 Comments

film list - march 18th, 2012

spring summer autumn winter, kim ki-duk: a parable about growing up, innocence and our relationship with nature. an abandoned child is raised by a monk living in a boat that floats on a lake. time cycles and life cycles intertwine.

the Burmese harp, kon ichikawa: music in a time of war. a man who turns into a monk when faced with the horrors of war.

wr: the mysteries of the orgasm, dusan makayev: mad intercutting between fiction and documentary footage- some crazy sexuality, revolution and violence surrounding the theories of wilhelm reich who wrote the mass psychology of fascism

children of heaven, majid majidi: iranian expertise in making the quotodian profound. a pair of lost shoes in a poverty stricken family.

suzhou river, lou ye: it is amazing how much the riverfront has changed since the film was made. warehouses and derelict builldings form the background of this love story of love lost and found in mirrors- and video. characters slip in between one another,

from prada to nada, angel garcia: yeesh- yet another retelling of sense and sensibility but this time in a rich los angeles hispanic home. the girls are pretty and so are the boys.

the fountain, darren arnovsky: i should have liked this but the profound meditations on love and death left me cold- as did the special effects. motifs repeat across the three different time zones- the mayan (?), the current and some strange future with floating men and a tree of life

the birds, alfred hitchcock: if there is one thing i remember being even stranger than the killer birds it is strange mother son relationship. something odd about that and truly terrifying. and then the famous schoolyard sequence and the gas station that explodes.

ikiru, akira kurosawa: a bureaucrat when he learns of his impending death does something good - for a change- turns a dump into a garden. lovely soft film

mission impossible 4, brad bird: in his first live action, animated director makes cruise even more of a cutout. thank god. who goes to see mission impossible for more than that? the burj sequence is rocking. but most of the rest is a colour by numbers action film.

that obscure object of desire, luis bunuel: poor frustrated obsessed man. desperate to get laid and constantly laid off. the exlplosion at the end is random and is really the only way the film could end.

throne of blood, akira kurosawa: terrific retelling of macbeth. strange goin ons in the woods and a evil lady macbeth- fantastic sequences- especially the death by a torrent of arrows.

the refuge, francois ozon: the refuge is a house on the beach where a greiving girlfriend mourns for her dead lover (who dies of a drug overdose) in the company of the gay brother of her lover.light weight seriousness.

jeanne dielman, 23 quai du commerce, 1080 bruxelles, chantal akerman: a demanding 3 hour opus that repeats in cycles the routines of everyday life of a middle aged housewife. she also doubles as a prostitute to earn a little more money. when unexpectedly a client manages to get her to climax- she kills him.

woyzeck, werner herzog: set in a provincial small town, woyzeck is a soldier who suspects his wife of having an affair with a drum major. murder follows.

a separation, asghar farhadi: terrific new iranian family drama about a family coming apart when a cleaning lady loses her child when pushed by the man of the house. highly recommended

agneepath, karan malhotra: framed like a terrific graphic novel- an old fasioned drama in a spanking new avatar. i miss these films. everyone is good but is overshadowed by the fantasitc set peices thorugh the film. the hanging, the ganpati festival, the mad end.

the phantom of liberty, luis bunuel: like an exquisite corpse of unrelated ramdom encounters. follow one story and lead into the next. absolutely brilliant- the architecture jokes are the best- the one with the porn photos of historic buildings or the shitting table.

potiche, francois ozon: playful and fun, gerard depardieu and catherine deneuve in romantic comedy about a rich housewife taking over her husbands business when he falls ill.

the skin i live in, perdor almodovar: the new almodovar has very little of his madcap humour when he is looking at strange sexual obsessions. the skin metaphor is beaten to death when a man transforms the rapist of his daughter into his wife.

drive, Nicholas Winding Refn - new hollywood seeped in a lurid los angeles but rendered in love. neon at night as our stuntman and driver for hire for robberies falls for a lovely married neighbour and her kid. gorgeous to look at- especially the night shots.

the turin horse, bela tarr - from the story of nietzsche seeing a horse being whipped by his owner we follow the story to the pastoral home of the horse who lives with his owner and his daughter. the long takes, the rhythm of everyday life in the house is broken suddenly when the horse refuses to eat. the water then runs dry. catastrophe approaches from over the hill. but there is no escape. the storm refuses to let up. the crises of modernity is on the horizon. faith in the predictable is over. god is dead.

baran, majid majidi - an encounter between the afghan refugees taking shelter from the war in tehran and a construction worker who falls in love- of sorts with a girl playing a man to keep the household running.

the forsaken land, vimukti jayasundara - the first sri lankan film i saw. set on the edge of the war- where an unmarried woman waits with her brother and his wife- for salvation. from the ravages of the landscape torn by the residue of what happens when brutality strikes. random murders, loneliness and the breakdown of the family.

india song, marguerite duras - the heterotopic landscape of the world of the colony sequestered away in the middle fo an unknown world- in this case made stranger by the fact that the house in which the film is supposedly set looks like notihgn in calcutta. a lonely wife of a diplomat has mmultiple affairs with many mne- they all bleed into each other. the film wraps itself in a haze of ennui. in long self indulgent nothingness. ghosts emerge from memory and history.

the man from london, bela tarr - bela tarr's mystery murder story- like a graham greene novel. in the dreary town a watchman watches a man being murdered from his tower at night. he finds a suitcase full of money and tries to buy the affections of his daughter. the man from london is a shrewd investigator who comes to the city to find the killer.

the milky way, luis bunuel - an older route of pilgrimage is turned into the central spatial narrative from where spin out bunuels random free associational takes on christainity and religion. stories follow each other randomly as times are juxtaposed one over the other. jesus christ makes some guest appearances.

Labels: bollywood, france, germany, hollywood, hungary, iran, japan, korea, serbia, spain, sri lanka

posted by Anarchytect # 5:34 PM 0 Comments

Saturday, December 10, 2011

film list

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

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

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

Cadillac records. about the music- no complaints as long as the songs are on. the story of a white man and muddy waters. beyonce stars as etta james- and belts out vocal pyrotechnics. howlin wolf and little walker come in and out. desperate for respectability the film follows the classic oscar baiting bio clichés. think ray

The great gambler. a riot of a plot- featuring a k2 plan that destroys every metal object within 50 kilometres. evil smugglers want to send this plan out to marconi in italy through the gyrations of a dancing helen- who is promptly killed off and replaced by zeenat aman. amitabh bachchan is double dealing in a nonsense plot. and most times in the search for cosmopolitan cool plot and pacing goes for a toss like the europe/ Egypt tourism and the general hipness. The double dealing is mixed up and half baked.

Ra one - what's to complain about a film that so transparently says what it is about and goes ahead and does it- and if ra-one is about anything at all - it as about shah rukh khan's crotch- our collective obsession with it. so he burns it, puts cold ice on it, pierces it- he even grabs arjun rampals crotch as part of the climax. sometimes he manages to grab kareena kapoors 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 the gorgeous Battersea power station. fun enough. unlike-

Rockstar - besides the laughable premise of true pain leading to great art and our wimp at the centre of the film finding it in the love of a married woman- who is vapid and expressionless, for a film about music - it was unlistenable. the Delhi hindu stephens nonsense in the beginning was at least mildly amusing, but later when the guy is being beaten up for no damn reason on the streets of europe and he grows his beard in protest and scowls away- all sanity and structure disappears. he poses angry rock- but like the fuzzy free tibet posters in sadda haq. it is merely another fashion statement. dangerous for nobody and nothing.

The mighty wind - a 'this is spinal tap' for folk music. affectionate almost about the air headed free love and hippie politics of a generation.

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

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

Bus 174 - a hold up docudrama when a homeless man hijacks a bus in sao paolo. the incident becomes the focus for a debate on homelessness and what drives young men to crime. talking heads and interspersed footage from the actual hold up.

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

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

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

Hamlet. - the Lawrence Olivier version. his blonde coldness offset in the labyrinth of the castle. spaces dissolve into over another as there appears to be no way out. the only time we step out briefly is when ophelia dies and when the ghost appears suddenly at the top of the castle.

Only yesterday. urban 27 year old reliving a nostalgia for 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 first crush- in glorious detailed animation. and then there is love.

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

Silk stockings - freed Astaire and cyd charisse play American and Russian in paris- where love blooms in spite of the repressed red tape that keeps them apart. fashion, pleasure and american band music breaks all boundaries. hmm.

Mary pippins - a little too long. and she is really much to sweet for me. or maybe i am too old. but some of the dance sequences- 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 and annoyingly cute-charming. for me the film was all rex harrison- nasty sexist and hepburn, even at the end- doesnt bother with his insults and goes back to him to find his slippers.

dial m for murder - hitchcock and grace kelly. a love triangle and murder with a latch key below the stair carpet- fifth step. the twist was predictable- but still the skill 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 through plot details and co-incidences too ridiculous to believe. could be a hindi film. the san Francisco streets have more unpredictable turns.

Labels: anime, bengali films, bollywood, brazil, english, france, hollywood

posted by Anarchytect # 10:33 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, October 06, 2011

film list - 6th October 2011

Bombay ka babu: when dev anand arrives running away from a murder he thinks he has committed he arrives in a hill town and impersonates a runaway son (the same man he has killed). suchitra sen plays his sister/lover. the incestuous tug to the relationship is super interesting until then end when the bambai ka babu gives up his love for the sake of his adopted family. for a change the village is the corruptor in the form of the scheming villian who convinces anand to impersonate the son.

Ram ke naam: anand patwardhan's landmark documetary about the babri masjid demolition folllows the journey of the cavalcade as it attempts to demolish the mosque ot make way for the temple. as in most agit prop documentary the argument is flat and so are the characterisations- often though his brow beating 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 the issue through its periphery- like the man with the lost spectacles on the bridge.

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

Belle du jour: catherine deneuve is stunning as the pristine beauty soiled in mud. a bourgeois upper class wife of a doctor her fantasies for sadomasochism lead her away in the afternoons into an upper class whorehouse until her paramour in the other life stalks her home.

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

Sangam. Vyjayanti in a swim suit as Gopal teases from a tree. Piano songs that frame one of the vertices between the other two. The love triangle is a screen geometry that multiplies in time. Plots, song lines, spaces triplicate in unending triangles in triangles. Looks exchanged and ignored. Har dil jo pyar karega... Men choose men over the grieving woman. the triangular patterns Replicate in mountain tops and flight formations tricolour. every relationship is haunted with its missing third point. and then Bagpipes and accordions are symbols of European obsessions. So much of the film meanders in Tourism and the plethora 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 is impersonating her sister. its all very tragic and morose.

Camera buff:kieslowski's bitter sweet film about a factory clerks romance with a camera he buys for documenting his growing chld until the world of art takes over his being. from the joy of the the documentation of a life And the love of the world to the strange rituals of nuclear attack Drills with gas masks on. he ends up looking for Something over tranquillity. his obsessions for 'showing' end up in sacrificing a friend and losing his wife- yet he can only see it through Turning the camera on himself.

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

Just cause: a run of the mill courtroom drama with sean connery being duped by a man who he thinks is innocent.

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

Rosencrautz and Guildenstern Are dead. watching hamlet 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 stombling across the great discoveries of the Experiments of Galileo and Newton they veer between 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 violence of youthful energy and desperation against the tedium of suburban america. martin sheen is a boy from the other side of the tracks whose edgy charisma seduces the pretty girl into murder and a trip across the animal landscape of the americas.

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

The night of the hunter. charles alughton's brilliant thriller. the killer preacher follows 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 and the murder sequence in the church like attic- black and white noir drama.

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

Barry Lyndon. the film unfolds like a novel. its not only the chapters and the omniscient narrator but time stretching across to allow you to think and the almost model like actors going thorugh the motions speaking carefully enunciating every word. the stor is about the rise and fall of adventurer barry.

The Lion in winter: the castle is filled with the heat of language. katherine hepburn and peter o'toole play the queen and king bickering over who gets to be king among their three sons. each has their favourite. the homosexual lionhearted hero vs the idiot child. between them is the cool calculating machine.

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

Easy rider. the flash fade cuts between the sequences were like a the kicks of a motorcycle until it cruises down the highway smoothly. the film is like a dream or a nightmare about America and freedom. loved it.

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

the french connection. terrific action sequences and the amazing chase scene below the structure of the train rushing across the city. it is a gritty city of garbage 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 of himslef with that terrible tamilian accent. i have heard they got rid of this character for the hritik roshan remake. understandably.

the sweet smell of success- the machinations behind the scenes of the american publicity mechanism. tony curtis is to break up the love of a girl and her jazz player to be able ot satisfy her nasty columnist brother. like dangerous liaisons- a tragedy where words are knives.

kes- to keep away from his future as a miner in the depths of the earth, the boy keeps 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 a newspaperman reforms local goon anil kapoor by sending him away to bangalore. when the boy returns the tables have turned. again, some surprisingly good action sequences.

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

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

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

film socialisme- 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's most famous cities. dense allegories pack the film and tear it apart brilliantly for most- except for the mid section whcih is just plain awful.

Labels: bollywood, english, france, hollywood, indian documentary, japan, poland, russia

posted by Anarchytect # 8:25 AM 0 Comments

Friday, September 16, 2011

film list - 16th september 2011

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

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

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

gandu: all controversy, not that much content. a film about adolescent sexuality where a young rap wannabe meets a rickshaw driver with a bruce lee obsession. the shaky hard close up black and white grittiness was mostly style- but adolescent visual obsessions work for a film about adolescence. example: the graphic sexual scene where gandu loses his sexuality is the only scene in colour.

nadodigal: three friends in a village kidnap a girl for the sake of someone else's love. the lovers fall out of love. very pointless and not very entertaining regressive stuff. a big hit i am told. whatever.

lan yu: a gay love story set in beijing of the early 90s. the tiananmen square incident takes place off screen. a young architecture student is taken under the wing of a corrupt businessman. a melodrama tear jerker that reminded me of so many douglas sirk films. the tragic end was unnecessary and completely ineffective.

35 shots of rum; claire denis' drama about the relationship between a train driver on the verge of reiterment and his daughter. they love alone ina building overlooking the train tracks and have 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 rich businessman calls his american partner over for a dinner. unknown to him this american 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 gilliam goes crazy with the irrational impulses in this 'hatim tai' like journey. there is adventure at every turn. the baron and his companions meet giant heads without bodies and vice versa, kings of the underworld and giant momsters as they try and save the kingdom from the invading turks.

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

the trial of joan of arc: bresson's modernist take on the story of joan of arc. the look is disconcertingly contemporary. bodies are fragmented in gestures. her strength lies within her ambiguous sexuality.

the magnificent ambersons. a film about the fin de siècle. the ambersons and their mansion disintegrates with transforming fortunes unable to break with traditions and sceptical of the new world symbolized by the automobile. exquisite looking black and white noir and that incredible take of the ball room sequence; or the joy of racing in the snow.

a matter of life and death. a powell and pressburger rmasterpience- a fantasy film about war and love. when david niven does not die and instead finds himself in the arms of a girl he loves the clerks administering the entrance of the after life are distraught and a court case begins. the british are held accountable for the atrocities they have committed on the world. but love saves the day and paves the path for anglo american romances. unforgettable image: the escalator to the sky. and the filing cabinet of the dead.

dont look now: the first nicholas roeg film. this was a thriller horror film set in the labyrinthine lanes of venice. as donald sutherland tries to restore a church, him and his wife are haunted by the sudden visions in a red raincoat of his daughter when she drowned. the cut-up juxtapositions of space and time here make for unexpected images

walkabout: from the opening city shots showing the main characters in offices, playgrounds and in schools we cut suddenly to the landscape of the autralian outback. here after a brutal suicide a girl and her brother are left to fend for the themselves within the wild. as they encounter the aboriginal and the natural the violence of the civilized is brought into relief. as the animal and the plant confront the ghosts of the primitive and the history of colonialism, aborigines dance mad in the carcass of a burnt car; an aboriginal boy performs a love sex death dance. 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 old buddies finds shelter in a bohemian home lorded over by a retiring rock star- a pouting made up mick jagger. the time space collisions continue until the langour of the upstairs boudoir takes over and begins to blur boundaries between the various inhabitants of the space. people morph into one another, sexuality is polymorphic, identities are all performed- being a man, being strong, being.

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

the exterminating angel. another bunuel dinner party. while in the 'discreet charm' the dinner never begins; in 'the exterminating angel' it never ends. when the workers within a bourgeois home leave, listlessness begins to set over the 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 boredom threaten.

singham; surya tears the 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 is classic. the girl whimpers and pouts and he

saves the day by beating evil kidnappers into a pulp.

taurus. the last days of lenin in washed grey green. a dacha where the ailing leader is being taken care 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 a garden terrace as lenin contemplates poison.

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

Labels: bangladesh, bengali films, bollywood, china, english, france, hollywood, hungary, russia, spain, sweden, tamil

posted by Anarchytect # 10:35 AM 0 Comments