He came at me with his knee! His sociopathic knee!

Adam's Apples (2005)

Rating 4.5/5.0
Where 5.0 is where it all started

This film makes me want to go back to the days when I would sit on my bed with a remote in hand, in front of a TV I had bought on 12 EMIs, watching 5 films a day on weekends, 2 films a day on weekdays -- the time when I gaped endlessly at films made by Bresson, Tarantino, Fellini, Almodavar, Seijun Suzuki and many others of their ilk; and every film they made stunned me, made me stop, made me think, made me wonder -- how could they create something so flawless, so timeless. Those were the days man. And these are the days too. Those days I was receiving the best...now I'm creating something as best as I can. And receiving right is like the foundation of building something good. What else is there to life: either you receive what others have made or you create something -- and if you need to do these then why not do your best -- why not watch, read, listen to and meet whatever you think is the best and try to create whatever you can, as best as you can. Life is too short for the mediocre, the ordinary.

Wonderful film this. I think very soon I need to go back to a cycle of receiving in order to create something new, maybe even something flawless.

IMDB link here

Paradise? Paradise can go %#$$% itself.

The Descendants (2011)
Rating 3.5/5.0
where 5 is another Alexander Payne film

I'm a nitpicker. I am. I am. And I'm going to poke holes into this one. Maybe because this has sort of become the Holy Grail of the year -- everyone says this film is great. Its not but it could have been. So here we go -

1. The script needed more moments like the last scene when Clooney and his two daughters share a blanket and ice-cream while watching TV -- nothing is said and with that the credits roll -- just stunning - that's what a great scene is and Alexander Payne is a genius at stuff like this
2. They should have taken Paul Giammati to play Clooney's role. Clooney is wasted in films like these. He is a good actor but the Descendants needs someone close to God to carry it off . Why? Because when there is not much happening as far as the script is concerned then what do you do? Simple, you act like Rhys Ifans did i Once upon a time in the Midlands
3. At 115 minutes, it is a bit too long for the script and I do understand that there are lingering moments and Clooney driving with a hawaiian song playing and the audience is supposed to understand the subtlety of the emotion being conveyed but 115 minutes!!!!

I'm done. Thank you.

Imdb link here

Please dial 1 for Evolution, 2 for Frustration, 3 for Enlightenment

the poster could have been so much more

A Colt is my Passport (1967)
Rating 4.0/5.0


Where 5.0 is the film that defines the genre

I watched a fair bit of Japanese film noir in the last few months. Never got the time to write on it though. I always struggle with the thought of writing something that doesn't satisfy me and in the process I end up writing nothing at all. That's a bad habit and here I am trying to change it.

I'm a huge Film Noir fan - I have watched nearly all the well known American films in this genre and lately I have begun exploring the underbelly (or the lesser known but maybe more genuine examples) of American film noir. The Japs found noir films an excellent medium to express their own post war disillusionment. They had their own unique take on the genre - the characters are even more twisted than American noir (imagine a perversion fit for the 60s and there's a fair chance you'll find it here) and they retain their own sense of identity and culture even when they blatantly copy the themes. A Colt is my Passport is a classic example of such a movie and although the entire movie is one fast, entertaining ride, the film could just have been a minor classic if not for the climax - it is so compelling and so smart that it just doesn't let you erase the film from your memory.

Download this film and other titles from the Nikkatsu Studios from this link

if you ever want to understand the debt crisis, ask the "Dude"

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.
                                                                                                                       ~ Mark Twain

I don't know if I'm "rightly constructed" but I do have a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure. This desire has led me to watch (patiently straining my eyes over the subtitles) cinema from far flung corners of the world and more often than not led to the discovery of an absolute gem of a film (Failan, 101 Reykjavik, Black Cat, White Cat, The Match Factory Girl come to mind) but I have also come to realize that there's one more way to "dig for hidden treasure" - and that is to revisit the same old movies that we know so well and discovering that maybe we don't actually know them as much as we would like to. This post is about two of my favorite films that I have re-seen in the past week or so.

The Big Lebowski (1998) was the first one - I watched this over a 2 week period (10-15 min instalments) and I think this interrupted viewing really helped me in appreciating how significant this film really is. The first time I had watched it, I just came out feeling entertained and remembering the wonderful dialogues, but this viewing has made me see what I didn't earlier - this is an epic (as epic as Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Ben Hur)...I was so bloody keen on knowing what happens next even when I knew what happens next! - can people make more movies like that, please.









 

Buffalo 66 (1998) Vincent Gallo is an eccentric genius and and Christina Ricci is Christina Ricci is Christina Ricci...Christina Ricci is a the second most desirable woman in the world! So then, what does Vincent do? - he makes an intensely funny love story. Intensely funny is like a contradiction of sorts - humor is supposed to dissipate intensity - in this film, black humor provokes in the audience an intense feeling of empathy for the lead characters and Gallo never lets go of this "string of black, black jokes" keeping the story together approach. The camerawork is amazing - infact most of the film consists of one beautiful still after another..this is millions of posters strung together and one of the last ones - of Gallo walking across the street in bright red leather shoes is cinema heaven.

Trivia - Both these films were released in 1998 and for some obscene/obscure/arbitrary reason, the lead characters in both are passionate about BOWLING.

more like a tourist's day in Delhi...

Delhi Belly  (2011)
Rating 3.0/5.0
Where 5  is a film which really shows West Delhi's bulging B


Delhi's Belly is protruding, its chubby, its sweaty and its hairy but its worth the grope and feel!

This film is not interested in groping Dilli's tummy. It does attempt to capture the lives of 3 youngsters (each with their own typical issues- bad boss, bad relationship, severe indigestion) but it stops short of being anything more than an entertainer.

Editing is what makes this film watchable. Editing is what makes this film superficial and unmemorable.

• The good of editing - focuses on making this film fast and entertaining. This is a rollercoaster ride - never stops - and the audience would definitely enjoy the pace.
• The bad - none of the characters are developed enough to make them stick out, to make them worth remembering. Their complexes and problems are all sacrificed to 15 minutes of toilet humor. I suspect all the bad happened on  the Editing table.

As for Delhi belly - there is no connection except that the film is set in Delhi.  If  you want to see what's up with Delhi watch Chashme Buddoor, any Dibakar Banerjee film or  maybe even Aisha.

Imdb Link here

Look not what a man has done, but what he hopes to do.

The Infidel (2010)

Rating 4.25/5.0

Where 5 is a life changing Czechoslovakian film which also won an Oscar (they do get it right sometimes)! 

The first thing that strikes you about this film is that it released in the same year as Four Lions and although the story is very different, the similarities are quite encouraging. Films have the potential to stimulate thought amongst those who are too brainwashed with jargon to think on their own. We're all brainwashed, aren't we? We can hardly claim to have independent, impartial thought - influenced as we are by our surroundings and our teachers and the messages they have chosen to give us. 

The best way to provoke free thought amongst such an audience is to truly entertain and then stealthily inject the thought grenade - a good comedy with a dash of pathos does this really well. It sounds like a conspiracy but it really is all for a good cause.

I hope people come out after watching this film not only with a smile and spring in their step but also with a ticking thought bomb - something that may erupt some day to answer questions that no film, prophet or book can.

If that sounds too heavy then why not watch this just to laugh like a mad man. Maybe your subconscious will do the rest :-)

Imdb Link here

Movie Marathon Results!

Greenberg (2010) is Noah Baumbach's return to form. Ben Stiller and Rhys Ifans are terrific and the film leaves you with plenty of happy things to think about. It seems slow but its not - infact, it is downright entertaining - the dialogues are snappy, the screenplay leaves enough space for the characters to develop and the music is just great - it has Galaxie 500's Strange playing twice in the film! Just the fact that Noah likes Galaxie 500 puts a smile on me everytime I think about it. Imdb Link here                                                                                  

Death Race 2000 (1975) Imaginative and intelligent, great pace for a 70s film and a flimsy and unconvincing climax. This one falls right in the center of my cult movie definition. About a car race where points are scored for running over and killing people and about a world that has gone so wrong that this happens to be the national sport of the most powerful nation on earth. This film predicted the vulgarity, grotesqueness and impact of reality TV much before it actually became real. There's something here which appeals to the violence within you; and lays bare our innate perversity which we are so afraid to otherwise accept. Imdb Link here

The King's Speech (2010) Its already won the oscar for Colin Firth and Tom Hooper (director). The stuttering king and his friendship with the man who helps him overcome this disability together with the backdrop of a looming world war makes for a compelling film. It might be too sugary at times and may not be accurate in its take on history but its a good story and that's what we need. Imdb link here

Pleasantville (1998) Two present day teenagers end up in a 50s TV show and their presence changes the lives of the characters in the show forever. This is a modern day parable and has a lot to teach if one watches and listens carefully. The film does drag at times but what it does more than redeems - the concept is unique and provides a great platform for the actors and the director to explore, enliven and transform; the director's vision of the Pleasantville world is flawless and challenges your imagination to go beyond; and the soundtrack is terrific. Imdb Link here

It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010) This is a Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden directed film. Ryan is the one who made Half Nelson and hence I was expecting this to be very good. It is very good. The best thing about this film - its a story of ordinary people - of a teenager with normal problems (not getting a girl he feels he loves, not sure if he would be able to live  up to his dad's definition of success) who ends up in an adult psychiatric ward - which is pleasantly unlike films where invariably the kid would be some unrecognised genius artist forced by his parents to write SAT. This doesn't mean the film is sad - far from it - it tickles the funny bone and by the end makes you feel like buying a bicycle and cycling through your hometown once again. By the way, if you do watch it, please let me know if Bobby is still alive. Imdb Link here

Machete (2010) This is Robert Rodriguez's follow up to his classic Planet Terror. Another wonderful take on 1970's American B-grade cinema. Fun, fun, fun, fun and lots of people dying in the process. Here's your chance to embrace absurdity and violence, as one of the characters in the movie puts it -We didn't cross the border. The border crossed us. I too didn't watch this film, the film actually watched me as I grinned at the blood and the gore. The ugly gangsters were killed one by one by the great Machete and that's the way it should be in a just world! Yes! Imdb link here