Break Time

No Schedule this week, I have some technical snags which need to be taken care of. So Week 6 will begin next Monday.

Sorry about this! Those who ever look forward to this blog i.e. but keep some hope I will be back with a bang next Monday.

Have a great week and have a nice weekend too!

Aa Dekhen Zara by Jehangir Surti

Category: Hindi

Okay well - this movie sucked.

The plot has Neil Nitin Mukesh (NNM from now on) receiving a camera from his grandfather which allows him to take pictures of the future. The movie has some weird characters like Captain (Rahul Dev) and Baan (... a corrupt Cantonese cop, they go to HongKong right? or Thailand whatever, fuck it). The acting is below par and just about the first 20 minutes were entertaining.

Recommendation level: 1/5. To go from Camera Buff to this is such a huge waste of time. Oh well, the movie is not so long so people are put out of their misery a little faster than expected. NNM better make more movies, if he took so long to work on a crappy one like this. Bipasha is "OK". I was being generous and that's why the 1 rating is there.

What a god damn boring end to an awesome week of Cinema.

Camera Buff by Krzysztof Kieślowski

Category: Non-English

Oh boy, this film is worth every cent or paise you can spend on. They say a true mark of a director is how he performs in his first film, Krzysztof Kieślowski's debut film is based on a humble factory worker who at his daughters birth buys a 8mm camera. The new found acquisition soon transforms into an obsession. He's soon filming everything but with what consequence? Do film-makers really film reality? Does a film-maker have a social responsibility? These are really hard questions that I am sure everyone who is attached with cinema must have thought of at some point or another. Kieślowski does as well but in the film he's trying to provide some answers, although he raises even more questions in the bargain. This film is for the people who want to speculate and discuss movies.

Krzysztof Kieślowski takes on all these questions, and what memorable images he leaves in our mind. The film takes such a haunting turn when - frustrated by his antics his wife departs from Mosz (the Camera Buff) he even makes a unique pose which in many ways talks about the transient quality of cinema or films. I could really go on, but the most intense part is undoubtedly the end. Most people might miss the significance, I hope you don't. Then there's also the upgrade from 8mm to 16mm... Oh boy.

Recommendation level: 5/5. Maybe it's just me but this movie has really got me thinking, for the first time in a while I am thinking about this film and the significance of the images Kieślowski shows us.

The Elephant Man by David Lynch

Category: English

David Lynch's The Elephant Man is one of those movies that is overtly melodramatic at places as you'd expect of a Hollywood film. The movie isn't the best film I've seen but there are some noteworthy points about the film.

Based on a true story The Elephant Man changes some of the original storyline. The film essentially follows the life of John Merrick (Hurt) who suffers from a terrible deformity. Picked from a traveling carnival by Hopkins' character for the first time he is treated as a human. As the film progress' we see Hopkins' character questioning his own motivations behind providing and caring for Merrick. The movie is technically efficient and the black and white add to the environment very nicely. Barring Hopkins and Hurt the performances are average the direction is good

Recommendation level: 3/5 - Sorry Lynch fans, this movie didn't really appeal to me, sure it covers the subject about humanity in some depth but the movie itself wasn't a stand out product for me. I got it at Rhythm House for a really low price (Rs. 69) although the print was bad but hey! An official copy is an official copy. If you like cinema watch it, don't use it as a date movie.

The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky

Category: English

If I had written this review after watching the movie yesterday I am sure I would have given it a 5/5. But with some after thought comes perspective and that's when I realized that this movie is really all over the place. Darren tries to incorporate the bible, buddhism, mayan myth and a bucket load of other philosophies in parts and pieces and that's where it falls flat.

The Fountain essentially follows the love shared between Tom & Izzie. Their love expressed through 3 different time lines. There's the Conquistador (Jackman) & his Queen (Weisz), there's the Doctor & his writer wife (same!) & there's the Astronaut and his... Can't spoil it for you.

This movie is definitely for the people who believe in love and to see the extent to what one can do for love. A love that can transcend time itself.

Recommendation level: 3/5. Hugh Jackman can act and is really good at it, the music by Clint Mansell and the direction power this film onto the 3 star category, but sadly can't take it beyond it. Still a big touch of Hollywood in it, this is for the nerds who want to put forth their wishes to their lady love (FUCK YEAH STEREOTYPING!) Oh yeah all those who think Aronofsky can only be good at directing people shooting drugs should not miss this one. Pi and The Fountain are very fine works as well. Clint Mansell and Hugh Jackman are so versatile as well, pick this up for the weekend watch with your lady love!

Khosla Ka Ghosla by Dibkar Banerjee

Category: Hindi

Anupam Kher has performed really well in this movie as a middle-class man on the verge of retirement. Set in Delhi where tons of scams happen this movie even though hard to believe at first is reality for many people.

The movie is based on Khosla (Anupam Kher) using the last of his provident fund to acquire a prime (facing South) property. His dream soon turns into a nightmare as Khurana (Boman Irani) just takes over the land and has all the right (forged) documents to the land. Khurana then expects Mr. Khosla to cough up a large sum to reclaim his own land. The movie is sprinkled with some unique characters including a theatre group, a son aspiring to go the US of A and many many more. The love story is a bit of a waste and wasn't really needed, Tara Sharma has the worst possible voice on any actress (JESUS CHRIST SOMEONE DUB HER PLEASE).

Recommendation level: 3/5 am going to be really generous because I think Anupam Kher and Boman Irani are really solid in their roles. Parvin Dabbas & Ranvir Shorey are also good from the rest of the cast which includes useful contributions from Navin Nischol & Vinay Pathak. I'd recommend this movie to anyone.

Crime and Punishment by Aki Kaurismäki

Category: Non-English

This is Aki's directorial debut and it is simply worth it. Finnish director's modern take on a classic Russian novel. These 2 countries have such a lot of history and this movie makes up for an interesting take on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel of the same name. The first 30 seconds pretty much set the tone for Aki's brilliance to show, watch it for yourself to believe what am saying.

The basic premise is Rahikainen (protagonist) commits a random murder which is witnessed by a young lady. There is also a "blossoming" love story somewhere and while it's not a massivley awesome film in the league of Godard or any of the greats. Aki defintiely has a unique style about him that is not hard to discover.

The movie depicts Finnish life very nicely and while the movie is filled with good moments it doesn't lead to anything "great". This is where Aki is brilliant, he isn't over board, not world renowned, not the best. But he has a certain aura and stamp in his films which leaves a mark in your mind, and you will remember this movie as well. It works on so many levels - Finnish/Russian connections, rule of what is right, a little bit of nihilistic existential dialogues & the Finnish weather which is there for everyone to see. The acting is good, the protagnoist is particularly stand out (on par with perhaps Leslie Cheung in Days of Being Wild by WKW)

Recommendation level: 4/5. Damn about time a movie got this rating on the blog, NDTV Lumiere still continues to fuck up with the sub titles but whatever the film is a must see.

Schedule for Week 5

Here is the schedule for the coming week

Monday - Crime and Punishment by Aki Kaurismäki (Finnish)
Tuesday - Khosla Ka Ghosla by Dibkar Banerjee (Hindi)
Wednesday - The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky (American)
Thursday - The Elephant Man by David Lynch (American)
Friday - Camera Buff by Krzysztof Kieślowski (Polish)
Saturday - Aa Dekhen Zara by Jehangir Surti (Hindi)

Oh man, if I wasn't looking for variety I'd say the Bollywood ones are the weakest by far. Am looking forward to everything though, good or bad. This week promises to be more stellar than the last!

Le Divorce by James Ivory

Category: English

Matthew Modine is a waste in this movie, Jesus Christ.

The movie follows the life of Kate Hudson who meets her sister Naomi Watts( who is having marital problems of her own). Kate Hudson's character continues to socialize in Paris despite her sisters predicament. Worse still Naomi Watts is pregnant. There's a lot of jibes on the Parisians and their view and take on things particularly towards the end with the authorities and the police. But the movie isn't always rosy and that makes the otherwise dumb plot a little believable.

The movie is entertaining in extremely small parts and I wouldn't recommend this, unless of course if you're interested in watching two of the finest women in Hollywood then this movie could be one of those weekend flicks you catch. Also the cast is massive so watch out for big people in small roles.

Recommendation level: 1.5/5. Read above comment on Matthew Modine.

Moolaadé by Ousmane Sembene

Category: Non-English

Not being so acquainted with African cinema I happened to stumble on this movie by pure curiosity. I thought I was going to be really bored, but boy I was surprised. Ousmane is such a wonderful and passionate director, it's however not seen in his style or cinematography techniques, relying heavily on his own vision he makes films.

This movie is about a ritual called "purification" which is essentially female circumcision. A woman decides to stand up against this by calling forth a "Moolaadé". A ancient mystic power that is signified by a ribbon tied across the entrance to the house. One particular character who stands out aside from the protagonist is a man called Mercenary. His comments seem almost flowing from the directors mouth. This movie is definitely a must see for world cinema fans & enthusiasts. Despite the subject at hand, it has been handled so gently by the director that you have no idea he's making comments about women's rights and Africa.

Recommendation level: 4/5 the only reason why it loses one rating point is because of its length. Get this movie now, at any Crossword/Landmark!

Malamaal Weekly by Priyadarshan

Category: Hindi

Yes, the day has come that I even watch a lot of hindi films, the truth is this movie is genuinely funny. Set in rural India where a village affected by years of poverty and poor crops. After giving it all up to a cruel LandLady (!) a lottery ticket seems to be their claim to riches. The only catch? The winner of the contest, a member of their village ends up dead. How they deal with this while also slowly having their humanity removed due to the greed of money forms the crux of the story.

Paresh Rawal, puts in another performance that reminds us all of Hera Pheri, while Om Puri is pretty stellar. The rest of the cast includes the regulars like Shakti Kapoor, Ritesh Deshmukh, Asrani and a host of others.

Recommendation level: 2/5 - The movie is definitely funny and a must check out, even though it's a little too long in places with crappy sub plots it's still over all funny than the average comedy you see these days which is littered with crass humour. The only problem with the movie is, it doesn't stand out and while I write this review I can't remember any funny moments aside from Baje's hair.

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Henry Levine

Category: English

Definitely one of the movies you should be watching to reminisce about the sci-fi movies of old. The movie follows a basic plot line where a professor makes way to the center of the earth aided by a student, a big Icelandic man & a widow. They follow the trial left by an old scientist who believed he had discovered the center of the earth and that "Atlantis" was in fact real. The movie of course is an adaptation of Jules Verne' classic novel.

The performances are top notch although the professor is definitely the most annoying person I've seen (even more than Zachary Smith from Lost in Space). Even though he's the good guy, he's annoying as fuck. But there's an awesome duck named Gertrude to make up for that...

Recommendation level: 2/5. The movie is a bit long but has it's own charm, take a look if you like old sci-fi movies, but then again perhaps that's not everyone's cup of tea.

Dancer by Kishore Vyas

Category: Hindi

Jesus Christ, it wasn't even possible to get a proper poster for this movie, needless to say you can recognize Akshay Kumar's face in this long forgotten 1991 movie. Raja (Akshay Kumar) has his father murdered by Dalip Tahil, who makes Raja's mother confess to killing her own husband.

WHAT?

Exactly, this movie is sadly funny being so stupid at places, I had to check it out since it was just Rs. 28/- and it had Akshay in a movie I had not heard of. The women are weird and the acting is crap, heck Akshay Kumar sounds even more manlier than he is today (obvious dub).

Recommendation level: 0.5/5 (1/5 for Akshay Kumar fans) seriously this is a let down by anyone's standards. Still if you want to cash in on some "omg I watch crappy movies and laugh when I am drunk with friends" of that then the 0.5 rating is meant for you.

Fallen Angels by Wong Kar-Wai

Category: Non-English

Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express was considered a pioneer in many ways be it, its technical expertise or it's understanding and execution of relationships in a society in constant conflict. It didn't work towards an ending and let the film simply "be".

With Fallen Angels, WKW tries to paint another portrait of individuals in conflict. His characters typically supressing themselves in one way or another. This one has a hitman, his business partner, a mute man & a blonde - these characters try their best to express. You can argue with me about the Gullit fan but she in no way suffers or is emotionally supressed.

The movie is brilliantly executed, the long lasting face shots interlaced with music and commentary is stunning (Doyle!). The characters are well played and most of all there's the trademark music from WKW. The only let down I had was that he tries to work to an end and that doesn't make it as likeable as Chungking.

Pretty faces all around.

Recommendation level: 4.5/5 - read above remarks! Get it for 4.5 rating I've given, for at the end of the day this is still a WKW movie.