Wild Strawberries by Ingmar Bergman

Category: Non-English

Along with The Seventh Seal & The Magician, Wild Strawberries launched Bergman's international career. For the first time he moves away from his studio sets and emphasis on "sets" since Bergman is such a powerful theater personality. While there's also the intense debate about theater and film, Bergman undeniably takes the best of both worlds and mixes it very poignantly. In fact I'd like to add here that aside from being the master of the close up, he's one of the few film makers who has a brilliant understanding of the medium of Black and White.

The movie follows the much acclaimed Victor Sjöström, who despite retiring from cinema in real life makes a comeback to films for his friend Bergman. It tells the story of Victor's character Isak Borg who attempts to find redemption in his life after a horrific dream. The people he meets on a "road trip" he undertakes with his daughter in law manage to provide him with the tools of understanding humanity and more importantly understanding his relationship with himself.

Such strong performances by everyone especially Ingrid Thulin. Make this film a definite watch, Bergman is all about the metaphors and symbols, so people who like to use such crappy terms to describe film makers should be able to watch this film with no problems!

Recommendation level: 5/5 - this is a masterpiece and a must for any Cinema enthusiasts, don't get bored!

The Silence by Ingmar Bergman

Category: Non-English

I'd rate this as one of most bizarre works created by Bergman. That is not to say it's bad, it's very well executed. To finely understand the power of the close up that Bergman brings is to know the understanding Bergman is bringing to his reality. I won't go into that because it's not meant for a blog.

The key to understanding Bergman is to understand his close ups, it's to understand the utter Nihilistic properties his films bring. They aren't direct, heck they are just done by his control of his medium.

The plot follows 2 sisters (Anna & Ester) who are traveling back home with Anna's son (Johan). They have to stop for a few days as Ester's health deteriorates and she needs rest. From then on the film follows how the 3 characters interact with the locals in a language they aren't even familiar with.

Bergman's love for music is evident as there's Bach mentioned a few times, I'd even go so far as to compare Bergman's movies to symphonies where he is conducting his actors. That's for another day! There's also the duality of his characters which he went to later explore in films such as Persona. Here it's evident with each sister standing for certain traits in humanity.

Recommendation level: 5/5 - This movie was provocative for it's time, I can see why but the kind of experience it brings is fantastic. A brilliant end to his "Faith" trilogy.

Winter Light by Ingmar Bergman

Category: Non-English

The second film in his trilogy of Faith, Bergman here goes unabashedly about Jesus Christ, God and prominent moments of His life. The most prominent one and the one which is really revealing is when a lay person takes a really distopian take on the crucifixion.

There's once again plenty of references to Bergman's own personal state of mind and why he also struggles to come to grips with his own faith and his own childhood. Personally it's a really relentless and savage take on the Christian faith, it's also a change from Through a Glass Darkly's moment of Truth at the end of the film.

To what extent does mankind itself draw upon others until finally it destroys itself. There's more than just Existentialism being thrown around here, there's almost an abject sense of Nihilism represent in this film which grinds on as I said - relentlessly.

The performances are so strong that I'd like to personally mention Gunnar Björnstrand is absolutely strong in his role as the Pastor who pretty much has dissolved his personality and his 'humanity'. There have always been films that have tackled the crisis of the faith of Priests/Pastors also about the Catholic Church in itself but this is a remarkable achievement in this direction.

Recommendation level: 5/5 - Yeah, it is that excellent

Through a Glass Darkly by Ingmar Bergman

Category: Non-English

Bergman's religious baggage since his childhood have always lead him to question the very nature of what God is like. Throughout his career he has recurring characters in his movies who are out on a mission to find peace within themselves, perhaps through their family?

This film deals with the Schizophrenia of a popular writer's daughter and her struggle to deal with it, more importantly the meltdown it ushers in an already disintegrating family. While the film on the surface has no direct connotations, there's plenty of words about the bible and what perception we have of God. What perception people who are mentally unsound have of God - in this it's manifest as a Spider.

The movie has some strong performances and has a beautiful recurring theme by Bach which is a Cello in D minor (not completely sure about this!). The leet motif recurs just at the right time and provides a different depth to the characters and the situations they are thrust into. The implications of the mental prison/cube/cage and the physical limitations of the region they are in are also noteworthy!

Recommendation level: 4/5 - Really brilliant, the actors are so strong really, do pick this film it's a good watch for international cinema enthusiasts. I'll be following up tomorrow and the day after with more Bergman films so watch out!

Borat by Larry Charles

Category: English (barely)

I think everyone is well acquainted with this film, for those who aren't Borat tells the story of a man from Kazakhstan who heads to USA to make a documentary on the culture of the great USA!

The film could have been a serious comment on the US lifestyle but that's already been done to death in other silly films. There's a ton of jokes which sometimes aren't so funny but I think I can know what to expect from Bruno.

The good thing is the movie is told completely from the first person singular role and is therefore pretty fine, there's nothing really smart here and the jokes are funny only in parts :(.

Recommendation level: 1.5/5 - Seriously I need to watch other films!!

Ali G Indahouse by Mark Mylod

Category: English (barely)

The movie follows Ali G (prominent British comedian Sacha Cohen Baron as a wigga) as he invariably becomes a hit with the British MP's and eventually the PM.

I think a few years back, even crass humour like this would make me laugh, it has its high points but you could count those moments on your fingers.

Recommendation level: 1/5, for really low humour enthusiasts it should be at a respectable 5/5. Looking forward to Borat tomorrow.

Antoine and Colette by François Truffaut

Category: Non-English

Part of an omnibus, Antoine and Colette by François Truffaut is obviously the most stand out film from this lot. Taking on the task of furthering his character from The 400 Blows, Antoine Doinel returns for his first love affair with Colette who treats him like a friend and worse still her parents treat him like a son/lost cousin.

He continues to love her, does everything he must - note that most of this is largely semi-autobiographical. Truffaut eventually brings down the curtain on this love story which is actually quite brutal on his protagnoist but is carried out on a much lighter vein.

Recommendation level: 5/5 - the short serves it's purpose in eventually setting up the technical masterpiece Love on the Run.

Les Salades de l'amour

Category: Non-English

Not to much add in here, there's tons of features on Antoine Doinel and his adventures in Truffaut's universe. There's a lot of interviews with Truffaut himself revealing so much about the film-maker that we're not aware of.

There's also Les Mistons, Truffaut's first official short film about a group of boys who harass a young couple. Based on a novel the film has some trademark cuts and of France, this time in the country side too. Working with child actors again, you can see a decent amount of the 400 blows in this film, in fact he's improved so much for the 400 blows.

For the first time I think I was very emotional when you hear about his old screen writer friends talking about the greatness of Truffaut and the legacy he has created, the kind of films he stood for and the kind of work he had done before he started films. So much to learn from his personality.

Recommendation level: 5/5 - This is a little rare to come across but do find it if you can!

Love on the Run by François Truffaut

Category: Non-English

Antoine Doinel's character gets a final good bye in this film, even though Truffaut seems utterly disappointed at doing this. Vehemently admitting that Bed and Board was meant to be the final straw it is clear in some ways Truffaut doesn't have the same passion we see in the eyes of the young Antoine from the 400 Blows. By the time Bed and Board was completed, Truffaut wasn't happy with the product. He isn't with this either.

The movie features all the loves Mr. Doinel has encountered right from Collete to Christine to Sabine at the end. The film is brilliant for it's technical aspects because of the flash back. At the heart of it however it's a film that probably works for most people as a conventional send off. Perhaps that's where it disappoints.

Yes it's Love on the Run, but it's more about having love while running. Doinel isn't the most patient character we've come across, there's always some solid writing that goes behind it. There's more references to literature this time too.

Color to Black and White, cutting up images with memory. Truffaut is brilliant and completely in control of everything you're watching, even though it doesn't look like his best work.

Recommendation level: 4.5/5

Bed and Board by François Truffaut

Category: Non-English

Bed & Board is another return to his favorite character - Antoine Doinel. After having finally met the girl of his dreams - Christine in Stolen Dreams. This time Antoine moves away from being a Florist to working for an American Hydraulics company based in Paris. He meets a Japanese lady and gleefully worlds in love with the world she brings. Changes, variety.

Before all of this though he has a child and while his wife is bummed out initally she eventually figures out what to do. They split and Antoine must now spend time with his new found love.

There's plenty of architecture on display in the film, John Ford, shots at the army and plenty of literary references keep this film highly riveting for most fans of the new wave. I am not sure how the peasants would react.

Recommendation level: 4.5/5 - Yeah, the bar has become so tight, you're not going to see stupid films get a higher rating! Do yourself a favor and watch this movie, well before that do yourself a favor and watch the previous chronicles

Stolen Kisses by François Truffaut

Category: Non-English

Although not one of the hardest films to watch from the French new wave, Truffaut beautifully structures this movie, which incidentally hails the return of Antoine Doinel (first seen in The 400 Blows) to cinema. Antoine has now been discharged from the army and is on his way to the city. He decides to make ends meet with a few odd jobs prominent and the one in most focus is his stint as a Detective.

There's obvious references towards American detectives, Hitchcock and more, Truffaut is completely in control of the film.

Langlois, DuGaulle, Charles Trenet, Duality of Antoine Doinel, Emotion.

A few topics worth looking at before fully investing your time into this film, if you want to understand the movie of course. The movie is well crafted and definitely a must from the French new Wave.

Recommendation level: 4.5/5 - Because it's not the best of Truffaut's work but ideally aeons ahead of most film makers.

François Truffaut Week - Week 6

This one is for François Truffaut.

Monday - Stolen Kisses
Tuesday - Bed and Board
Wednesday - Love on the Run
Thursday - Les Salades de l'amour
Friday - Antoine and Colette (short)

Looking forward to all of them, even though I will be re-watching Stolen Kisses ;)!

EDIT: Shuffled a few films around!

Crank by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor

Category: English

Bit of a shame that it took 2 people to direct this movie.

The movie stars Jason Statham as a hitman who needs to keep his adrenaline flowing or his heart will stop beating. He sets out for revenge and that's about the whole film.

Statham is believable as the hitman who is about to die, and Amy Smart obviously made it on the starring list because of the sex scene.

Recommendation level: 1/5 - If you want mindless action with a few chuckles on a tiring Saturday night then it's probably a 5/5.

Birthday!

Not a means to get more attention, but there won't be any movie today because I was swamped with work and now I want to enjoy my birthday!

I might do one tomorrow if time allows me, else I will see you guys with a schedule on Sunday!

El Dorado by Howard Hawks

Category: English

My lack of Hindi films leads me to this next review, alebit from one of the greatest film-makers from Hollywood the impeccable and highly under-rated - Howard Hawks. His movies have long stood the test of time and appreciated by some point even by Cahiers du Cinema (whose distinguished writers included Truffaut, Godard among others). The movie is also based on a novel.

The film is the second part of a trilogy by Hawks so I might have gotten into something not completely understood, the dialogues are what struck me the most since it follows a very conversational flow. The movie follows about a year or so in the lives of the Sheriff of a town who becomes an alcoholic and the town needs to be brought under control with the help of his close friend and gun for hire. The only disappointing part of this film had to be the final fight which even though has a really solid gun slinging antagonist it ends prematurely... There's also a really young James Caan in here!

Recommendation level: 3.5/5 - Refreshing, John Wayne, Howard Hawks, the Wild West. It's not the best possible cinema you might encounter but it has tremendous value in terms of it's legacy and style created.

Chungking Express by Wong Kar-wai

Category: Non-English

I suppose having watched Chungking a long time before Fallen Angels made me pass a remark which I am proud to take back. After much deliberation I would say Fallen Angels reaches my list of must see movies. Even though the future of the officer and Faye is debatable it's still much more concrete than in FA.

The movie has 2 stories, the first about blondie and the cop who's nursing a broken heart and the second about a cop and Faye.

WKW's penchant for shots of the skies is clear even more so since he was working heavily on Ashes of Time before this movie. There is of course the proverbial shots of clocks (dates in this one) that WKW is otherwise famous for. WKW initially wanted Chungking Express to be his Ashes of Time but in an urban setting and with his trademark emotionally stagnant characters along with Christopher Doyle's brilliant camera work he executes this well.

Watch out for his expression of Time & Space in this film (depicted how!). Yes, there's plenty of frenzied camera work as well. WKW's characters always evoke and this time around expiring canned food, jogging & the cop who keeps talking to everything around him to nurse his broken heart.

Recomendation level: 4/5 A little dicey to give it anything less but I am also not sure if it deserves to be a 5, purely because that is now meant for the best of the best films.

Dancer in the Dark by Lars von Trier

Category: English

Lars von Trier's musical is very intriguing, in fact I can't make up my mind if it was absolute rubbish or if it actually was one short of a work of art.

The movie follows Selma (portrayed by Icelandic singer, Björk Guðmundsdóttir, impressively) who's life revolves around her work place, her son, musicals, tap dancing etc, hard to sum it all up because the character is very well developed so you have to watch the film. Selma saves money for an operation which will prevent her son from being on the receiving end of hereditary blindness. She stays in a trailer owned by the town's top cop. Everything is hunky dory until the couple is about to go bankrupt and Selma's savings are taken away. What happens next follows the crux of the film.

The movie is shot on handy cam with a slight touch of the Dogme 95 look. There's plenty of Björk 's music on display and she along with Lars take the film right to the end, her acting is very strong and poetic. The movie has a very ordinary and almost documentary look and feel to it barring to the parts of the songs where suddenly it's a musical!

Thankfully I have a bank of films I can use when the going gets tough (money wise!).

Recommendation level: 3/5

Pi by Darren Aronofsky

Category: English

Darren Aronofsky's first feature film has immense potential from the philosophical and mathematical point of view. Shot entirely in black and white it is crisp when the protagonists mind is focused and immensely grainy and blurry when his mind is not.

The movie follows the life of a mathematician who believes "Math is the language of nature". He sets upon himself to seek the true meaning and patterns in nature - in this case the Stock Market. As with Aronofsky he's usually all over the place with such movies (The Fountain) so there's also the Jewish league who believe the 216 digit number at the heart of all his calculations could be a message from God & the capitalistic folk from Wall Street who want to use the code for their own profit.

The movie dabbles with the nature of Chaos & Order, Kabbalah, Maths, The Game of Go & of course the funny nature of Pi itself. It's not the best cinema you're going to see but it provokes some thought which should mean - mission accomplished! Sean Gullette is brilliant, seems like Aronofsky brings out the best from his lead men.

I was pretty fortunate to view this with a close friend, rent the movie or buy it Aronofsky is one of the best directors of Hollywood, don't download like it cheap fucks please.

Recommendation level: 3/5 - Clint Mansell + Darren Aronofsky + Sean Gullette.

Lost and Delirious by Léa Pool

Category: English

This 2001 film directed by Léa Pool is based on a novel by the name of The Wives of Bath by Susan Swan. The movie is primarily a lesbian drama set in a boarding school.

The movie has it's moments, there's a decent amount of literary references but that's by default because of the setting (by decent I mean 5 at best in comparison to anything that comes from Hollywood or the rest). The development of relationships has been handled nicely. Piper Perabo, Mischa Barton hold fort in this film in the acting department Jessica Pare doesn't really get anything out of her metallic face.

I am not going to romanticize the film or rip this one apart because the movie isn't all that bad to be honest although it doesn't really reach its full potential. Go have a look at this film if you want to see acting from Piper Perabo before she was Coyote Ugly famous, Mischa Barton is also really good as the shy and afraid new-comer.

Recommendation level: 2/5 - If you have nothing better to do on a Saturday morning like I did then watch this movie!

The 400 Blows by François Truffaut

Category: Non-English

Oh boy oh boy. This is quite likely the first movie of the French New Wave and who better to begin this movement in cinema than François Truffaut (a lot of people can disagree that he is the one who started it but feel free to discuss!). The movie itself has a very biographical feel to it as towards the end you can almost hear it as Truffaut's own voice. Yes, a lot of what happens to Antoine in some way formed a part of Truffaut's earlier life.

There's plenty of love shown for cinema in this film. It follows the life of Antoine who finds himself "trapped" in a family in Paris, France. There's the music, the concept, the cuts (oh boy, watch out for the one where the mother asks Antoine about the francs she gave him). There's plenty of references for cinema lovers in there. The first movie a film-maker makes is normally the subject closest to his heart and this is clear in Truffaut's treatment of the movie. On the surface you can scratch about this movie being about adolescent years, dig deeper, Truffaut is showing you things and making you listen to things so that you can realize there's a deeper meaning behind cinema and the art it creates. Watch out for Balzac's reference.

Incidentally enough I have watched more Godard than Truffaut and I find the latter as different and interesting as the former. What does that mean? Go figure!

Recommendation level: 5/5. You can't miss this no matter what. I saw it for free at a screening so I was lucky!

The Hills Have Eyes & The Hills Have Eyes 2

Category: English

The start of the movie including the credits were probably the highlights of the film. The film follows a bunch of cannibal mutants who lead people astray in the New Mexico (Yuma Flats) Desert to well have them for dessert. This one features a family in which surprise surprise the nerdy guy turns out to be a hero.

I don't care if you think these are spoilers, if you think this movie needs spoilers to "ruin" your experience then you are stupid. While this one doesn't rely overtly on the use of gore, you can see a massive shift towards what the sequel is gearing up for.

I haven't seen the original so I can't really comment on what changes are there but this one isn't the best survival horror movie you will watch.

Who survives? This movie has some thrilling moments but overall isn't a great watch. Even for gore fans.

Recommendation level: 1/5 - oh boy, trust me am being generous.


Category: English

I thought I'd do these together so that's why I've reviewed the second remake as well. The movie isn't all that bad, heck it's the worst possible sequel ever. Capitalizing on a particular rape scene in the first film, sluttier women dressed in army garb are at the recieving end of the pervert cannibal mutants in this film.

The "army" goes in after the mutants this time around and the same thing happens to them... Makes you wonder what difference guns do or what the fuck the American army teaches you (to die?). The performances are worse this time and the plot is shit too... This considering they haven't remade this film from the original sequels but has it's own plot. Oh boy.

Don't bother watching this, at least the mutants in that one had some charm and memorable value here it's nothing barring Chameleon maybe.

Recommendation level: 0/5 - Yes, it's that bad.

Interim Week

It's going to be random.