Well, aside from them being great artists? Both have released works that document a procession of surgeries as a narrative frame, I Want to Talk for Sircar and Everyman for Roth. And both have, I am sorry to say, produced uncharacteristic weak efforts. Talk is easily Sircar’s worst film, while I haven’t read enough of Roth’s workContinue reading “What do Shoojit Sircar and Philip Roth have in common?”
Category Archives: Movies
Things You Only Notice About The Godfather When Watching It for the 450th Time
I was finally able to watch The Godfather on the big screen* for the first time and noticed some things (perhaps new only to me) that had not gotten through even after watching it so many times. He’s agitated but keeps it under control. His anger threatens to spill over but he is composed. HeContinue reading “Things You Only Notice About The Godfather When Watching It for the 450th Time”
Picks for the NYT: My 10 Best Films of the Century
So, the New York Times has asked readers to vote for the best films of the 21st century (here) and I voted myself. Here are my picks, along with the alternatives that nearly knocked them out, which is my roundabout way of presenting my top 20. 1. Dogville (dir. Lars Von Trier) If you askContinue reading “Picks for the NYT: My 10 Best Films of the Century”
Sister Midnight Review
The opening stretches of Sister Midnight are dialogue-free and reveal a propensity for the silent gag. Start with the credits themselves, where the credit of the actor playing the husband (Ashok Pathak) is displayed where he should be, beside his wife (Radhika Apte). Instead, he is slumped over, sleeping, already a premonition of his roleContinue reading “Sister Midnight Review”
My Strombolian Film: There Will Be Blood
Years age, while perusing Girish Shambu’s blog, I came across the concept of Strombolian films. Coined by the film professor (and an overall towering figure in film studies) Nicole Brenez, these are films that you dislike or not understand upon first viewing but which grow in your estimation as you watch them again, this timeContinue reading “My Strombolian Film: There Will Be Blood”
About About Dry Grasses
Sometimes a film will have you so thoroughly in its grasp that you will ponder over it the whole day after, it will invade your thoughts randomly, and yes it will force you to revive a five year-old blog. It is hard to describe some films, to put into words their allure. However, the verboseContinue reading “About About Dry Grasses”
Pune International Film Festival Day#4: Kalat Nakalat, Bal
Everyone I talked to at the screening of Kalat Nakalat confessed that they had seen “bits of it on TV but never whole.” The actual storyline of this film is not that different from the various soaps on TV, though the film is of much higher quality. Seeing it on the big screen however, youContinue reading “Pune International Film Festival Day#4: Kalat Nakalat, Bal”
Pune International Film Festival Day#3: Synonyms, Parasite
“Someone like Jean-Luc Godard is for me intellectual counterfeit money when compared to a good kung fu film”. That’s Werner Herzog on Jean-Luc Godard and while I may not agree with him about Godard, I think his statement suits this film. Director Nadav Lapid wants to highlight the loneliness and befuddlement of the protagonist butContinue reading “Pune International Film Festival Day#3: Synonyms, Parasite”
Pune International Film Festival Day#2: Les Misérables
The influence of La Haine is apparent when you take a look at almost every French film dealing with migrants. A somewhat awkward position for me as going against the critical hive mind, I don’t think quite as highly of it as most people. Misérables unfortunately offers nothing new, in the way something like DivinesContinue reading “Pune International Film Festival Day#2: Les Misérables”
Pune International Film Festival Day #1: Viridiana, Bacurau
If there was a theme to this year’s festival, class warfare seemed to be it. None finer example than this film, Luis Buñuel’s typically funny and probing Viridiana. Held up for release for 19 years in it’s native Spain, the film tells the story of the nun in the title (Silvia Pinal) as she comesContinue reading “Pune International Film Festival Day #1: Viridiana, Bacurau”
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