Pages

Showing posts with label Tony Gatlif. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tony Gatlif. Show all posts

Monday, January 07, 2013

Best Films of 2004

I started publishing my end of the year list from 2005 onwards but I compiled a list for 2004, which I am now putting up in order to gather some stats.

Top 10 films of 2004

1) Exiles (France/Japan, Tony Gatlif)


An emotional journey packed with mesmerizing music including an 11 minute trance segment near the end. The story involves two characters who leave Paris and head to Algeria to find their roots. Their journey consists of heading through Spain and finally sneaking into Algeria as the Algerian border is closed. Since this is a Tony Gatlif movie, flamenco musical sequences are present but this time a touch of Rai music is added to the mix.

2) Monsieur Ibrahim (2003, France, Francois Dupeyron)

It is refreshing to see Omar Sharif (who plays a Turkish shop owner) given a charming role which he plays to perfection. But the real gem of this movie is the young actor, Pierre Boulanger, who gives a virtuoso performance as the 14 year old Momo. Boulanger’s expressions are priceless, feisty when they have to be and innocent when needed.

3) Kontroll (2003, Hungary, Nimrod Antal)

The movie follows the lives of the underground subway metro staff on their daily routines which involves dealing with insanity, inner turmoils, strange passengers and playing male power games. The first half is hilarious but the second half explores shades of darkness lurking beneath the surface.

4) Samsara (2001, India co-production, Pan Nalin)

A beautiful soulful film that explores the philosophical question 'How do you prevent a drop of water from drying up?'. A Buddhist monk renounces his religious life for the worldly pleasures of sex and love. But despite getting married, he begins to realize that satisfying one desire always leads to more desires. The movie highlights his journey but more importantly, it tackles the spiritual question from a woman's point of view as well. It is always men who are willing to get up and leave for the mountains. But what about the women they leave behind? Did anyone ask what happened to Buddha's wife?

5) Carandiru (2003, Brazil co-production, Hector Babenco)

A ruthless film based on a real life incident in a Brazilian prison where riot squad massacred unarmed prisoners for purely political reasons. The movie is divided into two segments with majority of the first segment looking at the prisoners and their lives from the point of view of the prison doctor. The second segment outlines the prison massacre.

6) Kopps (2003, Sweden/Denmark, Josef Fares)

A small peaceful Swedish town is about to have its only police station shut down due to lack of crime. Faced with the prospect of losing their jobs, the local Kopps decide to boost the crime rate themselves. A hilarious film with memorable characters.

7) Control Room (USA, Jehane Noujaim)

This eye-opening documentary shows that despite all the negative media coverage, Al Jazeera might be the only remaining democratic media outlet on the planet which has tried to show stories objectively. In doing so, it has drawn criticism both from the Arab and Western world. A channel that manages to get all sides upset at the same time must be doing something right.

8) About Baghdad (USA, Sinan Antoon & 4 other directors)

A rare film that gives Iraqi people a true voice. Sinan Antoon left Iraq after the first Gulf war and returned in 2003 to see what was left of his country. He wanders the streets of Baghdad and captures the feelings and thoughts of everyday people, taxi drivers, café owners, students, writers, poets, artists, librarians, tortured victims, government employees, etc. Along with Control Room, one of the most relevant docs of the year.

9) Checkpoint (2003, Israel, Yoav Shamir)

This must-see Israeli documentary looks at the everyday drama that takes place at some of checkpoints between Palestinian and Israeli zones. Shamir simply places his camera on the side and watches the activities objectively. What at first seems like a dark satire is the harsh everyday reality for these people.

10) Before Sunset (USA, Richard Linklater)

Before Sunset starts off 9 years after Before Sunrise and catches up with Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy’s memorable characters. Like the first film, Delpy’s character is far more interesting and some of the camera work that follows her is a delight.

Honorable Mentions roughly in order of preference

Nathalie (2003, France/Spain, Anne Fontaine)

The Passion of the Christ (USA, Mel Gibson)

Memories of Murder (2003, South Korea, Joon-ho Bong)

Primer (2004, USA, Shane Carruth)

Kill Bill Volume 2 (USA, Quentin Tarantino)

Saw (USA, James Wan)

Close Your Eyes (2002, UK,Nick Willing)

Monday, October 29, 2007

October Film Wrap-up

October was supposed to be a relaxed month in terms of film viewing after all the film festival movies that I saw between Sept 20-Oct 4. But as it turned out, the third week of October ended up being pretty crazy in terms of film viewings -- 15 movies in 5 days with 7 movies watched in one day. I certainly had no intentions of putting myself through this ordeal but things ended up that way. While I talked about some of those 15 movies in previous posts, the following six were left out.

  • The Son (2002, Belgium/France, Directors Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne): Rating 9.5/10
  • Fists in the Pocket (1965, Italy, Director Marco Bellocchio): Rating 8.5/10
  • Japón (2002, Mexico/Germany/Netherlands/Spain, Director Carlos Reygadas): Rating 8/10
  • Chocolat (1988, France/West Germany/Cameroon, Director Claire Denis): Rating 8/10
  • Transylvania (2006, France, Director Tony Gatlif): Rating 7.5/10
  • Electra, My Love (1970, Hungary, Director Miklós Jancsó)

    Revenge and pain: There is something so simple but brilliant about the Dardenne brothers films. The verite style allows one to focus on only the relevant details and shut everything else out. The Son is another highly infectious movie to watch, although the topic of revenge is handled quite differently from other films.

    Family problems: Fists in the Pocket is Marco Bellocchio's dark and un-relentless film which looks at the complicated relationships within a religious Italian family. It is not a surprize that this film caused such a sensation in Italy back in 1965 because the movie shows absolute cruelty and no remorse in how a man plots to kill his family. But the movie is not just about murder but includes topics of incest and religious defiance. And to think this was Bellocchio's debut feature!

    A Journey:

    Carlos Reygadas's Japón is a simple tale of a man's journey across the Mexican landscape. The man is tired of the city life and just wants to escape the noise and chaos. But he finds that he still can't shut off his desires despite being away from civilization. The best thing about this movie is the imaginative camera angles, especially during the final sequence when the camera slowly turns around 360 degrees and allows us to fully soak in every surrounding detail.

    I have a huge admiration for Tony Gatlif and his depiction of journey tales spiced with gypsy music. Both Exils (2004) and Gadjo dilo (1997) were such movies and as it turns out even Transylvania contains such elements. In fact, both Transylvania and Gadjo dilo have a lot in common. In Gadjo dilo, Stéphane (Romain Duris) heads to Romania to track a gypsy singer he once heard on a cassette. In Transylvania, a pregnant woman (Zingarina played by Asia Argento) heads to Romania as well to find a gypsy singer who is the father of her child. In both films, the main characters find themselves enchanted with the Romanian way of life and find happiness only when they give themselves up fully to a different culture.

    Exile in Africa: I do believe that some movies lose their luster when viewed in a different decade than when they were made. Claire Denis's Chocolat is a decent movie but watching it in 2007 hardly has any impact as opposed to maybe watching it back in 1988. The movie is set in Cameroon on the eve of World War II and shows the daily relations and tensions between the French and the local Africans. The movie handles some issues in a very careful and subtle manner, especially regarding the inter-racial sexual tension and the brewing revolution. There are plenty of beautiful camera movements but over the years plenty of movies have depicted Africa in a better manner.

    A staged greek play: I was really eager to watch Miklós Jancsó's Electra, My Love. But unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this Greek tragedy too much. Even though the sets are impressive and certain aspects of how the camera freely flows from one set of characters to another are interesting, I was not a fan of this effort.
  • Sunday, October 03, 2004

    Festival Wrap Up

    Well the festival is over. There were quite a few good movies that I saw and I even missed seeing some of the more popular festival movies. My overall pick for the favourite movie was Exiles by Tony Gatlif. But here is the summary of the final few days:

    Day Seven: Thu, Sept 30

    The Motocycle Diaries (directed by Walter Salles): Rating 8/10

    If this movie did not have the name Che Guevera associated with it, then there would have hardly been any hype around it despite it being well acted and beautifully shot by Eric Gautier (truly deserving of his Cannes Award). The movie is NOT about Che but instead about two young men, Ernesto and Alberto, who plan a road trip through Latin America. The motorcycle trip comes with its problems and adventures, and is a life altering experience for both. There are no technical flaws with the movie, but the only thing that weighs the movie down is the hype.

    Kopps (directed by Josef Fares): Rating 10/10

    A hilarious movie set in a small crime free Swedish town. Since the crime rate is non-existent, the local police station is about to be shut down. Facing the prospect of losing their jobs, the Kopps decide to boost the crime rate themselves. Interesting characters all around – well acted and just plain fun.

    Slim Sussie (directed by Ulf Malmros): Rating 8/10

    Another movie set in a small Swedish town. A brother, Erik, returns to his hometown to find his sister, Sussie. It has been a few years since Erik left the town to head to the city and soon learns that things changed quite a bit for Sussie. Each person has a different version of what happened to Sussie and trying to piece everything together becomes a problem for Erik. The movie is jam packed with references to Hollywood movies (Usual Suspects, Clockwork Orange, etc) and contains some memorable characters. When the pace of the movie slows down, a few songs help pick up the slack.

    Day 8: Friday, Oct 1

    Facing Windows (directed by Ferzan Ozpetek):

    I was late for this movie and since the show was sold out, I was turned away with quite a few other people.

    Primer (directed by Shane Carruth): Rating 8/10

    A classic festival movie -- small budget ($7000 dollars) & a great idea! Four young engineers work in a garage (outside of their regular 50 hour a week jobs) to come up with the next big thing. What the big thing is supposed to be, none of them knows; they just go with the flow. The start of the movie is impossible to comprehend as technical terms are thrown around, but it is clear it has something to do with freezing temperatures. Two of the men stumble onto something and decide to keep it from the other two. This is where the movie goes off on a different tangent (sci-fi) – the two men find a way to create their very own time machine. It is an interesting watch, even though hard to understand everything. Each person will take something different from this movie.

    Day 9: Sat, Oct 2

    Exiles (directed by Tony Gatlif): Rating 11/10

    The best movie for me at the festival! It stood head and shoulders above everything else. That being said, the movie might be a hit or miss for others. The story is simple as can be – Zano and Naima decide to leave Paris and head to Algeria to find their roots. Their parents were from Algeria and they are keen to return to a land they have only heard about (they don’t even speak Arabic). Their journey consists of heading through Spain and finally sneaking into Algeria (the Algerian border is closed). Since this is a Tony Gatlif movie, the traditional flamenco musical sequences are present. And an additional bonus is the presence of Rai music (not truly Rai but shades of it). A movie with a simple story but brilliant direction (Gatlif rightly deserved the best director award at Cannes). At no point in the movie does anything seem fake – this is a movie made by a person who cares to make a movie, who has a story to tell, who has something to convey. This is not a movie made for money but out of love. A classic!!!!

    Lost Embrace (directed by Daniel Burman): Rating 5/10

    A disappointing movie! For some reason this movie bagged a couple of awards at the Berlin film festival.

    Red Cockroaches (directed by Miguel Coyula): Rating 4/10


    A movie made on a shoe string budget, apparently $2000 dollars. The movie is shot entirely on dv camera and was edited by Coyula on his computer. There are some neat aspects in the movie but overall it is hugely disappointing. The movie is set in the future where DNA manipulation can bring back dead people. Acid Rain causes mutations and red cockroaches are the carriers of this mutation disease. Adam immediately takes to a woman he sees in a subway station. But she disappears and all he finds is a tooth. A few scenes later, Adam discovers the woman, Lily, is his long lost sister who Adam and his mother had thought to be dead. Adam and Lily engage in sexual union and once the incest starts, the sci-fi angle is thrown out of the window.

    One can say that given the small budget, this is a significant effort. But there are too many loop holes in this one. Now, with a bigger budget, something could be made from this story.

    Day 10: Sun, Oct 3

    Memron (directed by Nancy Hower): Rating 7/10

    A mocumentary completely in the style of Christopher Guest! Memron was once the biggest company on the planet but due to some book-keeping errors (err, stealing money), the company is facing bankruptcy and are forced to lay off more than thousands of employees. The movie shows the plight of the employees and takes a jab at the CEO’s who still continue to be given VIP treatment despite being crooks.

    First five Festival days can be found here.