Black Friday, Pickpocket and the Swamp

Black Friday (2005, Director Anurag Kashyap):

Well Anurag Kashyap's film is finally officially released after spending more than a year banned by the Indian censors. The film's crime: depicting the inside story about the terrorists behind the multiple Bombings in 1993. The Indian courts felt that the movie might sway the jurors in passing judgement so the film was banned until the courts passed their sentence to the men implicated. Now that the court proceedings are done, the film can be finally be watched. And the verdict? This is film-making of the highest order!

However, can this movie be watched in isolation to the real life crime committed? That is the same question that comes up while watching United 93. While these films deal with events regarding terrorist strikes, the two films are set in different time contexts -- Black Friday starts when Bombay is rocked by the multiple bombs and examines events after that bombing, and only goes into the past via flashbacks. On the other hand, United 93 takes place mostly on the morning of the terror attacks and ends when the crime is finished. Both films are gripping in their own right but at the end of day Black Friday feels like an absorbing crime film, especially one that has graduated from a Ram Gopal Varma academy. That is not a surprize as Kashyap has written dialogues for previous RGV films, especially the intense Satya. If one took Black Friday to be an underworld crime film, then it would be considered a sheer genius work of art. The film breathes realism in every scene, more than that of regular RGV films. However, this is a movie based on real incidents and that puts it under a different spotlight -- One can't shake the feeling that Anurag Kashyup is treading a fine line between showing events objectively and trying to let subjective feelings about the criminals filter from behind the lens. Can a writer ever accurately portray the actual dialogues criminals talked during their criminal planning? No. This is where a screenplay has to be careful in that it does not go overboard with feelings of jingoism. I do believe that Kashyup achieves a fine balance here in that the dialogues are both angry yet restrained and never feel too melodramatic.

There is a sequence in the movie which goes into long extended details about a terrorist's ordeals in trying to escape India. This character hardly has a presence in the movie so it makes no sense to spend so much footage on him. With the exception of these long un-necessary scenes, the rest of the movie stays focussed to the task at hand which is about depicting the interrogation of the criminals and the odd background info about their motives. Since so many movies have been made in the last decade about Mumbai's underworld & outside terrorist support, some parts of the movie feel like recycled material. That being said, I loved the entire film from the opening shots to the closing credits -- dark, grim and harsh. Real? Not completely but seems to contain some truth to it. But a worthy film? No doubt about it!!!

Pickpocket (1959, Director Robert Bresson)

The best films are the simplest ones. And such is this case with this old classic. True to the title, the movie is about a pickpocket. The films starts with Michel's confession in how he got into stealing upto how he refined his slight of hand tricks. The precise camera-work lets us focus on only the essential details; not a single shot in the film is wasted. Martin LaSalle's cold emotionless expressions are perfect for depicting Michel and Marika Green demonstrates plenty of charm with only a few expressions as Michel's love interest. A quick and breazy film under 80 minutes.

La Cienaga (2001, Director Lucrecia Martel)

There are some films that require a person to be in the right mood. Safe to say, I was not in the mood to watch this depiction of upper middle class life in a small Argentine town. The film is well shot and is leisurely paced. In fact, the few sudden tragedies in the movie occur in such a matter of fact manner that if one blinks, they might miss the accident. Sure, few images stayed with me long after the film was over but overall, I was not drawn into this family saga. Lucrecia Martel got a Sundance award for this film's script which is not a surprizing fact. It seems such movies are tailor made to win awards at Sundance -- take a family movie, and just focus a camera here or there, show some off-beat characters and then sit back and watch the critics go crazy.

An Author's style: Recent reading

There are very few authors who have the ability to change their writing style from novel to novel. In most cases, no matter what different story an author tackles, his or her unique style permeates through the story. Sometimes, the style could be a particular narration mode (always using third person) or specific plot elements (dreams, corrupt cop, etc) which make the author's work familiar to returning readers. Those repeating elements are only a drawback if the author has nothing new to say and is simply rehashing their previous work. In the case of the first two books below, elements from the authors earlier novels were clearly evident. But these authors have some much to say and have clearly done their research that those familiar elements end up enhancing the reading experience.

Snow by Orhan Pamuk

I first came across a Pamuk book about 7 years ago. Back then, I didn't find his The White Castle very engaging. However, my view changed when I read his pulsating The New Life, a book that brought him much acclaim and introduced most Western readers to Pamuk. 3 books, a Nobel Prize in literature and a political controversy later, Pamuk is well know around the world -- back in December 2006, one could walk into bookstore in New Delhi and find all his 6 English translated works. His works give a mirror into both past and present day Turkey. On top of that, Pamuk is not afraid to tackle political or religious topics either. Which brings me to Snow, a book that is more relevant today than ever. At the core of the novel lies ideas about Islamic vs Western values. The story mostly takes place in Kars, a Turkish town where young girls are committing suicide because they don't want to live a life where they have to remove their headscarves. In the story, a newly passed Turkish law forbides women to wear a headscarf anymore. However, this law leads to much political battle and clash of ideologies. In the middle of this war of ideas, steps Ka, a Turkish poet who has come to Kars for his own personal reasons.

The book is narrated by Ka's friend and manages to balance the political, religious and poetic sides perfectly. Although, I have to admit that at 436 pages, the novel is a bit too long. I wish Pamuk had trimmed 50 pages or so. Still, this is an engaging read.

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Poor Toru Okada. He just wants to stay quietly at home, make his pasta, sip some coffee and have the odd beer. But the phone just does not stop ringing. His cat disappears, and then his wife vanishes. Strange women enter into his life and add to his complications. What is an unemployed man to do?
There is a pretty thick novel at 624 pages but in Japan it was originally broken up into 3 seperate books. The English version has all 3 books together which is great because it is easy to get sucked into the wonderful world that Murakami creates. Like his previous books (especially Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World), themes of dreams and the underground creep into the work. The third book of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is structured similar to Hard-boiled Wonderland.. which gaves an idea to solving the story's mystery. Also, there are multiple stories and subplots through the book, some of which have a direct relationship with the overall story and some which are just are interesting to read but offer nothing to the overall plot. Like Snow, I do feel again that this book is longer than it should be but that is a problem with most authors.

I have plenty of other Murakami books lying around which I will tackle later in the year.

Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett

Normally, I would never have picked up this murder thriller book. But since I had just visited Bangkok, I wanted to read a book which talked about the crazy city's insane underbelly. For pure junk satisfaction, this is a very easy read which combines topics of Thai whores, corrupt Thai cops, reincarnation, CIA, Muslim fundamentalists, Al-Qaeda, Japanese Tattoos, Yakuza into a 320 page book. This was a fun read for me because I enjoyed reading some of the spots I had visited in Bangkok and could relate to some of the author's observances. One of those books that could be easily made into a multiplex thriller. And since the book is packed with cliches found in most thriller genre books, one can have an idea about the nature of the real mystery.

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

In North America, this hyped up book is still in hardcover because publishers want to milk as much money from this as they can. However, in Europe and Asia, this book is available in paperback. I duly bought my paperback in London to see what the hype was all about. The book does contain some interesting ideas backed up with solid numbers. For example, the chapters about the economic realities of drug dealers and real estate agents are interesting enough but they are nothing earth-shattering. Even though there were some new things for me in the book, in other cases the book re-affirmed some well known ideas with stats. The book is written to cover a wide audience range (teenagers to adults), so the style is pretty easy going. Overall, I didn't find this book to be that great so I was glad that I only spent money on a paperback version.

A bad patch of viewings

It happens every now and then when I run across a bad patch of films. However, I just didn't expect it to be from this collection of 4 films, 2 of which are efforts from world class directors at the start of their careers and a third was a promising director's second film.

Novo (2002, Director Jean-Pierre Limosin):

Eduardo Noriega plays Graham, a man who can't form long term memories and as a result forgets things right after they happen. In order to remember people and facts around him, he makes notes and sticks them in places. This aspect of the story is the only similarity with Memento as the rest of the film is set-up to be romantic sex film with some dry humour. Even though the film is visually sharp with some slick editing, I didn't find it interesting enough. The sex and relationship story-line seems dull and eventually I lost interest.

Shanghai Triad (1995, Director Zhang Yimou): Rating 7/10

Long before Johnny To directed his Election films, Yimou made his own triad film. The big difference is that Shanghai Triad is seen primarily from the eyes of a 14 year old boy who finds himself working for Shanghai's biggest mob boss. The other key character of the film is the mob leader's mistress played beautifully by Gong Li. The little boy's expressive eyes steal the show along with some slick cinematography. However, the first half of the film is dull and sluggish.

Ashes of Time (1994, Director Wai Kar Wong):

The poor quality of the DVD and the frustrating black subtitle bar which took up almost 30% of the screen certainly tarnished my viewing experience for this film. That being said, this is unlike any Wai Kar Wong film that I have seen. Ashes of time is a philosophical action film set in a stunning desert (which looks amazing thanks to Christopher Doyle's camera-work). I can't judge this film properly as having seen lavish productions such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero and House of Flying Daggers, the poor DVD quality really made Ashes of Time a difficult watch. Although having sat through the entire film one way or another, I know there is merit in this movie. I just rather wait to see if in the future a sharper DVD verison would be released.

Anwar (Director Manish Jha): Rating -- painful viewing

I loved Manish Jha's first feature film Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women which was an intelligent work. So I was really looking forward to his second effort. I had already grown to love Anwar's haunting soulful music and the film's colorful posters and trailers indicated a promising film. But it is sad to see so much promise go to waste. I truly feel this could have been a very good movie with some better acting, editing and a finer tuned screenplay. The needless item number song and the annonying edition of a few characters (Rajpal Yadav for one) really weighs down the film. In the end, the story boils down to a love story wrapped around a political religious theme. I can see what Manish Jha wanted to do. He wanted to use an isolated incident to mirror the current state of religion and politics in India. One man's story in a temple was to have been a spring-board into the tense relationships that existed between different classes and individuals in India -- aspects of young romance, heart-break, jealousy, friendship, corrupt political leaders, policemen, media, journalists, thugs, etc would all have been covered by this one story. Unfortunately, the end result is simply unwatchable.

Letters from Iwo Jima & The Departed

For the longest time I have wondered what it would be like to watch a movie in an empty theatre. In the past, I have been to some shows where there were only a handful of people (6-8) but I had never been the only person in a theatre. Well I almost got my chance to be the only audience member at Monday night's 9:50 pm show of Letters from Iwo Jima at the local multiplex. Now, I had expected the theatre to be not busy given the screening time and day but I never expected it to be empty. So I was completely shocked to find that I was the only person present in theatre #10 at exactly 9:50 pm. I looked up towards the projection room to see if they were indeed planning on carrying ahead with the show. No sooner did I take my seat, the screen readjusted and the movie trailers started.

9:57 pm -- after 3 movie trailers, the film starts and still no one else had come. Eerie. At this point, I felt this experience brought true meaning to the words "home theatre" -- I had my very own personal multiplex theatre. Not a single sound to disturb my movie watching experience. However, I had trouble focusing on the movie. It seemed I had difficulty overcoming the theatre's emptiness.

10:05 pm -- another man walks into the theatre. He too is shocked by the emptiness and finds a seat a few rows above me. He seemed to respect the utter silence perfectly and I hardly heard him chewing his popcorn. And so it was just the two of us for the next 2+ hours watching this film. Atleast for 7 minutes of the film, I had my own theatre :)

Onto the film itself....

Prior to seeing the movie, I had a gut feeling that it would not be that great. But seeing how much I loved Clint Eastwood's Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby, I felt I should give this a go. For some reason, I decided to skip Flags of our Fathers and wanted to watch ..Iwo Jima first. In the end, my gut feeling was correct. The movie is not that great. But I have to give credit where it is due.Given the current political climate, I think it is very brave that Eastwood made a war movie from the other point of view. It is not very often you get to see a human face to the enemy from an American film, let alone Hollywood. Looking at Hollywood's history of war films, it would appear that everyone is American's enemy. The Germans, Japanese, Russians, Vietnamese, Arabs, etc have all been villains at some point in Hollywood's shining war film history. Yes, in the past some American directors tried showing the 'horror' of war but it was always from an American point of view -- those films just showed the occasional American character who turned 'insane' and tried to kill his own American people.

Eastwood's feature is completely in Japanese with Japanese actors. Like most war movies, you get an assorted array of innocent, brave and weak characters. The films just changes the locales and language from previous Hollywood war movies. Of course, one could argue that war brings our similar behaviour on both sides and there is never any winner in a war. One side may bomb the other and claim victory but the real damage comes at the expense of mere citizens who are representing a nation, even though they may not believe in that nation's ideals. I do plan on seeing Flags of our Fathers to complete both angles of the story but I want to pretend that movie does not exist and only focus on this Japanese version for now.

..Iwo Jima is shot very well and the sounds + cinematography really gave a bleak view of the situation. The visuals are very grayish (bordering close to black and white) with the only color in the film shown in scenes of Iwo Jima in 2005 (when the letters of the soldiers were discovered) and when the bombs go off in 1944 Iwo Jima. I did feel there were a few forced scenes in the movie. Now, I am almost willing to blame those scenes on Paul Haggis. Even though I loved his Crash, I do feel he may be trying to insert his emotionally rigged scenes in films. I blame some of the worst scenes of Casion Royale on his writing as well. Now, this could be an incorrect assumption on my part as I have no idea which scenes he wrote in both Casino Royale and in..Iwo Jima. In particular, one scene in ..Iwo Jima reminded me of a moment from The Shawshank Redemption -- in ..Shawshank there is a scene when Tim Robbins's character plays classical music over the prison loud-speakers. All the inmates pause and listen to this musical piece. I was reminded of this scene when all the Japanese soldiers pause and listen to the words of a letter an American mother wrote for her son. This scene felt forced and was not the only one in the movie. Overall, disappointed with the movie. Rating 7.5/10

The Departed (Director, Martin Scorsese): Rating 8.5/10

This movie has been in the theatres for a long time. At first I didn't want to see this because I quite liked Infernal Affairs and was not happy that Hollywood had decided to remake it. But I finally changed my mind and saw this on Friday, Feb 9. I can't remember every scene of Infernal Affairs but I do remember how I was hooked onto that movie's intelligent cat and mouse game -- the Hong Kong film was dark, gritty and very well done. So I was quite surprized to find how different The Departed feels. Scorsese's film has a very light hearted undertone to it. The first 30 min or so are filled with bits of humour. On top of that, the setting of Boston and presence of Irish music & humour changes the mood of the film for the better. Although, it was strange to find a lot of the characters Boston accent off in some scenes. At times, the characters accent was perfect only to disappear in the next.

The Departed does get the cat and mouse game kicked in high gear after an hour or and it is indeed well done. The body count only rises in the end and even then it happens in a flash. The entire 2+ hour is packed with witty (and sometimes smart-ass) conversations but the body counts happens without any words or warnings. The suddeness of the scenes brought surprize and even some confused laughs from the audience. Another surprizing aspect of the film is the love story. One can notice the difference between Matt Damon's and DiCaprio's characters just by their interactions with the sole female interest. Jack Nicholson's character's love life is also briefly shown. The lingering relationship scenes in a gangster movie felt right out of a Michael Mann movie.

In the end, I am glad I finally saw this movie and liked it but I am not convinced this is the masterpiece as it being hailed.

Power and Hell

The theme of power and hell is a common element in all four films I saw recently -- each film shows how abuse of power can lead to the victims being trapped in a perpetual hell. All the movies are interesting in a way, but I have to admit I was quite disappointed with the two big name movies set in Africa.

The Last King of Scotland (Director, Kevin MacDonald): Rating 7/10

What a major disappointment! I expected to see a powerful political film which peered deep into the hellish terror of Idi Amin. But all I got to see was a film that scratched the surface while only briefly dipping into the horror underneath. Not having read the original novel the movie was set on, I can’t fully comment on if the problem is with the story itself. However, there is a problem with how the film is constructed. The first 30 minutes are about how a young person can be easily seduced by power. A newly graduated Scottish doctor (Nicholas Garrigan played by James McAvoy) can’t imagine leading a dull boring life in his little town. He spins the globe and picks Uganda as his land of adventure (this was after he rejected Canada as an interesting option). It does not take him long to be seduced by Uganda & Africa. Getting laid and being welcomed as a hero get him off on the right foot. He lands in Uganda just as Idi Amin leads a successful coup and is installed as the new president. It does not take long for Garrigan to be seduced by Amin’s power. After a chance encounter, Idi is impressed by the young Scottish lad. Very soon, the dreamy eyed Garrigan is working for Idi and becomes his trusted advisor. Despite all the warnings of Idi’s terror, Garrigan continues to worship the president. This has to be the weakest part of the film, even though it keeps us interested by giving a few hints for darker things to come.

But when the darkness does descend, it quickly lifts and is followed by more scenes of dullness. By the end, I was both disappointed and angered that I had wasted my time watching this. Sure, Forest Whitaker has brilliantly acted his part out – he dives deep into his role and relishes it; his expressions are fascinating to watch and he precisely delivers each dialogue. But everything else about the movie is just tiring and exhausting to watch. My expectations might have been misplaced but I truly got nothing from watching this movie.

Blood Diamond (Director, Edward Zwick): Rating 7.5/10

“T.I.A. This is Africa.” Yes going by the film locales, this really is Africa. But unfortunately, it is Africa as seen through Hollywood’s lens. And when it comes to Hollywood, it is all about “bling bang”, a little flashy show followed by loud explosions. Ofcourse, I am taking the words of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Danny Archer, out of context, when in the film Danny utters the following words “over there it is bling bling, but here it is bling bang…” The strongest aspect of this film is DiCaprio’s fresh and lively acting. He plays his Rhodesian character with great aplomb.

The movie does have some scenes of genuine political implications as it attempts to shed light on the lucrative diamond business and how the quest for a mere stone impacts the lives of innocent people. The film shows how ‘conflict diamonds’ are used by ruthless dictators to finance their personal wars. The civil wars and genocides result in innocent victims being forced in leaving their homes and living in refugee camps – in fact, one of the best scenes in the film is when the journalist Maddy (Jennifer Connelly) comments on the million displaced people living in a substandard refugee camp and how such a scene would barely get a mention in the Western media. Seriously, does the average North-American really care? How can they be expected to care when they are busy killing the environment with their SUVs, hummers, mini-vans while gulping extra-large, no fame lattes!

Overall, I did like this film but what bothered me is how it is flawed because of Hollywood’s touch of adding un-necessary action sequences and melodrama. Blood Diamond also continues the recent trend of depicting African children soldiers in Western commercial films likeThe Interpreter, The Constant Gardener and Lord of War. In addition, a lot of scenes felt like a rehash of Lord of War and The Constant Gardener. The ending sequence and the beautifully shot street scenes of Sierra Leone are framed & edited similar to how Kenya was depicted in Fernando Meirelles’s film – in both films close-up street scenes of garbage and poverty serve as interludes in between the film’s story line. The potential is there for this movie to be much better than what it is and the film’s long length of 142 minutes does not help either – it is about 30 minutes longer than it should be.

Hell, L’Enfer (Director, Danis Tanovic): Rating 9/10

Based on Krzysztof Kieslowski’s proposed trilogy of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory and written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz.

The first 45 minutes seem pretty straight forward – three sisters are stuck in their own personal hell. Each of their relationships is complicated and only serves to torment them further. Sophie (Emmanuelle Béart) discovers her husband is cheating on her. A beautiful scene is shown when she follows him to the hotel to catch him in the act. As she looks up from the lobby of the hotel, she only sees an endless spiral of stairs (Dante’s Inferno?). Each floor is spiral shaped with the walls painted red. In fact, the color scheme of red, blue and white can be found at different points in the film, clearly evoking memories of Kieslowski’s color trilogy. Anne (Marie Gillain), the youngest sister, is having an affair with her professor while Céline (Karin Viard) is the only sibling to look after their mother. Upto the hour mark, the film feels like a typical French movie – relationship problems, crisp dialogues, shots of cafes and French apartments. But then a revelation changes the film’s complexion. A truth about the past gives importance to the opening scene in the movie and also reveals how the three sisters are living in their hell. In fact, the three women are playing different roles in the exact version of hell that had changed their lives when they were little. The same endless play is being continued forever and ever. The film references the Greek story of "Medea", a play about a revenge of a woman. Hell is a portrayal of that play and shows how one woman’s revenge caused others around her to be forever plunged into a never ending hell. Interestingly, when the discussion of the play is shown in the movie, Sophie’s character is shown to be shielding her children in the rain. In the context of the film’s story, this simple gesture might seem to indicate that Sophie is trying to break away from her circle of suffering and is not willing to let her kids go down the path that she was dealt.

I have to say, the last 30 minutes are pure perfection!!! I was not that impressed with the first 45 minutes of this film but the revelation at the hour mark truly changed my outlook on this movie. Overall, this truly is a film that feels worthy of having Kieslowski’s name associated with it. Now, I can’t wait to see what the third film in this installment will contain.

Otomo (1999, Germany Director, Frieder Schlaich): Rating 8/10

It starts with the cold stare. Fassbinder knew that and depicted that in Ali: Fear eats the soul. That was back in 1974 but the stare never went away, despite the passage of time. Stuggart 1989: the stare is still there. Otomo is used to the stare. But he can’t help getting upset by the hassle that follows the stare. After more than 8 years of frustration in a city that refuses to give him his dues, he loses his cool and lashes out at the problem instigator. Ofcourse, his instigator is a white German and Otomo is black. No question on who will be blamed! This was West Germany before the wall came down. Have things changed now? Will the stare disappear one day? In a way, a stare never goes away. The stare can be about skin, race, religion, choice of soccer team, or whatever else. And people who believe they are superior will always try to exert their power. Now false power also comes with meaningless jobs because in a given context, even a peon can feel like God. In a train, a traffic inspector checking for valid tickets feels he has power over every single person on that train. The traffic inspector can decide who is allowed to sit on a train and who is not. Who can question this God? Not his fellow white police men for sure. Police are often known to abuse power as well, no matter how 'democratic' a country is. To quote a few lines from Spiderman: "with great power comes great responsibility." Some people are responsible, others are not. Unfortunately, it is the ones who are irresponsible that destroy others lives and are the ones who give every other responsible person a bad name.

Otomo is a powerful film shot very much like Fassbinder’s cinema. Otomo was a real person, but the only real elements in the film might be facts about Otomo’s life, the incident with the train conductor and the film’s climax. The final credit rolls indicate that the story shown between the train conductor and climax might just be pure imagination. Whatever the truth, that imagined story gives the film an earthy feel; those scenes show that even in hell, there is usually some hope. Out of all the stares, one stare might be tender and warm!

Who will tell me about the real Africa now?

There was no warning, no advance notice.
Jan 24: I was on the internet and my eyes drifted to the tragic headline which told me of Ryszard Kapuściński's death. Just like that. That was last week and I still can't believe that he has gone away. He was almost 75. He had plenty of work left in him, he had to have. Now, who will I turn to get the true description about Africa, a continent that Kapuściński visited endlessly. I have not found anyone else who described the continent so perfectly, so lucidly that I felt I was present there along with Kapuściński in that broken jeep trying to cross the border. I felt that I was sharing a beer with him just to fight the heat from killing us. He told us about the importance of silence (Soccer War). We ignore silence but it is during these periods of silence that real evil is lurking. Given recent crimes in Africa, one can't help think of Kapuściński's words. Under the covers of silence, genocide was being committed. And the world could only care for which movie star did what and whose marriage was being broken.

Kapuściński also understood the meaning of time in African life and how time there is not the same entity that hangs like a sword over the Western World. A few words from Shadows of the Sun (Vintage Canada):
"Africans apprehend time differently. For them, it is a much looser concept, more open, elastic, subjective. It is man who influences time, its shape, course, and rhythm (man acting, of course, with the consent of gods and ancestors).....Time appears as a result of our actions, and vanishes when we neglect or ignore it....The absolute opposite of time as it is understood in the European worldview....In practical terms, this means that if you go to a village where a meeting is scheduled for the afternoon but find no one at the appointed spot, asking, "When will the meeting take place?" makes no sense. You know the answer: "It will take place when people come."

His description of an entire city floating away in boxes (Angola in Another Day of Life) is unforgettable. Likewise, his insight into the collapse of the Soviet Union in Imperium is well worth reading. The Emperor (about Hallie Haile Selassie) and Shah of Shahs (last Shah of Iran) brought to life people that the media never fully understood.

As of 2006, I have all his 6 English translated books and each one of them is worth reading again, and again. Simply written, beautifully described, poetic infact. I just learned that another book by him will be released in early 2007 -- Travels with Herodotus. I can't wait for that one.

In the meantime, Africa marches on. Hollywood & the U.K have decided to cash in and are busy making movies about the continent. I have managed to see a few of them over the last year, but I have yet to see Blood Diamond and The Last King of Scotland. Regardless of how these movies are, I doubt if they will be able to match the brilliance of Kapuściński's words.

Thank you Mr. Kapuściński for giving me a look into the real Africa! Thank you for poetic words and your vivid images!!

Notes on recent films & emerging voices in Asian cinema

United 93 (Writer, Director: Paul Greengrass): Rating 9/10

I had avoided seeing this movie until now because I didn’t see a need for making a movie about the most televised event in recent history. Surely, an event that had gotten way too much press coverage and had resulted in more violence around the world didn’t need to be glorified by a movie? I held my belief despite all the positive film reviews. In the end, I changed my mind and I am glad I saw this film. The movie attempts to recreate that morning, first from the point of view in the air-traffic control center and then from events on United 93. The opening hour is spent mostly on the confusion in the air traffic control center when the two planes hit their target. The next 40-50 minutes showcase how an attempted hijacking of United 93 was thwarted. How true are the events shown in the movie? How accurate is the confusion in the air-traffic control center and army facility? We won’t know the true answer but that does not take away from this film’s efforts.

It is a gripping movie that moves at a fact pace. Shot in documentary style, the film does not attempt to judge or glorify anything. It tries to show events as they might have unfolded. And the fact that we know what is going to happen next only adds to the film’s tension. No matter what the reason, or which side is correct, killing of innocent people is not justified. Man is a devilish beast and if he continues his violent ways, then eventually everything will be destroyed. History might show events that started out with United 93 will eventually end with the future shown in Children of Men.

Calvaire, The Ordeal (Director, Fabrice Du Welz): Rating 8/10

I knew nothing of this movie when I picked it up. But what a film it is! The DVD cover is in bloody red indicating scenes of horror. However, the horror is not what I expected.

Marc Stevens (Laurent Lucas) is a traveling music performer who performs at a range of venues like senior homes. At a particular senior home, he attracts the affection of an elderly woman. He finds that inappropriate and quickly tries to leave when he finds that even the nurse there has feelings for him. On route through lonely and desolate Belgian country side, his vans breaks down. He finds Boris who takes him to Bartel’s Inn, about 3 km away. Boris’s words to Bartel are an indication of things to come. As opposed to merely saying that he has brought Bartel a tenant, Boris shouts "I have brought you someone." From then on starts Marc’s hell in a village populated by only older men. The movie is jam packed with odes and references to several films that director Fabrice clearly admires (Psycho to name just one). And the centre piece of all these references is Marc himself, a confused character who is hard to read. At the start of the film, he was the fancy of older women and then later on, in a mysterious village, he becomes the cause of feuding among the men. And the audience is left to wonder, why Marc is so helpless and weak at all this obvious insanity? De Welz has certainly made a unique first feature despite including quite a few horror film clichéd scenes.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Director, Adam McKay)

How can one rate this movie? It is one of those films that one either hates or one loves. But I seem to fall somewhere in the middle. I didn’t entirely dislike the film but was not convinced by everything shown. Adam McKay and Will Ferrell are certainly creating a different kind of humour genre in Hollywood. On a positive side, their dry humour with a few touches of satire is refreshing to see compared to all the brain-dead clichéd Hollywood films. Overall, I enjoyed moments of the film and did laugh out loud at quite a few scenes. At other scenes I either smiled or shook my head at the stupidity of the situation. The introduction of Sacha Baron Cohen as the French driver adds to the film’s bizarre energy. Now I want to see a film with Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Sacha Baron Cohen and Adam Sandler! Rating 6/10

Emerging Voices in Asian cinema…


I was fortunate enough to preview these film as part of the Pan-Asian film festival.

Todo Todo Torres (Philippines, Director John Torres)

I was in Vancouver last year when John Torres picked up his prestigious “Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema” at VIFF. The series programmer Tony Rayns mentioned that Torres’s film proves that home video can be captivating to watch. John’s feature is certainly an interesting blend of home video footage, video diary entries and scripted film. It gives a glimpse into the turbulent life of Manila where teenage angst combined with a police state can lead to acts of terrorism.

The next 6 films are part of Andy Lau’s production company, Focus Films, which is trying to give new talent an opportunity to make movies.

After this our exile (Hong Kong, Director, Patrick Tam)

This was the best of the six films with a lot of raw emotion. The story dives into the life of a troubled couple and how their breaking marriage impacts their child. The wife eventually leaves the husband who is forced to look after the child. Unemployed and having to pay off his gambling debts, the father teaches his son to steal so as to survive. This leads to an emotional ending which I don't want to give away. I felt this film is 20-30 minutes longer than it should be, but the emotional ending gives a nice soothing feel for the movie. Also, the movie contains a beautiful passionate love scene between the father and his girl-friend which is tenderly shot (shades of Wai-Kar Wong).

Joni's Promise (Indonesia, Director Joko Anwar)

This is a cute romantic comedy about a film reel delivery man who is responsible for shuttling film reels in between theatres because each theatre can’t afford to rent its own print. It starts off nicely but after a while, the overdrawn idea wears thin and some substandard acting ruins the movie.

Mukhsin (Malaysia, Director, Yasmin Ahmad)

I have to admit that I am starting to like Yasmin Ahmad’s refreshing approach to families and love stories. I adored her 2005 film Sepet which was just wonderful. Mukhsin is not as good as Sepet but contains enough wonderful moments to warrant interest. Also, some of the some characters from Sepet can be found in Mukhsin , including a touching cameo from the love-struck Sepet couple. Also, the name Orked is used for the leading love interests in both films.

Rain Dogs (Malaysia, Director Yuhang Ho)

Yasmin Ahmad makes a starring role in this film which really feels inspired from Hou Hsiao-hsien's Goodbye South, Goodbye. It is a movie that requires quite a bit of patience as the pace is very relaxed.

Crazy Stone (Hong Kong, Director Hao Ning)

A gangster heist comedy that has taken its inspiration from quite a few Hollywood films like Snatch. Even though at times the acting feels substandard, it is a well shot film.

Love Conquers All (Holland/Malaysia, Director Tan Chui Mui)

Made with partial fund from Holland, this is another independent film that I felt tried to imitate HHH's style, especially in the closing scenes. The main story follows the love-affair of a young woman who falls for the wrong man, despite all the warning signs (which includes a story narrated by the man about a scam where men trap girls like her). Despite the slow start, there is always a shade of darkness underneath the film which starts to unfold when we realize that the woman’s affair has gone all wrong. And we watch her sink into trouble, slowly and slowly.

Visiting Britain in 2027 and 1997

Quite a cinematic treat this week with two very different yet compelling films. First up, one of the best films out there….

Children of Men (Director, Alfonso Cuarón): Rating 10/10

Vintage! Sublime! Brilliant! Raw! Pure Cinematic genius!!! The fact that this movie is not up for a best movie award is a disgrace. Seriously, one of the best films out there! Much has been written about the three Mexican directors dishing out their acclaimed American films in 2006. If there was to be a competition between the three, then Cuarón would win the contest hands down over Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Iñárritu (Babel). Ofcourse, I do acknowledge that Cuarón had the benefit of working off a novel whereas Del Toro dug deep within his imagination to produce the magical world in Pan’s Labyrinth. However, I felt the political side of Del Toro’s film was weak, even though it contained quite a few raw violent scenes, scenes where the camera refused to shrink from any nastiness.

Now, it is interesting that all three Mexican directors have made a political movie. Cuarón tackles the horrific future, Del Toro takes on a bloody past and Iñárritu attempts to show an uncertain present where any single isolated event can be used by a certain country as an excuse for war. However, it is the political nature depicted in Children of Men that prevails. This is because the movie takes the current chaos and projects it into a dark, disgusting, chaotic world where violence and fear rule. Now, 2027 Britain does look like something Orwell could have dreamt of – police are treating the fugees (refugees) as threats and have divided the city into zones, keeping the immigrants at bay. Ofcourse, this is a topic also envisioned by Luc Besson in District 13. Paris in 2010 has a lot in common with Britain in 2027 as per both these films. And that is not surprising. As immigration grows in both countries, so does the fear and distrust of the incoming visitors. On top of that, it is clear that the environment will be devastated in the future because certain people won’t stop driving their SUVs and gigantic gas guzzling vehicles. In addition, garbage will continue to accumulate because humans keep consuming and destroying the planet. The key difference in Children of Men from District 13 is that in the future, women can’t conceive kids. Scientists can’t explain this condition but as a result, no new babies were born anywhere in the world for 18 years. The human race is dying and the movie has a few newspaper clippings to give us an idea when the doomsday clock will start ticking.

I love every aspect of this film. It is raw and expertly directed and shot. Each scene is carefully paced and depicted – a chase, a riot, a killing, a guerilla fun fight, are just some scenes shot in a very realistic manner thanks to the pacing and thought put behind every frame. One could even classify some scenes as documentary footage (the brilliant tank warfare vs street rebel fight) as opposed to scripted action. This is how good this movie is. And the newspaper clippings stuck on the walls at the film’s start is a brilliant touch – one can try to look carefully to see how things will start to fall apart. For example, one clipping tells that Russia annihilates Kazakhstan with a nuclear bomb (Borat would not be amused) and one clip even mentions something about Beckham’s marriage (couldn’t read the full text but what is the future without a mention about this average soccer player?). The art direction is just amazing – one can smell the garbage, swallow the fumes and be repelled by the grayish atmosphere.

I know there are some other worthy movies not nominated for best film. But what annoys me is that a movie like Little Miss Sunshine gets nominated. Even though ..Sunshine was a good film, it was still a movie about a dysfunctional family. And that is just a clichéd topic that keeps getting rehashed every year, either as drama or dark comedy. On the other hand, Children of Men is about the power of imagination and manages to combine sci-fi and politics together. It shows a bleak dark future where there are no aliens and no flying cars but just human’s lust for power, garbage and a whole lot of fear.

The Queen (Director, Stephen Frears. Writer, Peter Morgan): Rating 9/10

Helen Mirren deserves all the praise and accolades that she is getting for this movie. This was probably the most difficult acting role that anyone could have signed up for but Mirren shines in every frame. Credit must also go to Peter Morgan for coming up with such a balanced script. Morgan apparently wrote the script first and then gave a draft to a few insiders to ensure that he got it right. The film shows the inside story about what happened in the Royal Family during the tragic week in August/September 1997 when the “people’s princess” Diana was tragically killed. It was a news item that shook the world and the film shows how the Queen handled the situation. Another interesting aspect in the film is the depiction of Tony Blair’s relationship with the Queen -- Blair (played by Michael Sheen) rose to fame during this turbulent week and won the public’s support with his reaction to Diana’s death. It is interesting to see a compassionate side of Blair in the movie and reflect that at one point, he actually listened to his public. Near the film’s end, there is a scene where the Queen warns Blair that one day he will be shunned by the very people who adore him. Not sure if that line was actually said but it is true given the current situation.

Pan’s Labyrinth

Writer & Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro

I can’t give a rating to this film because I missed the first 5-8 minutes of the film. Now it is completely my fault that I missed the start because I had underestimated how busy the theatre would be on a Sunday night. Now, on Friday Jan 19 three big movies finally opened in my city -- Pan’s Labyrinth,The Last King of Scotland and Letters from Iwo Juma. Only one theatre in the city (the local art house theatre) had both films playing at the same time for the early evening show -- Pan’s Labyrinth played at 7 pm and The Last King of Scotland played at 7:10 pm. Other than during the film festival, this art house theatre is hardly ever full on a sunday night so I casually walked in few minutes before 7 pm. But was I surprised!! The line-up was almost out the door with most people waiting to buy tickets for Last King…. I eventually got in the theatre around 7:10 pm regretting my stupidity to leave it this late. Considering so many people were waiting to see these two films, why on earth did these films not open earlier in the city? Why do North American multiplexes insist on showing brain dead films and are not willing to take a risk by opening more foreign films? Why the hell do we have to wait for the best films to only open during the Sept – Dec time frame? The awards dominate everything and that is annoying. But then again, what I am saying means nothing. Even if theatres showed foreign films, people would only choose certain kind. Sure Spanish, French, Italian and the odd action-Chinese film sometimes do well in multiplexes but I can bet certain other language films won’t have a great turnout unless they have a major award buzz around them. Anyone I am rambling on & complaining about lack of good movies being released in my city’s theatres on time. I should be lucky that atleast these films have opened in my city because not every city around North America has that luxury. Anyway, on to the film…

The film can be dividend in two components:
-- Spanish civil war in WWII
-- a magical fable taking place in a forest’s Labyrinth

The two components are linked by a little girl (Ofelia, brilliantly played by Ivana Baquero) who drifts between both worlds. How does one explain both worlds? The obvious explanation is the fable represents escapism for the little girl. In that sense, this film could be taken as a cinematic form of "magic realism", the term first used to label Latin Literature (but now has spread to other literature satisfying the criteria). Ofelia is show to collect fairy tale books and her innocence combined with her love for tales of princesses and make-believe could account for such an explanation. Also, her step father (Captain Vidal played wickedly by Sergi López) happens to be a cruel tyrant who needs no excuse to ruthlessly kill people. Vidal believes in upholding Franco’s leadership and is sent to the forest to crush the rebellion. So in order to escape the real life demon in her world, Ofelia rather escape to the magical world where a giant toad, a faun and a devilish creature are nothing to be feared off. Also, Ofelia has few friendly fairies to help her along in both the magical and real world -- in the real world, Ofelia sees her mother, Carmen and the house assistant Mercedes as her guardian angels.

I could not help think of Del Toro’s brilliant The Devil’s backbone while watching this as that film also combined make-believe, innocent children and the Spanish civil war. The fight between the army and rebels in Pan’s Labyrinth reminded me of the 2006 award-winning Mexican film El Violin -- parallels are found in how Mercedes and the doctor go to great length to help the rebels under Vidal’s nose. However, I am divided in my final verdict of Del Toro’s latest film. I loved the magical world and every scene there is deliciously shot. But Captain Vidal’s world is nothing new – a few shocking torture scenes that have been shown in more gory details in other films before (a little from Irréversible, a few other from Saw) and the army vs rebel conflict has been covered thoroughly in other Latin films as well. But can missing the first few minutes have made such a difference to my opinion? Can getting to the theatre late have changed my attitude? I guess I won’t know the full answer till I see the start again when this movie is released on DVD. In the meantime, I am more inclined to agree with Peter Bradshaw’s assessment rather than with the majority of critics on Metacritic who have given this movie full marks. Is this movie worthy of such a high rating? I don’t think so. But it is worth seeing though. Overall, I am really disappointed that movies like this and Babel have been given so much importance as both films are pretty straight-forward. Maybe I am not seeing all the Christian symbolism, references to Shakespeare, Alice in Wonderland and Orpheus in Pan’s Labyrinth? But even if I spend a few hours deciphering every scene in the film, I don’t think I would change my opinion of this film. Unless the first few minutes started out as a fable…..

Movie run continues……

The fast pace of movie watching continues. It seems I am on a rush to make up for the lack of titles seen last December by packing January with plenty of viewings. I have easily seem more than 10 movies in the last week with possibly more titles to come in the next few days. In the meantime, notes on 3 recent films:

Inside Man (Director, Spike Lee): Rating 7.5/10

On first glance, a commercial multiplex bank robbery film does not seem like a Spike Lee movie. But if one looks carefully at a few elements, then it does appear that only Spike Lee could have done such a work. For example, the scenes with the Sikh bank employee's rough treatment by the police would not have been inserted by any other director. But it had to be put in to show how ignorance still exists and people can’t understand who Sikhs are. One can argue for such ignorance in a small town but in a major city like New York, well that defies belief. But it does happen and I am glad Spike Lee inserted this tiny segment in his film along with a few other scenes about sensitive topics (racism, debate about violence related to video games).

The strongest aspect of the movie is the acting. All the actors are sharp and deliver perfect lines. The story on the other hand drags on longer than it should and even when it ends, it has not tied everything together, probably because it does not know how to. Initially, the film keeps one guessing and slowly gives out little pieces of information. But after a while, one really wishes that the film reaches closure. I have to say that this is the most unlikely bank robbery movie recently made. The trailers seemed to highlight the fact that there is more to this bank robbery so I kept looking for an alternative plot line. In the end, I was partly right in guessing what the robbery was about but the film takes it time reaching the end.

The only unsolved mystery for me is the choice of the fabulous Dil Se song ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ for the opening and closing credits. The song was a breath of fresh air when it was released in 1998 and the train-dance song is one of the most popular Bollywood numbers in recent years but what was it doing in this Spike Lee film? I have to admit the song seems more appropriate in the closing credits but seems out of place at the start. But hey, just like in Ghost World a foot thumping Bollywood number is not a bad way to start a film!

Touching the Void (Director, Kevin MacDonald): A very worthy watch!

I had heard so much about this film that it is a surprise that I left it this long to see it. The story is well known – two climbers survive a near-death ordeal in the Peruvian mountains. How the two survived is just an amazing fact. The film contains the survivors Joe and Simon narrating their details. Full credit must go for how this film is structured – it would have been really dull if the film was simply a ‘talking-head’ type of documentary with Joe and Simon simply telling their tale. But with the usage of re-enacted scenes with actors and real climbers, we truly get a sense of their amazing journey and the difficulty the terrain and weather posed. The glaciers look stunning and the dangers of ice/mountain climbing are very apparent. Where some people might see fear, others see adventure! It is really remarkable that the two survived to tell this tale. In an uncertain terrain like snow and ice covered mountains, there is a very fine line between survival and plunging to one’s doom. The well filmed visuals really give us a front row seat of what Joe and Simon went through.

Dolls (2002, Japan, Director Takeshi Kitano): Rating 7/10

Every now and then, Takeshi Kitano takes a break from his action/gangster films to make simple films. In 1991 he directed A Scene at the Sea and in 2002 he directed Dolls in the years between Brother (yakuza film) and 2003’s Zatoichi. Dolls is a tender and beautifully shot film centering on three separate tragic love stories. The movie starts with a Japanese puppet play before diving into the 3 stories. The strongest aspect of this film is the gorgeous cinematography with the red autumn leaves and snow symbolizing the two lover’s journey in one of the segments.

Babel and a Spanish Double

Babel: Rating 8/10
Director -- Alejandro González Iñárritu. Writer -- Guillermo Arriaga

Back in the summer of 2006, I really looked forward to this film. Having loved Amores Perros and 21 Grams, I had huge hopes for this movie. But after seeing the trailers, I had my doubts and stayed away from this film until this week. Now, only one theatre in the city is showing this movie and attendance has increased again thanks to the best picture award it got this week. But a lot of the people attending Thu night’s show (Jan 18) had no idea what to expect and safe to say, they were disappointed. There were even a few walk-outs.

This is a film that does not deserve to be seen in a multiplex because it demands complete silence. In a regular loud multiplex film, slight noises from the audience are dwarfed by the loud on screen volume. But Babel is not a loud film – it contains long periods of silence and very little dialogue. The visuals tell more of a story with subtitles conveying the rest of the story. With such periods of silences, every slight noise in the theatre can be heard – the chewing of the popcorn, an audience member dropping his pop on the floor, water running down the pipes in the adjoining bathroom, shuffling of feet. But even if I saw this film in complete silence, I still would have been disappointed. Here are some mental notes that flew threw my mind during this film:

-- Only the American couple in the film gets a happy American ending (something mentioned by the Japanese newscaster in the movie). The rest of the world is miserable and continues to suffer. In fact, other people have to suffer so that the Americans can prosper. Ofcourse, one could argue that the ending for the Japanese father-daughter finally has hope, but that is debatable.
-- The usage of multiple languages (Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and English) in this film works great because actors talking in their native language lend more authenticity.
-- My understanding was that the movie was supposed to show how the language barriers in the world led to confusion and caused problems (tower of babel). However, despite the multiple languages spoken in the movie, there are no language barriers in the characters way and I don’t think the film’s title is appropriate to the story.
-- The three stories are forcibly linked or appear to be. Amores Perros and 21 Grams felt more authentic. Can we now expect more of these Crash formula films in the future?
-- Great camera shots, especially the last shot of the Japanese girl and father. As they are hugging on their balcony, the camera moves away backwards and we slowly see the other buildings come into focus. Normally in other movies, the camera narrows into a single point as opposed to pulling away and displaying the wider background.
-- Guns kill people and guns in the hands of kids is a horrible formula. No matter what pro-gun people say. We only need to look at Central Africa for more examples.
-- As the world is more connected with cell phones and internet, fear and lies are easily propagated. In fact, media control in the hands of wrong people leads to incorrect news reports and conclusions. A single shooting in Morocco could have led to an American attack and eventual war. This is the present western attitude of shoot first, ask questions later.
-- One thing was interesting – in the end credits, we see the following:
“based on an original idea by Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga “
What is that supposed to mean? Are the two trying to ensure no one tries to accuse them of stealing this story idea from a real incident?

Overall, I was hugely disappointed with this movie. Half-way through the 140 min movie, I told myself if I saw a shot of the clouded blue sky, I would know the director is trying too hard and sure enough, there is such a shot near the end of the movie. But I can’t understand why people call this film complex. Seriously, it is pretty straight forward. Yes, long periods of silence in movies allow us to contemplate each scene and think things through. But none of the stories in Babelare rich enough to require much thought. In addition, if the media reports are true then this is the last collaboration between Alejandro and Guillermo. That would be a real shame because they have had a good run together. Babel is the weakest of their three joint feature film efforts but still their powerful first two films were enough to warrant them attention.

Jealousy (1999, Spain, Director Vicente Aranda): Rating 7.5/10

It turns out that I had seen this film a few years ago, but I forgot when I rented this. It is a good watch nonetheless. A month before his marriage, Antonio discovers a picture of his bikini clad fiancée (Carmen) with a stud among a group of her friends. His jealous nature takes over him and he needs to find out who the stud is. And Antonio’s curiosity is only increased when all the people around him lie about the stud in the picture, After a brief break up with Carmen, the two make up and eventually marry. But Antonio is still not satisfied and his relentless pursuit of the truth drives Carmen mad. She is forced to reveal all to Antonio and after that, both of them need to get the stud, José, out of their system.

The film contains two very good expressive performances from Aitana Sánchez-Gijón (Carmen) & Daniel Giménez Cacho (Antonio). In fact, Daniel’s stern face and glaring eyes steal the show. There is an interesting camera angle when Carmen decides to tell Antonio the truth. We see her in the background but in the foreground, we only see Antonio’s left eye. Even with such an angled look at his face, we can clearly understand what is going on through his mind. But the story does start to wear down near the end and I had lost all interest by the final frame.

Lisbon (1999, Spain/Argentina, Director Antonio Hernández): Rating 6/10

Despite the presence of Sergi López and Carmen Maura, I could not be interested in this film. López plays a video cassette salesman who travels between Spain and Portugal. One day he finds a mysterious woman (played by Maura) who insists on being taken to Lisbon at whatever cost. In trying to help her, he finds himself in between her crazy family and her pursuit of her lover. An ok film with average acting but a short story stretched too long.

Notes on recent films

District 13 (Director, Pierre Morel): Rating 7/10

Luc Besson is an industry in himself. Over the last two decades, he has been responsible for some very interesting films and characters (Léon to name one), which have led to other copy cat films and series spin offs (Le Femme Nikita). But in the last few years, he has been doing more writing and producing a series of action packed films. The genre films come garnished with some touches that only Besson could do. The fast paced action scenes are centered around a typical good-evil-revenge story yet the unique characters and sometimes a few twists make most Besson films fun to watch. The same could be said for District 13 -- it is fast paced, with a pinch of humour, contains unique situations and is overall enjoyable. The film is set in Paris 2010, a city that has still not learned how to deal with its differences. Following the riots in 2005, the film shows a scenario in the future where the French government erects walls and separates the neighborhoods into districts. People know which district to stay away from. The interesting aspect of the film is the angle where the government admits its failure and comes up with a wicked plan to ‘cleanse’ the problem. Given the current world situation, this evil solution is entirely possible. In fact, a few countries have tried it in the past. The film also clocks in just over 80 minutes, ensuring that the lean-thin story does not overstay its welcome.

The House of Sand (Director, Andrucha Waddington): Rating 10/10

I must be a sucker for Brazilian films. I sometimes get hooked emotionally and can’t get the film out of my system. Such happened with Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures, The Middle of the World and even Central Station. The simple stories of a journey combined with stunning landscapes seems to do me in. In the case of House of Sand the landscape could not be more poetic and isolated – white sanded desert surrounded by the ocean on one side. The rain fills the lagoons in the desert and threatens to erode away the houses standing on the sand. Ofcourse, when the wind kicks in, the sand becomes a force to deal with and it threatens to enter and take over a house. This battle of the house vs sand sounds like The Woman of the dunes but on the DVD interview, the director mentions he was inspired by a real life story of a Brazilian woman who tried to prevent the sand from taking over her house. And when she died, the sand moved in and swallowed up the house. In this film’s story, it too is women trying to fight with the sand.

The story opens in 1910, when a husband takes his pregnant wife, mother-in-law and a band of followers to live in the desolate white desert in Northern Brazil. However, through a series of incidents, the husband dies, the followers run away and the women are left to fend for themselves. Their first instinct is to get away but that proves to be a difficult task. When an opportunity to leave presents itself, the mother, Maria (Fernanda Montenegro) decides they should wait because her daughter Áurea (Fernanda Torres) will soon give birth. We next find the two women 8-9 years in the future, in 1919, the year of the Eclipse. Áurea has given birth to Maria who is now about 8 years old. Once again, Áurea carves an opportunity to escape but when returns home to fetch her mother and daughter, the sand has destructed their house leaving the mother dead. But young Maria has survived and the chance for escape goes. Eventually, Áurea grows old and at the start of World War II finds another chance to escape. This time however, she has found a reason to stay (love with Massu) and sends Maria off. Finally, Maria returns to find her mother in the year that man landed on the moon.

Besides the stunning landscape, the genius of this story is getting real life mother-daughter Fernanda Montenegro & Fernanda Torres to play multiple roles. Montenegro plays 3 roles – the mother, then she plays an older Áurea and finally she plays a 58 old year old Maria (Áurea’s daughter). Torres plays Áurea and a 28 year old Maria. This is a great move because it shows that no matter how much children are different from their parents, they reflect an aspect of their parents. In this case, the physical similarity is pitted against the stagnant desert and makes for a great character-study. In the end, when Maria returns and tells her mother, Áurea, that man has landed on the moon, Áurea asks what man has found on the moon. “Nothing” replies Maria, nothing except “sand”. We see a smile on an aging Áurea’s face and the camera than moves back to let us see the moon shining on the white desert, making the entire desert look like the moon’s surface. This really is a movie that if one is not in the mood for, they will not like. In fact, the first 10-15 minutes are probably the most dull but after that, the epic battle of sand vs humans takes over. Ofcourse, there is a raw sex scene thrown in the movie which changes the relationship between Áurea and her 8 year old daughter Maria and results in Maria growing up to be a wild passionate woman, willing to throw herself at anyone. In fact, it is that wild passionate side of Maria’s personality that gains her freedom from the desert.

Guru (Director, Mani Ratnam): Rating 8.5/10

Little more than 12 hours after I finished seeing House of Sand, I saw Mani Ratnam’s latest flick, the much anticipated Guru. The good thing is this Bollywood film does meet the expectations in some regards and even exceeds it in a way. When it comes to acting, no one could have expected such a fine performance from Abhishek Bachchan. This is clearly his film and he owns every frame. At the peak of his character, Guru’s, powerful speech, Abhishek’s voice sounds like his father’s. That is inevitable but one can’t help but think that it is Amitabh himself delivering those dialogues. Besides Abhishek, the rest of the cast rise to the occasion as well - -Aishwarya Rai has given one of her best performances in years, Madhavan has a short but strong role and Mithun is a real delight. Mithun Chakraborty is certainly aging gracefully and his tender yet principled role is an ideal foil to Guru’s cold ruthless capitalist ways.

A.R Rahman’s music is soothing, the visual are stunning (Istanbul and India look just beautiful). But my problem with this film is the same as I had with Rang De Basanti. There is something which still holds back certain Bollywood films from greatness. Both these films contain an underlying message that is misguided and feels wrong. In both films, the main character(s) are shown to be heroes yet they are misguided but the movie still glorifies them. In Rang De Basanti the youth clearly have the wrong idea but the story only fuels their naivety. Guru on the other hand is shown to be a clever businessman but he bends the rules too frequently. In return, he blames the government. Yet, he could have met the government’s needs while still expanding his company to reap profits. But I suppose the argument is that no company can ever grow at such a rapid pace without breaking some law – be it moral, ethical or even environmental. Even the judges in Guru can’t make their mind up if Guru is a thug or a genius. In my opinion, Guru is a capitalist thug. So should I slam the movie for that reason? Not really. But I have to take some points off for the needless Turkish cabaret song at the start of the film with Mallika Sherawat. Mallika can’t belly dance, in fact her extras did a far superior job than her. But the problem is the majority of the Indian male public does not care for her dancing ability and will be preoccupied with her other assests. Still, her cameo is one of the film’s weakest elements.

Dhoom 2 (did someone really direct this?): Rating 5/10

If the movie only had Abhiskek, Hrithik and Aishwarya in it and a few badly choreographed motorcycle and action scenes were removed, then this film would have been much better. Uday Chopra can’t act and is a waste in any film. Ofcourse, he had to be in this movie because he was in the first film and his brother is the film’s producer. He takes away enough negative points from this cocktail mix of Hollywood films.

Woh Lahme (Director, Mohit Suri): Rating 8/10

I am not sure how much of this film is based on fact and how much is fiction. Aspects are based on Mahesh Bhatt’s relationship with the once legendary Parveen Babi, but where is the line between fact and fiction? It is clear that some scenes in the film are about Mahesh wishing he had done more to help Parveen. It really was a sad fate to learn that the once hot starlet died a lonely death last year, with a full 2 days passing by before anyone knew of her death. Mohit Suri has done a great job of translating Mahesh’s tender story and giving it a powerful treatment. Both Kangana Ranaut & Shiney Ahuja are very good, with Kangana giving a tender performance of an actresses struggling to deal with her inner demons. While Maine Gandhi ko Nahin Mera dealt with a similar topic, Woh Lahme gives a horrific in the face view of what it is like to be trapped in a tormented mind. And on top of that, this film contains one of the best Bollywood songs I have heard in years – ‘Mujhe Pyar Hai’ and its remixed version are just too good to turn away from.

Zatracení, The Damned (Director, Dan Svátek): Rating 4.5/10

Nothing to praise about this low budget Czech film about an innocent prey caught smuggling heroin out of Thailand. The only redeeming aspect is the film within film aspect where a character tries to save his half-brother by putting together archive footage of his brother’s time in Thailand. The acting is substandard and even though the footage idea is interesting, it gets dull after a while.

Notes on a Scandal

Director, Richard Eyre: Rating 10/10

I knew nothing of this film except that it starred Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett when I got a free pass to attend an advance screening on Thursday, Jan 11. I eventually saw a few words from the tagline and learned that in the film a teacher has an affair with her high school student. That is all I knew when I walked into to see this movie. What an amazing surprise! This is a gem of film packed with raw emotions and riveting acting. This is Judi Dench’s movie through and through but Cate Blanchett plays her role convincingly -- one really believes her characters confusion. I don’t want to talk about the story as this movie is best seen without knowing anything about it. But one thing struck me as the story was portrayed. What really are scandals? Sure there are some scandals which are worth reporting about but in a lot of cases, the media appears to swoop down on an easy prey and enjoys the destruction of a defenseless individual. Example, one president lies about his affair with a woman and is crucified. Another president lies even more blatantly, orders the invasion of a country, occupies a country, helps his friends get richer, is responsible for the destruction of a nation, causes the world to be a more unstable place but is given a free ride by the media. No-one in the media crucifies him and people stand by quietly. Which is a worse scandal?

In modern society where much importance is given to film stars, it is no wonder that celebrity marriages and affairs are given front page coverage whereas real crimes are hidden behind closed doors. Now, the film is not about a scandal involving a celebrity but a mere student and a public school teacher. So one could say that this falls in the realm of public domain but everything is not that clear-cut. The movie is handled in such a way that one can’t get a feeling of any wrong doing on part of the elder teacher and the young student – both wanted something and they got it. Is that wrong? In terms of the law, yes. But if one looks at the relationship shown, then things seemed appropriate.

Asian flavours kick off 2007

There is something to be said for continuity. A trip to Asia marked the end of 2006 and the final film I saw as the year ended was the Korean flick The Host on Dec 31. So it shouldn't be a surprise that 3 Asian films were the first movies I saw this year. Of the three, one was a film that I wanted to see for more than 6 months, a second was a movie that I had heard about but was not eager to see and the third was a repeat viewing of a personal favourite from last year.

Invisible Waves (directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang): Rating 8.5/10

I had wanted to get this film for CIFF last year and attempted to get it for our upcoming Pan-Asian film festival this year but the producers never replied to our queries. So I was delighted to finally get a chance to see this film as it was released on DVD.

In the end, it is a worthy watch. Ofcourse, since Christopher Doyle shot the film, there were was never a question about the film's visual beauty. Just like Pen-Ek's previous film, Last Life in the Universe, Doyle has perfectly chosen an appropriate palette to match the story's somber mood. The story is that of revenge & murder yet the peaceful mood projected by the film makes one forget that. On that of that, Pen-Ek has ensured the film has no un-neccesary extras or dialogues. The only people one sees on screen are meant to be there. Streets, bars and ships are empty, devoid of any life whatsoever. As a result, we can spend our time focusing on only the characters on hand and drawing our own conclusions.

The main character, a chef (played by Asano Tadanobu), commits a murder hoping that is his ticket to freedom. However, a murder is never that easy. Especially, when the chef has made the mistake of shattering the invisible yet firm boundaries of trust and loyalty. After the chef has committed the murder, his boss, who had hired him for the kill, asks the chef to leave Macau for Phuket. But trouble follows the Chef onto the ship and eventually in Phuket. How the chef evades trouble and returns back for revenge forms the final hour of the story.

The peaceful background score and the earthy visual colors give the film a very dreamy feel. Even though the film drags on near the end, if one is sucked in by the leisurely mood, one won't notice the time ticking away. But if is not enchanted by the film's look, then the last 30 minutes might feel like the work of an over-indulgent self-absorbed director. Either way, there is something to be said for the style that Pen-Ek brings to his films and how Christopher Doyle perfectly manages to give the visual look to accomplish Pen-Ek's vision.

Just like in his previous film, Pen-Ek has chosen the Japanese actor Asano for the lead character. Asano is a worthy choice as the chef (Kyoji) because he only shows the barest emotion required of his character. Kyoji is calm before the murder, while he is having an affair, after the brutal killing and unfazed despite being mugged and beaten up in Phuket. All the characters fit with the film's framework. There is a tiny but interesting cameo for Eric Tsang who normally is found in Hong Kong gangster movies. In the end, while I liked this film, I am still not fully convinced this is a great work. It is certainly good but the deliberate omission of extra characters and background noise makes one feel that they are watching a very controlled film.

Exiled (directed by Johnny To): Rating 7.5/10

Macau. Two gangsters knock on a door. A woman opens the door. The men are looking for Wo. The woman informs them that no one by that name lives there and closes the door. A few minutes later, two more gangsters arrive asking the same question. Once again, the woman slams the door and the men leave. These two men run into the other two men waiting half a block down. They all know each other and not surprised to find themselves at this location. The woman looks nervously from her window while taking care of her baby. A few moments later, a truck packed with furniture appears. The driver is none other than Wo, who sees the four men but continues to drive on. He opens the door to his apartment, followed by one man from each of the pair. The three go upstairs. The apartment is mostly empty but Wo bends down to open the bottom drawer of a cupboard and takes out a gun. He starts to fill in the six bullets. The two men empty out 6 bullets from their multi-cartridge weapon so that they are all on level terms with 6 bullets each. Then the three face off, pointing the gun towards each other (the scene is inspired no doubt from Reservoir Dogs). A moment passes by, the wind blows through the apartment and then poetically, the bullets start flying. After the firing had ended, Wo’s wife enters telling Wo that the baby needs food. Wo looks towards the other two and asks if they can sit down and talk. But one of the men says that there is no furniture. The next few scenes can only take place in a Johnny To movie. The five men (Wo + the 4 gangsters) empty all the furniture from the truck, fix the place up, cook fresh food and all sit down together to have dinner.

It turns out all the men know each other -- two men were sent to kill Wo because he had tried to knock off the big boss and two other came to inform Wo out of loyalty. Eventually, the five men sit down and chat regarding Wo’s future. The next morning, the five go off in search of a final job. The rest of the movie is as stylish as most Johnny To films but unlike the Election series, these movies contain a bit of dry humor like that present in To’s P.T.U film. With a lot of the actors being the same from those movies, at times the movie feels like similarly covered ground. What sets this apart from past To films is the choice of Macau and the two stylish gun shoot out scenes, the second one being near the end. For kicks, a Red Bull can is tossed in the air while on the ground, the bullets fly. I have not seen the original Mission film which might have been a prequel for this film as it contained the same actors. If I had not seen enough Johnny To movies in the past, I might have liked this film more.

Khoshla Ka Ghosla (directed by Dibakar Banerjee): Rating 10/10

Very rarely do I see a movie more than once but I had see Khosla Ka Ghosla again, a film I consider as one of the best films of 2006. I had helped book this film for CIFF last year just on instinct that it might be a good movie given the star cast of Boman Irani and Anupam Kher. I barely knew the story and there were no reviews of the film as no one had seen it. The movie was to be released in India on September 22 and it showed at our festival on Monday, Sept 25. The word from India was very good on the opening weekend and that helped ease my worries. Still, I walked nervously into the theatre on Monday evening. I was still nervous during the film’s opening 15 minutes but gradually I eased into the film, got comfortable and duly loved the film.

But on this second viewing, I was able to give this film my undivided attention. And I loved the film even more. It is a perfect movie from all accounts. Not only is the story shockingly realistic, the dialogues are very true of a Punjabi family living in Delhi. One has to listen carefully to how the dialogues are delivered (the tone) and pay attention to the little expressions and acts of fidgeting that signify a character’s mental state (example: Anupam Kher’s discomfort at bringing home a bottle of alcohol). I can’t think of a finer North Indian movie that I have seen in the last decade than this one. The complete cast is excellent with Anupam Kher, Ranvir Shorey, Navin Nischol and Boman Irani giving vintage performances. Even though I have singled out these few actors, the entire ensemble cast & crew deserves credit for giving this story life (Jaideep Sahni wrote this gem).

Despite this movie’s virtues, I still can’t help but ask the question: who will watch this movie? Most Indians used to Bollywood song and dance films probably skipped this comedy as there are no songs, no melodrama (Even though, the soundtrack contains a very lively pulsating Punjabi dance number). And will this movie get distribution so non-Indians can get a chance to see this? I just hope that word gets out and people try to watch this film. The positive thing is a lot of the people I talked with in India last month loved it. I just hope more such Indian movies are made and get wider distribution. Along with Being Cyrus, Khosla Ka Ghosla is proof that good Indian movies can be made within a branch of the nonsense studio system with Bollywood actors. Both these worthy films were released in 2006 and both were works by first time directors. Boman Irani was the one common actor in both films and along with his performance in Lago Raho Munnabhai cemented his status as one of the best Indian actors working in the film industry today.

Best Films of 2006

It was a thoroughly satisfying personal film viewing year. I had more chances to watch festival films than previous years, while at the same time conducting personal film festivals (World Cup Film festival in the summer) or having theme festivals gifted to me (January 2006’s a tribute to Jean Cocteau and a Soccer Film festival for my birthday). In the last 10 years, I made the least trips to a multiplex this year and stayed away from quite a few hyped up Hollywood titles.

I can’t claim to pick an objective top ten as that is just impossible. So I compiled a short-list of all the movies that I loved watching this past year, from which I picked ten out. Overall, it was a truly rich year for movies and the diversity of the films is reflected in the choices. Just a note on the film selections: I only selected movies that I saw in 2006 because they were either released in the theatre this year (commercially or at a film festival) or released on DVD in 2006. Some movies in this list were released in film festivals last year but never made it out to Canada or to my city. Likewise, my favourite film of 2005 was a movie that was Brazil’s official entry to the Oscars in 2006 -- Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures was the finest film I had seen in 2005 thanks to the London Film Festival. However, that film won’t be out in most North American theatres until early 2007. Also, I separated the docs from the features. Each film title is followed by country name and director name in the bracket. So without further delay, here is the list:

Top Ten films of 2006 (in order of preference) :

1) The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Romania, Cristi Puiu)
2) Dosar (India, Rituparno Ghosh)
3) El Violín (Mexico, Francisco Vargas Quevedo)
4) Tzameti (France/Georgia, Géla Babluani)
5) The Bet Collector (Philippines, Jeffrey Jeturian)
6) Khosla Ka Ghosla (India, Dibakar Banerjee)
7) The Descent (UK, Neil Marshall)
8) The Lives of Others (Germany, Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck)
9) Election 2 (Hong Kong, Johnny To)
10) Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (South Korea, Park Chan-wook)

Remaining short-listed films (in no particular order):
Being Cyrus (India, Homi Adajania), Paradise Now (Palestine, Hany Abu-Assad), Still Life (China, Jia Zhangke), The King and the Clown (South Korea, Lee Jun-Ik), La Moustache (France, Emmanuel Carrère), A Scanner Darkly (USA, Richard Linklater), A Prairie Home Companion (USA, Robert Altman), Requiem (Germany, Hans-Christian Schmid), The Host (Korea, Bong Joon-ho)

Note on Jan 2: I forgot that Three Times (Taiwan, Hsiao-hsien Hou) should also be added to this year's short-list. I incorrectly thought that I had seen this film last year.

Top Docs of the year (in order of choice):

1) Iraq in Fragments (USA/Iraq, James Longley)
2) Bombay Calling (Canada, Ben Addelman, Samir Mallal)
3) Riding Solo to the Top of the World (India, Gaurav Jani)
4) Mystic Ball (Canada, Greg Hamilton)
5) Mo & Me (Kenya, Roger Mills)
6) The Trials of Darryl Hunt (USA, Ricki Stern & Anne Sundberg)