Two weeks ago, I saw 3 David Lynch features over 2 nights. This time, I doubled that tally -- 6 features & short collections over 2 days. Since I saw Dune and Mulholland Dr. previously, I am done going through all the works of Lynch that I wanted to view. Now, I am throughly ready for Inland Empire.
So here are the films in order of viewing:
The Straight Story (1999): Rating 9/10
This has to be the most straight-forward (no pun intended) David Lynch film out there. In fact, if one didn't look at the credits, then one would never know that David Lynch was behind this work. Atleast Elephant Man included a few dream sequences which hinted at the director's familiar arsenal but The Straight Story is a clean and emotional journey. It was also the last work of Richard Farnsworth and this is clearly his movie from the first frame. Farnsworth plays Alvin Straight, a man who undertakes a 300+ mile journey on a lawn-mower to see his brother, Lyle. Alvin has not talked to Lyle in almost a decade after a falling out, but after Lyle has a stroke, Alvin decides he needs to make this journey on his own terms to set things right.
We get to see the wide open road, beautiful fields & shining stars as Alvin makes his brave journey. Along the way, he encounters an interesting collection of people (a runaway teenager, competition cyclists, a deer-loving woman who is agonized by deers hitting her car on a weekly basis) and wins everyone over (except the deer loving woman who is in too much grief) with his straight forward no-nonsense approach to life. Personally, I am a sucker for journey films and this story is as improbable as any journey film out there -- it is based on a true story but even if it was not, that would not have lessened this film's sincerity. The Straight Story is well acted and leisurely paced so that we can soak up every minute of clean country air.
The Short Films of David Lynch (2002)
This diverse collection goes through Lynch's first animation feature, his first short and even has clips of a mini-tv show episode he did. Lynch gives us the background story before the start of each short and that is useful in giving a road map of his work. We can see how his first animation allowed him to get money to buy his own camera with which he was able to make future works, which led to him getting a grant and eventually headed towards his first feature. Also, along the way, we get to see elements which would feature in his latter films like Eraserhead, Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr..
Six Men Getting Sick -- This 1966 quick-draw animation started it all for Lynch. Although the title tells all there is to know about the animation, Lynch's purpose with this effort was to experiment with moving pictures. The animation is basically a one minute segment repeated 4 times -- 6 men get their stomaches upset and throw up. The repeating annoying siren sound is highly distracting and combined with the images, achieves the intended purpose of causing distress and frustration in the audience. By today's standards there is nothing remarkable about the animation itself but this was his experimental effort back in 1966. It cost Lynch $200 to make this animation.
The Alphabet (1968, 4 min) This combination of animation and film gives the first glimpse of Lynch's recurring dream motif used in many of his works. The idea for this came to David when he heard of his wife's niece having a recurring nightmare where she repeatedly uttered the alphabets. So Lynch uses that to craft a semi-horror effort about a girl's constant torment with her nightmares. A significant technical leap forward from his first effort.
The Grandmother (1970, 34 min) This work was made with the help of a grant and marks Lynch's first feature short. A boy is abused and tortured by his parents. One day, he finds a bag of seeds in an unused bedroom in the house and plants the seeds on the bed -- the seeds grow into a weird plant which gives birth to a caring and compassionate grandmother. Is the grandmother real or a figment of the boy's imagination? Did the boy craft this scenario to escape his tortured life? One can see the seeds of Eraserhead in this short and even imagine that the boy would grow up into the lead character in that film. Also, the birth of the grandmother is accompanied by the plant oozing mud, similar to the blood and other liquids which gush out of the chicken and the baby in Eraserhead.
The Amputee (1974, 4 min) Nothing grand about this but just an interesting experiment. A woman is busy writing a letter and caught up in her emotions while a nurse is removing the bandages on her amputated leg. Suddenly blood starts gushing out from her wounds and even the nurse is at a loss to stop the flow. But the woman is so busy in her thoughts of jealousy and muted anger that she hardly notices anything. We are trying to listen to the woman's voice-over narration while trying to keep focus on the action happening in front of us. Eventually, the actions over the blood loss on her amputated leg takes precedence and we don't care about her letter or voice anymore.
The Cowboy and the Frenchman (1988, 25 min) David Lynch did this mini-series after Blue Velvet and as part of a TV series called "The French as seen by..". Different directors were asked to interpret the French in their own way and Lynch managed to combine "two cliches" in one film (as per the producer's words). Harry Dean Stanton plays Slim, a stone deaf cowboy who notices a strange manly creature heading towards his farm. His two assistants capture the creature and they all try to determine what this person is. When they open this man's bag, they find items such as bottles of wine, baguettes, snails and some cheese. Still they are clueless to his identity. But when they pull out a plate of french fries, they finally figure out that their strange capture is a Frenchman. This short packs typical cliches and is amusing for the first 10 min or so but after that ends up being dry & dull.
Lumière and Company (1995, 52 seconds) In order to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the original camera used by the Lumière brothers, various film directors were asked to submit a film shot in the same manner as it would have been made in 1895. That meant using the original camera, restricted to a length of 52 seconds and using only synch sound and original light. Needless to say, Lynch packs a lot in his 52 seconds -- a noir style mystery & a strange lab with a naked woman in a cylinder. Unfortunately, I was unable to give this a second viewing but Lynch seemed to have used up his precious few seconds quite well.
Blue Velvet (1986): Rating 9/10
I finally managed to watch this sublime effort in its entirety. Almost 10 years ago, I saw bits and portions of it. Back then I had caught some of the critical scenes in the first hour -- the severed ear in the field, Frank Booth's (Dennis Hopper) bizarre entrance to Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) apartment. But now, all the pieces were tied up. The movie starts and ends up in a happy white picket fenced town. But between those scenes, we are introduced to a "strange world" where evil people lurk in the night-time. The film is really about the loss of innocence. Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) is an innocent young man who finds a severed ear in the field one day. He dutifully heads down to the police station and gives it a detective (detective Williams). But he is curious to know who the ear belongs to. Detective Williams tells him that he can't give answers as it is too early in the investigation. But the detective's sweet and innocent daughter, Sandy (Laura Dern) gives a few clues to Jeffrey. From then on, Jeffrey's curiosity gets the better of him and leads him down a dangerous collision with Frank and the town's evil underbelly. Jeffrey & Sandy's innocent view of the world is changed forever and they are forced to grow up. Even in the end, when the nightmare is apparently over, Jeffrey may never be the same again. The dreamy music in the ending has shades of the music used in Naomi Watts dream episodes in Mulholland Dr. but in this case, Blue Velvet ends on a happy note and does not give any clues to any lurking evil.
Superb and brave performances all around with Rossellini convincing as the abused jazz singer, Hopper playing the perfect madman (a role he seems to cherish) and MacLachlan & Dern going through the range of emotions as they gradually lose their innocence. And the haunting title song is enchanting and inviting.
I really should have stopped my screenings here because it went downhill from here on....
Twin Peaks:Fire Walk with me (1992): Rating 5/10
The first sign of trouble appeared in the opening minutes -- David Lynch appeared playing a semi-deaf cop. He can't really act and his poor acting raised fears about the film's possible averageness. But that minor worry was temporarily put to rest as Kiefer Sutherland and Chris Isaak looked convincing playing two detective investigating a murder in Twin Peaks. However, all hopes of the movie making a full recovery vanished when Chris Isaak's character vanishes after he finds a green ring during his investigation. We next encounter Kyle MacLachlan as a detective who can enter a dream realm world and use that ability to solve his cases and predict future crimes. But after David Bowie makes a quick meaningless entrance, the movie really starts to sink. We are then returned to Twin Peaks a year into the future when another woman (Laura Palmer) will be murdered.
The second part of the film centers on Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). The green ring makes its appearance in her story as well, as do some strange dreams. In a way, the green ring and the dreams have the same mystery appeal as the blue box in Mulholland Dr. but the problem here is that we solve the mystery too soon. Very early on, it is clear who the murderer is and what is going on. Yet, the movie continues to add subplots while slowing down to include needless scenes of nudity, drugs, alcohol and sex along the way. At a running time of 2 hours, 14 minutes, this movie was sheer torture to watch. The only positive is that mistakes in this feature and Lost Highway eventually led to a polished effort such as Mulholland Dr.
Wild at Heart (1990): Rating 4/10
It was a huge mistake to watch this film after Twin Peaks. I still can't believe this horrible mess won the main prize as Cannes. Sure, there are some worthy acting performances but the story is cliched. Or maybe it seems so in the year 2007. Right off the bat, the film's title rings true. A few minutes into the movie, Sailor (Nicolas Cage) kills a man because he threatened Sailor. Sailor is madly in love with Lula (Laura Dern) but Lula's mother does not approve. After serving his time in jail, Sailor and Lula escape on a cross country road trip. They pass their time having wild sex, talking and drinking. But Lula's mom wants Sailor dead and sends contract killers after them. And sure enough, there are some strange characters thrown in for fun, along with semi-nude women added as decoration. Yawn. Sorry, seen that.
Hotel Room (1993)
A 3 episode tv series with Lynch directing two efforts. All 3 episodes are set in the same New York city hotel room, #603, in different time periods. And in all 3 episodes, the same bellboy and hotel maid are used.
Tricks: Rating 8/10 -- This is the best of the 3 episodes. It takes place in 1969. Moe (Harry Dean Stanton) brings a prostitute (Darlene, played by Glenne Headly) to room 603. Just as Darlene is about to get undressed, there is a knock on the door. The unwanted visited is none other Moe's bothersome nemesis/friend, Lou. It seems no matter Moe says, Lou ignores him. And Lou is more confident and suave with Darlene than Moe. But things are not as what they seem and we are given some clues at the start to help us untangle the mess. The segment keeps our attention throughout and is well acted by Stanton.
Getting Rid of Robby (Director James Signorelli): Rating 6/10 -- Set in 1992, this one is at odds from the other two Lynch episodes. Sasha (Deborah Unger) and her two girlfriends gossip about men and relationships while Sasha waits to dump her boyfriend, Robert. But it turns out that one of her friends had a fling with Robert a long time. That leads to some arguments and a predictable climax when Robert arrives. Of all the three shorts, this one is brightly lit and much more playful in tone than the other two. Near the end, it attempts a darkish end but even that feels like more like a comic effort.
Blackout: Rating 7/10 -- Set in 1936, this one relies on an intense conversation between Danny (Crispin Glover) and Diane (Alicia Witt), a young couple who have come to New York because of Diane's medical problems. Danny is 22 and Diane is 20 and they two have been in love for 17 years. As they two talk in darkness because of a city wide blackout, slowly we are given clues as to the exact nature of Diane's medical problems. Not as impressive as the first episode.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
A brief comedic break
Before I tackle my second leg of David Lynch movies, I opted to buffer my senses with two commercial comedies -- the first went straight to DVD & video and the second operated with a significantly higher budget. Even though, both films are vastly different, they contain one underlying message -- people should read more! Otherwise, stupidity would set in, which leads to the first movie in question:
A few glimpses of the bleak future -- garbage piled up to the skies; crops are dead; no one drinks water but only sugar drinks; the only items people read are entertainment magazines; local language is a mix of Hillbilly and inner city slang; corporations dominate everything (some big name stores even offer in-store college education); health-care is dismal; currency is severely devalued and the arts are dead. In fact, the most popular & biggest award winning film is called "Ass" and is a 90 minute long movie simply focussing on a man's ass. Phew! Okay, I have to admit, some parts of the movie are indeed scary because present day society exhibits similar stupid tendencies. But Mike Judge has taken present day dumbness and projected it to the worst possible scenario.
Not much to say about the acting in the movie -- with the exception of Luke Wilson, everyone is supposed to be dumb and easily play their part convincingly. There are some logic problems with the plot and some unanswered questions -- for example, everytime someone in the movie talked about the world, it was only in reference to America. I never did quite get if the entire planet was stupid or only America? What about Canada? Is it safe to dismiss this question by saying that in this instance, the movie follows Hollywood summer blockbuster logic -- America is the center of the world, other nations don't matter. Anyway, I did like the overall idea of the movie. And the movie's short length (just about 80 minutes) ensures that the jokes don't get too dull.
a) Ricky Gervais has a funny cameo -- his character is a loose extension from The Office. An odd quirk to character is that he never finishes all his sentences and leaves words in mid-stream.
b) Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson are an amusing miniature duo.
c) Brad Garrett has some hilariously stupid lines as the voice of the Easter Island statue -- "Dum Dum want gum gum" and "Quiet. My Dum Dum wants to speak." Silly stuff.
d) The camera work is good and that should not be a surprize considering that Guillermo Navarro was behind the lens.
And the moral lesson shown in the movie is that if people read more books, they would be more aware of history and other cultures and would be better equipped to deal with all situations.
Idiocracy (2006, Director Mike Judge): Rating 7/10
I had never heard of this movie until a good friend recommended it a few weeks ago. And I have to admit, I am glad for the recommendation because it is a funny movie. The best part of Idiocracy is the story idea -- Mike Judge envisions a future society where the stupid vastly outnumber the intelligent. The problem starts in the present when all the intelligent couples are so busy with their lives that they delay having kids, while dumb jocks and trailer park men are busy impregnating countless partners. So if that dumb gene ratio is taken a few hundred years in the future, then the future turns out to be pretty idiotic.A few glimpses of the bleak future -- garbage piled up to the skies; crops are dead; no one drinks water but only sugar drinks; the only items people read are entertainment magazines; local language is a mix of Hillbilly and inner city slang; corporations dominate everything (some big name stores even offer in-store college education); health-care is dismal; currency is severely devalued and the arts are dead. In fact, the most popular & biggest award winning film is called "Ass" and is a 90 minute long movie simply focussing on a man's ass. Phew! Okay, I have to admit, some parts of the movie are indeed scary because present day society exhibits similar stupid tendencies. But Mike Judge has taken present day dumbness and projected it to the worst possible scenario.
Not much to say about the acting in the movie -- with the exception of Luke Wilson, everyone is supposed to be dumb and easily play their part convincingly. There are some logic problems with the plot and some unanswered questions -- for example, everytime someone in the movie talked about the world, it was only in reference to America. I never did quite get if the entire planet was stupid or only America? What about Canada? Is it safe to dismiss this question by saying that in this instance, the movie follows Hollywood summer blockbuster logic -- America is the center of the world, other nations don't matter. Anyway, I did like the overall idea of the movie. And the movie's short length (just about 80 minutes) ensures that the jokes don't get too dull.
Night at the Museum (2006, Director Shawn Levy): Rating 7.5/10
I lasted this long without having seen this movie. But then again, looking at the dismal line-up of movies currently at the multiplex, this looked like the only movie which I could sit through. Going in, the trailers had already informed me what the movie was about and when to expect some of the funny moments. I knew there was no point in judging the story or the direction as finding faults would be too easy. So I sat back and enjoyed the movie as much as I could. Here were some positives:a) Ricky Gervais has a funny cameo -- his character is a loose extension from The Office. An odd quirk to character is that he never finishes all his sentences and leaves words in mid-stream.
b) Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson are an amusing miniature duo.
c) Brad Garrett has some hilariously stupid lines as the voice of the Easter Island statue -- "Dum Dum want gum gum" and "Quiet. My Dum Dum wants to speak." Silly stuff.
d) The camera work is good and that should not be a surprize considering that Guillermo Navarro was behind the lens.
And the moral lesson shown in the movie is that if people read more books, they would be more aware of history and other cultures and would be better equipped to deal with all situations.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
German & French cinema
The latest viewing included 5 films, 3 from Germany and 2 from France. The directors were -- Werner Herzog (2 movies), Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Eric Rohmer & Claude Chabrol.
Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972, Herzog): Rating 9/10
I never saw a Herzog film until Grizzly Man came out in 2005/06. As it turned out, that was the wrong point to start watching his work. Not until I saw his first feature, the beautiful Signs of Life, did I understand the importance of Grizzly Man. And now having seen Herzog direct (a brave feat in itself) Klaus Kinski in Aguirre, do all the pieces start to fall in place. Now I can appreciate if there was anyone who had to make sense of Timothy Treadwell and his love of Grizzly bears, it had to be Herzog. A common thread in all these 3 Herzog films is that they are great character studies of men who are on the verge of insanity; these men who inhabited different time periods believe they are on the point of greatness, yet they often tip over the fine line that divides greatness from insanity. But Herzog also makes beautiful poetic films and all these movies have an easy going rhythm to them. He loves to let the camera discover magic by having long uninterrupted shots, and at times, leaving the camera running, just a little bit longer to discover that something extra.
The story of Aguirre is simple enough -- the Spanish head to Peru & Amazon to find the city of gold and riches -- "El Dorado". But the journey is packed with dangers -- the climate, unknown forest, native tribes lurking with their spears and poisonous darts. And when there is an internal mutiny among the group, well the outcome is obvious. Man vs Nature is not really a contest in non-Hollywood movies (Nature always wins) but (Man vs Man) vs Nature is even more of a bleak situation. But yet, Herzog has crafted a movie that is absorbing to watch. While the recent Apocalypto ends before the Spanish hit the New World shores, Aguirre.. gives us a closer look at Spanish attempts to penetrate the New World deeper. Aguirre (Kinski) wants to emulate the Spanish discovery of Mexico by carving out his own riches in the Amazon. He convinces his men and even a priest to drive further and further up the Amazon looking for gold. But when the men start dropping dead like flies, the remaining crew label Aguirre as a madman. But Aguirre does not care -- he is lost in his dreams even though in reality his raft is dominated by 400+ monkeys and all his men are dead. The final shots in the film are sheer beauty and as Herzog admits on the DVD commentary, those shots feel into his lap. He happened to come across 400 monkeys at the Peruvian airport, where they were about to be checked onto the plane. Herzog made a false health claim and managed to take away all 400 monkeys. He then placed them on the raft with Kinski and remained there only with his camera man, Thomas Mauch to film the drama. In the movie, when 50 or so monkeys jump from the raft and appear to be escaping in the river, they really are escaping. Herzog and Mauch just stood back and filmed the chaos unfold and what happens is something that scripted film can't ever do. Klaus Kinski is so emersed in his character that he improvises the scenes with the monkeys perfectly.
It is hard to believe that Herzog took all the actors and crew into the dangerous Amazon terrain back in the early 70's, with such a limited budget and managed to craft such a fine work. In that regard, this film is another example of a time when directors were strove to make movies not for commercial sake. Coppola was another director in the same decade who stuck past terrible weather and persevered to make Apocalypse Now.
The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974, Herzog): Rating 8/10
Kasper Hauser is in some ways similar to John Merrick (labeled Elephant Man in Lynch's film) -- both men are outcasts to a society which finds it amusing to watch and poke fun at the two men. Yet, both individuals could not be as physically different from each other. Kasper looks normal but since he was abandoned at birth and never raised in a proper family, he never learned the rules and words required to exist in a society. John Merrick was by birth considered a physical anomaly and not considered appropriate for society. As chance has it, both characters end up as circus attractions -- while Kasper is called a riddle, John is labeled as freak. But when both men are rescued and given proper education, the two turn out to be quite learned. As their minds are nourished with the arts, they start having vivid dreams -- Kasper's dreams involve far off places such as the Sahara and even the enchanting temples of Angkor War. However, just like in The Elephant Man, the men's past comes to haunt them and eventually leads to their demise. Like John Merrick, Kasper leaves the physical world in his sleep.
The opening credit sequence is a beautiful shot of the crop field swaying in the wind. There are a few other such picturesque shots found in the movie but in the end, the movie is about Kasper and society's rigid rules to mould every person in their shape.
Claire's Knee (1970, Rohmer): Rating 8.5/10
Oh the evil games men and women play! This story may have shades of Dangerous Liaisons all over it, but it is not as sinister. On a vacation, Jerome (Jean-Claude Brialy) encounters Aurora, an old friend. Aurora is writing a novel and wants Jerome to play a guinea-pig for her story's sake -- she wants Jerome to seduce the innocent 16 year old Laura. Jerome is a month away from getting married but after years of being with women, he has lost all interest in women -- sex does not interest him. So he attempts to play the game, but young Laura is not as nieve as she seems. She understands the game and in turn tries to make up her own rules with Jerome. Jerome is quite bored by the whole thing but when Claire (Laura' step-sister) arrives, he is intrigued. Claire already has a boyfriend but Jerome wants Claire to break up with her oaf of a lover. The end result is a complicated match of desires and feelings. The title hints to the body part that Jerome identifies as a weakness in Claire, and something he can use to gain her trust. Overall, an interesting character study of men and women, and the numerous emotions and feelings that relationships contain -- trust, jealousy, possession, freedom, friendship, love and physical desire.
Les Bonnes Femmes (1960, Chabrol): Rating 7/10
Are all men predators? Chabrol's 4th feature starts out by introducing us to a quiet motorcyclist -- he seems to be lurking and waiting for the women to appear. And when the woman do come out of the theatre, two loud predators emerge as well (Marcel & Albert). It is clear that Marcel and Albert are after women -- Marcel is the vocal smooth talking guy, while Albert is the quiet yet equally lustful man. They get in their car and chase two women -- Jane and Jacqueline. After they manage to get the two women in the car, they go out for dinner and a cabaret. All the while, the motorcyclist quietly follows. During the cabaret, the true animal nature of Marcel and Albert comes out. Jacqueline eventually gets away but Jane is left behind and Marcel & Albert have their way with her (even though it is not shown, it is hinted). The movie then focuses on Jane and Jacqueline's day to day life -- job, trips to the zoo, theatre and restaurant. Every now and then, we do see the motorcyclist following Jacqueline quietly. In the film's final third, when Marcel and Albert land up a public swimming pool and start bothering Jacqueline and Jane, the motorcyclist ends up saving the day by chasing them away. The quiet motorcyclist is Andre and he has been in love with Jacqueline all along but was waiting for the perfect opportunity to talk to her. The two engage in a romantic affair, all the while one question keeps coming up -- is Andre a good man or a predator as well?
There are some moments of pure cinematic energy to be found in this film, like the chaos & elegance of the cabaret sequence. But there are a handful of needless scenes which add nothing to the film. Overall, a dark and chilling look at the predatory nature of men -- can anyone really be trusted?
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972, Fassbinder): Rating 6/10
If Claire's Knee was about the game between men and women, this Fassbinder film is about the games that women play with each other, in work, society and in love. Petra Von Kant is an aging fashion designer who falls for a young 23 year old model. However, as the title indicates, there is no happiness for Petra Von Kant. During all her bitter episodes, Petra's secretary, co-designer and slave maid, Marlene, quietly watches. Marlene's eyes sometimes hint at her disbelief at some of Petra's choices but she quietly obeys everything she is told to do. The entire film takes place inside Petra's bedroom and was adapted by Fassbinder from a play by the same name. Interesting for some of the ideas about love and society, but overall, not very gripping.
Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972, Herzog): Rating 9/10
I never saw a Herzog film until Grizzly Man came out in 2005/06. As it turned out, that was the wrong point to start watching his work. Not until I saw his first feature, the beautiful Signs of Life, did I understand the importance of Grizzly Man. And now having seen Herzog direct (a brave feat in itself) Klaus Kinski in Aguirre, do all the pieces start to fall in place. Now I can appreciate if there was anyone who had to make sense of Timothy Treadwell and his love of Grizzly bears, it had to be Herzog. A common thread in all these 3 Herzog films is that they are great character studies of men who are on the verge of insanity; these men who inhabited different time periods believe they are on the point of greatness, yet they often tip over the fine line that divides greatness from insanity. But Herzog also makes beautiful poetic films and all these movies have an easy going rhythm to them. He loves to let the camera discover magic by having long uninterrupted shots, and at times, leaving the camera running, just a little bit longer to discover that something extra.
The story of Aguirre is simple enough -- the Spanish head to Peru & Amazon to find the city of gold and riches -- "El Dorado". But the journey is packed with dangers -- the climate, unknown forest, native tribes lurking with their spears and poisonous darts. And when there is an internal mutiny among the group, well the outcome is obvious. Man vs Nature is not really a contest in non-Hollywood movies (Nature always wins) but (Man vs Man) vs Nature is even more of a bleak situation. But yet, Herzog has crafted a movie that is absorbing to watch. While the recent Apocalypto ends before the Spanish hit the New World shores, Aguirre.. gives us a closer look at Spanish attempts to penetrate the New World deeper. Aguirre (Kinski) wants to emulate the Spanish discovery of Mexico by carving out his own riches in the Amazon. He convinces his men and even a priest to drive further and further up the Amazon looking for gold. But when the men start dropping dead like flies, the remaining crew label Aguirre as a madman. But Aguirre does not care -- he is lost in his dreams even though in reality his raft is dominated by 400+ monkeys and all his men are dead. The final shots in the film are sheer beauty and as Herzog admits on the DVD commentary, those shots feel into his lap. He happened to come across 400 monkeys at the Peruvian airport, where they were about to be checked onto the plane. Herzog made a false health claim and managed to take away all 400 monkeys. He then placed them on the raft with Kinski and remained there only with his camera man, Thomas Mauch to film the drama. In the movie, when 50 or so monkeys jump from the raft and appear to be escaping in the river, they really are escaping. Herzog and Mauch just stood back and filmed the chaos unfold and what happens is something that scripted film can't ever do. Klaus Kinski is so emersed in his character that he improvises the scenes with the monkeys perfectly.
It is hard to believe that Herzog took all the actors and crew into the dangerous Amazon terrain back in the early 70's, with such a limited budget and managed to craft such a fine work. In that regard, this film is another example of a time when directors were strove to make movies not for commercial sake. Coppola was another director in the same decade who stuck past terrible weather and persevered to make Apocalypse Now.
The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974, Herzog): Rating 8/10
Kasper Hauser is in some ways similar to John Merrick (labeled Elephant Man in Lynch's film) -- both men are outcasts to a society which finds it amusing to watch and poke fun at the two men. Yet, both individuals could not be as physically different from each other. Kasper looks normal but since he was abandoned at birth and never raised in a proper family, he never learned the rules and words required to exist in a society. John Merrick was by birth considered a physical anomaly and not considered appropriate for society. As chance has it, both characters end up as circus attractions -- while Kasper is called a riddle, John is labeled as freak. But when both men are rescued and given proper education, the two turn out to be quite learned. As their minds are nourished with the arts, they start having vivid dreams -- Kasper's dreams involve far off places such as the Sahara and even the enchanting temples of Angkor War. However, just like in The Elephant Man, the men's past comes to haunt them and eventually leads to their demise. Like John Merrick, Kasper leaves the physical world in his sleep.
The opening credit sequence is a beautiful shot of the crop field swaying in the wind. There are a few other such picturesque shots found in the movie but in the end, the movie is about Kasper and society's rigid rules to mould every person in their shape.
Claire's Knee (1970, Rohmer): Rating 8.5/10
Oh the evil games men and women play! This story may have shades of Dangerous Liaisons all over it, but it is not as sinister. On a vacation, Jerome (Jean-Claude Brialy) encounters Aurora, an old friend. Aurora is writing a novel and wants Jerome to play a guinea-pig for her story's sake -- she wants Jerome to seduce the innocent 16 year old Laura. Jerome is a month away from getting married but after years of being with women, he has lost all interest in women -- sex does not interest him. So he attempts to play the game, but young Laura is not as nieve as she seems. She understands the game and in turn tries to make up her own rules with Jerome. Jerome is quite bored by the whole thing but when Claire (Laura' step-sister) arrives, he is intrigued. Claire already has a boyfriend but Jerome wants Claire to break up with her oaf of a lover. The end result is a complicated match of desires and feelings. The title hints to the body part that Jerome identifies as a weakness in Claire, and something he can use to gain her trust. Overall, an interesting character study of men and women, and the numerous emotions and feelings that relationships contain -- trust, jealousy, possession, freedom, friendship, love and physical desire.
Les Bonnes Femmes (1960, Chabrol): Rating 7/10
Are all men predators? Chabrol's 4th feature starts out by introducing us to a quiet motorcyclist -- he seems to be lurking and waiting for the women to appear. And when the woman do come out of the theatre, two loud predators emerge as well (Marcel & Albert). It is clear that Marcel and Albert are after women -- Marcel is the vocal smooth talking guy, while Albert is the quiet yet equally lustful man. They get in their car and chase two women -- Jane and Jacqueline. After they manage to get the two women in the car, they go out for dinner and a cabaret. All the while, the motorcyclist quietly follows. During the cabaret, the true animal nature of Marcel and Albert comes out. Jacqueline eventually gets away but Jane is left behind and Marcel & Albert have their way with her (even though it is not shown, it is hinted). The movie then focuses on Jane and Jacqueline's day to day life -- job, trips to the zoo, theatre and restaurant. Every now and then, we do see the motorcyclist following Jacqueline quietly. In the film's final third, when Marcel and Albert land up a public swimming pool and start bothering Jacqueline and Jane, the motorcyclist ends up saving the day by chasing them away. The quiet motorcyclist is Andre and he has been in love with Jacqueline all along but was waiting for the perfect opportunity to talk to her. The two engage in a romantic affair, all the while one question keeps coming up -- is Andre a good man or a predator as well?
There are some moments of pure cinematic energy to be found in this film, like the chaos & elegance of the cabaret sequence. But there are a handful of needless scenes which add nothing to the film. Overall, a dark and chilling look at the predatory nature of men -- can anyone really be trusted?
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972, Fassbinder): Rating 6/10
If Claire's Knee was about the game between men and women, this Fassbinder film is about the games that women play with each other, in work, society and in love. Petra Von Kant is an aging fashion designer who falls for a young 23 year old model. However, as the title indicates, there is no happiness for Petra Von Kant. During all her bitter episodes, Petra's secretary, co-designer and slave maid, Marlene, quietly watches. Marlene's eyes sometimes hint at her disbelief at some of Petra's choices but she quietly obeys everything she is told to do. The entire film takes place inside Petra's bedroom and was adapted by Fassbinder from a play by the same name. Interesting for some of the ideas about love and society, but overall, not very gripping.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Cycle of Violence + Multiple Shades of Takeshi & Paris
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006, Director Ken Loach): Rating 8.5/10
Ireland, 1920. British troops terrorize the local Irish boys. The Irish can't take the abuse anymore, so they start to fight back. The Irish want freedom and the British out. But the British are in no mood to leave, so they terrorize the locals with even greater force. And the cycle of violence continues. Then out of nowhere, a compromise is reached. The British take one tiny step back, allowing the Irish a little breathing room. But that little breathing room comes with its restrictions. Some Irish accept the tiny freedom, others want to continue fighting. Then the two divided Irish ideologies clash in a horrific way -- the two groups fight among themselves and even take over the role of their past British occupiers by killing their own friends. Repeat the same pattern with Bhagat Singh and India's fight of freedom or even with other battles of Independence (Battle of Algiers). It is the same pattern that is found all over the world. And when the occupiers finally leave a land, they leave their legacy of power behind. Locals step into to fill the void and kill each other to get their slice of freedom.The second hour of Ken Loach's film is more powerful and absorbing than the first hour. Right off the bat, one has to get used to the bits of gaelic dialogue (without any subtitles) and the Irish way of life. But the story really gets interesting when the locals debate about the ways to get complete freedom from the British and then engage in cleansing their own to keep the facade of peace up, lest the British return back. "Divide and Conquer" -- The British knew their game really well! The engaging cinematography gives us a front row seat to the interesting political debates and even the horrific torture.
Gangster: A Love Story (2006, Director Anurag Basu): Rating 8/10
The only reason I am giving this film a high rating is because of its story, Shiney Ahuja's intense acting and the lovely visuals. Anurag Basu clearly has talent as a director but his screenplay needs more work. It seems he took Mahesh Bhatt's story and shot it as is, without working too much on a screenplay. To his credit, he has stripped the film of any irrelevant characters. The story takes a twist on the regular fairytale romantic triangle -- a gangster (Shiney) falls in a love with a woman (Kangana Ranaut) but endangers her life. A princess charming (played rather dully by Emraan Hashmi) comes to rescue her from the gangster's clutches. But things are not as easy as they seem. Shiney hardly says anything in the movie but his intense expressions steal the film. And when he does say a few words, he is brilliant. Kangana makes a decent debut and plays the drunk lover quite well, but her voice gets irritating as she narrates her life via flashbacks. Did Anurag not notice that it would have been better to use little dialogue in the flashbacks? Anyway, still a worthy watch. The emotional ending is just beautiful. Poetic!Takeshis' (2005, Director Takeshi Kitano): Rating 6.5/10
One man but two names. When he directs a movie, it is Takeshi Kitano. But when he acts in a film, it is Beat Takeshi. Beat Takeshi has come in some very impressive acting roles (Zatôichi, Battle Royale) and Takeshi Kitano has directed a wide array of film genres -- from art (Dolls) to gangster/action flicks (Brother and Fireworks). So what was left? Well combining the two personas in one film ofcourse! So Takeshi Kitano directs both himself and his separate ego, Beat Takeshi in a film. The movie begins with Kitano the director running into Beat Takeshi, a struggling actor. Kitano wonders what his life would be if he was in Beat's place? His assistant remarks that just like the wanna-be actor, Kitano would struggle for parts and jobs. From them on, the film jumps into Beat's life and dreams. While Beat is stuggling for acting parts, he drifts into pseudo dreams about becoming the famous actor Beat Takeshi played by Takeshi Kitano. Characters from Kitano's previous films make tiny cameos along with framed shots from his older movies, like the beach scene from A Scene at the Sea. Takeshis' is an easy drifting film for about an hour but after that, it is reduced into a dull endless dream of bullets and gangsters.Paris, je t'aime (2006, Multiple directors)
20 directors, 18 shorts about different Parisian neighbourhoods. What sounded like a good idea on paper ends up being a lackluster cinematic viewing. That being said, there are some interesting moments from all the directors but the end result does not translate completely. At least all the directors do a good job of covering various issues and aspects of Paris -- parking troubles, people watching, chance meetings, love at first sight, loneliness in the city of love, religion, immigrant issues, single working mothers, racism, violence, gay Paris, art & artists, mimes, subways, tourists, cafes, wine, divorce, red light district, music & sex. Some directors tackle topics familiar to them:For example, after working as a cinematographer on countless Asian films, Christopher Doyle looks at the Asian side of Paris; Gurindher Chadha tackles a refreshing cross-cultural love story; the Coen brothers have a dull dark comedy with Steve Buscemi playing a cliched tourist whose fears come true in a subway; Gus Van Sant expands on art & gay themes in a very contrived short; Olivier Assayas picks up where he left of in Clean and directs a drug addicted Maggie Gyllenhaal; Wes Craven tackles a ghost story with a twist; Tom Tykwer shoots his love story as fast paced as his Run Lola Run. Then there are some surprizes as well:
-- Oliver Schmitz's well edited 5 minute short makes efficient use of flash-backs to recreate a stabbing and tackle immigrant struggles in Paris.
-- Alfonso Cuarón plays with the audience in a tiny and sweet segment starring Nick Nolte. When we first see Nick Nolte with a young woman, we think he is her lover. But we are surprized to find her as the young woman's father. However, in the next 30 seconds, we are given another surprize as to the reason for his first ever Parisian visit.
-- Vincenzo Natali directs a visually stunning and playful vampire love story yet his effort is at odds with the rest of the shorts. Natali shows a back-packing Elijah Wood lost in the haunted streets of Paris (cute touch having the Canadian flag on Wood's backpack).
-- Alexander Payne directs the final and the best short -- an American woman tourist comes to Paris for her vacation. Yet she is not impressed by the hype of Paris and finds herself lonely and unable to understand the local culture. But slowly, she finds beauty in just the most average looking park and eventually falls in love with the city.
Besides Alexander Payne, I enjoyed the words of Oliver Schmitz, Tom Tykwer, Gurindher Chadha, Alfonso Cuarón and even Vincenzo Natali. I also thought Gérard Depardieu & Frédéric Auburtin's directed effort of an American divorce in the Latin Quarter was interesting. I rather forget the works of Walter Salles, Doyle, Joel & Ethan Coen.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
David Lynch
Director Profile: David Lynch
Waiting for Inland Empire. But it will be a long wait. I have given up on seeing this in a theatre but hopefully the DVD comes out by summer. In the meantime, I have decided to go back and watch all of Lynch's features & shorts so that I can be fully prepared to tackle Inland Empire. Another reason for going through all his cinematic effort is because even though I have heard of every single Lynch film, I have only seen a handful of his movies. So that record needed to be set straight.
Eraserhead (1977): Rating 9/10
A cinematic treasure!! A true measure of a film is that it transcends time and remains fresh no matter which decade it is watched in. It is hard to believe that Eraserhead was released almost 30 years ago. Even today, very few films can match the cinematic richness that David Lynch offered with this flick. This black and white film is one of those works that are tailor made for film studies courses -- hours can be spent discussing the lighting, the dreamy imagery, the haunting background score and the abundant symbolism. For example, the alien baby that Henry and his pseudo girlfriend have provides enough material for dissection -- the baby represents an alien creature who imposes on the life of this couple and alienates them further. That the baby looks like an alien only reinforces the idea. This is a film that needs to be watched with all the lights off and is a work that one can easily be lost in.
The Elephant Man (1980) : Rating 8/10
I still can't believe this is a David Lynch film. With the exception of the opening and closing scenes, the rest of the film is a linear humane story. On top of that, the locale is Victorian England, not America. However, this Black and White feature seems an appropriate follow-up to Eraserhead. Both The Elephant Man and Eraserhead start with images of birth -- in Eraserhead, we see an alien life form taking shape whereas in The Elephant Man, we see how a woman's child will be disfigured and take on the title of Elephant Man. The performances of Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt are top-notch and the screenplay is highly touching. Even though the story is inspired by a real tale, the movie had shades of the The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Now, both this movie and Eraserhead contain elements that appear in other Lynch films, especially Mulholland Dr. -- the stage theatre and chilling dreams. On the stages of Eraserhead, I almost waited to hear the words "Silencio" echoed so hauntingly in Mulholland Dr.
Lost Highway (1997) : Rating 7.5/10
Out of the darkness and into the light! After 2 black and white films, the color of Lost Highway threw me off. Despite being initially blinded by the color, I could still see all the foundations for Mulholland Dr. in Lost Highway. I am glad that I saw this movie almost 10 years after it was made and after having seen the fascinating puzzle of Mulholland Dr. and the chilling terror of Caché. Because Lost Highway starts off like Caché did. In both films, a couple gets video-tapes where someone has recorded their home from the outside. However, in the Lost Highway the spy physically enters the couple's home and tapes them sleeping. However, in Caché, the spy does not physically enter the couple's home but penetrates the main character's psyche.
I was quite surprized to see that Lost Highway was slammed by critics. Ofcourse, those same critics then went on to praise Mulholland Dr.. And now, those same very critics have called Inland Empire a masterpiece. In that sense, maybe Lynch has completely developed his dreamy version of life in L.A that he started in Lost Highway? I won't be able to judge until I see Inland Empire. But I truly enjoyed Lost Highway. Ofcourse, I was trying to compare it with Mulholland Dr. and finding common ground. Both movies have ample puzzles and have mysteries which need to be unlocked. Lost Highway plays with the concept of time and space more than Mulholland Dr.; it is also more loose in terms of plot and has plenty of extra scenes that are thrown in for no real purpose. Whereas, everything in Mulholland Dr. was connected and wrapped up in one mysterious blue box! One negative of Lost Highway is that none of the performances stand out. There is no Naomi Watts to light up the screen!
In conclusion, it was a real pleasure to lock myself in David Lynch's world for 2 nights! I will revisit Blue Velvet and tackle Twin Peaks along with a few of his short films in upcoming weeks.
Part II of the profile -- The Straight Story, collected short films, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart and Hotel Room.
Inland Empire.
Waiting for Inland Empire. But it will be a long wait. I have given up on seeing this in a theatre but hopefully the DVD comes out by summer. In the meantime, I have decided to go back and watch all of Lynch's features & shorts so that I can be fully prepared to tackle Inland Empire. Another reason for going through all his cinematic effort is because even though I have heard of every single Lynch film, I have only seen a handful of his movies. So that record needed to be set straight.
Eraserhead (1977): Rating 9/10
A cinematic treasure!! A true measure of a film is that it transcends time and remains fresh no matter which decade it is watched in. It is hard to believe that Eraserhead was released almost 30 years ago. Even today, very few films can match the cinematic richness that David Lynch offered with this flick. This black and white film is one of those works that are tailor made for film studies courses -- hours can be spent discussing the lighting, the dreamy imagery, the haunting background score and the abundant symbolism. For example, the alien baby that Henry and his pseudo girlfriend have provides enough material for dissection -- the baby represents an alien creature who imposes on the life of this couple and alienates them further. That the baby looks like an alien only reinforces the idea. This is a film that needs to be watched with all the lights off and is a work that one can easily be lost in.
The Elephant Man (1980) : Rating 8/10
I still can't believe this is a David Lynch film. With the exception of the opening and closing scenes, the rest of the film is a linear humane story. On top of that, the locale is Victorian England, not America. However, this Black and White feature seems an appropriate follow-up to Eraserhead. Both The Elephant Man and Eraserhead start with images of birth -- in Eraserhead, we see an alien life form taking shape whereas in The Elephant Man, we see how a woman's child will be disfigured and take on the title of Elephant Man. The performances of Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt are top-notch and the screenplay is highly touching. Even though the story is inspired by a real tale, the movie had shades of the The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Now, both this movie and Eraserhead contain elements that appear in other Lynch films, especially Mulholland Dr. -- the stage theatre and chilling dreams. On the stages of Eraserhead, I almost waited to hear the words "Silencio" echoed so hauntingly in Mulholland Dr.
Lost Highway (1997) : Rating 7.5/10
Out of the darkness and into the light! After 2 black and white films, the color of Lost Highway threw me off. Despite being initially blinded by the color, I could still see all the foundations for Mulholland Dr. in Lost Highway. I am glad that I saw this movie almost 10 years after it was made and after having seen the fascinating puzzle of Mulholland Dr. and the chilling terror of Caché. Because Lost Highway starts off like Caché did. In both films, a couple gets video-tapes where someone has recorded their home from the outside. However, in the Lost Highway the spy physically enters the couple's home and tapes them sleeping. However, in Caché, the spy does not physically enter the couple's home but penetrates the main character's psyche.
I was quite surprized to see that Lost Highway was slammed by critics. Ofcourse, those same critics then went on to praise Mulholland Dr.. And now, those same very critics have called Inland Empire a masterpiece. In that sense, maybe Lynch has completely developed his dreamy version of life in L.A that he started in Lost Highway? I won't be able to judge until I see Inland Empire. But I truly enjoyed Lost Highway. Ofcourse, I was trying to compare it with Mulholland Dr. and finding common ground. Both movies have ample puzzles and have mysteries which need to be unlocked. Lost Highway plays with the concept of time and space more than Mulholland Dr.; it is also more loose in terms of plot and has plenty of extra scenes that are thrown in for no real purpose. Whereas, everything in Mulholland Dr. was connected and wrapped up in one mysterious blue box! One negative of Lost Highway is that none of the performances stand out. There is no Naomi Watts to light up the screen!
In conclusion, it was a real pleasure to lock myself in David Lynch's world for 2 nights! I will revisit Blue Velvet and tackle Twin Peaks along with a few of his short films in upcoming weeks.
Part II of the profile -- The Straight Story, collected short films, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart and Hotel Room.
Inland Empire.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
The Science of Sleep
No sooner was I lamenting the lack of good movies out there, appears this refreshing flick on DVD. The Science of Sleep picks up the pieces of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind and injects it with plenty of colour and creativity. Both these Michel Gondry movies stick a camera into a character's head but whereas Eternal Sunshine.. jumped into a character's past memories, The Science of Sleep is concerned with the present and dreamy thoughts which pass through a human brain. The end result is a highly original film that is riveting to watch. Even though I can't say that I enjoyed every frame of the movie, I could not take my eyes away from it. And in some cases, I had to go back and rewatch a sequence again.
The story revolves around Stéphane (Gael García Bernal). We get to see both his dull everyday real world and his colorful inner world, sometimes at the same time. Stéphane is an inventor and a highly creative person. His thoughts are far more imaginative than the mundane things he has to put up with in his daily life. Safe to say, he prefers his inner world. But when he falls for his neighbour Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), things get complicated. At first, Stéphanie finds Stéphane interesting but when she is not interested in a serious relationship, a rift occurs within Stéphane and he drifts towards the inner safe haven of his mind. Open Your Eyes (remade as Vanilla Sky) and Hubert Selby Jr's wonderful novel Requiem for a Dream (also a film by Darren Aronofsky) explored similar ideas of people finding solace in their dreams but with different shades of darkness. Open Your Eyes was not entirely dark but Requiem for a dream was situated completely in the deep end and showed what happens when a person loses touch with reality and exists only in a constant dreaming state. The Science of Sleep tackles this completely differently, existing in a child-like innocent state between happiness and darkness. One truly feels sorry for Stéphane as his world starts to crumble around him and we can only hope that he can save himself.
The story revolves around Stéphane (Gael García Bernal). We get to see both his dull everyday real world and his colorful inner world, sometimes at the same time. Stéphane is an inventor and a highly creative person. His thoughts are far more imaginative than the mundane things he has to put up with in his daily life. Safe to say, he prefers his inner world. But when he falls for his neighbour Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), things get complicated. At first, Stéphanie finds Stéphane interesting but when she is not interested in a serious relationship, a rift occurs within Stéphane and he drifts towards the inner safe haven of his mind. Open Your Eyes (remade as Vanilla Sky) and Hubert Selby Jr's wonderful novel Requiem for a Dream (also a film by Darren Aronofsky) explored similar ideas of people finding solace in their dreams but with different shades of darkness. Open Your Eyes was not entirely dark but Requiem for a dream was situated completely in the deep end and showed what happens when a person loses touch with reality and exists only in a constant dreaming state. The Science of Sleep tackles this completely differently, existing in a child-like innocent state between happiness and darkness. One truly feels sorry for Stéphane as his world starts to crumble around him and we can only hope that he can save himself.
(2006, Director Michel Gondry): Rating -- a very strong 8/10
March Blues
March 8, 2007:
Good football is dead. Arsenal, Barca, Lyon & Madrid are all out of the Champions League. With the exception of the Bundesliga & La Liga, all the other European league titles are almost decided. Yawn. Boring.
1-0 and 0-0 boring football is here to stay. As long as it can win games, ugly futbol will not go away. And as more and more money men invest in football teams, you can be sure that winning will become the only objective.
Just like box office numbers are killing good cinema, so is the business like approach to calcio. Thanks FIFA. Thanks really for selling the game out.
No real movies to watch. Multiplexes are gearing for summer releases, so no good movies will be out. Sure one can go watch manufactured fancy commercial movies too busy trying to be cool and pretending to be hip. Seriously, just because a director makes a slick movie about old genre titles does not make his film art. Entertaining, yes. But art, no!
Do we need art? Sure in little doses. But when there is nothing around, then what to do? Film festival season is far far away. Cannes does not count because it is not open for film fans.
CIFF and VIFF are far far away......
Books are the only saving grace. Sure, old classic movies can be rented to fix the addiction but when there is quality cinema in the world and one can't get to watch it, that is painful. North American Distribution really knows how to restrict real movie titles from making it out here. Hey, if it can't make money, then what is the point?
And if an independent theatre does book quality movies, no one goes to see them. People want fast and CGI-laced flicks not slow and picturesque cinema. Oh well, this feeling will pass too.
Maybe one day, beautiful futbal will triump. Mayone one day, real cinema will shine. In the meantime, thank God for those books.
Good football is dead. Arsenal, Barca, Lyon & Madrid are all out of the Champions League. With the exception of the Bundesliga & La Liga, all the other European league titles are almost decided. Yawn. Boring.
1-0 and 0-0 boring football is here to stay. As long as it can win games, ugly futbol will not go away. And as more and more money men invest in football teams, you can be sure that winning will become the only objective.
Just like box office numbers are killing good cinema, so is the business like approach to calcio. Thanks FIFA. Thanks really for selling the game out.
No real movies to watch. Multiplexes are gearing for summer releases, so no good movies will be out. Sure one can go watch manufactured fancy commercial movies too busy trying to be cool and pretending to be hip. Seriously, just because a director makes a slick movie about old genre titles does not make his film art. Entertaining, yes. But art, no!
Do we need art? Sure in little doses. But when there is nothing around, then what to do? Film festival season is far far away. Cannes does not count because it is not open for film fans.
CIFF and VIFF are far far away......
Books are the only saving grace. Sure, old classic movies can be rented to fix the addiction but when there is quality cinema in the world and one can't get to watch it, that is painful. North American Distribution really knows how to restrict real movie titles from making it out here. Hey, if it can't make money, then what is the point?
And if an independent theatre does book quality movies, no one goes to see them. People want fast and CGI-laced flicks not slow and picturesque cinema. Oh well, this feeling will pass too.
Maybe one day, beautiful futbal will triump. Mayone one day, real cinema will shine. In the meantime, thank God for those books.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Streets of India
It has been a slow week for movie watching as I have been busy catching up on my reading. But I managed to watch these two very different Indian films in between glimpses of La Liga futbal games.
Traffic Signal portrays the lives of people who work at Mumbai's traffic light intersections. Bhandarkar interestingly shows how a giant profit making network operates/controls the street level beggars and workers who sell their goods on the street signals.Once a car stops at the traffic signal, the street workers job begins. The movie's first hour is absorbing as we observe the lies and cons that operate at the street level. But then the movie starts to get repetitive until it ends with a highly contrived ending -- safe to say, such an ending would never occur in the real Mumbai and feels like a happy Bollywood ending stamped on an other-wise non-Bollywood movie. There are some brilliant performances in this film -- Konkana Sen Sharma as the prostitute and Ranvir Shorey as the chillingly realistic drug addict. Konkana seems to have no problems with any role given to her and proves that she is comfortable in whatever language she speaks (Hindi, English, Bengali or Tamil) -- she is truly one of the best actresses in India. Like Page 3 and Corporate, Traffic Signal also suffers from some substandard acting when it comes to some of the secondary characters.
Overall, not a perfect film but still worth watching. And if one looks closely, one can see a Chandini Bar in the background at a traffic signal. In a sense, a Mumbai cinematic circle from 2001 to 2007 is complete for Madhur.
Traffic Signal (2007, Director Madhur Bhandarkar): Rating 8/10
I was one of the few people who was not bowled over when Madhur's 2nd feature Chandini Bar earned rave reviews in 2001. In fact, I used that film as an example to point out the problems in Bollywood story-lines in my first on-line article published on rediff. Chandini Bar started off with an interesting concept of showing the lives of dance girls in Bombay's red-light district. However, once the camera left the bar, the movie fell into a typical cliched Bollywood gangster film which combined street gangs with politics. On the other hand, I was much impressed by Madhur's 2003 film Satta which throughly tackled the corrupt political games played by politicians. His last two films Page 3 and Corporate attempted to give us an inside look into Mumbai's celebrity and business world lives respectively. Although, both movies had plenty of merit, they suffered from poor acting and a dull screenplay. So having tackled Mumbai from the street level to the high-rise board-rooms, it was appropriate that Madhur completed the circle and returned back to the street level from where he made his name.Traffic Signal portrays the lives of people who work at Mumbai's traffic light intersections. Bhandarkar interestingly shows how a giant profit making network operates/controls the street level beggars and workers who sell their goods on the street signals.Once a car stops at the traffic signal, the street workers job begins. The movie's first hour is absorbing as we observe the lies and cons that operate at the street level. But then the movie starts to get repetitive until it ends with a highly contrived ending -- safe to say, such an ending would never occur in the real Mumbai and feels like a happy Bollywood ending stamped on an other-wise non-Bollywood movie. There are some brilliant performances in this film -- Konkana Sen Sharma as the prostitute and Ranvir Shorey as the chillingly realistic drug addict. Konkana seems to have no problems with any role given to her and proves that she is comfortable in whatever language she speaks (Hindi, English, Bengali or Tamil) -- she is truly one of the best actresses in India. Like Page 3 and Corporate, Traffic Signal also suffers from some substandard acting when it comes to some of the secondary characters.
Overall, not a perfect film but still worth watching. And if one looks closely, one can see a Chandini Bar in the background at a traffic signal. In a sense, a Mumbai cinematic circle from 2001 to 2007 is complete for Madhur.
Strings (20056, Director Sanjay Jha): Rating 4/10
Good ideas on paper don't often translate into watch-able movies. Such is the case with this movie. Jha had an interesting idea alright -- to explore themes of love and faith against the background of the colorful and religious Kumbh Mela in India. The story does contain elements which could have produced powerful cinema. An Englishman (Warren Hastings played by Adam Bedi) comes to India to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and is keen to find out what made his grandfather love India. Warren is a confused lad who is easily influenced by others. On the other hand, Tanishta Chatterjee plays a priest's daughter who is grounded in her religious beliefs. However, her faith is tested when she sleeps with Warren. What could have been a great film ends up being a terribly painful watch. One of the big reasons for that is poor acting by all involved, especially Adam Bedi (Kabir Bedi's son) and Sandhya Mridul (actually overacting is the problem in Sandhya's case). The only thing that saves this movie is the gorgeous cinematography which captures the breath-taking scenes of the Kumbh Mela. However, the same great shots are repeatedly sliced in between different scenes of the movie and eventually lose their charm. Shooting a movie against the million+ crowd in Nasik must have a hard task but that can't be blamed for this movie's faults. Sanjay Jha did a much better job with his first film Pran Jaaye Par Shaan Na Jaaye which explored life in the Mumbai chawls.Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Art, Beauty and Torture
All the 4 movies I saw in the last 2 days could claim to have swum in the river of cinematic art. In the end, one movie succeeds in being pure art covered from head to toe, a second one is a beauty tainted with its off the river activities, a third is a flick pretending to be artistic with the use of some artificial glitter and the 4th is a glorious disaster.
On first glance, it appears to be a movie broken up into two acts -- the first a love story (more like a forced seduction) and the second a jungle hunt. However, the two stories are tied closely together and we are even given clues right from the start. Tong (played by Sakda Kaewbuadee) is shown to be an innocent country boy who after being discharged from the army reserves is in need of work. Tong's neighbour Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) is head over heels in love with Tong and tries to woo him at every chance. Tong appears to be conflicted and gives Keng mixed signals yet draws him closer. This aspect of the film is tenderly developed and makes for interesting viewing. We believe we are seeing an innocent boy being trapped. But without any warning, the first part of the film ends.
The second part begins with Keng hunting a tiger which has terrorized the village. But this is no ordinary tiger as we learn from the on screen description. As per legend, a shaman has powers to shift shapes and transform himself into whatever form he desires -- his current form is of the tiger. The hunt is developed at a slow yet beautiful pace. Near the end, we get clues to the identity of the tiger and why Keng is so drawn towards the wild animal. The scene where Keng comes face to face with the Tiger is one of the beautiful scenes I have seen in a while -- Keng is on the jungle ground struggling. In the darkness, he senses a presence. He looks up and we see a tiger hidden in darkness on a tree branch. Keng flashes his torch towards the tree branch. The tiger is now lit up by the flashlight & the camera points directly towards the tiger's magical eyes. We see the tiger slowly breathe and stare sternly towards Keng and are left in awe to his beauty (yes it is a male tiger). Words can't do justice to scene but it was pretty amazing. Which is the same feeling I had of watching the movie. Unlike anything else that I have seen! A true cinematic experience!!!!
The most absorbing sequence in Apocalypto is when the slaves are taken to the city. There is hardly any dialogue in this sequence but one does not even notice the lack of words because the images are so powerful -- slaves working away on the pyramids, women slaves being sold, middle and upper-class tribes observing (or looking down) at the newly arrived captured lower-class slaves, trade & use of money, modern sewer system, laundry, the emergence of clothes. The film's cinematography is top-notch & enriched by usage of digital camera -- we truly are placed in an ancient Mayan land on the cusp of destruction. The Spanish ships are closing in on this virgin land and once the Spanish arrive, the Mayan civilization would destruct forever.
Along with Children of Men, this was the most absorbing movie I saw in a cinema this year!
So what is the best solution to satisfy all three people? A touch of an element from Kim Ki-Duk's 3-Iron where an act of invisibility makes for a happy compromise. I am still not sure what to make of the ending sequence -- is it a joke or are we to take it in a serious manner? I would have thought a lot more of the movie if that sequence had not been included because the story could have worked very well without that.
I have to say that it takes some skill to make a powerful actor like Boman Irani look like a fool. It takes even more skill to make Amitabh Bachchan look like a confused person, unsure as to what he is doing in such a movie. That being said, the only positive of the movie is the lavish set and Indian locales. A modern India is shown against the background of traditional Rajasthan. If one looks closely, one can see a DVD of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon among a collection of DVD's in the palace. Also, in a sequence near the movie's end, Vidhu Chopra has scenes from Parinda playing in the background. What was the director thinking there? Whatever his idea for including that scene, the truth is that despite directing the movie in 1989, Parinda still remains as Chopra's last great directed effort.
Tropical Malady (2004, Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul): Rating 9/10
At VIFF last year, I saw Apichatpong up close as he was present to award the Dragons & Tiger Award to John Torres -- Apichatpong was part of a 3 member jury which picked Todo Todo Teros out of 8 nominated films. Tony Rayns remarked that over the years, VIFF has shown all of Apichatpong's films. Unfortunately, I had not seen any of his Thai films because none of them ever made it out to my city. So on a recent trip to Bangkok, I managed to officially buy this much talked about Cannes Winner film. Even though Tropical Malady won the Cannes Jury Prize, Quentin Tarantino (the head of the jury) indicated that not all members were in agreement about this film. But he said that the few that loved the movie's passon convinced the others. After watching the movie, I can understand why people would be conflicted.On first glance, it appears to be a movie broken up into two acts -- the first a love story (more like a forced seduction) and the second a jungle hunt. However, the two stories are tied closely together and we are even given clues right from the start. Tong (played by Sakda Kaewbuadee) is shown to be an innocent country boy who after being discharged from the army reserves is in need of work. Tong's neighbour Keng (Banlop Lomnoi) is head over heels in love with Tong and tries to woo him at every chance. Tong appears to be conflicted and gives Keng mixed signals yet draws him closer. This aspect of the film is tenderly developed and makes for interesting viewing. We believe we are seeing an innocent boy being trapped. But without any warning, the first part of the film ends.
The second part begins with Keng hunting a tiger which has terrorized the village. But this is no ordinary tiger as we learn from the on screen description. As per legend, a shaman has powers to shift shapes and transform himself into whatever form he desires -- his current form is of the tiger. The hunt is developed at a slow yet beautiful pace. Near the end, we get clues to the identity of the tiger and why Keng is so drawn towards the wild animal. The scene where Keng comes face to face with the Tiger is one of the beautiful scenes I have seen in a while -- Keng is on the jungle ground struggling. In the darkness, he senses a presence. He looks up and we see a tiger hidden in darkness on a tree branch. Keng flashes his torch towards the tree branch. The tiger is now lit up by the flashlight & the camera points directly towards the tiger's magical eyes. We see the tiger slowly breathe and stare sternly towards Keng and are left in awe to his beauty (yes it is a male tiger). Words can't do justice to scene but it was pretty amazing. Which is the same feeling I had of watching the movie. Unlike anything else that I have seen! A true cinematic experience!!!!
Apocalypto (2006, Director: Mel Gibson): Rating 9/10
If Mel Gibson's name was removed from this film, then the movie surely would not have been ignored as much as it has been. It is shame that this movie has fallen by the wayside because it is a fabulous effort -- raw, beautiful, rich, violent and absorbing. The only negative I have for this movie is its length of 2 hour 20 minutes. Upto the 100 minute mark, I would have considered this as a perfect film. But then a jungle chase scene goes on longer than it should have. On top of that, quite a few scenes in the jungle are framed in such a way that they seem forced, contrary to the verite feel of the 100 minutes before the chase. How much historical accuracy is there in the film? Not sure but I am willing to bet all the violence is real. Why? Because since the dawn of time, man has been a savage who has been killing and destroying for his own selfish needs -- only his weapons have changed. We are in the year 2007, yet man continues to kill. Even the most civilized nations engage in brutal violence.The most absorbing sequence in Apocalypto is when the slaves are taken to the city. There is hardly any dialogue in this sequence but one does not even notice the lack of words because the images are so powerful -- slaves working away on the pyramids, women slaves being sold, middle and upper-class tribes observing (or looking down) at the newly arrived captured lower-class slaves, trade & use of money, modern sewer system, laundry, the emergence of clothes. The film's cinematography is top-notch & enriched by usage of digital camera -- we truly are placed in an ancient Mayan land on the cusp of destruction. The Spanish ships are closing in on this virgin land and once the Spanish arrive, the Mayan civilization would destruct forever.
Along with Children of Men, this was the most absorbing movie I saw in a cinema this year!
The Bow (2005, Director: Kim Ki-Duk): Rating 7.5/10
Kim Ki-Duk pulls a lot of elements from his previous movies for this 2005 effort. In The Isle a young woman works on a house-boat on a river. Men come to the boat to fish and sometimes for her body. Well, the house boat is replaced by an actual boat in the middle of the ocean in The Bow. A 60 year old man lives with a 16 year old girl on the boat. The man is waiting for the girl to turn 17 so that he can marry her. And if any of the tourists, who come to the boat to fish, try to make a move on the girl, the old man scares them off with his arrows. The girl has not seen land for 10 years, ever since the man found her. One day, a young boy visits the boat and the girl falls in love with him, causing the old man to be jealous. He attempts to drive the boy away with limited success. On top of that, the girl starts to change -- she wants to see a new world and leave the boat, which is becoming a prison for her.So what is the best solution to satisfy all three people? A touch of an element from Kim Ki-Duk's 3-Iron where an act of invisibility makes for a happy compromise. I am still not sure what to make of the ending sequence -- is it a joke or are we to take it in a serious manner? I would have thought a lot more of the movie if that sequence had not been included because the story could have worked very well without that.
Eklavya (2007, Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra): Rating 6.5/10
It has been almost 7 years since Vidhu Vinod Chopra's last directorial effort. In between the years of 2000 and 2007, he was busy producing and co-writing three good and successful films -- Munnabhai M.B.B.S, Parineeta and Lage Raho Munnabhai. I was quite looking forward to this film but I am still in shock as to how bad this movie is. At least the torture does not last long as the movie is only 1 hour 45 minutes in length. The only way this movie could have been good is if it was a 20 minute short. That short length could have removed some of the bad acting & terrible screenplay -- the screenplay recycles some elements from Parineeta with Saif Ali Khan and Vidya Balan acting out similar characters from that movie.I have to say that it takes some skill to make a powerful actor like Boman Irani look like a fool. It takes even more skill to make Amitabh Bachchan look like a confused person, unsure as to what he is doing in such a movie. That being said, the only positive of the movie is the lavish set and Indian locales. A modern India is shown against the background of traditional Rajasthan. If one looks closely, one can see a DVD of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon among a collection of DVD's in the palace. Also, in a sequence near the movie's end, Vidhu Chopra has scenes from Parinda playing in the background. What was the director thinking there? Whatever his idea for including that scene, the truth is that despite directing the movie in 1989, Parinda still remains as Chopra's last great directed effort.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The Proposition & Tristram Shandy
The Proposition (UK/Australia, Director: John Hillcoat)
"Australia. What fresh hell is this?" so speaks Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) a few minutes after the movie's opening fierce gun battle. Yes, the Australia depicted in this movie is a glimpse into a bloody hell indeed!! The heat burns the land and ignites insanity. It is 1880s Australia. Colonists want to 'civilize' the natives and impose their law, by whatever means possible ('civilize' may also mean taking the locals land by force and maybe killing a few hundred natives in the process).A few people fight back and are branded outlaws. But like any good old western, the cycle of violence never ends -- an eye for an eye. The only difference with this Western is that the setting is Australia and the outlaws have a name -- The Burns brother. After a horrible slaying, Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) has had enough of his elder brother's (Arthur Burns played by Danny Huston) mad killing ways and takes their younger brother, Mikey, (Richard Wilson)far away from Arthur's clutches. But Charlie and Mikey are captured by Captain Stanley who wants to exchange their freedom for Arthur.
Beautifully shot, this is a powerful and intense tale of morality and violence. Benoît Delhomme's fantastic camera captures the radiant heat, vastness and isolation of the Australian landscape. Also, the camera never flinches from one of the most shocking scenes in the film -- a quick-flash bullet blows away one of the local's head after he has just flung a spear into Charlie.
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (UK, Director: Michael Winterbottom)
I finally got around to watching this hilarious and charming British film. This film's style resembles the wicked genuis of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's BBC comedy series Extras. After the success of The Office Gervais and Merchant turned to Extras and came up with another winning idea by depicting the lives of struggling film extras fighting to get parts or dealing with high-profile egoistic actors and directors. An additional reason for Extras success was the addition of Ashley Jensen who stole most episodes with her perfect expressions and great timing. Ashley has a small part in Tristram Shandy as well but this movie is about Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's bittersweet interactions.How do you shoot an unfilmable novel? That is the question asked of Steve Coogan in the film by a TV reporter. But is that simply a question within the movie or does the question apply to the movie Tristram Shandy itself? This is not a film adaptation of Laurence Sterne's book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy but instead is a film about the attempted making of a movie about Laurence Sterne's book. Huh? Even though the idea of turning the making of an unfilmable novel into a movie sounds like Charlie Kaufman & Spike Jonze's film Adaptation, Michael Winterbottom's and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce's work is completely different. This effort is more concerned with depicting fun of the filmaking process and its difficulties -- the issues of budget contraints, producer demands, actor's egos and not-so secret affairs are all tackled. And even actor's agents and celebrity chasing article writers are featured. A completely original film about making a film! The movie also pokes a little fun at serious film buffs who analyze every aspect of a movie to the nth degree. Near the end as the mad chaotic world of a film-set is shown, one can but help think of Fellini's 8 1/2.
Loved it!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Political Reading
I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation by Michela Wrong
It has been a few years since I first heard about Eritrea but I am willing to bet there are plenty of people out there who still have never heard of this African country. But what reason would people in the West (or the rest of the world for that matter) have to hear about this tiny country? While the western media isn't busy reporting on incidents right out of 1984 or filling space with popular culture references, there really isn't much else to report on. And when it comes to international nations, silence is the key behaviour. Unless, ofcourse that other nation has something to offer (resources which can be exploited or threat which can be used to keep the local population under fear). I can't help but think of Kapuściński at this moment -- more than anyone else, he understood the value of silence in international politics, especially in Africa.
On paper, the tiny nation of Eritrea appears to be silent. But that is where the misconception lies. It isn't and never was silent. In fact, as Michela Wrong so beautifully shows, that if ever there was a place where the rest of the world's noise can be heard, it is from Eritrea. And this is what precisely drew the US to this land. But I am getting ahead of myself and jumping a few decades in time. Long before the Americans learned of this Eastern African country's juicy benefits, the Italians and the British had their way with her. To each his own, as they say. Each European nation equally used and abused Eritrea for their own needs. Ofcourse, if foreigners can rape and pillage, then what of the neighbour? Ethiopia jumped into bed as well and tried to have its way. And before one knew what time it was, the Cold War had begun. This meant yet another country would be a pawn in the international game of espionage. But what could Eritrea offer? As it turns out, the Hamasien Plateau in Eritrea is one of the best (or even the best as Michela Wrong finds out) places on the planet to listen in on radio waves from all over the world. Hmmm...what better way to spy on the Russians than from here? Funny how a tiny geographical gift like that could turn a tiny country into a giant toy.
The radio-wave/cold war segment is only a tiny fragment of this well written and researched book. Michela Wrong does a great job of laying out the country's history, from the early colonial past to even the modern times when once again, things in Eritrea are not right. She starts each chapter with her personal travel experiencs before diving into the nation's history. This makes for an interesting read and prevents the book from being a dull history recount. Her writing is so poetic at times that I want to visit Asmara and see this wonder-land for myself.
The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq by George Packer
George Packer's book is just one of several books about Iraq in current circulation. 4 years ago when the lies were on the air-waves, nothing negative was written about Iraq. But after its invasion the truth, which always existed, started to come out slowly by slowly. It all started in the summer of 2003 when the first wave of independent journalists and filmmakers headed to Baghdad. The documentaries shot in 2003 made the festival rounds in early 2004 and since then, many more TV and theatrical doc films have been produced & released. But when it comes to books and newspapers, it seems a lot of the same stories are doing the rounds. Ofcourse, when only a few people were in the know and responsible for this mess, it should not be surprizing that multiple authors would churn out their version of the truth. Just some extra sources or quotes are changed from book to book.
If I had not read any other book on Iraq or seen any of the several documentaries, then George Packer's book would be a good read. But given the amount of material out there, a large portion of the book seems repeated. That being said, it is still a captivating read especially when Packer starts recounting more of his personal travel experiences from Baghdad.
It has been a few years since I first heard about Eritrea but I am willing to bet there are plenty of people out there who still have never heard of this African country. But what reason would people in the West (or the rest of the world for that matter) have to hear about this tiny country? While the western media isn't busy reporting on incidents right out of 1984 or filling space with popular culture references, there really isn't much else to report on. And when it comes to international nations, silence is the key behaviour. Unless, ofcourse that other nation has something to offer (resources which can be exploited or threat which can be used to keep the local population under fear). I can't help but think of Kapuściński at this moment -- more than anyone else, he understood the value of silence in international politics, especially in Africa.
On paper, the tiny nation of Eritrea appears to be silent. But that is where the misconception lies. It isn't and never was silent. In fact, as Michela Wrong so beautifully shows, that if ever there was a place where the rest of the world's noise can be heard, it is from Eritrea. And this is what precisely drew the US to this land. But I am getting ahead of myself and jumping a few decades in time. Long before the Americans learned of this Eastern African country's juicy benefits, the Italians and the British had their way with her. To each his own, as they say. Each European nation equally used and abused Eritrea for their own needs. Ofcourse, if foreigners can rape and pillage, then what of the neighbour? Ethiopia jumped into bed as well and tried to have its way. And before one knew what time it was, the Cold War had begun. This meant yet another country would be a pawn in the international game of espionage. But what could Eritrea offer? As it turns out, the Hamasien Plateau in Eritrea is one of the best (or even the best as Michela Wrong finds out) places on the planet to listen in on radio waves from all over the world. Hmmm...what better way to spy on the Russians than from here? Funny how a tiny geographical gift like that could turn a tiny country into a giant toy.
The radio-wave/cold war segment is only a tiny fragment of this well written and researched book. Michela Wrong does a great job of laying out the country's history, from the early colonial past to even the modern times when once again, things in Eritrea are not right. She starts each chapter with her personal travel experiencs before diving into the nation's history. This makes for an interesting read and prevents the book from being a dull history recount. Her writing is so poetic at times that I want to visit Asmara and see this wonder-land for myself.
The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq by George Packer
George Packer's book is just one of several books about Iraq in current circulation. 4 years ago when the lies were on the air-waves, nothing negative was written about Iraq. But after its invasion the truth, which always existed, started to come out slowly by slowly. It all started in the summer of 2003 when the first wave of independent journalists and filmmakers headed to Baghdad. The documentaries shot in 2003 made the festival rounds in early 2004 and since then, many more TV and theatrical doc films have been produced & released. But when it comes to books and newspapers, it seems a lot of the same stories are doing the rounds. Ofcourse, when only a few people were in the know and responsible for this mess, it should not be surprizing that multiple authors would churn out their version of the truth. Just some extra sources or quotes are changed from book to book.
If I had not read any other book on Iraq or seen any of the several documentaries, then George Packer's book would be a good read. But given the amount of material out there, a large portion of the book seems repeated. That being said, it is still a captivating read especially when Packer starts recounting more of his personal travel experiences from Baghdad.
Friday, February 16, 2007
African Cinema
Inspired by the recent article on African Cinema in Sight and Sound, I decided to track down some African films. I had only seen two of the movies mentioned in the article (Waiting for Happiness and The Silences of the Palace) and in my search, I only found one additional movie mentioned in the article (Touki Bouki ) but atleast this is a start:
When the Stars meet the Sea (1996, Madagascar/France, Director: Raymond Rajaonarivelo)
Since this is the newest film out of the bunch, it is also the most technically polished. A mythical story which is beautifully shot!! The locales may be Madagascar but they could easily be Brazil or even India. And considering that Madagascar's ethnic make-up is an enchanting mix of African, Indian and a shade of Asian, the film has a universal feel to it. I am sucker for this "journey" type of story and this movie has an emotional attachment to it. A baby born on the day of the solar eclipse is left to die. However, against the odds, he survives. Yet, he never leads a normal life and as a young adult, he gets a taste of his dark powers. In order to discover his true identity, he undertakes a journey to his birth town. A dazzling journey which leads to a satisfying conclusion for an ancient mythical tale.
Touki Bouki (1973, Senegal, Director: Djibril Diop Mambéty)
Long before the killing floor scene in Fast-Food Nation there were the unflinching slaughter scenes in Touki Bouki, a dreamy movie which gives a good slice into an emerging African nation -- we see street shots dripping with poverty, heated arguments at the market, youths looking for jobs and upto no good, a young couple dreaming of a better future, corruption and payback lurking around the corner with a club in hand. The relaxed lingering shots, mixed with carefully spliced scenes give this movie a surreal feel. Also, there is plenty of symbolism in the movie with a cow's capture and slaughter being the most commonly used symbol to echo the mental and physical entrapment of the citizens.Overall, this is a wonderful film which has some shots much ahead of its time.
Quartier Mozart (1992, Cameroon/France, Director: Jean-Pierre Bekolo)
Everytime Cameroon's national team heads to the World Cup, the talk of withcraft comes up (news reports showed how the team was consulting a local witchcraft person about the team's outcomes). So it was not a surprize to find this film's story shaped by withcraft. In order to educate a young teenage girl about the political nature of love, the local withcraft woman transports the girl's soul into a young male body. The story is funny enough and is peppered with charming and colorful characters. The editing and acting for the most part is substandard and overall, this is an average flick.
La Vie Est Belle (1987, Zaire/France/Belgium, Directors: Benoît Lamy & Mweze Ngangura)
Life is Rosy also has a tiny element of witchcraft in it but this is a light hearted story about love, music and money. Kourou heads to the city to earn some money. Almost immediately, he falls in love with Kabila. But in order to win her over, he needs to earn more money to buy her presents. However, Kabibi has another rich suitor around and that leads to a complicated cycle of cheating and lying. During times of misery, poverty, happiness and riches, Kourou always has his music to help him get through. Overall, a decent and enjoyale flick.
Comments from Part II of the spotlight are reproduced below
The African films neatly fall into two distinct regional areas -- West Africa & North Africa.
The West – Soccer & Films:
Pic from: My Travel Guide
Western Africa has provided a rich dose of films and soccer players over the last few decades. In fact, some of my favourite African soccer players have hailed from West Africa. Players such as Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast), Abedi Pele (Ghana), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), George Weah (Liberia), Kanu & Jay Jay Okacha (both from Nigeria) have fascinated me over the last 15 years or so. But these are just a handful of players from an impressive selection. Ofcourse, it is a bit easy to know about West Africa's pool of players because a huge number of them ply their trade in top European teams.
There is also a rich selection of directors and films that have graced the international scene from the complex diversity of 16 countries that constitute West Africa. The films range from artistic & poetic tales to crude commercial works that cater to local cinematic palates. Stories that feature both harsh reality and magical myths are shown in equal measures, sometimes in the same film.
Exile and the return: Sissako & Mambéty
Professional African soccer players may be the highest paid people of the group that leave Africa for European employment. But plenty of other people who leave the continent struggle to earn an income in Europe. Some of them manage to do fine but find themselves longing for life back home. Such is the case of the main character Dramane in Abderrahmane Sissako's Life on Earth. Dramane (played by Sissako himself) decides that he wants to usher in the new century (2000) in his native Mali.
At the film's start, we find Dramane wandering through a grocery story packed with numerous varieties of cheeses and other food items.
He returns home to a village where the craziness of Year 2000 couldn't be further. It is a peaceful place where one would be thankful for finding even one brand of cheese.
The relaxing life allows Dramane to ponder his life and even the fate of Africans on a global scale.
I first saw Sissako's Waiting for Happiness (2002) and was impressed. That film was about a young man waiting to head to Europe for a better life (as the title indicates). So his days are spending waiting while watching people go by. Well Life on Earth is about a character's return back to Africa from Europe to find happiness. But this movie was made first, so it forms an interesting circle with his later work. And, there are some characters in the film who simply sit around and watch the world go by, much like in Waiting for Happiness.
Exile is also a central idea in Djibril Diop Mambéty's 1992 film Hyenas. This time however, it is a woman who returns back to her village to seek revenge not peace. When she was a young girl, she was forced into prostitution by a man and had to leave the village in shame. After she has earned riches abroad, she returns to set things right. Besides the revenge aspect, the film is an interesting look at greed and how money can shift politics in one easy go. One absurd segment in the movie revolves around a trial which is rendered useless when the returned woman offers to buy the judge. While all the political games are going on, the hyenas (literally) are simply laughing on the sides. I saw Mambéty's Touki Bouki (1973) back in February. The title of that surreal road movie translated into ‘Journey of the Hyena’. Well, almost two decades later, Mambéty truly exposes the hyenas disguised as men.
An element of exile is also tackled in Moolaade. A rich village elder's son is back from France to marry a local woman. The son is prized because of his French education and he returns with modern ideas which are at odds with those of his father. For example, the son supports equal rights for women as opposed to his father who wants the women to be oppressed like the old days. Interestingly enough, both the son in Moolaade and Dramane in Life on Earth find inspiration in the words of French poet Aimé Césaire, a person who fought for the rights of French colonies in Africa and the Caribbean.
Old tradition and values vs winds of change:
Certain traditions such as the importance of family are best kept and nurtured. But old traditions such as the oppression of women are best buried and forgotten. Ousmane Sembene's brilliant film Moolaade looks at a village’s old practice of female circumcision. Problems arise when a local woman supports the decision of a handful of girls to avoid the ritual. Her defiance leads to a mini revolution which shakes the old male dominated rule.
In order to oppress the village people, the elders decide that radios should be banned because they are influencing the minds of the people and exposing the villagers to dangerous foreign ideas. So an order is issued to collect all the village radios and burn them. This scene echoes the burning of books depicted in Fahrenheit 411.
The clash of traditional vs modern values is also depicted in Haramuya, a film set in the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougo. The film also shows the economic difficulties that exist in the city where some people struggle to earn an income and have to resort to petty theft to make ends meet.
Gaston Kaboré's Wend Kuuni is mostly the story of an orphaned ‘mute’ child and the family that takes him in. But around the boy, we can see old practices and beliefs dominating the people. Through a flashback, we learn about the traumatic event that caused the boy to lose his voice -- his mother had been accused of being a witch and killed. While the film shows that sometimes old beliefs can cause harm, the movie also highlights how traditional values can benefit as the boy in Wend Kuuni is lovingly raised by his new adopted family.
Myth and witchcraft:
My first introduction to the witchcraft that existed in Africa was through soccer. June 8, 1990. Argentina, the defending World Cup Champions, stumbled to an unbelievable defeat against Cameroon. No one could have predicated Cameroon's 1-0 win. I still remember that day and the reaction of shock that surrounded that win. Very soon afterwards, almost all neutrals were cheering for Cameroon and its 38 year old star Roger Milla. Most soccer players stop playing soccer in their early 30's, so it was extraordinary to see Milla playing at the top level at 38 (even more remarkably, Milla played in the 1994 World Cup and currently holds the record for the oldest player to have scored goal at the age of 42!). Milla was not supposed to have been in the team for the World Cup because he had retired from the game prior to 1990 but he was asked to play thanks to Cameroon's president. And what a great decision it was as Milla scored crucial goals to lead Cameroon into the quarter-finals. In fact, Cameroon were 7 minutes away from the World Cup semi-finals before England knocked them out. But despite the heroic on-field efforts by Cameroon, talk of witchcraft hovered around the team. It was rumoured that a witch doctor was brought in to bless the team. Was this blessing merely a stunt or an actual belief? Whatever the case maybe, with each subsequent World Cup, the talk of witchcraft does return whenever Cameroon or even Nigeria play. Witch doctors do make headlines predicting World Cup winners and even game scores! Such talks of witchcraft are not limited to Western Africa only but also find roots in almost all parts of Africa with maybe the exception being North Africa.
When did the first mention of witchcraft originate? Probably with some of the oldest myths that can be found in a country’s history. Souleymane Cissé's film Yeelen beautifully films an ancient Mali myth about a battle between father and son (Nianankoro). Set in the 13th century Mali Empire, Nianankoro must tackle an entire cult group along with his wizard father while trying to restore his family name. The folk story is peppered with elements of magic and witchcraft in depicting the family battle. Because Nianankoro holds the power of magic, he is equally feared and respected.
Kenyan author Ngugi Wa'Thiong'O's book Wizard of the Crow also features witchcraft in the story about a corrupt African ruler set in a fictional African country. In fact, the book's title comes from a magical curse that a character (a beggar) invokes in order to ward off the policemen chasing him. The beggar is amused to find that a simple hand written sign threatening a curse could have such a powerful effect on the adults and scare them into submission. Such is the power of magic on the minds of the people. I am still in the middle of reading the book so I am not sure if in the end reality will win over black magic.
The Third Wood: witchcraft, love and family
What is the third biggest film industry in the world? This Guardian article first drew my attention to the answer which stumped me -- Nollywood. The entirely video film industry in Nigeria churns out movies at a rapid rate behind the studios of Hollywood and Bollywood. Since none of the movies are shot on film or shown in a theater, producers and film-makers can quickly shoot and produce movies on video. The films are often distributed and sold at road-side stalls for an eager audience.
Recently Film Int studied Nollywood in great detail. The essays ranged from history of the film industry to the themes covered and the social & political impacts of these movies. Unfortunately, none of those in-depth essays are available online but here a few quotes:
"The first Nigerians to shoot feature fictional films on video were artists from the Yoruba travelling theatre tradition, who turned to video when making films on celluloid became prohibitively expensive as the result of Nigeria's catastrophic structural adjustment programme". Jonathan Haynes, Nnebue: the anatomy of power.
"The Video film is arguably the most popular mode of cultural expression in Nigeria, produced at a rate which arguably makes Nigeria the hothouse of the genre in the world". Chukwuma Okoye, Looking at Ourselves in our Mirror.
On Nollywood's essential themes: "the corruption, moral turbulence and pervasive anxiety of the post-oil-boom era; the garish glamour of Lagos; titillating and dangerous sexuality; melodramatic domestic conflicts; and immanent supernatural forces including both dark cultic practices and Pentecostal Christianity." Jonathan Haynes, Nnebue: the anatomy of power.
"From its very beginnings in the 1990s the 'home video' industry in Nigeria has churned out movies that were constructed around a mode of narrative that seeks to naturalize the supernatural by dwelling on stories or plots that blend reality with fantasy. These movies have seized the imagination of audiences in Nigeria, across Africa and the African diaspora. It would seem that Nollywood movies have the strong capacity to appeal to deep currents in the psyche of its captive audiences, particularly its African audiences. The interplay between the magical and the real is part of the African consciousness and is part of the popular culture of postcolonial Africa." Hope Eghagha, Magical realism and the 'power' of Nollywood home video films.
Even though Nollywood started out in Nigeria, a few articles show how the industry and its practices cover neighbouring Ghana and Ivory Coast as well. One of the most surprizing things I discovered was how a certain number of Nollywood films were inspired by Bollywood films. In fact, some Nollywood films entirely lifted the stories or even dance steps from Bollywood films such as Taal, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Maine Pyaar Kiya. In a way, it should not be a surprize that Bollywood's appeal reaches to the Nigerian audiences as the tales of domestic problems and love stories should have no problems finding homes in countries with a strong focus on family life.
Images of a region:
German filmmaker Ralf Schmerberg's 45 minute black and white documentary Hommage à noir manages to capture both the African village and city life in a series of gorgeous black and white visuals accompanied with resonating music. His camera captures tribal practices, leisurely soaks in all the sights and sounds of a local market and even records a local soccer game. Filmed mostly in Cameroon, the abstract images could be used to apply to certain Eastern, Central and Southern parts of the continent as well.
Moving on to the North...
The North – Football & Cinema:
Pic from: My Travel Guide
North Africa also has an amazing selection of top class soccer players but only a few of them leave for Europe. The Egyptian soccer league is the most established of the North African countries with the Moroccan league providing some worthy teams as well. One of my favourite North African players is Mustapha Hadji (Morocco) who was named African Footballer of the year in 1998. He had limited success in the English league but scored some amazing goals for Morocco.
But sometimes football can indeed tale the state of a country or even a region. Professional Egyptian soccer is certainly better known than its other Arab North African counterparts, much like how Egyptian cinema and literature dominates its Northern African neighbours. In fact, for the longest time it was Egyptian film that dominated the entire Arab world. But in recent years, other nations such as Tunisia and even a few of the Middle Eastern countries have started making in-roads towards establishing a unique cinematic identity of their own. Tunisian film-maker Férid Boughedir’s insightful documentary Caméra arabe (1987) looks at the development of Arab cinema and its rise against a background of turbulent political pressures. It was interesting to watch Boughedir’s documentary but unfortunately, I was only familiar with one director in that 60 minute film -- Youssef Chahine.
Coming of age via the lens of Férid Boughedir:
I first came across Boughedir thanks to his 1996 film A Summer in La Goulette. Sometimes a movie impacts a person tremendously. In that regards, ..La Goulette was one of the first few foreign films to overwhelm me and leave me breathless. I was seduced by the film and its three female characters, one Christian, one Arab and one Jew. I too wanted to travel to the beaches of La Goulette to bask in the white walled town where the three girls wandered, leaving men speechless in their wake. It was a tremendously enjoyable film and showed that no matter what religion the girls followed, their fathers were equally stressed and worried about their daughters; the fathers wanted to protect their daughters from the eyes of the local boys at all costs but they didn’t realize that it was their daughters who were the ones eyeing boys with equal passion and lust in the first place.
But before Boughedir showed the coming of age of teenage girls, he beautifully portrayed the maturing of a young boy Halfaouine: Child of the Terraces (1990). The film starts with the following images of the boy.
What are the interesting images that are holding the boy’s attention? Well his mother has been talking him to the local Hamam since he was a little boy but she has not realized her boy is growing up fast and developing an interest in girls and women. His eyes are wide open because he is staring at the naked girls and women around him.
The film is shown from the point of view of the little boy. We see what he sees and at times, we are given a few glimpses into the political revolution that is taking place around him. Not too much time is spent detailing the political struggles against a dictatorship regime because the boy does not understand what is going on. He has no idea why some people get arrested, why some disappear or how writing some harmless slogans on the wall could get someone in trouble. His goal in life is to understand the female species and to that end, he does accomplish his goal.
The purpose of a film and struggles along the way:
The last viewed film turned out to be an appropriate choice to close out the African spotlight. Youssef Chahine’s Alexandria Again and Forever details a film director’s struggle to get a movie made, the struggles he has with himself and his lead actor, the pressure of his producer, the overwhelming expectations of film festivals and the challenges posed by a writer’s strike. Chahine plays the main role in a film that can be described as his 8 ½.
The issues described in the film could possibly plague every film-maker as they could find themselves questioning the relevance of each scene and even the impact that their work would have. And surely there are plenty of directors out there who have one eye on the film festival circuit during their film’s post-production. Indeed, some directors attempt to get their movies completed in time for that prestigious film festival screening. So when a director is working with an end goal already in mind, it is not far fetched to believe that the pressure of expectations could creep up into some of their decision making during the filming.
Final notes:
Africa will once again take centre stage for me at the start of 2008 thanks to the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament held in Ghana from Jan 20 – Feb 10. 16 nations from all corners of Africa would complete in this usually entertaining competition.
Group A: Ghana, Namibia, Guinea, Morocco
Group B: Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Ivory Coast
Group C: Egypt, Sudan, Zambia, Cameroon
Group D: Tunisia, Angola, South Africa, Senegal
Ideally I would have liked to have a film festival to coincide with the soccer games but unfortunately, I would struggle to find films from all nations. As it stands, I have atleast seen films from 8 of the 16 countries. This spotlight was definitely an improvement in terms of getting films from African. But there are plenty of classics out there which are either lost or not distributed in North America. Slowly, but surely, maybe some of these works will start finding their way across the ocean.
Film (Year, Director): Ratings out of 10
Life on Earth (1998, Abderrahmane Sissako): 9
Hyenas (1992, Djibril Diop Mambéty): 8
Moolaade (2004, Ousmane Sembene): 9.5
Haramuya (1995, Drissa Toure): 6.5
Wend Kuuni (1982, Gaston Kaboré): 6
Yeelen (1987, Souleymane Cissé): 8.5
Hommage à noir (1996, Ralf Schmerberg): 8
Caméra arabe (1987, Férid Boughedir): 7
Halfaouine: Child of the Terraces (1990, Férid Boughedir): 8
Alexandria Again and Forever (1990, Youssef Chahine): 7.5
When the Stars meet the Sea (1996, Madagascar/France, Director: Raymond Rajaonarivelo)
Since this is the newest film out of the bunch, it is also the most technically polished. A mythical story which is beautifully shot!! The locales may be Madagascar but they could easily be Brazil or even India. And considering that Madagascar's ethnic make-up is an enchanting mix of African, Indian and a shade of Asian, the film has a universal feel to it. I am sucker for this "journey" type of story and this movie has an emotional attachment to it. A baby born on the day of the solar eclipse is left to die. However, against the odds, he survives. Yet, he never leads a normal life and as a young adult, he gets a taste of his dark powers. In order to discover his true identity, he undertakes a journey to his birth town. A dazzling journey which leads to a satisfying conclusion for an ancient mythical tale.
Touki Bouki (1973, Senegal, Director: Djibril Diop Mambéty)
Long before the killing floor scene in Fast-Food Nation there were the unflinching slaughter scenes in Touki Bouki, a dreamy movie which gives a good slice into an emerging African nation -- we see street shots dripping with poverty, heated arguments at the market, youths looking for jobs and upto no good, a young couple dreaming of a better future, corruption and payback lurking around the corner with a club in hand. The relaxed lingering shots, mixed with carefully spliced scenes give this movie a surreal feel. Also, there is plenty of symbolism in the movie with a cow's capture and slaughter being the most commonly used symbol to echo the mental and physical entrapment of the citizens.Overall, this is a wonderful film which has some shots much ahead of its time.
Quartier Mozart (1992, Cameroon/France, Director: Jean-Pierre Bekolo)
Everytime Cameroon's national team heads to the World Cup, the talk of withcraft comes up (news reports showed how the team was consulting a local witchcraft person about the team's outcomes). So it was not a surprize to find this film's story shaped by withcraft. In order to educate a young teenage girl about the political nature of love, the local withcraft woman transports the girl's soul into a young male body. The story is funny enough and is peppered with charming and colorful characters. The editing and acting for the most part is substandard and overall, this is an average flick.
La Vie Est Belle (1987, Zaire/France/Belgium, Directors: Benoît Lamy & Mweze Ngangura)
Life is Rosy also has a tiny element of witchcraft in it but this is a light hearted story about love, music and money. Kourou heads to the city to earn some money. Almost immediately, he falls in love with Kabila. But in order to win her over, he needs to earn more money to buy her presents. However, Kabibi has another rich suitor around and that leads to a complicated cycle of cheating and lying. During times of misery, poverty, happiness and riches, Kourou always has his music to help him get through. Overall, a decent and enjoyale flick.
Comments from Part II of the spotlight are reproduced below
The African films neatly fall into two distinct regional areas -- West Africa & North Africa.
The West – Soccer & Films:
Pic from: My Travel Guide
Western Africa has provided a rich dose of films and soccer players over the last few decades. In fact, some of my favourite African soccer players have hailed from West Africa. Players such as Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast), Abedi Pele (Ghana), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), George Weah (Liberia), Kanu & Jay Jay Okacha (both from Nigeria) have fascinated me over the last 15 years or so. But these are just a handful of players from an impressive selection. Ofcourse, it is a bit easy to know about West Africa's pool of players because a huge number of them ply their trade in top European teams.
There is also a rich selection of directors and films that have graced the international scene from the complex diversity of 16 countries that constitute West Africa. The films range from artistic & poetic tales to crude commercial works that cater to local cinematic palates. Stories that feature both harsh reality and magical myths are shown in equal measures, sometimes in the same film.
Exile and the return: Sissako & Mambéty
Professional African soccer players may be the highest paid people of the group that leave Africa for European employment. But plenty of other people who leave the continent struggle to earn an income in Europe. Some of them manage to do fine but find themselves longing for life back home. Such is the case of the main character Dramane in Abderrahmane Sissako's Life on Earth. Dramane (played by Sissako himself) decides that he wants to usher in the new century (2000) in his native Mali.
At the film's start, we find Dramane wandering through a grocery story packed with numerous varieties of cheeses and other food items.
He returns home to a village where the craziness of Year 2000 couldn't be further. It is a peaceful place where one would be thankful for finding even one brand of cheese.
The relaxing life allows Dramane to ponder his life and even the fate of Africans on a global scale.
I first saw Sissako's Waiting for Happiness (2002) and was impressed. That film was about a young man waiting to head to Europe for a better life (as the title indicates). So his days are spending waiting while watching people go by. Well Life on Earth is about a character's return back to Africa from Europe to find happiness. But this movie was made first, so it forms an interesting circle with his later work. And, there are some characters in the film who simply sit around and watch the world go by, much like in Waiting for Happiness.
Exile is also a central idea in Djibril Diop Mambéty's 1992 film Hyenas. This time however, it is a woman who returns back to her village to seek revenge not peace. When she was a young girl, she was forced into prostitution by a man and had to leave the village in shame. After she has earned riches abroad, she returns to set things right. Besides the revenge aspect, the film is an interesting look at greed and how money can shift politics in one easy go. One absurd segment in the movie revolves around a trial which is rendered useless when the returned woman offers to buy the judge. While all the political games are going on, the hyenas (literally) are simply laughing on the sides. I saw Mambéty's Touki Bouki (1973) back in February. The title of that surreal road movie translated into ‘Journey of the Hyena’. Well, almost two decades later, Mambéty truly exposes the hyenas disguised as men.
An element of exile is also tackled in Moolaade. A rich village elder's son is back from France to marry a local woman. The son is prized because of his French education and he returns with modern ideas which are at odds with those of his father. For example, the son supports equal rights for women as opposed to his father who wants the women to be oppressed like the old days. Interestingly enough, both the son in Moolaade and Dramane in Life on Earth find inspiration in the words of French poet Aimé Césaire, a person who fought for the rights of French colonies in Africa and the Caribbean.
Old tradition and values vs winds of change:
Certain traditions such as the importance of family are best kept and nurtured. But old traditions such as the oppression of women are best buried and forgotten. Ousmane Sembene's brilliant film Moolaade looks at a village’s old practice of female circumcision. Problems arise when a local woman supports the decision of a handful of girls to avoid the ritual. Her defiance leads to a mini revolution which shakes the old male dominated rule.
In order to oppress the village people, the elders decide that radios should be banned because they are influencing the minds of the people and exposing the villagers to dangerous foreign ideas. So an order is issued to collect all the village radios and burn them. This scene echoes the burning of books depicted in Fahrenheit 411.
The clash of traditional vs modern values is also depicted in Haramuya, a film set in the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougo. The film also shows the economic difficulties that exist in the city where some people struggle to earn an income and have to resort to petty theft to make ends meet.
Gaston Kaboré's Wend Kuuni is mostly the story of an orphaned ‘mute’ child and the family that takes him in. But around the boy, we can see old practices and beliefs dominating the people. Through a flashback, we learn about the traumatic event that caused the boy to lose his voice -- his mother had been accused of being a witch and killed. While the film shows that sometimes old beliefs can cause harm, the movie also highlights how traditional values can benefit as the boy in Wend Kuuni is lovingly raised by his new adopted family.
Myth and witchcraft:
My first introduction to the witchcraft that existed in Africa was through soccer. June 8, 1990. Argentina, the defending World Cup Champions, stumbled to an unbelievable defeat against Cameroon. No one could have predicated Cameroon's 1-0 win. I still remember that day and the reaction of shock that surrounded that win. Very soon afterwards, almost all neutrals were cheering for Cameroon and its 38 year old star Roger Milla. Most soccer players stop playing soccer in their early 30's, so it was extraordinary to see Milla playing at the top level at 38 (even more remarkably, Milla played in the 1994 World Cup and currently holds the record for the oldest player to have scored goal at the age of 42!). Milla was not supposed to have been in the team for the World Cup because he had retired from the game prior to 1990 but he was asked to play thanks to Cameroon's president. And what a great decision it was as Milla scored crucial goals to lead Cameroon into the quarter-finals. In fact, Cameroon were 7 minutes away from the World Cup semi-finals before England knocked them out. But despite the heroic on-field efforts by Cameroon, talk of witchcraft hovered around the team. It was rumoured that a witch doctor was brought in to bless the team. Was this blessing merely a stunt or an actual belief? Whatever the case maybe, with each subsequent World Cup, the talk of witchcraft does return whenever Cameroon or even Nigeria play. Witch doctors do make headlines predicting World Cup winners and even game scores! Such talks of witchcraft are not limited to Western Africa only but also find roots in almost all parts of Africa with maybe the exception being North Africa.
When did the first mention of witchcraft originate? Probably with some of the oldest myths that can be found in a country’s history. Souleymane Cissé's film Yeelen beautifully films an ancient Mali myth about a battle between father and son (Nianankoro). Set in the 13th century Mali Empire, Nianankoro must tackle an entire cult group along with his wizard father while trying to restore his family name. The folk story is peppered with elements of magic and witchcraft in depicting the family battle. Because Nianankoro holds the power of magic, he is equally feared and respected.
Kenyan author Ngugi Wa'Thiong'O's book Wizard of the Crow also features witchcraft in the story about a corrupt African ruler set in a fictional African country. In fact, the book's title comes from a magical curse that a character (a beggar) invokes in order to ward off the policemen chasing him. The beggar is amused to find that a simple hand written sign threatening a curse could have such a powerful effect on the adults and scare them into submission. Such is the power of magic on the minds of the people. I am still in the middle of reading the book so I am not sure if in the end reality will win over black magic.
The Third Wood: witchcraft, love and family
What is the third biggest film industry in the world? This Guardian article first drew my attention to the answer which stumped me -- Nollywood. The entirely video film industry in Nigeria churns out movies at a rapid rate behind the studios of Hollywood and Bollywood. Since none of the movies are shot on film or shown in a theater, producers and film-makers can quickly shoot and produce movies on video. The films are often distributed and sold at road-side stalls for an eager audience.
Recently Film Int studied Nollywood in great detail. The essays ranged from history of the film industry to the themes covered and the social & political impacts of these movies. Unfortunately, none of those in-depth essays are available online but here a few quotes:
"The first Nigerians to shoot feature fictional films on video were artists from the Yoruba travelling theatre tradition, who turned to video when making films on celluloid became prohibitively expensive as the result of Nigeria's catastrophic structural adjustment programme". Jonathan Haynes, Nnebue: the anatomy of power.
"The Video film is arguably the most popular mode of cultural expression in Nigeria, produced at a rate which arguably makes Nigeria the hothouse of the genre in the world". Chukwuma Okoye, Looking at Ourselves in our Mirror.
On Nollywood's essential themes: "the corruption, moral turbulence and pervasive anxiety of the post-oil-boom era; the garish glamour of Lagos; titillating and dangerous sexuality; melodramatic domestic conflicts; and immanent supernatural forces including both dark cultic practices and Pentecostal Christianity." Jonathan Haynes, Nnebue: the anatomy of power.
"From its very beginnings in the 1990s the 'home video' industry in Nigeria has churned out movies that were constructed around a mode of narrative that seeks to naturalize the supernatural by dwelling on stories or plots that blend reality with fantasy. These movies have seized the imagination of audiences in Nigeria, across Africa and the African diaspora. It would seem that Nollywood movies have the strong capacity to appeal to deep currents in the psyche of its captive audiences, particularly its African audiences. The interplay between the magical and the real is part of the African consciousness and is part of the popular culture of postcolonial Africa." Hope Eghagha, Magical realism and the 'power' of Nollywood home video films.
Even though Nollywood started out in Nigeria, a few articles show how the industry and its practices cover neighbouring Ghana and Ivory Coast as well. One of the most surprizing things I discovered was how a certain number of Nollywood films were inspired by Bollywood films. In fact, some Nollywood films entirely lifted the stories or even dance steps from Bollywood films such as Taal, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Maine Pyaar Kiya. In a way, it should not be a surprize that Bollywood's appeal reaches to the Nigerian audiences as the tales of domestic problems and love stories should have no problems finding homes in countries with a strong focus on family life.
Images of a region:
German filmmaker Ralf Schmerberg's 45 minute black and white documentary Hommage à noir manages to capture both the African village and city life in a series of gorgeous black and white visuals accompanied with resonating music. His camera captures tribal practices, leisurely soaks in all the sights and sounds of a local market and even records a local soccer game. Filmed mostly in Cameroon, the abstract images could be used to apply to certain Eastern, Central and Southern parts of the continent as well.
Moving on to the North...
The North – Football & Cinema:
Pic from: My Travel Guide
North Africa also has an amazing selection of top class soccer players but only a few of them leave for Europe. The Egyptian soccer league is the most established of the North African countries with the Moroccan league providing some worthy teams as well. One of my favourite North African players is Mustapha Hadji (Morocco) who was named African Footballer of the year in 1998. He had limited success in the English league but scored some amazing goals for Morocco.
But sometimes football can indeed tale the state of a country or even a region. Professional Egyptian soccer is certainly better known than its other Arab North African counterparts, much like how Egyptian cinema and literature dominates its Northern African neighbours. In fact, for the longest time it was Egyptian film that dominated the entire Arab world. But in recent years, other nations such as Tunisia and even a few of the Middle Eastern countries have started making in-roads towards establishing a unique cinematic identity of their own. Tunisian film-maker Férid Boughedir’s insightful documentary Caméra arabe (1987) looks at the development of Arab cinema and its rise against a background of turbulent political pressures. It was interesting to watch Boughedir’s documentary but unfortunately, I was only familiar with one director in that 60 minute film -- Youssef Chahine.
Coming of age via the lens of Férid Boughedir:
I first came across Boughedir thanks to his 1996 film A Summer in La Goulette. Sometimes a movie impacts a person tremendously. In that regards, ..La Goulette was one of the first few foreign films to overwhelm me and leave me breathless. I was seduced by the film and its three female characters, one Christian, one Arab and one Jew. I too wanted to travel to the beaches of La Goulette to bask in the white walled town where the three girls wandered, leaving men speechless in their wake. It was a tremendously enjoyable film and showed that no matter what religion the girls followed, their fathers were equally stressed and worried about their daughters; the fathers wanted to protect their daughters from the eyes of the local boys at all costs but they didn’t realize that it was their daughters who were the ones eyeing boys with equal passion and lust in the first place.
But before Boughedir showed the coming of age of teenage girls, he beautifully portrayed the maturing of a young boy Halfaouine: Child of the Terraces (1990). The film starts with the following images of the boy.
What are the interesting images that are holding the boy’s attention? Well his mother has been talking him to the local Hamam since he was a little boy but she has not realized her boy is growing up fast and developing an interest in girls and women. His eyes are wide open because he is staring at the naked girls and women around him.
The film is shown from the point of view of the little boy. We see what he sees and at times, we are given a few glimpses into the political revolution that is taking place around him. Not too much time is spent detailing the political struggles against a dictatorship regime because the boy does not understand what is going on. He has no idea why some people get arrested, why some disappear or how writing some harmless slogans on the wall could get someone in trouble. His goal in life is to understand the female species and to that end, he does accomplish his goal.
The purpose of a film and struggles along the way:
The last viewed film turned out to be an appropriate choice to close out the African spotlight. Youssef Chahine’s Alexandria Again and Forever details a film director’s struggle to get a movie made, the struggles he has with himself and his lead actor, the pressure of his producer, the overwhelming expectations of film festivals and the challenges posed by a writer’s strike. Chahine plays the main role in a film that can be described as his 8 ½.
The issues described in the film could possibly plague every film-maker as they could find themselves questioning the relevance of each scene and even the impact that their work would have. And surely there are plenty of directors out there who have one eye on the film festival circuit during their film’s post-production. Indeed, some directors attempt to get their movies completed in time for that prestigious film festival screening. So when a director is working with an end goal already in mind, it is not far fetched to believe that the pressure of expectations could creep up into some of their decision making during the filming.
Final notes:
Africa will once again take centre stage for me at the start of 2008 thanks to the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament held in Ghana from Jan 20 – Feb 10. 16 nations from all corners of Africa would complete in this usually entertaining competition.
Group A: Ghana, Namibia, Guinea, Morocco
Group B: Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Ivory Coast
Group C: Egypt, Sudan, Zambia, Cameroon
Group D: Tunisia, Angola, South Africa, Senegal
Ideally I would have liked to have a film festival to coincide with the soccer games but unfortunately, I would struggle to find films from all nations. As it stands, I have atleast seen films from 8 of the 16 countries. This spotlight was definitely an improvement in terms of getting films from African. But there are plenty of classics out there which are either lost or not distributed in North America. Slowly, but surely, maybe some of these works will start finding their way across the ocean.
Film (Year, Director): Ratings out of 10
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