Kiyoshi Kurosawa Spotlight

The multi-genre bending world of Kiyoshi Kurosawa

One’s view of Kiyoshi Kurosawa will vary depending on which film of his one comes across. He has directed various genre features ranging from horror (including ghost), crime (serial killer, yakuza), thriller, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi or pure drama (family, supernatural, historical). Take a few steps back and one can see threads of family/relationships running through his films and even romance, the everlasting kind that lingers after death. In fact, many of his features are hard to classify under one genre. Given his comfort with all genres, aspects of various genres blend into one film and for good reason. In Kurosawa’s films, genre is part of the film’s framework and helps bolster the overall story and social commentary on the human condition.  For example, a film like Pulse falls under horror category but blends mystery, sci-fi and is a smart commentary on the human condition and loneliness. 

Even though he has directed multiple genre films, he has still carved out his distinctive signature because all his films are anchored with a strong narrative-character framework. This spotlight focuses on 10 of his films across these different genres to get a true flavour of his work.

Notes on 10 films of Kiyoshi Kurasawa:

Cure (1997)

Serpent’s Path (1998)

License to Live (1998)

Pulse (2001)

Doppelganger (2003)

Tokyo Sonata (2008)

Journey to the Shore (2015)

Daguerrotype (2016)

Before We Vanish (2017)

Wife of a Spy (2020)

Crime without evidence

Multiple gruesome murders are committed in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure but it is not a single killer that performs the acts. Instead, loved ones or people close to the victims do the killing. Yet, the killers are not aware of their crimes as they are remotely driven by an unknown man.

The topography of Cure feels like that of a serial killer investigation film yet Kurosawa's film immediately stands apart because of the hands-off approach of the instigator who never really gets his own hands bloody. Yet, if one could open his brain, then one would see the images of blood that are being projected onto innocent would be killers. Also, another interesting layer added to the film is the weakening health of the lead police officer's wife, resulting in the killer exploiting the officer's mental state. Reality is toyed with especially in a case when the killer never has to kill a victim himself, which does raise some questions related to the true perpetrator of crimes.

Note: Kurosawa’s film predates both Bong Joon-Ho’s Memories of Murder (2003) and David Fincher’s Zodiac (2007), two stand-out murder investigation films.

Drama sprinkled with genre

Given that Kiyoshi Kurosawa made his name with horror and crime films, it is a huge surprise to see him change gears completely with the beautiful Tokyo Sonata which depicts the breakdown of a family and eventual rebirth. Ryuhei (Teruyuki Kagawa) loses his job and instead of telling his wife Megumi (Kyoko Koizumi), he continues to leave home everyday dressed for work while spending time on the streets or at a free soup kitchen. Megumi is slowly inching her way to independence but yearns for full freedom. Their elder son Takashi (Yu Koyanagi) is disenchanted with his life and believes his life would be better served by joining the American military. The youngest son Kenji (Kai Inowaki) also rebels against his parents by skipping school and using the money from his school fees to pay for secret piano lessons knowing full well that his father is against him learning music. Each character goes through a transformation after reaching a breaking point before awakening to a new dawn. Some of the family’s tender moments and even tensions share a bond with the cinema of Ozu.

Multiple Kiyoshi Kurosawa films can fall under the drama category but with unique variations that make the film hard to classify. For example, Journey to the Shore has the feel of a romantic drama about a married couple’s relationship except for a small caveat that the husband is actually dead and is a spirit who has returned to tie up a few loose threads with his wife. Wife of a Spy is dressed as a historical drama but leans heavily into a spy thriller framework but without the chases, explosions one would expect from a spy thriller. Then there is Daguerrotype which is a sumptuous fantasy drama where a daguerreotype photographer is obsessed with creating the perfect art form at the expense of his daughter’s health. However, a ghost haunts the frame and the house. In addition, the entire setting of the film in France and overall set design invokes early 19^th century even though the film is set in contemporary France.

The most straightforward drama film in this Spotlight is Kurosawa’s 1998 feature License to Live which centers around Yoshi (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who tries to rebuild his life after waking up from a 10-year coma. The film is drizzled with enough comedic elements which match the tone of the concept. The film also features an early look at actors who have become more popular over the decades. Hidetoshi Nishijima got plenty of recognition with Drive My Car (2021) but his character of Yoshi is one of his earliest feature roles; Kôji Yakusho has featured prominently in many Kurosawa films but this film along with Cure was his early collaboration with the director; Shô Aikawa found fame in Takashi Miike’s Dead or Alive films and one can get an early look at his distinctive style here; plus roles for Shun Sugata (Tokyo Vice) and also for Kôsuke Toyohara (Tokyo Vice, Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah). On another note, the feel of License to Live has shades of Lee Chang-dong’s Green Fish (1997) which came out a year earlier.

Horror, Crime, Sci-Fi with some helping of dark comedy

Pulse is the most well-known horror film from Kurosawa’s filmography and like his other films, it isn’t confined to the horror genre. On the surface, Pulse belongs to same type of horror category as Ringu (1998) two films where technology is the medium for horror to be unleashed. However, Pulse then combines horror with sci-fi elements and a smart social commentary about loneliness and human connection. Pulse came out just as the internet was becoming commonplace and the horror in the film is transmitted to anyone whose computer is connected to the internet via a dial-up modem. In the film, people are starting to form connections only virtually and losing face-to-face social connections. An observation from a character in the film is that everyone is sitting lifelessly in front of their computer and she notes that it is hard to tell if those people are already dead or still alive. In a way, Pulse was decades ahead of its time and came out long before smart phones, laptops and other devices allowed people to be constantly connected on the internet. The loneliness and erosion of community that Pulse raises has increased substantially over the last two decades.

Like Pulse, Doppleganger is another film that was well ahead of its time. The film raises questions about Robots, Engineering and the race to harness such technology first. The core concept in the film centers around people’s doubles who mysteriously start appearing. This sci-fi scenario raises questions about who is the authentic person and who can be expendable, which in turn can be extended to apply to our contemporary world where AI is replacing the work of humans. In the film, the doubles gradually replace the main character as someone in the film notes that the original and copy can’t co-exist. However, the exception is the robot inventor Hayasaki (played by Kurosawa regular Kôji Yakusho) who learns to share work and responsibilities with his double as both are different personalities. In a way, Hayasaki’s double is akin to a Hayasaki robot, same look but none of the emotional weakness of Hayasaki. The film starts off with deaths that feel like an extension of Pulse but the film quickly changes tone to sci-fi and then comedy, both dark and slapstick. The film was clearly decades ahead of Hollywood’s AI/robot fantasies.

Before We Vanish is unlike any other alien invasion film. It starts off with gory blood before layering the material with some absurd humour before giving into its sci-fi elements. With this film, Kurosawa again shows his artistry in creating a multi-layered film. The film also has oodles of humour but in unexpected ways.

Some traces of humour can be found in Serpent’s Path although those aren’t as apparent as the film is a crime thriller. The location of a warehouse and two men threatening criminals reminds of Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs but without any of the punchy dialogue of Tarantino’s film. Serpent’s Path falls under the V-Cinema category which means straight to video and that is apparent from the film’s lower production value compared to other Kurosawa films.

Overall comments

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not related to Japanese legend Akira Kurosawa, who is easily one of World Cinema’s most celebrated directors. While the same last name may have brought some pressure, Kiyoshi has carved out his own unique place in both Japanese and World cinema. Kiyoshi’s name is most associated with horror cinema but he has shown his talents in a variety of genres. More importantly, his films have predicated the future by accurately taking the pulse of new technology and extrapolating them to show scenarios which may have seemed unrealistic two decades ago but have come to fruition. This is why I am looking forward to seeing his newest film Cloud (2024) to see how he has built on what Pulse showed. Also, I want to view his new Serpent’s Path (2024) which transports the 1998 film story to France and is an updated remake. With a mixed French-Japanese cast and more budget, it will be interesting to see how Kurosawa has updated the material from the original V-Cinema film.

Ranking all 10 films in this Spotlight:

1. Tokyo Sonata (2008)

2. Cure (1997)

3. Pulse (2001)

4. Wife of a Spy (2020)

5. Doppelganger (2003)

6. Before We Vanish (2017)

7. Journey to the Shore (2015)

8. Daguerrotype (2016)

9. License to Live (1998)

10. Serpent’s Path (1998)

Bruno Dumont's L’ Empire

 L’Empire (The Empire, 2024, Bruno Dumont)

L'Empire © Tessalit Productions

Bruno Dumont’s newest feature L’Empire falls firmly in the director’s 2.0 phase outlined in a previous post 4 years ago. As per this categorization, I placed his original films such as La vie de Jésus (1997), Humanity (1999), Twentynine Palms (2003), Flanders (2006) and Hadewijch (2009) in Phase 1.0, films which depicted harsh reality lived by its characters in the French countryside. Phase 2.0 started with the arrival of Li'l Quinquin (2014) and continued with Slack Bay (2016), Coincoin and the Extra-Humans (2018), films which incorporated a comedic framework and absurd scenarios while still set in the French countryside as Dumont’s earlier films.

L'Empire continues a story started in Li'l Quinquin (2014) and then expanded upon in Coincoin and the Extra-Humans (2018). The three films are tied via the presence of Commandant Van der Weyden (Bernard Pruvost) and Lieutenant Carpentier (Philippe Jore), two detectives attempting to solve strange occurrences. In Li'l Quinquin (2014), their scope is limited to solving murder investigations. In Coincoin, the duo start to feel like there is an alien presence involved.

Li'l Quinquin

That alien presence is expanded upon in L’Empire where we do learn that the French countryside, and by extension Earth, are in the middle of a cosmic battle between 1’s and 0’s, who are stand-ins for good vs evil battle. For the most part, average humans aren’t aware that these aliens walk amongst them and even come to occupy a body of someone they have known since childhood.

Captain Van der Weyden and Lieutenant Carpentier have a minor role in L'Empire compared to the previous two films. They only arrive after an incident has occurred and have to make sense of what they are viewing. Their presence adds to the absurdity of the situation, not that the film is short on absurd scenarios. Similar to Coincoin, L’Empire has plenty of winks and nods towards other films in the sci-fi genre with Star Wars being the most apparent one. Yes, that means there are lightsabers. But since this is a French film and not Hollywood, that means there is sex and nudity also. The sex leads to an interesting twist in the cosmic battle.

It is clear that Bruno Dumont is having fun with this material and L’Empire lovingly builds on material depicted in Li'l Quinquin  and Coincoin. There is a quick resolution at the end of L’Empire but also opens a door for a future film.

Top Films from Cannes Film Festival 2020-2024

With Cannes 2025 officially underway, I am taking inspiration from The Disapproving Swede to revisit the past few years to make a Top 10 list of my favourite Cannes films from 2020 – 2024. Of course, this list isn’t a proper reflection of 5 normal years of film selections. There was no physical Cannes Film Festival edition in 2020 so that likely impacted the distribution of many 2020 selections. In turn, the deferred 2020 edition also likely ensured that 2021 and 2022 consisted of many more worthy films. There are also quite a few 2024 films that I need to view so in essence, this list is mostly made of 2021 – 2023 titles. Plus, I have decided to incorporate all the different Cannes sections, including Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight.

Top 10 Films from Cannes 2020 – 2024

1. Pacification (2022, Alberta Serra): Competition

2. La chimera  (2023, Alice Rohrwacher): Competition

3. Drive my Car (2021, Ryusuke Hamaguchi): Competition

4. Return to Seoul (2022, Davy Chou): Un Certain Regard

5. Aftersun (2022, Charlotte Wells): Critics' Week

6. The Taste of Things (2023, Tran Anh Hung): Competition

7. A Night of Knowing Nothing (2021, Payal Kapadia): Directors' Fortnight

8. Close Your Eyes (2023, Víctor Erice): Cannes Premiere

9. Eureka (2023, Lisandro Alonso): Cannes Premiere

10. Grand Tour (2024, Miguel Gomes): Competition

Honourable Mentions (in no order):

Memoria (2021, Apichatpong Weerasethakul): Competition

My Imaginary Country (2022, Patricio Guzmán): Special Screenings

The Delinquents (2023, Rodrigo Moreno): Un Certain Regard

How to Have Sex (2023, Molly Manning Walker): Un Certain Regard

Universal Language (2024, Matthew Rankin): Directors' Fortnight

Top 10 Films by Year & %

2021: 2, 20%

2022: 3, 30%

2023: 4, 40%

2024: 1, 10%

As expected, no 2020 films made the cut and only one from 2024.

Top 10 Films by Cannes Category:

Competition: 5, 50%

Un Certain Regard: 1, 10%

Critics’ Week: 1, 10%

Directors' Fortnight: 1, 10%

Cannes Premiere: 2, 20%

I am surprised to find that half of my Top 10 consists of films in the Official Competition category. In the past, I have been more partial to those in Un Certain Regard and Directors’ Fortnight categories. Although, I do believe that Cannes Premiere category has taken away films that would have been in Critics’ Week or Directors’ Fortnight.

Top 15 Films by Year:

2021: 3, 20%

2022: 4, 27%

2023: 6, 40%

2024: 2, 13%

The overall % increase in Top 15 is closely proportional to those in the Top 10.

Top 15 Films by Cannes Category:

Competition: 6, 40%

Un Certain Regard: 3, 20%

Critics’ Week: 1, 7%

Directors' Fortnight: 2, 13%

Cannes Premiere: 2, 13%

Special Screenings: 1, 7%

The Films of Lee Chang-dong

Notes on all six of Lee Chang-dong’s directed features up to date:

Green Fish (1997)

Peppermint Candy (1999)

Oasis (2002)

Secret Sunshine (2007)

Poetry (2010)

Burning (2018)

Similar to many contemporary directorial spotlights, I started in the middle. The first Lee Chang-dong film I saw was his 4^th, Secret Sunshine, at the Vancouver International Film Festival. I then viewed his next two films in order, Poetry (2010) and Burning (2018). Given that Lee Chang-dong has only directed 6 features, a spotlight of seeing his first three features and revisiting the next 3 felt feasible and much needed.

Cinematic Novels

I labeled Lee Chang-dong’s films as cinematic novels even before I was aware that he had written two novels. Considering his films via the lens of a novel makes a lot more sense now as his films have an emotional depth akin to a novel. In addition, his films are propelled by a strong narrative and the emotional punch arrives via the consequences of the characters’ actions. The characters in his films aren’t clean cut and are emotional, flawed and messy individuals with baggage of their own. In contrast, many other Korean contemporary directors, including Bong Jong-ho and Park Chan-wook, use genre to propel the story forward and thriller/mystery elements to heighten emotional impact. On the other hand, the emotional punch in Lee Chang-dong's films arrives from the harsh reality his characters find themselves in.

Films such as Poetry, Oasis and Secret Sunshine are freed from any genre pretense and presented as harsh realities and result in emotions hitting harder. The final moments of Poetry (including that last frame) is such as example. Burning uses a mystery framework but even then, Lee Chang-dong retools the film in a different manner from a conventional genre treatment. It isn’t a surprise that a retrospective of his films was called “Cinema of Trauma”by MoMA.

Big Four

Lee Chang-dong has won plenty of awards for his films. However, it feels like he isn’t as celebrated compared to Bong Jong-ho, Park Chan-wook or even Hong Sang-soo. The limited output of 6 features has certainly played a part and the story of his films such as Oasis and Secret Sunshine aren’t going to draw crowds in. Secret Sunshine remains the only film that I have seen in a cinema where an audience member had such a visceral reaction to the film that she showed the finger at the screen and walked off in anger. 

Burning has an easier entry point for audience compared to his other features. Burning should have made the final cut for the Academy Award Foreign Film Category but it fell short and a year later, Parasite made history for Korean cinema. In a way, this highlights the difference in perception for Lee Chang-dong. Bong Joon-Ho crossed over the threshold globally at the Academy Awards and Cannes while Park Chan-wook has a cult following due to his Vengeance trilogy and Hong Sang-soo has a collected devotion of fans and gets awards on a regular basis. Lee Chang-dong has won awards right from his first film but his films (with exception of Burning) aren't as frequently cited in conversations related to contemporary Korean Cinema.

This spotlight has changed my perception of his films though. Out of these four Korean directors, Bong Joon Ho, Park chan-wook, Hong Sang-soo, Lee Chang-dong, I would place Lee Chang-dong well ahead of Hong Sang-soo and Park Chan-wook and tied with Bong Joon-ho in terms of cinematic power. When it comes to a powerful story, I would easily place Lee Chang-dong ahead of the other 3 while Bong Jong-ho would come out on top when it comes to a polished end product that combines social commentary with genre.

Ranking Lee Chang-dong’s 6 features (in order of preference)

As it turns out, the ranking is close to the order of their release as well

1. Burning (2018)

2. Poetry (2010)

3. Secret Sunshine (2007)

4. Oasis (2002)

5. Green Fish (1997)

6. Peppermint Candy (1999)

Peppermint Candy unfolds like a novel with each chapter highlighting key moments in the character’s journey. Not all the chapters are powerful enough, which is why this film gets to the bottom of the list. Green Fish made me think of early cinema of Hou Hsiao-hsien while the gangster element in that film and the volatile nature of main character in Oasis recalled Kim Ki-duk’s older films (especially Bad Guy) but those similarities are only on the surface. Interestingly, topic of Poetry reminded a bit of Bong Jong-ho’s Mother (2009) and both films were a year apart. However, the difference in execution and finale of both films highlights how the two directors approach their work.

Other reading

Dennis Lim's article on Lee Chang-dong is excellent and worthy reading.

Paolo Sorrentino's Naples

A double-bill of Paolo Sorrentino's first and newest features:

One Man Up (2001)

Parthenope (2024)

Soccer and Women

Tell me someone is an Italian filmmaker without telling me someone is an Italian filmmaker.

The presence of Soccer and Women in these two films emphasizes Paolo Sorrentino’s Italian credentials even though both aren’t present in all his films.

One Man Up and Parthenope are set in Sorrentino's birthplace of Naples, which since the late 1980s has been associated with soccer after Diego Maradona’s arrival in 1984 to play for Napoli. Therefore, it isn’t a surprise that soccer features in Sorrentino’s first and newest film. In addition, Sorrentino’s 2021 film Hand of God is named after Diego’s infamous 1986 handball goal against England in the World Cup. Soccer is absent in Parthenope until the finale when the film ends with Napoli’s 2023 title celebrations to emphasize a magical finale to the film and the soccer team’s fairytale title.

Soccer is front and center in One Man Up, a tale of two men who share the same name, Antonio Pisapia, and an unlucky fate. The two Antonios live different lives and have different careers but their paths intersect slightly when both their lives are in a state of decline. One Antonio (Tony played by Sorrentino regular Toni Servillo) is a pop singer who is still living on past fortunes despite having his reputation in tatters after a sex scandal. The other Antonio (Andrea Renzi) is a professional soccer player who career is ended early after injury. Since Antonio has only ever known soccer, he tries to become a soccer coach and has some new innovative tactical ideas but he soon learns how talent and a reputation aren’t enough to open all doors for him. Meanwhile, Tony is used to having all doors open for him all his life but soon finds out that those doors aren’t opening like they used to.

It is refreshing to see that Sorrentino once made a film like One Man Up as the film is devoid of any glossy visuals like those in his subsequent films, such as Il Divo (2008), The Great Beauty (2013). Also, unlike those other films, One Man Up is narrative and acting driven. The film also contains the most soccer related content than any of his other films.

The Male Gaze

The male gaze has featured in a few of of Sorrentino’s films especially Youth (2015) where the two elder characters (played by Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel) watch all the female characters with lustful eyes. That same male gaze is prominent in Parthenope, which covers a timeline from the birth of the titular character until her retirement. The film shows Parthenope’s birth in water and then the next time we see her, she is an 18-year-old (played by Celeste Dalla Porta) emerging from the water in a bikini while Sandri (Dario Aita) is in awe of her beauty. Sandri isn’t the only one taken by Parthenope but so is Raimondo (Daniele Rienzo). Raimondo is Parthenope’s brother and his inability to be with her is given a Greek tragedy treatment, a tragedy that hovers over the entire film.

The film jumps in time and depicts fragments of Parthenope’s life as she grows up, completes her education and pursues her career. A constant throughout her life is that men are bewitched by her beauty. This includes writers (with a cameo by Gary Oldman playing John Cheever), actors, producers, professors, politicians and priests. They all want her and she obliges and gives them a few moments of attention but no one can truly have her.

Of course, since this is a Sorrentino film, there is beauty to be found in each frame. One particular segment shows Naples on a hot sultry day, which allows audience to witness all the beauties of the city (both men and women), cat walking through the streets while the camera slows down. This slo-mo music video treatment recalls The Great Beauty and even Il Divo, a Sorrentino signature.

In the hands of another director Parthenope would have been a different film, one that would have given the material an actual narrative and emotional core. In Sorrentino’s hands, the film’s beauty is only on the surface. There is nothing beneath the surface but that isn’t anything new with his films. Films such as Il Divo, The Great Beauty and now Parthenope are visual eye candy made as extended music videos with some dialogues. In the case of The Great Beauty, that treatment worked wonders but doesn’t do justice to Parthenope.

Top 10 Japanese Films of All Time

Japan has one of the richest cinematic histories in the world, which is why it is very hard to make a Top 10 Film list. Even though many Japanese classic movies are readily available, there are many that never got a proper release. That means, this list will change over the years as I come across previously unseen films. As it is, this list has changed many times over the last few decades. There was a time when Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon was in the Top 3 and Kenji Mizoguchi’s films were in the Top 10.

This Top 10 could easily be filled with films from Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi. However, this list has now a handful of genre films in the Top 10 such as Kaiju (Gojira), thriller (Black Test Car) and crime (Kinji Fukasaku’s masterpiece). All these films are there on merit. Plus, I have cheated slightly and incorporated all three Human Condition parts and all five volumes of Battles Without Honor and Humanity.

Top 10 Japanese Films of all time:

1. Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujirô Ozu)

2. Ikiru (1952, Akira Kurosawa)

3. Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)

4. Godzilla (1954, Ishirô Honda)

5. Tampopo (185, Jûzô Itami)

6. Black Test Car (1962, Yasuzô Masumura)

7. The Human Condition Parts 1-3 (1959-61, Masaki Kobayashi)

8. Fires on the Plain (1959, Kon Ichikawa)

9. Battles Without Honor and Humanity vol 1-5 (1973-74, Kinji Fukasaku)

10. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960, Mikio Naruse)

Honourable Mentions (in order of preference):

High and Low (1963, Akira Kurosawa)

Woman in the Dunes (1964, Hiroshi Teshigahara)

Like Father, Like Son (2013, Hirokazu Kore-eda)

Happy Hour (2015, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

My Neighbour Totoro (1988, Hayao Miyazaki)

Top Iranian Films

This is an update to the previous Top 10 list.

Top 10 Iranian Films of All Time:

1. Taste of Cherry (1997, Abbas Kiarostami)

2. Crimson Gold (2003, Jafar Panahi)

3. Chess of the Wind (1976, Mohammad Reza Aslani)

4. The House is Black (1963, Forugh Farrokhzad)

5. Close-Up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)

6. A Man of Integrity (2017, Mohammad Rasoulof)

7. A Separation (2011, Asghar Farhadi)

8. The Cow (1969, Dariush Mehrjui)

9. The Wind Will Carry Us (1999, Abbas Kiarostami)

10. Turtles can Fly (2004, Bahman Ghobadi)

Honourable Mentions (alphabetical order):

Be Calm and Count to Seven (2008, Ramtin Lavafipour)

Downpour (1972, Bahram Beyzaie)

Iron Island (2005, Mohammad Rasoulof)

It’s Winter (2006, Rafi Pitts)

Salam Cinema (1995, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)

This is not a Film (2011, Jafar Panahi)

A Time for Drunken Horses (2000, Bahman Ghobadi)

Where is the Friend’s House? (1987, Abbas Kiarostami)

The White Balloon (1995, Jafar Panahi)

Best TV Shows of all Time

This is an updated list to last month’s Top 10.

My Top 10 TV Shows

1. Schitt’s Creek (Seasons 1-6)

Pure comedic gold! Perfection in each episode. This was a much-needed TV series to watch and rewatch during the early years of the pandemic from 2020-2021.

2. Twin Peaks Season 3 (The Return, 2017)

Some have argued this to be considered as a movie but I consider this as a TV show. This series became must watch TV for me as I tuned in weekly to see the newest glimpse into David Lynch’s enigmatic world.

3. Delhi Crime (Seasons 1-2)

Brilliantly acted and directed by Ritchie Mehta, both seasons use real life crimes (horrific in the case of Season 1) to create a tension filled nerve-wracking show.

4. Call My Agent (Seasons 1-4)

A witty and hilarious look at the chaotic world of talent agents who go to great lengths to meet their client’s ever increasing demands. This French series also gives a peek into some of the background scenarios involving film production, distribution and film festivals.

5. Sacred Games (Seasons 1-2)

A hearty mix of politics, crime, religion, Film industry, terrorism. Based on Vikram Chandra’s novel of the same name, this series brings together a stellar cast and directors (Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap). And it ends on a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. Please let there be a Season 3!

6. Ted Lasso (Seasons 1-3)

Like Schitt’s Creek, Ted Lasso was much needed during the Pandemic. A charming, delightful series that is perfectly acted.

7. Chernobyl

The series is based on the 1986 Nuclear reactor disaster but its 2019 release date foreshadowed the response of many nations towards the pandemic. This is because at its core, the series highlights the damage to society when poor planning and leadership are combined.

8. The Wire (Seasons 1-5)

This is one of those rare TV shows that uses the long form to properly create stories and characters which examine society both from a micro and macro level. The focus of all five seasons is the cat-mouse game between cops and drug dealers, with the series illustrating the logistics of drug dealing and police surveillance. The show also covers evolution of surveillance from pay phone and landlines to cell phones and the challenges that came with the technology change. Season 2 covers the port and how drugs are smuggled in, Season 3 focuses on local municipal politics, Season 4 highlights the school system and how funding impacts level of education while Season 5 parks itself in a newsroom and observes how journalists cover stories.

Many key characters are present in all 5 seasons even though some of them change jobs. This changing perspective of some characters and their different jobs smartly depicts how imbalances in society impact lives of people across all economic scales. The series covers an entire social, political, economic spectrum of Baltimore via this lens of drugs trade.

The power of the show weakens with each season and Season 4 and 5 are the weakest of the lot and contain many episodes/scenes which pale in comparison to Seasons 1-3.

9. Breaking Bad (Seasons 1-5)

10. Justified (Seasons 1-6) tied with Mad Men (Seasons 1-7)

Honourable mentions (in no particular order):

Severance (Season 1)

Farzi (Season 1)

The Family Man (Seasons 1-2)

Note: this is the Indian TV series that stars Manoj Bajpai

The White Lotus (Seasons 1-3)

Slow Horses (Seasons 1-4)

Mickey 17 and the Films of Bong Joon-ho

This is a follow-up post to last year’s Spotlight on the films of Bong Joon-Ho.

Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)

Memories of Murder (2003)

The Host (2006)

Mother (2009)

Snowpiercer (2013)

Okja (2017)

Parasite (2019)

Mickey 17 (2025)

Mickey 17, based on Edward Ashton’s book Mickey 7, has themes related to a few of Bong’s previous films such as Snowpiercer, The Host and Okja: sci-fi setting and humanity on verge of extinction (Snowpiercer), connection with an animal (Okja), killing an alien creature with chemical gas (The Host). The perception around the creature changes as the film progresses in a similar manner to that shown in The Host. At first, the alien creature is terrifying but the film changes that perception when it highlights the cruel violent nature of humans. In this aspect, the monstrous nature of humans is similar to that depicted in Okja. Interestingly, Bong first depicted scenes of humans cruelty towards animals in his first feature Barking Dogs Never Bite.

Mickey 17 also pokes at class differences akin Parasite but those differences are presented as a matter-of-fact and the film doesn’t linger on those differences. Amusingly, the sophisticated rich elites are shown to be morons while the perceived moron Mickey (Robert Pattinson) turns out to be pretty adept at navigating the alien world. The dark humour one associates with a Bong Joon Ho film is found in spades and Mickey 17 also manages to sneak in a very on-the nose Trump reference. Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) is shown to be a failed politician who lost two elections (unlike our real world) but he has a cult like appeal over his fans, some of whom are seen wearing a red cap in the audience. In addition, Marshall’s speeches and his overall demeanour is akin to Trump. Marshall’s persona is in fitting with his over-the-top cartoonish wife Ylfa (Toni Collette) whose character appears to a distant cousin to Tilda Swinton’s characters from Snowpiercer and Okja.

Parasite was always going to be a tough act to follow and in that sense, Mickey 17 is a step down from the heights of Parasite. The film has some impactful moments but the tone is uneven and certain segments don't add up to a coherent whole. While Mickey 17 fits in with the overall cinematic body of work of Bong Joon-ho, the film’s shortcomings are also a reminder that Parasite is the perfect illustration of Bong Joon-ho's style.

Updated ranking of Bong Joon-ho’s features and shorts:

1. Memories of Murder (2003)

This film still holds on as the best Bong Joon-ho film. 

2. Parasite (2019) 

A very close second. The most perfect distillation of Bong’s style. 

3. The Host (2006)

4. Mother (2009)

5. Snowpiercer (2013)

6. Okja (2017)

7. Mickey 17 (2025)

8. Influenza (2004)

9. Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)

10. Incoherence (1994)

11. Shaking Tokyo (2008)

12. White Man (1994)

Best TV Shows of all time

This is a long-awaited follow-up to the 2014 post about Best new TV shows, which in itself was a follow-up to a 2013 post about Best TV Shows.

Naturally, TV shows have changed substantially since that 2014 post more than a decade ago. Far more TV shows have been released since then, many on the multiple streaming platforms fighting each other for our attention. Therefore, it feels like a good time to take stock of things and rank my Top 10 TV shows. The ranking of these TV shows is based on the previous criteria:

Excellence Per Minute (EPM) and Soap Opera Moment (SOM).

1) EPM measures the dramatic high points of the show. Every minute of the show is not excellent, no matter what some TV critics say, but one can often pick out those great jaw dropping moments which involve a great piece of acting, repeatable dialogue or a memorable event. A rough tally of all these EPMs was used to determine which show had the best content per minute.

2) SOM is a negative indicator which will to be used to subtract from a  show’s EPM.

These two criteria certainly provide an advantage to limited TV series or shows with less than 8 episodes per season. This is because a limited amount of TV episodes wouldn’t have that much bloated filler content as shows obligated to have 12-13 episodes per season. Also, shows with a shorter running time per episode (45 min or less) would have a better chance to outperform shows with running time of 50-60 min per episode.

My Top 10 TV Shows

1. Schitt’s Creek (Seasons 1-6)

Pure comedic gold! Perfection in each episode. This was a much-needed TV series to watch and rewatch during the early years of the pandemic from 2020-2021.

2. Twin Peaks Season 3 (The Return, 2017)

Some have argued this to be considered as a movie but I consider this as a TV show. This series became must watch TV for me as I tuned in weekly to see the newest glimpse into David Lynch’s enigmatic world.

3. Delhi Crime (Seasons 1-2)

Brilliantly acted and directed by Ritchie Mehta, both seasons use real life crimes (horrific in the case of Season  1) to create a tension filled nerve-wracking show.

4. The Wire (Seasons 1-3)

This is one of those rare TV shows that uses the long form to properly create stories and characters which examine society both from a micro and macro level. The starting focus of Season 1 is on drugs sold at the street level, but the show smartly pulls back and shows how imbalances in society as a whole impact lives of the people across all economic scales.

Note: There are 5 seasons of The Wire but only the first 3 were seen as part of this list.

5. Sacred Games (Seasons 1-2)

A hearty mix of politics, crime, religion, Film industry, terrorism. Based on Vikram Chandra’s novel of the same name, this series brings together a stellar cast and directors (Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap). And it ends on a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. Please let there be a Season 3!

6. Ted Lasso (Seasons 1-3)

Like Schitt’s Creek, Ted Lasso was much needed during the Pandemic. A charming, delightful series that is perfectly acted.

7. Chernobyl

The series is based on the 1986 Nuclear reactor disaster but its 2019 release date foreshadowed the response of many nations towards the pandemic. This is because at its core, the series highlights the damage to society when poor planning and leadership are combined.

8. Breaking Bad (Seasons 1-5)

9. Justified (Seasons 1-6)

10. Mad Men (Seasons 1-7)

Honourable mentions (in no particular order):

Severance (Season 1)

Farzi (Season 1)

The Family Man (Seasons 1-2)

Note: this is the Indian TV series that stars Manoj Bajpai.

The White Lotus (Seasons 1-2)

David Lynch's cinema

The news of David Lynch passing away on Jan 15, 2025 came as a shock especially since I had hoped that he was secretly working on one last feature. A final film that I hoped would have combined the creative worlds of Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive. But not to be.

David Lynch was a filmmaker unlike any other and his legacy will continue forever especially since his unique style labeled as Lynchian is often used to describe other films or cinematic scenarios.

He is also the rare filmmaker whose films I saw entirely in non-streaming formats. I saw his films via Theater, TV, VHS Tapes and DVD. Of course, I saw Season Three of his Twin Peaks series (The Return, 2017) via cable TV while caught up with the original Twin Peaks Series via both VHS and DVD. This also speaks to the limited output of his works over the last two decades. His last feature Inland Empire was released in 2006, while his feature debut Eraserhead came out in 1977. In total, he directed 10 Feature films, 40+ shorts, 4 TV series and many music videos, commercials and web series.

I did a spotlight on his works back in 2007 as I wanted to see all his previous features, shorts and TV series in anticipation of Inland Empire. Little did I know that after Inland Empire, no more features would be released although Twin Peaks: The Return did thankfully arrive and provided 18 incredible episodes, some of those episodes packing more punch than any feature film.

Here is a ranking of his 10 features roughly in order of preference. Unlike some others, I do not consider Twin Peaks: The Return to be a film which is why I am not including any of those 18 episodes or the entire series in this ranking.

1. Mulholland Drive (2001)

Silencio. Then fade to black. Yet, many questions linger long after this intriguing puzzle of a film ends. Mulholland Drive is a perfect encapsulation of David Lynch’s style and contains a refined version of elements, character types one has seen in his other films.

2. Eraserhead (1977)

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 5 decades ago. Even today, very few films can match the cinematic richness that David Lynch offered with his debut film. This black and white film is one of those works that are tailormade 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 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.

3. Blue Velvet (1986)

This film and its many images, especially the severed ear, are forever etched in cinematic history. 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. That strangeness is now associated with the Lynchian term and helped usher in a new cinematic language.

4. The Straight Story (1999)

This is the most straightforward (no pun intended) film that David Lynch directed. If one didn't look at the credits, then one would never know that David Lynch was behind this work as the film is devoid of his auteur signposts. At least Elephant Man includes a few dream sequences which hints at the director's familiar style but The Straight Story is a clean and emotional journey. The film also turned out to be 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. The two brothers have not talked 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 and 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 straightforward no-nonsense approach to life.

Based on a true story, The Straight Story is well acted and leisurely paced so that we can soak up every minute of clean country air.

5. The Elephant Man (1980)

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, which sets this apart from other Lynch films. However, this Black and White feature is 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 has shades of the The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

6. Inland Empire (2006)

Worm holes, time travel, multiple characters, dreams, imagination, Lynch’s subconscious mind and Laura Dern’s magnificent face which stretches to whatever emotion is required of her. Inland Empire feels like the essence of Mulholland Drive drugged with the time travel element from Lost Highway with a tiny dash of bizarre from Twin Peaks. It is complicated, inaccessible but never dull or boring. This film makes Mulholland Drive look like an easily decipherable film. In Mulholland Drive, one can clearly draw a line between the dream and reality. But in Inland Empire we are dealing with multiple versions of dreams and reality which are further complicated by Laura Dern’s characters existing in both dream and real state in multiple space-time fields (L.A, Poland).

One way to describe this film is that it is akin to hyperlinks on the internet – we jump from one link to another and so on. Eventually, near the end of the movie, we are simply hitting the ‘back’ arrow on the browser and are returned to our starting page. Along the way, we find related links and stories but they are all different. Another description is that the movie is reels projected across David Lynch’s mind acted out by Laura Dern whose face is a guide to what we should be looking for.

7. Lost Highway (1997)

The start of Lost Highway is echoed by Haneke’s Caché (2005). In both films, a couple gets videotapes where someone has recorded their home from the outside. 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. That is where the differences between the two films end.

The dreamy version of L.A life that David Lynch has explored in his later films (Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire) are first found in Lost Highway. This film also contains building blocks used in Mulholland Drive as both films contain puzzles and mysteries which need to be unlocked. Lost Highway plays with the concept of time and space much more than Mulholland Drive although its plot isn’t as tightly bound as that of Mulholland Drive. Lost Highway has plenty of scenarios that don’t fit with the overall film structure whereas everything in Mulholland Drive is connected and wrapped up in one mysterious blue box!

8. Dune (1984)

It is fascinating to see how Frank Herbert’s book has led to two completely cinematic treatments. Denis Villeneuve’s two Dune films have gotten far more love than David Lynch’s 1984 version did. Yet, it is incredible to believe what Lynch accomplished back in 1984 as Dune was just his third feature. Back in the 1980s, the concept of multipart films didn’t exist so Lynch had to pack the contents of the entire Dune novel in just one film. That difficult task is something that Villeneuve was able to learn from and he took his time in telling the Dune story in two parts totaling over five hours in length, more than double the running time of Lynch’s version. In addition, Lynch didn’t have full creative control over the film. That aspect was much more common back in the day when studios exerted much more control over the final cut of the film.

The experience of working on Dune and its aftermath ensured that David Lynch followed a completely different path. After Dune, Lynch set out to create his own cinematic world rooted in Earth but still transcending space-time boundaries.

9. Twin Peaks:Fire Walk with me (1992)

The 1992 Twin Peaks film serves as a prequel to the 1990 TV series and gave Lynch a chance to revisit Twin Peaks. Lynch expanded on the dream realm world in this film and incorporated elements that came to define his future works. For example, the green ring and the dreams have the same mystery appeal as the blue box in Mulholland Drive.

10. Wild at Heart (1990)

My least favourite David Lynch film happens to the one that won him the Palme d’Or at Cannes 1990. The acting performances are indeed prizeworthy but not the story and treatment. Of course, over the last three decades, far more awful films have gone on to win the Palme d’Or so at least Lynch got a Palme d’Or, one that he surely deserved for Mulholland Drive (won best director instead).