Reel Suave » Featurette

Zach Snyder wants Watchmen to be Great

suavers — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:23:26 +0000

SPOILER ALERT: If you don’t want to know anything about “Watchmen” before you go see it next March, don’t read this post.

I saw about 20 minutes of footage from the “unfilmable” film on Wednesday and I’m very happy to report that Zack Snyder has a found a way to make “Watchmen” truly watchable.

The most pressing question in all of the fanboy universe right now is whether Snyder’s adaptation of the landmark 1986 comics epic “Watchmen” will deliver a classic finally realized or a merely bad idea pursued too long. Alan Moore, who wrote the original graphic novel, has been steadfast in mocking the basic notion of making a movie out of his sprawling, layered and uniquely structured tale and, to be sure, the story uses many devices (such as a secondary story presented as a book-within-a-book) that defy translation in any mainstream film, but does that mean that the core story of the graphic novel itself cannot be taken to the screen in an artistically and commercially viable film?

The true answer to that question will come in March with the release of the film. But I can tell you that, judging by the footage I saw on Wednesday, Snyder has approached the source material so deftly and with such acute understanding, that this adaptation is absolutely a worthwhile endeavor.

Snyder, who as a public speaker is enthusiastic and charmingly scattered, chatted a bit before the screening and in the small room of journalists, Hollywood types and selected fan press, you could sense a real surge of excitement when the lights dimmed.

For so many people (myself included), the first “Watchmen” reading experience all those years ago was a pivot-point in our pop-culture lives and, for better or worse, seeing it come to life on a screen is a stirring occasion.

The movie begins (as the graphic novel does) with a closer-than-close view of a yellow smiley-face button and begins to zoom out. The button is on the shabby bathrobe of the “hero,” called the Comedian, who looks scruffy and bleary as he makes a cup of instant coffee in the kitchen of his high-rise apartment. The television is on and the talking heads (all actors doing spot-on versions of John McLaughlin and Eleanor Clift as well as a less recognizable Pat Buchanan) are debating the menace presented by the Soviet Union. Their chatter also informs the audience about Dr. Manhattan, the blue-skinned creature who was once a man but now, with his god-like powers, is a walking deterrent to America’s enemies. The Comedian, taking it all in through jaundiced eyes, changes the channel and watches President Nixon giving a speech and then, after flipping again, he chuckles and daydreams as he watches a perfume commercial for a scent called Veidt. Then a mysterious figure kicks in his door and a bloody confrontation begins…

It was difficult to keep notes as I was watching everything — Snyder has jam-packed the screen with details that every “Watchmen” fan will recognize if they catch them as they fly past. After the out-the-window murder of the Comedian (played by a grizzled Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the camera soars down to the bloody sidewalk below and goes “back into the button,” zooming into the yellow of the smiley-face lapel pin that is now speckled with blood (again, just like the graphic novel). Some Bob Dylan music plays (Snyder said there are three Dylan songs planned for the movie, “because it just feels right, appropriate to the tone”) as the film turns to a somewhat dizzying montage for the title sequence that delivers a major history lesson of this alternate Earth. Some of it made the audience chuckle (is that a good thing?), such as when the iconic imagery of the JFK assassination is shown but with the added conclusion of the Comedian holding the smoking gun or the shot of Ozymandias outside Studio 54 with Mick Jagger and David Bowie look-a-likes (who, on reflection, appear almost as outlandish as the costumed hero). There’s a lot of this and it feels sort of “Forrest Gump”-ish at some point and (along with the goofy rubber nose worn by the Nixon character) I felt a flash of anxiety. Was this too many jagged images delivered in a row? How could anyone who didn’t read the graphic novel make sense of it? And that one fleeting image of a dour young boy watching as smirking men walk into his prostitute mother’s bedroom — how on earth could any uninformed viewer be expected to connect that with the character that would become Rorschach?

Read the rest on the link below

– Geoff Boucher LA Times

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Animation the evolving Art form

John — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:23:21 +0000

Lot of us are totally lost in this totally evolving art form. The film industry has stopped taking this industry lightly anymore. There have been so many live action movies like Transformers, Speed Racer and Avatar( M Night Shymalan to direct the last one yikes) this will surely give the genre more leverage. But the medium took decades to gain critical mass among U.S audiences

It was first introduced in the 1960s with some really interesting family oriented shows like the Astro Boy and Speed Racer. Japanese anime enjoyed early popularity but took some time to get noticed by the adults for whom it was targeted to. In the following decade it had some science fiction shows like Gatchaman and Transformers which helped increase the younger audiences. Then the art form hit a major genre shift into maturity with the cult classics like Akira and Ghost in the Shell. The series Ghost in the shell revolutionized ideas of where anime was going. They had two major movie release also that were just staggering feats of cinematic excellence.

By the late 1990’s critics were totally smitten by the Hayao Miyazaki who was considered the mature answer to all the stuff on Disney. His films Spirited Away raised the bar of animation and made even studios Disney make major changes to their films as well. Now here we have some really important years in the Japanese anime industry

1963
“Astro Boy” series starts in Japan, launches in the U.S. later the same year. The original manga was created by Osamu Tezuka, who is considered the father of the format.

1966
“Gigantor” series debuts in the U.S.
Another of Tezuka’s creations, “Kimba the White Lion,” launches.

1967
“Speed Racer” takes off in the U.S. a year after it was first broadcast in Japan, airing off and on over the years. MTV picks up the show in 1993; Cartoon Network adds it to their lineup in 1996.
In the same year, restrictions over violent content limit Americans’ access to Japanese animation, including such shows as “Devilman.”

1978
“Battle of the Planets” (aka Gatchaman) series debuts in the U.S.

1979
“Star Blazers” series starts in the US.

1984
“Voltron” hits U.S. shores, followed by “Transformers.” Both the anime and tie-in toys become popular.

1985
“Robotech” takes off in the U.S.

1986
An animated “Transformers” feature earns more than $5 million at the box office, including a key voice performance by Orson Welles (who died before the film was released).

1989
Anime feature “Akira” opens in December, giving U.S. auds a taste of what the format can accomplish.
Hayao Miyazaki’s “Castle in the Sky” receives a limited released in the U.S.

1993
Troma releases a dubbed version of Miyazaki’s “My Neighbour Totoro” in the U.S. Writing for Variety, critic Leonard Klady says he doesn’t get it.

Early 1990s
Many Japanese animations go directly to video, where more mature titles with sex and violence catch on among cult audiences.
Video rental stores start to set up Japanese anime sections.
The word “manga” enters the English language with “pop, erotic, futuristic and artistic” connotations.

1995
“Sailor Moon” airs in the U.S. Since much of the audience are young girls, it helps expand the image of anime from being a male-oriented media to something both sexes can enjoy.
Around this time, the Japanese trend of dressing up as anime characters (or “cosplay”) comes to the U.S.

1996
“Ghost in the Shell” is released on video, landing many fans who will later work in Hollywood (including the Wachowski brothers). Hits No. 1 on Billboard’s video charts.
“Dragonball Z” debuts on TV, with violent scenes edited out.

1998
Cartoon Network airs unedited “Dragonball Z” episodes as part of its Toonami programming block.
The “Pokemon” TV series launches, riding the popularity of the game franchise.

1999
Still largely unknown in the U.S., Miyazaki improves his profile with Miramax’s release of “Princess Mononoke.” Toon’s PG-13 rating and limited release leads to modest box office, but draws strong reviews and attention to its creator. In Japan, it becomes the highest-grossing film of all time.

2002
Disney releases “Spirited Away,” with English-language dubbing personally overseen by Pixar’s John Lasseter. The film goes on to win the animated feature Oscar.
On television, “Yu-Gi-Oh” and “Inuyasha” both launch.

2005
Cartoon Network adds “Naruto” to its Toonami lineup.
Nickelodeon debuts “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” a toon modeled after the style and content of Asian animation (mixing martial arts, mysticism and serial storytelling). Two years later, the show wins a primetime Emmy.

2006
Viz Media dubs manga-based toon “Bleach” for American auds. The show courts older viewers as part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block.

2007
Michael Bay directs a live-action version of “Transformers,” hiring Peter Cullen (the lead voice on the U.S. animated series) to reprise his role as Optimus Prime.

Paramount announces plans for an “Avatar” feature (not to be confused with James Cameron’s original sci-fi project) to be directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

2008
The Wachowski brothers adapt “Speed Racer” as a live-action film, using cutting-edge fx to reflect (and modernize) the style of the original show.

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James Cameron Talks 3D

John — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:57:25 +0000

With his last film Titanic breaking all known box office records it is surely imperative that his next release Avatar is sure to get increased buzz. The film promises to be ambitious as his earlier works and is going to change the way people look at cinema. The film contains a combination of both stereorscopic 3D images and uses live action and computer animation for equal measure. It is surely going to the be first of its kind. So for this reason only this movie is going to be some kind of event in the world cinemas.

It has taken more than 2 and half years to make this movie and the expectations are already reaching dizzing heights. James Cameron has said that 60 percent of the movie will CG animation using the capture based process like in the Polar Express and Bewoulf, and the rest of it will be live with a lot of VFX imagery.

” It is the most challenging film I’ve ever made,” Cameron said. This coming from a man who always has been testing himself in the last decade. He was know to play a part in the dream like film Solaris directed by Steven Sodenberg. It heralded some amazing variations of the original directed by Tarkovsky. So make sure the film is not going to be just a gimmick but an investment in narrative is sure to be there.

“You have to make a good film that would be a good film under any circumstances,” he said. “You have to put the narrative first. The reality is no matter how many (3-D) screens we get, you are still going to have a large number of people — possibly the majority of people — who see the film in a 2-D environment.”

The live action principal photography for the film was done in New Zealand last fall and winter using the Fusion 3-D system. He first used this camera for his 2003 Imax film ” Ghosts of the Abyss”. He and Vince Payne had invented this camera for the project.

Now, Fusion camera systems are available for rental via Burbank-based 3-D provider Pace, through which president Vince Pace and Cameron continue to innovate and develop the technology. The system already has made its mark, having been used on such pioneering live-action digital 3-D titles as “Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”

Said Pace: “The systems themselves, in my opinion, can handle any creative challenge. We’ve learned a lot since shooting ‘Ghosts of the Abyss.’ ”

With the principal photography over, Cameron is now focusing on the post production work of the performance capture 3-D. This involved a whole lot of R&D that gave the director new creative options and flexibity. It uses a brand new performance capture production workflow.

“The way we developed the performance capture workflow on ‘Avatar” is we have our virtual camera, which allows me to, in real time, hold a camera — it’s really a monitor — in my hands and point it at the actors and see them as their CG chartacters,” Cameron said.

The actors wear leotards and a “head rig” with a tiny standard-definition camera that takes an image of an actor’s face. “That is going though facial algorithms and going back into the camera as a real-time CG face of the character,” the helmer said. “You see it talk; you see the eyes move. It is pretty phenomenal.

“Once we’ve laid down a take, the take exists in the digital asset management system,” he said. “It an be accessed at any time. Long after the actors have gone home, I’m still out there with the virtual camera, shooting coverage on the scene. I just have to play the take back. I can do the close up, the wide shot. … I can even move them around on a limited basis. We relight it. We do all kinds of things.

“It’s this amazing ability to quickly conjure scenes and images and great fantasyscapes that is very visual. We call it ‘director centric’ because I can use the camera to block the actors,” Cameron related. “When you are doing performance capture, creatively it’s very daunting. It’s very hard to imagine what it will look like. But if you can see it, if you can have a virtual image of what is it going to be like, then you are there. As the processing power goes up our models get more sophisticated and our lighting tools get more sophisticated, even while we are making this movie. I’m still doing a lot of virtual camera work on the film … on stuff that was shot six months ago.”

Cameron also used what he calls FPR, or Facial Performance Replacement, which he likens to the film sound technique of ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement).

To describe the process, the director relates that he recently wanted to redo a line spoken by actor Laz Alonzo. “We changed the words and he redid the dialogue. We didn’t have to recapture (his body performance) and he didn’t have to put the performance capture suit on again. We were just creating new words, and we were creating a new face.”

On the cinematography, Cameron related that his goal was to create “one movie where the aesthetics of physical production and the aesthetics of virtual production are, to the extent that we could do it, pretty much it identical.”

In order to achieve this they had to develop something called “Simulcam” it makes the real camera work as a virtual camera and helps to remove guesswork “We’re taking our virtual production toolset and superimposing it on physical production,” Cameron said. “We turned the set on the soundstage into a capture volume and turned the physical camera into a capture virtual camera, so we were able to integrate CG characters and environments into our live action.”

He further explained this with an example: “We have people in flying vehicles, and I can see what is outside the window, fed in, in real time.”

On 3-D, both Cameron and Pace are looking ahead.

“The real question is ‘where does all this go?” Cameron said. “Are we looking at a situation maybe 10-15 years out where most laptops are sold with 3-D stereoscopic screens, most montors are stereo compatible, most DVD players can run stereo content? … I can see this becoming much more pervasive that we are thinking now.”

He and Pace believe content is the key.

Pace addressed one last–and not often addressed–aspect of 3-D: The archival value.

“I think back of our shots at Titanic (lensed for “Ghosts of the Abyss”). Those have incredible, future proof, archival value,” Pace said. “When we look at (3-D) display devices in the home (which are already becoming available)–a lot of filmmakers and studios need to be making 3-D right now. Those production commitments are often based on the here and now, instead of thinking about how much value there is to this 3-D product in the future. Why not master in 3-D now if there is only an incremental expense? Why not think about that now?”

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The Dark Knight - Joker’s Take

John — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:30:04 +0000

I just watched this totally patronizing movie the other day and i was really struck by its reality. It wasn’t really what i wanted to say before the end of it. But I was sure it was going to be manipulated like all the other films that have come out in the past with me in it. You people really didn’t take your chance of making a difference to society such wimps. I wanted it to end like it always does with a smile. Let me take you threw what really happened that night.

I was overlooking the bridge waiting for the fate of mankind. Everything I ever imagined was falling into place. Finally my chance at total world domination and destruction has been envisioned. But alas I spoke to soon the stupid Batman had to intervene. Let me take you back to where I came from. I love talking about this to everyone it makes me create a shadow over you petty readers. It leaves me with a feeling of empowerment and oneness with your self that is really infectious. It is really time that I spoke about my humble beginnings. My dad used to find it really disconcerting that I was born with such a serious face. I m not denying that he was a scoundrel who just bashed anything he saw. But he was stronger than me back then, bashing up my mom for no reason. Then one day( oh this is so good, I sort of salivate when I hear myself telling this part) he took a knife and made these marks on my face and with a smile asked me ” Why So Serious Son….”. I really wish reader you were here right now so that I could cut you up in little pieces and play with your body parts till it smells like a dead skunk. But then again you’re totally under the protection of that horrible man with his suit wound up so tight that I just hope it would kill him one day. HAHAHAHAH. I m sure you all are waiting to read what i have to say about this obnoxious movie. I think of this movie like my tribute video for Batman. A death i want to inflict upon him in the coming days. I m not sure I want to come back soon. Yes i want to inflict some more pain.

But guys I really feel sorry for what happened to Two Face but it had to be done for the greater bad. He always had it in him the potential to create mayhem. He was a pawn to all my greater plans. So his loss was needed so that there will be no face for Gotham to look upto. Yes Batman I took him to end Gotham’s chance at goodness. His skin will always reek of what I had made him do. A man who totally lost his purpose and joined the true chosen one THAT is MEEEEEEEEEEEEE. May he rest in evil.

Yes darlings my letting go of him was part of the plan. Like I said I want this to go on forever. So I inflicted very small injuries to this man. He has reached a stage where he has to run from everyone. I want to take when he finally runs from himself. That is when we both will become one and his morality will be mine to butcher on this table. I will finally see who the Batman really his with my final blow. Goodnight till then. But all this talk about Batman has gotten me thinking about my next plan, how I wish he would make a mistake because of his biggest weakness and that is you.

P.S for those of you who still want my dwindling army please pull out my card from any deck near you.

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Dark Knight - All the Buzz

John — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:46:05 +0000

The film is barely days away from release but it has caused enough of prerelease buzz to make it looks like the new Pandora’s box. it has quite sometime to release. But it is all about what this Joker holds for us. Is he going to match up to the great Jack Nicholson. By now all of us know who the new Joker is, he is no stranger to parts of such magnitude. He is man who has risked quite a bit to put a smile upon the Batman Franchise.

Recently I came across an animated series called The Gotham Knight which has all the makings of a companion piece to the Dark Knight film. It is a selection of short films created by some great Japanese Masters. It is filled with action set pieces that our akin to any Hollywood production. But this is not all that it boasts of. it has some cleverly written stories that make it a treat to watch. The only story that is somewhat washed out is the one set in India about a witch lady trying to teach Batman some new tricks. The most popular one of the lot is the Dead Shot episode. The action in the train sequence will surely leave you breathless. It is last one and surely a fitting end to the series. There are also some interesting interpretation in the first story of how Batman will look through the eyes of four kids. There is also a famous shot of Batman standing in the fire waiting to stop a crossfire between two warring gangs.

The new Batman picture, opening July 18 and already reviewed in dozens of print and online outlets, will be the biggest of the summer, the biggest of the year and one of the pop cinematic phenoms of the new century. But the hype has been building up each day. They are going all out with everything they have. Today there was news that the composers have turned up the darkness on the music. The result is an intense orchestral bombast, replete with crashing percussive outbursts and cellos teetering at the far reaches of human hearing. They are also planning to release the soundtrack earlier than the previous movie. They want to beat the previous record set by the previous movie.

Hanz Zimmer and James Newton Howard have turned up once again for this great soundtrack. They are hitting on all the right notes to create this into a great extravagant affair.

But the music is not the only thing that has got all the hype. There are many ticketing sites like Fandango have been cashing in on this huge pre release buzz. But the advance ticket sales have almost raised the bar over the Spiderman Franchise. Many analysts are saying that the new Batman film is ahead on the advance ticket by 8:1. The Imax theatres all around the US are just left with 6 A.M show tickets that too 90% of it has been sold. This is a huge phenomenon no doubt but will the film survive all this buzz. Many of the polls have shown that most of the people are turning up because of the posthumous release of Heath Ledger Joker.

The film has also got tremendous buzz from some of the big shot critics like the Hollywood Reporter and Rolling Stone. But they are still waiting for reviews from news agencies like New York Times.

Now it comes to why this movie looks so good yet bigger than anything we have ever seen.

1. Batman

Christian Bale is back with Dark Knight and he is as big as ever. He has several villains to take on this time and several confidants are back from the first movie re enacting their roles. But he is put upon a challenge that might destroy his very core principal of not taking anybodies life.

2. Joker

Heath Ledger lost his life showcasing a role that demanded him to make someone who is closer to a Clockwork Orange level character. He has created a worthy nemesis for Batman. A man who is bent upon putting a smile on this Dark Knight. He wants the Batman to throw his best shot. He is just left with a knife letting his victims getting tortured by all the pain he can cause. Heath Ledger is also getting in my view unwanted Oscar buzz which is something that is totally unwarranted.

3 Two Face

Another Surprise edition to the franchise is Two Face whose role is extremely closed from the media. The franchise is throwing all the attention to joker. This is good in a way for the character played by the extremely talky Aaron Ekhart. Another surprise will be with Scarecrow who will bring back his menace from the first movie. Can’t wait to see him as well.

4 Imax Experience

We already had a video of some of the shots being filmed especially in Imax. The film will be opening in around 94 Imax screens. They have opened several early shows to cater to the growing need for the audience to check this film out. So for those of you who want to check it out again please dont miss the Imax experience.

5 The old players

Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman are back to reprise their roles as the necessary backing for the Batman franchise.

There has been surely many people behind all this buzz. But Heath created all this heat in the beginning months and making sure that this will become the most profitable franchise for this year. Best of Luck to these guys to make our day on July 18th.

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From Sunrise to Sunset

Priyankar — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:35:45 +0000

Yesterday I was browsing through the movie reviews for this weekend’s releases. I came across a familiar rant from a critic subjected to the latest star-driven, inane romcom from Hollywood. He was wondering why anyone would pay good money to watch two worthless and insufferable characters laboring through a stupidity fest. It inspired me to revisit the protagonists from the two movies which together make up the perfect romantic double bill for me. Now here I met two people who are intelligent, articulate, witty, passionate and very, very real. Though they don’t do much else other than talk, I was sad to let go of them when the movie was over.

I am talking about Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Both the movies were written and directed by Richard Linklater, the master of slacker movies. He adopts a direct, linear style for narration in both. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are credited with assisting Linklater in writing the screenplay for Before Sunset. Like Dazed and Confused and Tape, these two movies also take place over the course of a few hours each in a single day. The second movie was made nine years after the first one and the events in it are also set nine years later.

The premise is deceptively simple. Ethan Hawke plays Jesse, an American guy who is on a Europe trip. He meets Celine, a pretty French girl on a train. They strike up a conversation. Jesse is supposed to get off at Vienna. He convinces Celine to come and spend the day with him, just to see if their connection is anything more than a fleeting infatuation. She agrees on an impulse. They end up walking around the streets for a day and a night. In times when people find it difficult to communicate even with their loved ones, these two talk and argue so easily about anything and everything in the universe…from first sexual feelings to reincarnations to the inscrutability of desires and relationships. The dialogue has an enchanting freshness. It is the kind of natural tête-à-tête any literate person would love to have with his/her companion. I could relate to it so readily that at times I almost forgot I was watching a movie.

It is philosophical without being pretentious. It captures the beauty of Vienna without turning into a tourist trip. Jesse and Celine rather prefer to explore the cobbled streets, the nooks and crannies. They have a number of interesting encounters. They meet a couple of amateur actors who are staging a play about a cow. They visit a cemetery where the anonymous dead washed up in the Danube River are buried. Celine gets her palm read by a fortune-teller. A street poet, described as a ‘Viennese variation of a bum’ writes a poem with the word milkshake in it, in exchange for money. They share their impressions of each other by making pretend calls to their friends while sitting across the table in a restaurant.

They express cynicism externally. But the hope and romance of youth is still alive in their hearts. They know that most probably they are not going to meet again. They want something to come of this one day. But are afraid. They end up making love in a park, drinking wine borrowed from a friendly bartender.

The next morning in the naivety of youth, they decide not to exchange numbers or addresses. As such things just die off over time in a rather unspectacular fashion. They plan to meet at the same station six months hence.

In the second movie, Before Sunset, Jesse has got one of his books published. Of course the book is a thinly veiled account of the incidents from Before Sunrise. He is on a promotion trip. During a press conference on his last stop in Paris, in a small, cozy bookstore, he sees Celine standing outside. So, they didn’t meet at the Vienna platform after all. They have a few hours before Jesse’s flight to New York. They walk and talk yet again.

It is interesting to compare the conversations in the two movies. Here, there is a semblance of awkwardness initially. After all 9 years have passed. Both try to give the impression that they are content with their lives. Celine is working for an NGO kind of organization. Thus, she is contributing her bit towards correcting whatever’s wrong with the world. And Jesse is happily married and a published author.

However, the earlier spontaneity and forthrightness is regained soon. And the weariness of life, of approaching middle-age, of a life passing them by turns evident. They have been reasonably successful by ordinary standards. But like most young people, they had expected something extraordinary. Now they have lost those illusions. The cruelty of time and fading dreams has made them wiser but joyless.

And the regret. If they had met, they might have ended up hating each other after a period. The operative word here is ‘might’. They were unable to forget each other. That day was like the peak of their ardently idealistic, idyllic youth. The spark is still there. But it’s too late now. But they can’t help reminiscing and conjecturing. If it sounds depressing, rest assured it’s not. Rather, the tone adopted by the script is more melancholic in nature.

This is one of the rare instances where the sequel flows organically from the original. The first one is the story of two carefree, smart young people having a chance meeting and turning it into an intense, memorable experience. The latter installment is more introspective and mature in nature. Together the two halves make one glorious whole, an unforgettable vignette of love found and lost.

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Kieslowski’s Trois Couleurs

Priyankar — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:57:47 +0000

Kyzysztof Kieslowski ostensibly based his three colors trilogy on the blue, white and red of the French Flag, signifying liberty, equality and fraternity. When asked in an interview, whether the tricolor was selected for convenience, he replied, “Of course it is. The words [liberte, egalite, fraternite] are French because the money is French. If the money had been of a different nationality we would have titled the films differently, or they might have had a different cultural connotation. But the films would probably have been the same.”

He was one of the greatest craftsmen to wield the instrument of cinema but he professed a disconcerting lack of faith in the medium itself. A self-avowed pessimist, he declared that he considered the camera to be a stupid instrument, as it was unable to illuminate the inner feelings of a character as a novel could. But this didn’t hinder him from conducting a profound exploration of the philosophical ideals of freedom, equality and fraternity at the level of individuals. The outcome was his final offering, a perfectly realized trilogy, Trois Couleurs. In contrast to the overt politics of his earlier Polish work, he shifted entirely to abstractions when he started working in French. Blue was set in Paris, White in Paris and Warsaw and Red in Geneva, making this an international collaboration.But then, a masterpiece does not have a language or region.

When Kieslowski derived the Decalogue from the ten commandments, the episodes were far removed from simple morality fables. Rather, he followed his meticulously etched characters, as they faced complex moral dilemmas, finding extraordinary situations in their ordinary lives. Similarly, when I started watching Blue (Bleu), initially I tried searching for the theme in the frames and the plot. However, very soon, I gave in to the beauty of the imagery unfolding on the screen. The first scene is a sideways shot of the axle of a car running on a Paris road. We see the outstretched hand of a child holding a violet colored plastic candy wrapper, fluttering in the wind outside the window. Soon, the car crashes into a tree, with a sickening sound. As a boy fiddling around with a wooden toy waits on the roadside for a lift. Next, as the blurry images clear, we see the reflection of a doctor in a close-up of Julie’s (Juliette Binoche) eyes. He reveals to her that her husband, a renowned composer and daughter have died in the accident. Thus begins this contemplation of an individual’s search for liberation as a means of coping with a horrific personal tragedy.

Julie tries to commit suicide in the hospital, but fails. There is one and only one display of explicit sorrow on her part. While watching the funeral on a display from her hospital bed, her lips quiver in uncontrollable emotion. Afterwards, she appears to turn numb. She destroys her husband Patrice’s last incomplete concerto, which was a commission from the EU. She calls over Olivier, Patrice’s assistant. He always liked her. She sleeps with him and just as cruelly tells him to leave the next morning. She directs her lawyer to sell all her property and take care of the old gardener and housekeeper. There is a revealing scene where Julie asks the housekeeper why she is crying. The reply is, “Because you won’t”. Julie goes back to her maiden name and takes an apartment. She spends her days doing absolutely nothing. It’s almost as if she is trying to will herself out of existence. It seems a conscious decision on her part to sever all ties with her past life.

Frequently, we see the screen enveloped in bluish imagery, reflecting Julie’s mental state. There are several sequences of her swimming in the empty pool, the lights dancing on the clear water. The blue lamp hanging is the only thing she takes from her old house. Blue is scattered throughout. In the pen with which she makes corrections to Olivier’s work, in the lollipop she finds in her handbag and chews up ferociously.

Her self-imposed isolation is constantly disturbed by invasions from externalities. She becomes friendly with a stripper, Lucille, living in the same building. One night Lucille calls Julie to her club in a frantic state. It provides a peek into a contrasting world, where the rigors of daily life don’t leave much room for mourning and grief. Led by a series of coincidences, Julie discovers a secret side of her husband’s life. In reacting to the situation, she is led by her ‘goodness’ to be drawn back into the world of the living. Ironically, she does not finds her support mechanism in the freedom she was so desperately seeking. But as Kieslowski himself mentioned she discovers it in the love and feeling she was running away from.

The orchestral score by Zbigniew Preisner is in itself an essential character in the movie, shifting from melancholic to lofty. It is hinted that Julie might have played a significant role in the composition credited to Patrice. The climax is a hypnotic montage of scenes, of all the protagonists, beginning and endiong with Julie, providing apprpriate closure.

Though all three films have been photographed beautifully, Blue is the one where it is so overpowering that at some points, it threatens to take over the underlying ideas. It is a movie which needs to be watched time and again to fully appreciate it.

White (Blanc) is probably the most accessible and playful of the three. The first scene is this opens to a trunl bumping along a luggage conveyor at an airport. We don’t know the contents of it yet. White tells the story of Karol,a Polish guy, who is kicked out by his French wife, played by Julie Delpy. She not only divorces him but also puts the cops on his tail. There’s a reason for it. He’s turned impotent. He manages to make his way back to Warsaw from Paris. He abandons his profession of a hairdresser. With a bit of luck and a some shrewd planning, he turns rich within a few years. Then he uses his new found power to get back at his wife through a devious plot. she ends up in prison. In the last scene he watches her inside her cell. From behind the barred windows, she also sees him and gestures thzt she is ready to re-marry him. We realize that he never stopped loving her. More surprisingly, neither did she.

Karol is humiliated. And he’s determined never to be in the same situation again. He wants to be equal, in fact more equal than others. And white is the color chosen to portray this struggle for equality. Like in Blue, white is all-pervasive here. From the snow-clad environs of Warsaw to the radiant memories of his wedding day, everything is bathed in bright white. Towards the end, when Karol has regained his sexual prowess, Julie Delpy’s orgasm also fades to a white screen.

This movie does not the emotional intricacies of Blue. Probably, it is due to a greater stress on action rather than internal drama. But it is a strong, solid movie, with dark wit and some subtle commentary on human motivations.

The last one in the trilogy is Red (Rouge). It is the one which provides closure and links together the three features in one bold stroke. It begins with an unusual sequence. Someone is making a call. The signal travels through cables under the house, below the ground, enter into the sea and finally end up on a switchboard…where a busy red light flashes. During the movie, we meet a retired judge who listens in on his neighbor’s phone conversations. Valentine, a young model hits the judge’s dog Rita. She takes Rita back to her owner. In the process, she makes her acquaintance with the bitter, cynical judge and stumbles upon his pastime. She is disgusted. The judge tells her that she can go and tell any of the neighbors. She does go to a neighboring house, where the husband is talking on the phone with his secret gay lover. She meets the loving wife. She sees the little daughter listening in on the conversation with no apparent reaction. She is unable to tell them.

A bond develops between Valentine and the judge. Whereas the judge has isolated himself by choice, Valentine is lonely as she waits for her boyfriend to return from an overseas trip. A parallel thread is about a young man Auguste, who is studying to be a judge and is in love with an older woman. He lives across the street from Valentine. And his girlfriend lives near the Judge’s house. The judge narrates the story of the one betrayal which altered his life. He ends by telling Valentine, that proabaly she is the woman he never met. And already we have seen this exact story being played out in young Auguste’s life. But will Valentine ever meet him? With Kieslowski’s love for chance and fate, you can be sure she does. The movie ends with a disaster on a grand scale which finally brings everything together, literally and metaphorically.

What does the Red in this movie stand for? It has been used to depict themes ranging from unbridled passion to decay and death. Here, it might represent the externalities and possibilities arising from the meetings between Valentine and the judge. As in Blue, here also compassion and affection seep into the judge’s life through Valentine’s naive but sunny persona. It happens through a weird kind of fraternity, where two souls just find that they have a lot to give to each other.

In all three of the movies, there’s a shot of a stooped old woman struggling to push a bottle into a trash can. It might stand for the inevitable infirmity and helplessness of old age. But this same view can mean different things for Julie, Karol and Valentine. Julie doesn’t even see the woman as she is entranced by the music of the itinerant flute player. She doesn’t see it coming. Karol sees someone worse off than him while Valentine sees a poor lady who needs help.

All three movies share common ideas of desolation, detachment and alienation. The proceedings are gloomy but the ending is hopeful. Kieslowski’s work is characterized by a strict overarching structure, with the preponderance of chance. But within the confines, of this, he provides tremendous freedom for his characters to act. He does play God, but not an omnipotent one. The difference here is crucial, as it transforms the trilogy from being a mere gimmick to a humane study of real people.

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Ore Kadal (One Ocean)

Shilpa — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:36:41 +0000

A movie by Shyam Prasad based on a novel by Gangopadhyay

Cast includes: Mammooty, Meera Jasmin, Narain, Ramya Krishnan

The Malayalam movie, translated in English as One Ocean, is the story of a middle class under-educated wife and mother who falls in a tide of emotions. Though it may seem centripetal to this woman, Deepthi; the story deals a lot with a much more array of topics, emotions, relationships and characters.

Typically, it can be referred to as a story of extra-marital relationship. But that is if you just want to see an outline of this movie. If you really understood the movie, or if you get really involved with it (I could guarantee this one), you will definitely see the different tangents of life.

The characters include Deepthi and her husband, Mr Nathan and Bela.

Deepthi’s husband doesn’t have a job and her kid is ill. She needs money but he is away looking for a job in Banglore and has been there for a while. Her conversation is overheard by author, economist, professor and lady-lover, Mr Nathan. He offers to drop the child and pays her money for medication.

On his return, Deepthi’s husband asks her to borrow some more money from Mr Nathan and also asks her to ask him for a job recommendation. She gets both done.

Her husband is the ignorant fool. He is unaware of what he is pushing his wife to do. He is unaware of the evil he is smoking up. He is educated but desperate for a job.

The husband is the kind of individual who is innocently aloof. He doesn’t know anything that happens around him, intricately. He only sees the obvious and only believes in the obvious. He is not one to delve into thoughts, read into observations or fall out of consistency. He was programmed to study, find a job, marry a woman, father the children and die. And that is all he will do. He will never trudge the beyond.

Deepthi on the other hand is slightly different. She is the homemaker and the perfect wife and mother but within her lies a fire of passion that the naked eye cannot see – not even her. Until … it is stirred awake by an external force. She had a lonely childhood; she yearned for care and affection, something she never got. She yearned to be loved.

Then, Mr Nathan. He is what you call the intelligent, independent ruffian who self-pledged to lead a life of misery. He is disconnected from his family, even when his mother is on death bed. He doesn’t have any friends. He only has one friend, Bela … a friend for benefits. He loves women and he doesn’t shy away from admitting it. Mr Nathan prefers to be in his solitude and he doesn’t believe in the word love… because he doesn’t love anyone and doesn’t want anyone to love him. He thought.

Deepthi and Mr Nathan’s meeting was purely accidental but the very first meeting set a spark. There was something about her that this man with the iron-heart thinks beyond his life and his writings. He thought about the economy of India… about the uneducated middle class and their lifestyles.

On going up to the ninth floor to return his money at his house, Deepthi (from floor four) finds that she intrigued by him. His life, his books, his profession and his mere presence.

The sparks flew out of proportion during this meet when alcohol-heavy Nathan explicitly carves Deepthi’s neck with his finger. When he explains how she turned him on with her mere presence.

Something within Deepthi awoke. All her hidden feelings of want and desperation for love sprouts like a hungry flame over dried leaves. She doesn’t resist temptation and she allows him to indulge in her.

This is where the thin line of difference between a woman yearning for love and a man running away from it, comes. What she encountered changed her perspective. A greed started building in her, a greed for more of the poisonous nectar. She went back, he welcomed her but with the statutory warning – do not fall in love with him.

Imagine a situation where a hungry child who hasn’t eaten for weeks enters a bakery and the baker tells her to sit in the kitchen but not touch a morsel. Similarly.

Her mind started building the greatest of evils, hope. She started hoping and slowly expecting – to be loved, to be wanted.

Mr Nathan is an escapist. He doesn’t need love in his life because he is afraid. He fears to love or be loved because it is something this brave, intelligent, smart person cannot take. He is honest about his need for women but he is lies blatantly when he says he doesn’t need anyone or he doesn’t love anyone. If that was the case, why was he a raring alcoholic? Because he likes alcohol? How many people actually drink alcohol because they LIKE it? No one. Not even Mr Nathan. Alcohol only makes you forget your fear for the moment.

As was expected, Deepthi falls in love with Mr Nathan and she gets pregnant with his child. But. He turns his back on both. It threw a bucket of ice on her inner flame, her inner desire, her hopes, her want to be loved, her everything. It destroyed her mentally and that is where she did land – in a mental rehabilitation centre after giving birth to his daughter.

Yes, her husband is unaware. He thought it was theirs. Again – innocently aloof.

This is when Nathan realises that the lady who crept into his life so silently and innocently was responsible to make him believe he could love. He fell in love. But it was too late. He couldn’t have her back. Her life was in shambles and she needed her husband and children at this moment.

She returns from the mental institute as a changed woman. She remembers everything save for one little thing. She doesn’t remember giving birth to her daughter. At this point she is disappointed but assertive. She wants to get her life back into shape. With her family.

Life is such that when you get too comfortable in it, the evil lurking in the shadows, jumps out unexpectedly. Her husband, who is faring well in his job, thanks to Mr Nathan, meets him at a bar. Please note. This is years later. The husband invites Nathan home for lunch (he is still unaware).

Nathan goes. But not for lunch. He wants to meet Deepthi because he yearns for her – now that he has realized his feelings for her. This creates mayhem in her mind once again. She doesn’t go crazy, but she builds a giant feeling of fury. So big that she decides the only way to finish off this madness is to finish HIM off.

She goes. With her children. To floor nine. He is there. She tells him about how her mind is at unrest. He says likewise. She argues, cries, accuses. He holds her, looks her in the eye and says “you are the only woman who went mad because of me, the only woman who has loved me so much and the only woman I love.”

The movie ends there with the viewers left to decide what happens next.

They don’t show the fate of her husband, his shock, his emotions, his state of mind, nothing. We have to assume that. They don’t show the fate of Bela – Mr Nathan’s only true friend who stuck by him through thick and thin, through bad times and times of pleasure.

Ore Kadal speaks of emotions and the Indian economy. Which one rules the other, is left for you to decide. As for personal comments, I wills tick to what I always believe, its human to emote.

The movie consists of a background instrumental along with one song sung at points of intense rush of emotions. The tune is deep, clear and it hypnotises the viewer to extents where they get so involved that they enliven it with their own experiences.

The song comes in different pitches according to how intense the scene is. For instance there is one scene where Deepthi wants to forget Mr Nathan completely and is trying to shut him off her mind to get some peace, but the strain of her mind blocking the thought of pushing away the man she loves from her mind is expressed through a very high pitch in the singer’s tone.

Did Cloverfield live upto the Hype?

zEke — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:26:05 +0000

The gigantic monster menace is not as widespread in Occident as it is in old Asian legends. First thing I thought about when I saw the preview of Cloverfield a long time ago was Godzilla, one of the most recognizable symbols of Japanese popular culture. Once considered by the Japanese people as a metaphor for the United States it went all the way from Japan to New York City in Godzilla (1994), which is probably one of the few examples of this kind of cinema to the west of the Greenwich Meridian. Second thing I thought about when I saw the preview, and the well cared for wrapper, was that a hype is usually followed by mediocrity. Is this the case? Is definitely not the case in terms of profit. J. J. Abrams, the guy behind the ropes and the director of the still to come Star Trek (2008), is probably rubbing his hands together as I write this and he thinks about how beneficial a just $25 million movie has turned to be. Truth is, cloverfield has been successfully sold as a product ever since its first presence on the internet, and its promotional campaign should certainly be studied by those who sell rather than offer stories. Nevertheless, when I think about what I experienced in the movie theater, I cannot but go back to the mediocrity term.

The dispensable and trivial plot is just an excuse. Robert Hawkins (Michael Stahl-Davis) is leaving for good following a promising career in Japan. His brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and his brother’s girlfriend Lily Ford (Jessica Lucas) throw a going away party for him. Going away party that Hudson Platt (T. J. Miller) will record with a video camera for posterity. But when Robert thinks the worst that is going to happen that night is seeing the love of his life with a random date a giant monster decides to attack Manhattan.

It is very commendable that Matt Reeves, who is new to this world of directing feature films and as friend of Abrams as scriptwriter Drew Goddard (they all have collaborated previously in Abrams TV-series), keeps the story simple in terms of length. Less than one hour and a half that most of you will thank for. Mainly because the shaky camera will not go away. Nowadays people like to tie shaky camera to realism. I tie too much shaky camera to seasickness. Nevertheless, the idea, although not as original as they would have liked (The Blair Witch Project (1999)), works, at least, the first half an hour. Everything is shown through Hudson’s camera, and while some will enjoy the consequences of that, it will after a while get in most’s nerves. Thus, most of the action is up to the viewer that will use the shadowed image and distorted sound as an adrenaline stimulant as effective as he wishes.

To prevent the leaking of information about the movie the casting process was kept as secretive as possible. Judging by the cast performances as secretive that no suitable actors were aware of it. It is not that they perform badly, it is that rather than rescue an already difficult to buy script, they help making it even less plausible. To an extent that I was unwillingly laughing when I was not supposed to, unless I would have watching a B movie.

In the end, I left with a peculiar feeling. The feeling they had just taken an old B movie and dressed up with an up to date fashion outfit that did not really fit it. I still think better movies of this kind can be found to the east of the Greenwich Meridian. And as an example, The Host (2006).

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Mann with the lens

John — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 05:26:31 +0000

Flying debris, Dead people free falling, flash of guns, the smooth speed of cars and the landscape of a city. These are some of the trademarks of Michael Mann executed with a freshness every time he brings a film to screen. There are a lot of critics who have labeled him a little too excess. But this is what defines Mann a man who takes beaten down subjects and shoots it with style. He is very detailed in his characters back stories which is projected on the screen through passing dialogs and emotions. Mann prepares himself by taking shots of where he would like to shoot and then begin his meticulous preparation for the film. He also takes a very different approach with lighting by sticking to many dark spaces to project well lite cars.

Some of his very strong works is the recent Collateral. This film turned Tom Cruise into a villain with a resemblance to a wolf. Tom Cruise plays Vincent who invades the life of a taxi driver and change his life in just a night. The film is very sharply cut in with scenes of killings which are structured with such precision it leaves you wishing there was more. The music also played a huge part in this film it set in motion a modern film noir. The film had some of the most memorable dialogs mouthed by Tom Cruise. Michael Mann gave Tom a lot of space to show some of his athleticism on screen. Another aspect of this movie is the Landscape shots from the top of buildings and from sides of mirrors reflecting from buildings. These shots gave this film a feeling of a different space giving the city a character of its own. His action movies are seminal works of art sometimes even taking from literature to give it a polished touch.

His most recent work Miami Vice also so a different permutation of the same landscaping used in Collateral. This was more of an improvisation by Mann. He had a even larger expanse in this one- the sea. This had its share of exquisite shots in water. For those of you who thought this was similar were just fooled. He created a mood which mimicked Collateral but the places and the situations were different. This film must have resembled Collateral only like the minds of identical twins. There was an extra filling of sensuality in this movie with addition of the exotic Gong Li. There is a homage in this movie given to Collateral with a suit she wears while leaving the plane. The same one worn by Tom Cruise in Collateral. The stage was more extravagant in this movie but still was separated by its unique eye for detailing especially with gun shootings. This movie made others in the same genre and even TV series look premature.

Insider is one of his strongest works which lies heavily on the performance of the characters and their back stories. This film deals with a law suit against Tobacco industry which eventually destroys the life of one man. There are some shots of terror which is inflicted upon the main protagonist played by the overpowering Russell Crowe which take your breath away. It gives us an indication to what extent this man was vexed by the government. There are points in this film when there is no hope left but that is when something like a mere paper which brings the characters smiling. This is one of those films in which a lot of thought has gone into to keep with the times and also get a birds eye of the proceedings in the film.

Another one of his lesser known works is Ali. This film takes us through the life of a man whose only brute force was his mouth. The portrayal by Will Smith makes us feel like he has been waiting for this one to come for a little while now. He almost pulls enough punches to leave some of his contemporaries sore. This one is a biopic which gives Mann a lot of room to improvise. But he chooses to let the character speak in this movie because of his beautiful personality. This film explores this personality to his glory days giving this film a shine. One of the most strongest moments in the movie is the death of Malcom X which takes a toll on Ali’s future. He almost redefines himself after that incident. This journey which this man takes is remarkable enough to make a contemporary film. Mann with his limited scope gives this character a rightful place in history by making a film.

All said and done Michael Mann is a visionary par excellence who reinvents himself at regular intervals. He stays with times by taking on all the new technology and incorporating it into stories which leave us asking for more.

Filmography

Thief(1981)

The Keep(1983)

Manhunter(1986)

L.A. Takedown(1989)

The Last of the Mohicans(1992)

Heat(1995)

The Insider(1999)

Ali(2001)

Collateral(2004)

Miami Vice(2006)

Forbidden Rules

John — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:28:19 +0000

There are times when we think human suffering, carnage and self pity would have reached its limit. But it takes one singular mind of David Cronenberg to make us think again. He makes sure we are left gasping at the definitive violence and thought gone into making his movies. His last two movies have been reworking of some old plot outlines.

Take for example the History of Violence which took a graphic novel and was turned into a redefined piece of carnage. His take on this film was very different by contemplating shots which gave us clues of his existence in society. The theme of hero worship was used as a ploy for people to warm up for the character’s vocational hazard. But once the man is exposed the audience is left with a quintessential identity crisis. In this film the crisis is used as a digression for the plot. It leaves us wandering in the inner recess of the protagonists mind. This leaves his perfectly happy family in the throes of a bitter evolution. Several events from here on leave the family corrupted by the workings of violence. There is a dormancy which the character is put through in first couple of reels. But this makes the violence so volatile yet contained. The men in this movie are just meant to destroy everything around them. They are very animalistic in their approach to killing. They kill their prey with extreme precision and gentle caresses of death which they have mastered through the years.

Another example of this calculated reworking of old stories is the Eastern Promises. This time it is on the Russian mafia who are more ferocious than any thing Cronenberg has sketched before on screen. The film shot in the dark streets of London giving it a more textured ambiance for the characters to carry out their daily chores. This film raises the bar on action with a sauna fight sequence. This scene is not only revealing but also very affecting. Cronenberg has a very good understanding of what audience takes from a violent film. He takes his time to take the plot forward tightening the hold over it almost choking it. There are times when we feel he might go too far but holds back with sharp edged knife of an editor. His choice of scenes and his final presentation is really clear cut leaving very little for chance and giving very little away. This film also sees an amazing transformation by Viggo Mortenson whose face shows the marks of a man bruised by the job he has undertaken. This is one of the best films from his repertoir of classics like LOTR and History of Violence. I hope from here on Viggo takes up roles like these which match his capacity for good roles.

Crash is another film which studies car crashes and sex. One of the most sexually daring film from his palette. It gives us a peek into the minds of a society which fornicate at the site of car crashes. The film caused a huge stir at the time of its release at Cannes. It was banned in many countries. But this chaotic film of inhibited characters also gives us analogies of what society is heading towards. Crash is based on the seminal work of J.G Ballard whose exploration of the minds of these people is almost psychotic. But the mind is used as cache of destruction responding to different stimuli in the most brutal manner. Many of the characters have lost their lives in this most craziest of hobbies. Crashes are used as an example for any kind of addiction. But the film also leaves us questioning the existence of violence and its repercussions.

There are questions always raised about how much violence is accepted and what is the reason for excess. Cronenberg address this question by pushing the envelop and carefully studying violence as a subject. For a world which has been harvesting violence for its on gain and destroying its own morality, films like these are the need of the hour. Cronenberg’s meticulous preparation and his careful selection of subjects make him one of the greatest filmmakers in the world. He is also one who has created his very own stamp in cinema which is blemished by some great violent images. These images will remain with our society for quite sometime.

The Possibilities were endless….

Priyankar — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:40:28 +0000

Ah…the belief, the faith that you can change the world…that you can make a difference…standing up for your ideals…debating on Sartre, Camus, Nietzsche… philosophy, politics, books, music, movies…

And then taking the ultimate step and breaking free…letting go and living your dreams…

The exuberance of youth…. where has it gone…the youth have no time to be young in today’s world. Once upon a time I was a kid and then I started preparing myself for being an adult. This is what’s true for most of us…

But then there’s art in the form of great cinema to remind us that all is not lost yet, to put before our eyes what could have been and why it’s not so…to make us think and rethink our choices.

In this article I am going to talk about two movies from two corners of the world, two masterpieces- ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’ (A thousand dreams such as these) from India and ‘La Meglio Gioventu (The Best of Youth)’ from Italy.

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (A thousand dreams such as these)

The 60s and 70s were arguably the most exciting period in history to be young. It was the age of rebellion against the system, of Woodstock and flower power, of la Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave Cinema), of Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. And it was no different in India.

A new generation saw the promises made by independence vanishing in a cesspool of politics and indifference and they were not prepared to accept it. Radical communism began to take root in colleges throughout India. The violent Naxalite movement had its genesis in West Bengal during this period. ‘Violence by the oppressor is wrong. Violence by the oppressed is right’ was the accepted line of thought.

It is against the backdrop of these turbulent times that this story of three friends and their lives over a period spanning more than a decade is set. When the movie opens all three are students in a Delhi college.

Siddharth Tyabji (Kay Kay Menon), son of a Supreme Court Judge, born of a Muslim father and Bengali mother but unable to speak either Urdu or Bengali…he is swept away in the wave of idealism and is prepared to kick away his life of luxury. And he has guts enough to act on his ideals…

Vikram Malhotra(Shiny Ahuja), coming from a middle class family, with a Gandhian father…his only desire is to move up in society (Just watch him feigning enjoyment at a classical music session at Siddharth’s father’s house, trying to fit in with what would be called the Page 3 crowd today). He craves an entry into the very world, which Siddharth wants to escape from. He wants success and he is prepared to attain it by hook or crook. But that’s not all there is to him.

Finally, Geeta (a stunning Chitrangada Singh), drawing both Siddharth and Vikram towards herself, around whom the movie revolves…

Siddharth joins the Naxalite movement in Bihar; Geeta marries to an IAS officer but can’t let go of her first love Siddharth; Vikram becomes Mr. Fixer, finding his way through the corridors of power. They go along diverging paths, which keep on intersecting with each other and with the events of the times. Their lives take a tumultuous turn with the imposition of emergency by the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi in 1975.

Was Siddharth too naïve to believe they could bring about a revolution or was he just not strong and brave enough to accept the more difficult truth that you need amazing fortitude along with ideals to change the world.

Vikram, the go-getter…probably the most complex of the three characters…his life filled with compromises…nevertheless he put everything at stake for the one pure and simple thing in his life…his unconditional love for Geeta.

And Geeta…she took up ideals for selfish reasons, to stay close to her love…gradually she begins to really believe…does that make her actions any less admirable. Does it matter from where you start off…as long as you reach your destination?

All these questions are left for us to ponder upon.

The last half an hour hits you hard with disillusionment, cynicism and the failure of ideals.

But not before paying tribute to the victories and tears of a generation who dared to dream…not before immortalizing the words ‘Bawra mann Dekhne chala ek sapna…”

La Meglio Gioventu (The best of youth)

The ‘Best of Youth’ is a 6-hour movie, originally made for Italian television. This itself will be enough to put off most people from watching it. But what a movie it is. It is a passionately told epic story, spanning four decades from the chaotic 1960s in Italy to the present.

This movie has the power, sweep and intimacy of great literature, without being based on any book.

The movie begins in Rome with the two brothers and Matteo (Alessio Boni) and Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio) trying to rescue a young girl, Georgia from a lunatic asylum. The attempt goes wrong, setting off the two brothers in different directions.

Their personalities and choices collide and get inextricably interlinked with the events over the next few decades from the floods in Florence in 1966, student unrest in Turin and the Mafia murders in Palermo.

Nicola, a qualified doctor, goes off on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Norway, attempting to understand himself and the baffling world around him. Finally he decides to dedicate his life to helping the mentally challenged, fighting for their rights.

During the flood-relief in Florence, he finds Giulia, a free-spirited radical, playing a piano among the ruins. They fall in love, start living together, have a daughter. But Giulia is too restless to settle down. She joins an underground red brigade cell and sacrifices (or abandons, as the view may be) her family to be a part of something bigger.

Matteo, the introverted idealist sees and understands the world clearly, probably a bit too clearly. He is so filled with rage at his own helplessness that he binds himself in the rule and order driven world of the Italian police force. His is a tragic figure.

Many years later, Nicola finds Georgia again in absolutely unexpected circumstances, which leads to an unexpected meeting between two characters, who weren’t even aware of each others’ existence.

The characters go on with their lives, they grow old, some grow wiser…

Freed of the constraints of telling the story in the standard movie format of two hours, each character is beautifully etched. We get to know these characters and the intimate details of their lives, and through their stories the story of their country.

Sometimes the best way to tell a complex story is to pick out a few of the multitude of small stories making up the big tale. This movie does just that and not once during the 6 hours you feel that you are watching anything less than a great humane story of a country and its youth, its people, their compassion, loves, fears, hopes…

Reel Suave » Featurette

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