685
[I have now decided to make it a longer list, it was getting a bit farcical otherwise with ten best films and almost as many on a 'just made it' list!]
(I am only listing films that released in 2006 in their original country of release. I have found all of these films the ‘most interesting’ as narratives, political explorations, and in general for their
cinematic language. I do not list these in any order as I always find such lists impossible to do beyond a point. Also I have not included an Indian film because I did not find anything good enough to be put in this list. Had Lagaan for example released in ‘06 it would have made my list. I could think of other examples as well. Omkara would come the closest to such a list from last year)
1)The Lives of Others
My personal favorite for the year. A gripping narrative fused with a remarkable meditation on ethics, aesthetics and the relations between the two in a politically repressive climate. Ultimately the film is about the ‘justice’ that transcends all three categories and forever orients one towards the ‘other’.
2)Pan’s Labyrinth
This is not dissmilar to the Lives of Others in its central concerns. Nietsche famously stated that “we need art lest we should perish of the truth.” This is doubly ironic precisely because ‘art’ and ‘life’ might not be as neatly separable as the lexicon might suggest. And in very complementary ways both Pan’s Labyrinth and the Lives of Others are reflections on this equation. But especially the former with its fable-like quality.
3)Still Life
Following once more in the wake of Antonioni, Zhang Ke Jia fashions a powerful narrative about the loss of ‘home’ in the post-industrial present, and the struggle to retain any sense of identity in the face of a devastated physical environment. The film is filled with bare landscapes and architectural solitudes and allegorically functions as a search for the very ‘being’ of the ‘human’
4)Children of Men
This movie did not make my list initially but on revisiting it I have found it to be more interesting than I initially though. I still find it relatively unengaging on an emotional level but this might be a strength of the film given that so much of it is about the ’sterile’. The film certainly puts up a mirror to our very ‘ugly’ present in various ways in the guise of predicting a rather disturbing future. I am indebted to Zizek who on the DVD version offers a rather succinct and probing reading of the film.
5)Inland Empire
Even for Lynch this film is radically experimental. Hard to characterise in any meaningful sense it might best be described as an orgiastic and ultimately overwhelming plumbing of the unconscious. Perhaps an essay in ‘identity’, perhaps one on the schizoid modern self, perhaps simply a vision of apocalypse, it is in any case unfathomable beyond a point but all the more powerful as one cannot but yield to it. One might be forgiven for finding it rather indulgent and excessive!
6)The Page Turner
This exquisitely precise French thriller is a work that Chabrol could easily have made. A superb tale of revenge, at once haunting and disturbing, the film adds marvellously to a history of French cinema that has followed in Hitchcock’s wake.
7)Volver
Almodovar’s most deceptive film. A further chapter in his ever expanding universe of women and conversely shrinking world of men. This re-mapping of gender politics within the cinematic with parricide/matricide alternating with homage might yet turn out to be the most radical directorial gesture of our times.
8)Days of Glory
In a sense this film does in far more delicate and sophisticated fashion what it takes Eastwood his twin war films to do. This is not to demean Eastwood’s accomplishment but Bouchareb’s remarkable film is not just an anti-war statement but also an extremely thoughtful meditation on notions of the ‘local/native’ versus the ‘foreign(er)’ (the French titles is Indigenes) and the interplay of these two categories in the most elaborate way. How nations make insiders out of outsiders and vice versa is the specific theme of this work and as Bouchareb shows us ‘colonialism’ alters all of these already problematic issues in complex ways. Not the least among these films strengths is the extent to which it seems to cast a light on our ‘present’.
9)After the Wedding
I have not been a fan of Susanne Bier’s earlier work but this film is a rather moving reflection on ‘paternity’ and the messiness of familial ties. The narrative additionally fuses these concerns with a reflection on ‘East-West’ and ‘North-South’ questions and the nature of philanthropic desire.
10)Babel
Another ‘huge’ statement on the ‘present’. The most unsettling film of the year. The global reach of the film is held together not by narrative logic as much as by an ‘affective’ whole and a ’shot heard around the world’. A fine essay on the ‘economies’ of globalisation.
11)It’s Winter
If one leaves aside the films of Kiorastami this is easily one of the finest films to have come out of Iran. Beautifully shot, Antonionesque both in its cinematographic choices as well as in its themes, the film is truly poetic.
12)Little Children
This film is a more persuasive representation of American suburbia than just about any other exploration on this terrain.
13)The Departed
Scorsese’s most expansive statement on the economy of violence.
14)The Fountain
Aronovsky’s compelling New Age fantasia, is replete with the metaphysical and the mystical and themes range from the Buddha to Faust! The director handles it all with a certain lightness. The visuals are often stunning, the music always sublime.
15)The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Ken Loach offers in Wind that Shakes the barley a marvellously comprehensive and clear-headed view of the Irish struggle. A gripping narrative is combined with a rich tapestry to create a ‘fuller’ account of the subject than any prior to this and the director handles all the ‘interests’ here with remarkable dispassion. The visual texture of the film is ‘romantic’, the politics less than this and Loach constantly plays these off each other.
16(Flags of our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima
Eastwood’s diptych (to borrow a critic’s term) comprised of Flags of Our fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima offers one of the boldest treatments of war in cinematic history. As an ethical act these complementary films might even be unequalled. The director resorts to a language of humanism that often seems to verge on the simplistic but this is a rather cunning gesture on his part that specially in the latter film makes identification with the ‘other’ complete. The ‘American’ or the ’self’ (to wit) becomes either a tragic example of ‘innocence lost’ (Flags of our Fathers) or more profoundly ‘alien’ (Letters from Iwo Jima). With one eye trained on the present Eastwood on the one hand lays bare the business and cynicism of war as practised on the American side and on the other hand gives the enemy heroism and dignity by way of the classic Hollywood war film format.
17)Private Fears in Public Places
Resnais’s film offers striking, ambivalent, and totally heartfelt vignettes of couples without the prop of total narratives in each case. With beautiful transitions the director crafts a somewhat deceptive film that acquires a rather mysterious hue as it moves along.
18)The Illusionist/The Prestige
I tend to think of these as complementary works. Nolan’s the Prestige forms an interesting counterpoint to the Illusionist. As opposed to the Illusionist being about ‘magic’ and ‘magic’ being something in the film, the Prestige fuses the art of magic with the art of cinema. The latter with its numerous twists is structurally like a magic show even if it doesn’t seem emotionally as involving as the former. I would like to think though that here again the work is a bit like a magic show! If we truly empathised with these characters we would perhaps gain the kind of access into the film (Nolan’s box of magic) that the director doesn’t want to grant us. We are always on the outside, dazzled and puzzled, this is how it should be. In fact Nolan’s point in this vein might even be that too much identification with characters or situations in a film leaves us less alert to the ‘artifice’ involved. To re-iterate the Illusionist is the more spontaneous and more satisfying work but the Prestige is the more complex attempt and perhaps the one that will reward re-viewing to a great degree.
There’s another tangential point here. Both the Illusionist and the Prestige are period pieces. Perhaps cinema (as symptom of the modern) destroys ‘magic’ once and for all. No magic trick can match the artifice of cinema. And no magic trick can seem quite as impressive to those soaked in the ‘tricks’ of cinema.
19)I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone
Tsai Ming-Liang’s latest film much like a lot of his previous work takes Antonioni’s Red Desert as the starting point. At the same time the director belongs to a group of Asian auteurs who provide the seemingly improbable intersection of Antonioni and Ozu in their respective works. This current film is an enormous commentary on ‘a’ modernity by way of the urban squalor of Kuala Lumpur. This near-silent film relies on haunting imagery to examine its themes.
20)Apocalypto
This is a terrific action/adventure film from Gibson and stays gripping from beginning to end. One might consider it questionable on ‘anthropological’ grounds, detect an older Hollywood genealogy here of the ‘racist-exotic’ but the film is ultimately not a serious statement as such and perhaps free of the latter charge to the extent that the ‘contexts’ here are not the same.
21)Climates
Nure Bilge Ceylan ‘re-writes’ L’Avventura without the mystery in this remarkable film that centers around a deteriorating relationship. Marvelously framed and poignantly acted the director makes a finer film here than his earlier Distant.
22)Lights in the Dusk
Aki Kaurismaki is perhaps a greater talent than Jim Jarmusch on much the same terrain. His mixture of a minimalist aesthetic with black humor is usually pitch perfect. Lights in the Dusk is a perfect example of this. Once again Antonioni lurks in the background.
23)Daratt
Mahmet-Saleh Haroun after the interesting Abouna fashions a remarkable tale of revenge and forgiveness amidst the stark desert landscapes of Chad and the solitude of its urban life.
24)Syndromes and a Century
Weerasethukal is fast emerging as one of the most compelling chroniclers of our ‘post’modernity and one that at least in cinema seems to increasingly reveal the trace of Antonioni. This work is possibly the director’s best.
25)Time
Kim Di-Kuk adds another chapter to the range of his fairly disturbing films. This film might properly be seen as a response to Teshigahara’s Face of Another. Both films are potent fantasies.
26)Lady Chatterley
Pascale Ferran offers not just the best version of this novel but simply one of the best treatments of the erotic in cinematic history. The novel is not a particularly significant work (except as a controversial chapter of Western cultural history) but the film comes close to being an important one with its economy of minimalism.
27)The Banquet
An improbable marriage of Hamlet and Chinese action choreography and it makes for a heady mix even if this is not the most profound Shakespeare interpretation.
28)Summer Palace
A somewhat unevenly plotted though ultimately moving film about the shattering of the personal by the political and the role of memory in determining each.
29)Dreams of Dust
This African debut film set in Burkina-Faso is a truly haunting work involving profound existential themes in a part of the world that offers the very definition of liminality as indeed the characters in the film do.
(The scores on The Lives of Others, Letters from Iwo Jima, Volver, Babel, The Fountain, Private Fears in Public Spaces stand out; the Fountain is the year’s best; with Ming-Liang’s film I had the more personal pleasure of hearing Tamil, one by way of a music video from a film!)
goodfella 15 February 2007
01:28:07 am
Haven’t seen your number 1, 3 or 7 but this is a nice list, Satyam. Qualitatively (though I know that’s not the point with your list) I’d probably put Pan’s at the top of everything I’ve seen this year by far, and call me nuts, but I’d put LRM in my top ten without a doubt. No question about it.
The film I thought was truly mistreated this year, though, was Linklater’s difficult but memorable “A Scanner Darkly”. “Letters from Iwo Jima” was a film I really didn’t like, (didn’t see the first Eastwood film) but “The Departed” was just a superb return to form for one of the true American innovators. Although having said that, there was no better film about betrayals and spies than the masterful Melville’s “Army of Shadows” which had an official release here.
As a sucker for revisionist Westerns, I also loved the meditative, sublime/violent Austrailian “The Proposition” with Guy Pearce. Then there was the wonderful little movie “Half Nelson” with the year’s best male performance in the impressive Ryan Gosling and although I liked the elegant and supremely well shot “The Illusionist” Edward Norton and Jessica Biel brought it down a few notches for me and the real performance here was Paul Giammati’s.
satyam 15 February 2007
06:10:47 am
Thanks for the response Goodfella. Army of Shadows is definitely a terrific film though I decided not to follow the US system in this sense. But yes it would have topped my list otherwise.
Pan’s Labyrinth was my top film for the year but then the Lives of Others just about edged it. This is more of a personal thing though as Pan’s labyrinth is of course a very fine film.
To be honest I haven’t seen Half-Nelson (though I will very soon as it just released on DVD) nor A Scanner Darkly (though this has been out for a while, will check it out soon). Similarly the DVD for Guide to Recognizing your Saints releases next week. I also regrettably missed out on THe Fountain and Days of Glory. If I decide to add any of these I will certainly revise this list.
Did like the Proposition, not as much as you did I guess.
satyam 25 February 2007
12:18:02 pm
I should add here that Rached Bouchareb’s earlier Little Senegal is another masterful work and the themes here are once again similar to the ones explored in Days of Glory.
On a related note a film that just released in NY but is actually an ‘06 film in my books — Bamako — disappointed terribly. I was sure this film would make my list based on the director’s (Abdel rahman Sissako) earlier and superlative Waiting for Happiness. While the latter was a remarkable meditation (in an Antonioni-esque vein, specially that of the Passenger) on the loneliness and disenfranchisement experienced in a ‘fringe’ society the current film is really a blunt polemic masquerading as film. It was rather tiresome watching this one!
goodfella 1 March 2007
11:50:37 am
Satyam, I’m so glad I decided to see “The Lives of Others”. It is one of the most affecting, provocative and thrilling motion pictures I’ve seen in years, and though I find it greatly difficult to choose between this film and Pan’s as my favorite for this year (so I won’t) the fact that I have to grapple with this decision speaks volumes about how brilliant this film is. I also think that in Ulrich Mühe, I have found my favorite performance of 2006, even more affecting that Forest Whitaker’s wonderful work in “The Last King of Scotland” or Ryan Gosling in “Half Nelson”.
I implore everyone here to run out and see this film.
“The Fountain” I found sort of silly and engaging simulatenously, but you’re right to point out the visuals and especially the music – Clint Mansell’s pieces constitute my favorite composition work this year.
goodfella 1 March 2007
11:53:17 am
By the way, in the thrilling pacing and superbly atmospheric interrogation sequences (as well as the central storyline about the ethical and personal dilemma of a state’s “enforcer”) the Hindi film I found most like “The Lives of Others” is Nihalani’s superb “Droh Kaal”.
Qalandar 1 March 2007
12:03:42 pm
Glad you brought up Drohkaal: I saw it years ago, and the impact is still vivid! I haven’t been able to find a DVD, alas…
Am scheduled to see lives of others tonight…
goodfella 1 March 2007
12:08:06 pm
Q – You saved me an email. Glad you’re seeing this.
Also, the other film this reminds of perhaps even more in tone and visual sensibility is my favorite Coppola film ever, (outside of the second Godfather) “The Conversation”.
Qalandar 1 March 2007
12:13:01 pm
hmmm, haven’t seen the Conversation…
goodfella 1 March 2007
12:14:20 pm
Ooooh. Q. MUST watch The Conversation. Move it up there, man.
Qalandar 1 March 2007
12:33:27 pm
ok buddy, to my netflix queue I go…
zero 1 March 2007
12:34:15 pm
The Conversation is a great, great film, and it’s second to none in Coppola’s oeuvre, in my view! Glad to see someone else sharing the same.
satyam 1 March 2007
12:41:46 pm
Goodfella: Glad you saw Lives of Others. I’ve seen it twice myself and agree with everything you’ve said including your comments on the Fountain which is why I added ‘New Age’ to the description, this term in my vocabulary always suggesting a bit of ’silliness’! also see where you’re coming from in terms of the performance though I have a great weakness for Whitaker’s Bollywood act!
satyam 1 March 2007
12:42:32 pm
Qalandar: Drohkaal is actually available on DVD, I’ve been meaning to get it myself. It might not be easy to find at this point.
satyam 1 March 2007
12:44:38 pm
Actually the Oscars in my view had one of their best shortlists ever in the foreign film category woth three superb works in Lives of Others, Pan’s Labyrinth, Days of Glory. I haven’t seen that Danish film, I found Water mediocre barring some of the cinematography but the list was still an excellent one. And potentially the fourth Danish film could very well be truly good.
zero 1 March 2007
12:48:51 pm
It’s available in all major DVD shops in India. Check this out, from where you can buy it online.
Qalandar 1 March 2007
01:10:26 pm
Thanks guys…wonder how and why I got the idea it wasn’t available on DVD!
goodfella 1 March 2007
01:28:33 pm
Days of Glory is next on my list, Satyam. Really looking forward to that one…
satyam 4 March 2007
09:15:47 am
Zodiac has received some excellent reviews though Rosenbaum and Sarris have been less enthusiastic. Might check it out today. Still have to put out some thoughts on Nishabd.
goodfella 4 March 2007
12:00:14 pm
In general, even I’m pretty unenthusiastic of Fincher beyond his obvious gifts in the visuals department, but this film is full of actors I really like and looks more like Fincher in “Panic Room” mode than in “Fight Club” mode. The latter is a film I have no affection for.
satyam 4 March 2007
12:38:42 pm
Agreed Goodfella on all counts. The Fight Club though is probably the most significant American film in US academia since the Matrix. I find it overrated myself. I am also not a fan of Seven.
goodfella 4 March 2007
01:26:59 pm
Yeah, Se7en was truly, truly overrated in a huge way.
Fight Club was crap in a different sense – (and at the risk of sounding offensive) it was dime store philosophy geared towards a clueless, wealthy white-American upper-middle class. Superb visuals, though, which is the redeeming facet in a number of Fincher films. You’re right about it being the most cultish, significantly paraded American film in the US scene since The Matrix, although The Matrix merits its status. Its turgid sequels takes a bit of the luster off the original’s successes, though.
akshay shah 4 March 2007
01:28:31 pm
I loved all of Finchers films, even THE GAME was damn good! Have been looking fwd to ZODIAC for a long time!!!
goodfella 4 March 2007
01:32:46 pm
Oh, yes, akshay, forgot about The Game, that’s a Fincher film I don’t mind too much precisely because, like Panic Room, it’s got a nice sense of fun and narrative stability married to the brilliant visuals. I think and hope Zodiac will be along the lines of these films.
akshay shah 4 March 2007
01:38:02 pm
Agree-though PANIC ROOM is Finchers most straight forward thrller to date. My favourite piece of work from Fincher is still SEVEN! I agree with you on FIGHT CLUB Despite my huge weakness for the visuals and performances
A.Shah
sujith 4 March 2007
02:44:55 pm
Seven is on of my alltime favs..after Seven,Game and Fight Club i was pretty disappointed by Panic Room.
But Fincher is in great form with Zodiac,its unlike any of his other films, and i only realized it was almost 2 and half hours after i got out of the theatre
akshay shah 4 March 2007
02:49:12 pm
Thanks Sujith..looking forward to ZODIAC!
satyam 4 March 2007
04:43:20 pm
Just got back from the film. I found it excellent if not quite a masterwork. I think this is Fincher’s most compelling work.
satyam 4 March 2007
04:47:12 pm
Sujith: I think this is closer to 2 hr 40 min.
In any case I’ve never been a Fincher fan but I liked this very much and I think this works better than his other films (I also enjoyed Game) because Fincher is not overlaying commentary onto the narrative. There is enough in the material here that Fincher can work with without having to ‘expostulate’ in any way. Not that he’s always done this in previous films, just that he’s been more heavy-handed in the past.
akshay shah 4 March 2007
04:52:51 pm
ThankS Satyam! Cant wait for this one…and also….still waiting on your NISHABD views?:)!
satyam 4 March 2007
04:54:59 pm
Yes I will get around to it soon Akshay…
akshay shah 4 March 2007
04:57:54 pm
Eagerly awaiting it:)
Shahid 4 March 2007
06:22:56 pm
Ooh, looking forward to Zodiac then! (Comes out in the UK in April)
Glad to see I’m not the only one who liked Panic Room. The only thing is that PR doesn’t have trendy quotes or one-liners that Fight Club had. Hence, it never gained that ‘cult’ favourite thing.
Is Inland Empire the latest entry on your list, Satyam? Glad to know that you liked it. I saw a preview and it seemed provocative and interesting. It releases here this coming Friday, I’ll try and catch it.
abid 4 March 2007
08:26:45 pm
Akshayshah “Eagerly awaiting it:)”
I am afraid you will have to wait a bit as true/authentic Amitabh Bachchan fans only watch Abhishek Bachchan movies first up !
In your and Aby2000s case you both are unfortunate that it has released far off from your place .
akshay shah 4 March 2007
09:08:45 pm
Yes bade, it is MOST unfortunate, heck even HTPL and NEHLLE PE DEHLLA didn’t release in a closer cinema! The next film releasing in a closer cinema to me is NAMASTEY LONDON! No doubt there is a chance NISHABD might get moved to a different cinema this week Thur so I still haven’t ruled out the option of seeing it! This looks like one of Bachchans most different and exciting performances and RGV’s best film since god knows wheN!
abid 5 March 2007
01:49:04 am
Since ‘Sarkar’ Akshayshah
akshay shah 5 March 2007
02:00:12 am
SARKAR as much as I like personally..is a flawed piece of work from RGV!!!
satyam 5 March 2007
08:05:27 am
Akshay: You should definitely watch Inland Empire. Whether you love it or hate it it’s a one of a kind movie experience! By the way it’s 3 hrs!
This wasn’t the latest entry on my list. It’s the Fountain. Before this it was Days of Glory.
Hope to do the Nishabd piece today. I of course saw it Fri night as I do most films. Have been in a funk for some reason and haven’t done this.
goodfella 5 March 2007
09:16:41 am
I just saw Zodiac last night, satyam, and I completely agree that it’s Fincher’s best film. It’s very exhaustive and slightly exhausting but the digital photography, the atmosphere and generally (and genuinely) creepy ambience creates a superb mood piece. The actors are quite good too, and I had a particular weaknes for Mark Ruffalo’s very solid work here.
satyam 5 March 2007
09:38:13 am
Glad you did Goodfella. Agreed in every sense, specially on the “very exhaustive and slightly exhausting”! But yes Ruffalo’s was my favorite performance in the film too within that sea of good acting jobs.
satyam 5 March 2007
12:26:49 pm
Shahid: My apologies. I just noticed you’d asked me the Inland Empire question, not Akshay.
satyam 7 March 2007
09:49:59 am
Having just revisited Army of Shadows I hunted for threads that had this reference and this was one of two I came up with. The other one was a Guru review. I certainly didn’t want to be accused of re-introducing Guru using this as an excuse. So I used this second, somewhat egotistical option, though this is not in any way a self-serving exercise!
The more I revisit Melville’s films the more I like them. Army of Shadows to my mind is his absolute masterpiece followed possibly by Le Cercle Rouge but Le Doulos, Le Deuxieme Souffle (Second Breath), Bob le Flambeur, Le Samourai are all excellent films. Just recently I saw his early Silence of the Sea (not available on DVD yet) for the first time and this was also outstanding if not quite comparable to the later works. I think Melville is in many ways Hitchcock’s truest heir. Chabrol is of course the first name that crops up in any such discussion but as far as I’m concerned Chabrol has many good films but perhaps no true masterpiece. At any rate Melville offers a concoction of extraordinary camerwork, suspense (one often follows the other) and narratives that seem deceptively ‘literal’ but that often turn out to be rather radical. All these are qualities that make him a truer bearer of Hitchcock’s legacy (as I see it) than Chabrol or for that matter any other filmmaker I can think of. Again, much like Hitchcock, Melville always exhibits a ruthless economy and is devoted to his ‘craft’ before all else. One might say a bit provocatively that for both directors this is for better and for worse.
I used to feel that Melville was one of the lesser directors in the French post-war pantheon but re-viewing has led me to revise my view. And with Army of Shadows I only saw it for the first time a year or so ago.
for those interested in DVD releases a superb restoration was done on Army of Shadows, this was the one BFI used for their R2 release, this is also the one Criterion (R1) have used for their upcoming May release of the film. Criterion have also earlier released Le Cercle Rouge, le Samourai, Bob le Flambeur. Unfortunately Le Doulos is available only on R2, Second Breath is not available with subs anywhere though a good tranfer with subs can be obtained at superhappyfun.com.
satyam 13 March 2007
02:17:15 pm
On Zodiac, I’d like to put up this following brief review by David Denby in the New Yorker (I am not a great fan of his writing but liked his insights here):
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/.....table=true
The great film critic Manny Farber once praised what he called “termite art,” by which he meant the kind of small, stubborn movie that chews its way through a narrow piece of turf. David Fincher’s “Zodiac” is mollusk art: the movie keeps elaborating itself out of its own discharge, hardening its emotions, anxieties, and energies into a shell of obsession. Fincher, working with a fantastically detailed script by the young James Vanderbilt, chronicles the case of the self-identified Zodiac killer, a taunting, publicity-mad creep who murdered at least five people in the San Francisco Bay area in the late nineteen-sixties and sent confessional notes about the crimes (sometimes in code) to newspapers. Fincher puts two of the murders right near the beginning of the movie, both of them as sustained in their terror as anything he did in his notorious serial-killer movie, “Se7en” (1995), which featured deliquescing corpses. But then, astonishingly, “Zodiac” becomes not another thriller or horror show but a multifaceted procedural that divides its narrative attention between the Police Department, where two hardworking cops (Anthony Edwards and Mark Ruffalo) keep coming up with false leads, and the San Francisco Chronicle, where an ace crime reporter, Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr.), and the newspaper’s cartoonist, Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has a talent for puzzles, devote their lives to the search for the killer. Moving swiftly, but with precise attention to the emotional coloring of such things as weather and light and dour institutional spaces, Fincher runs through interrogations, trips to the library, the sorting and matching of mounds of evidence. Fincher has changed direction. The creator of the nutty, sub-fascist “Fight Club” and the dumb fright movie “Panic Room” has suddenly devoted himself to (of all things) manners and jurisdictional niceties—the way people talk to one another in a newspaper office, the hassles over evidence between the police of one city and those of another. He has discovered the everyday working world, and he’s fascinated by its moods and small tensions, its endless give-and-take.
“Zodiac” is superbly made, but it’s also a strange piece of work. As the bad tips and the dubious suspects pile up, one Zodiac investigator after another, devoured by the hunt or merely bored, leaves the case or retires. Only Graysmith, whose two books about Zodiac served as the basis for the picture, keeps going, but he brings his kids into the investigation and breaks up his marriage, and comes off as a selfish nut. As “Zodiac” goes on and on, and it becomes clear that no dénouement is possible (the crime was never solved), we have to ask what the reason for all this cinematic blind-alleying might be. Any honest neurotic could probably tell you: the emotional payoff of an obsession is not attaining some longed-for goal—it’s the obsession itself, which fulfills certain needs. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be an obsession. Graysmith, whom no one takes seriously at first, wants to prove himself as a sleuth, perhaps, but his real need is to be absorbed in the search. For Fincher, I would guess, the identity of the killer is less important than the vast effort of almost (but not quite) finding him. He teaches us—and we absorb the lesson uneasily—that truth, like some vision that recedes as we draw near it, will never quite yield to our most ardent pursuit
Qalandar 13 March 2007
02:37:16 pm
Re: “Melville always exhibits a ruthless economy and is devoted to his ‘craft’ before all else.”
This is well-stated, I have not seen any Melville except for Le Samourai and Army of Shadows, but in both films I felt there was something stripped down and bare at work, not in the sense of a criticism but in that the films gave off a sense of an art boiled down to the bare essentials. There is no flab in either of those films, and the director’s eschewing of any excess (by way of gesture, or self-indulgence) is almost monkish…
satyam 13 March 2007
03:02:13 pm
“There is no flab in either of those films”
This is an appropriate point to make about a director whose best films work with all the precision of clockwork.
Melville is also just about unparalleled in his use of silence and in fact he deviates from Hitchcock in this very interesting sense but not using music very much at all. His remarkable editing coupled with his use of silence create a startling level of suspense in his best work. Again he is to my mind still an underrated director (to be fair I underrated him myself once upon a time). His mastery over sight and (non)sound are readily accepted as is his dominance within his chosen genre. However what is often missed is his politics. The films are often deeper than might appear to be the case.
Qalandar 13 March 2007
07:21:03 pm
With Le Samourai, perhaps the word I would use is “mysterious”, still on the fence when it comes to “deeper.” Obviously no arguments when it comes to Army of Shadows. But Le Samourai is mysterious without ever seeming obscure…and it might just be one of the most stylish films I have ever seen (Blow Up is another candidate)…
henry 13 March 2007
08:03:46 pm
I adore Fight Club. It is hilarious, and consistently ironic and uncompromising in the themes and messages it delivers.
What I found especially ironic was that Ed Norton’s character never escaped the rules-laden world in which he felt trapped. All he ended up doing was create another reality (the Fight Club) with as many rules, if not more. Even with the help of his alter ego, Tyler Durden, Ed Norton’s character, on a subconscious level, could never free himself. In a way, isn’t Fincher trying to say that even anarchy is a form of enslavement?
This is just the surface of an immensely complex and satisfying work. I find it quite unfortunate that it has become a cult favorite among violence-obsessed brats. It deserves a better audience.
The Lives of Others (London Review of Books) 18 March 2007
12:13:28 am
[...] I mentioned here this was my favorite film from ‘06 though having recently revisited Pan’s Labyrinth I [...]
satyam 21 March 2007
11:34:22 am
Henry: In American academia no American film has been more influential over the last decade or more with the exception of the Matrix. In fact along with Alien this a holy trilogy for film studies in this country! I am not a great fan of any one of these films though I certainly understand your sentiments on Fight Club.
Qalandar 21 March 2007
12:18:04 pm
Which is the updated portion?
and don’t mind, magar yaar ek aur baar is ko update kiya to mein…
duniya ko aag laga doonga!
Aditya 21 March 2007
01:18:10 pm
i take it you haven’t seen ‘children of men’? it definitely makes my top 10 best film of the year. its the best sci-fi film ever made since ‘blade runner’, without question. you must see this film!
satyam 21 March 2007
02:57:31 pm
Qalandar: LOL! The updated portion is the Loach addition.
satyam 21 March 2007
02:58:54 pm
Aditya: I have seen Children of Men. Though I admire the director’s achievement here for some odd reason I couldn’t connect with this film. This despite giving it a second chance as well. But I can certainly see where you’re coming from on this.
satyam 21 March 2007
02:59:52 pm
Qalandar: You must see Melville’s le Cercle Rouge. It is to my mind one of his absolute masterpieces along with le Samourai and Les Armees des Ombres.
Mr.Bond 21 March 2007
05:39:24 pm
Satyam: I finally watched Pan’s Labyrinth on DVD a couple of days ago. I agree with you, it’s an awesome movie.
rks 21 March 2007
05:54:05 pm
“Pan’s Labyrinth on DVD a couple of days ago.”
Has it been released on DVD? Netflix is still not showing any release date.
akshay shah 21 March 2007
06:22:36 pm
Adi: Thanks for the reccomendation on CHILDREN OF MEN, will check this out!!! I simply love BLADE RUNNER! So its better than THE MATRIX?
satyam 21 March 2007
07:47:53 pm
Rks: It releases in the US on May 15. Mr Bond here might have other ’sources’!
The Illusionist vs. The Prestige 27 March 2007
09:25:50 pm
[...] me append here my own thoughts on the [...]
satyam 30 March 2007
06:08:52 am
I have once again added a film to this list, Children of Men. Because Qalandar threatened violence the last time around I have not actually ‘updated’ it this time.
satyam 30 March 2007
06:09:19 am
Aditya, I have seen the error of my ways on children of men!
satyam 30 March 2007
04:47:56 pm
though if I were to update the list yet again it would be hard for me to remove one of those ten movie and substitute this for it.
henry 30 March 2007
08:15:28 pm
Update it, Satyam. Qalandar ko main dekh loonga
satyam 30 March 2007
08:49:43 pm
Thanks buddy!
rks 30 March 2007
09:15:42 pm
Satyam:”It releases in the US on May 15.”
Thanks. Volver is releasing this week.
akshay shah 30 March 2007
11:52:39 pm
Just managed to get my hands on CHILDREN OF MEN, THE PRESTIGE, ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL and GRIDIRON GANG tonight!! Plan to check the rest out too!
satyam 15 April 2007
04:06:50 pm
Again and even though mindful that Qalandar has threatened physical violence I have nonetheless updated this list as I feel there are some major changes at this point. Also Henry has promised to protect me!
When I say ‘06 I go by release date in the original country. Some of these films released in the US/UK only in ‘07.
satyam 15 April 2007
04:18:54 pm
I should just warn everyone though that there might be one last update when I watch resnais’ Private fears in Public places! In this case Volver will have to make way!
rks 20 April 2007
12:26:04 pm
I watched Volver yesterday. It is a funny movie around serious issues. Acting was very good. I liked the young girl’s facial expressions while acting. **SPOLIER**It was ironic that young girl a product of father’s abuse, was going to be victim of abuse by father.**END SPOILER**. Some of the situations were implausible but overall an entertaining movie with subtitles.
satyam 20 April 2007
12:35:06 pm
Rks: Check out the following piece on this film that among other things contextualises it within the director’s previous work:
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007.....-of-books/
rks 2 May 2007
04:24:27 pm
Yesterday I saw “Little children”. Acting was very good . I loved the portion where the lady in kitty party kept describing Madam Bovary as Slut in all her answers. Then finally got overwhelmed by other people opinions. I was not convinced why the Brad stayed with the guys at skating place instead of eloping with Sarah. And there was too much nudity, which I thought was not necessary for the movie.
Qalandar 3 May 2007
09:33:53 am
OK the reformatting works very well I concede…”magar kameenay, mein tera khoon pee jaaonga” as Garam Dharam would say!
satyam 3 May 2007
09:33:55 am
Rks: I found in an otherwise fine film the ending overall conservative in more ways than one.
satyam 3 May 2007
09:34:46 am
This post should be in the all stars for the most updated in NG history!
satyam 3 May 2007
09:38:44 am
Qalandar: LOL!!!
Actually it’s a vicious narcissistic cycle with me. First I like (yes indecently understated) watching movies, then I watch them again and again (just on this list I have already seen 60% of the movies twice!), then I make up a list, and I also revisit the list multiple times! In other words I love revisiting what I’ve written about movies I have loved watching more than once!
satyam 3 May 2007
09:39:50 am
But be thankful for small mercies.. what if I decided to ‘justify’ my choices further and expanded each note into an essay?!!
goodfella 3 May 2007
01:46:15 pm
Satyam, since it’s a never ending cycle, might I propose the next step in its evolution? How about a personal faves list for ‘06, much like the personal all-timers list you composed at my suggestion? Unless, of course, this is that…
rks 3 May 2007
02:22:00 pm
Satyam:”I found in an otherwise fine film the ending overall conservative in more ways than one.”
Yups, After doing mistakes thay all come to senses! I think they are making a lot of movies with different tracks in same movie. Have you seen a movie “11:14″?
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/1.....937912_0_0
satyam 3 May 2007
02:22:42 pm
These is more or less that list Goodfella, in fact I called it my ‘personal favorites’ earlier. I suppose I would take out a few here if push came to shove but not sure what I could add. For example I didn’t really have a favorite Hindi film in the true sense in ‘06.
satyam 3 May 2007
03:11:10 pm
A purely personal list here would be:
1)Lives of Others
2)Pan’s Labyrinth
3)Letters from Iwo Jima
4)Page Turner
5)After the Wedding
6)Babel
7)Days of Glory
Aditya 3 May 2007
04:10:18 pm
sadly, i missed watching ‘the fountain’ in the theater. the mixed reviews discouraged me, but i’ll check it out now 4 sure.
good 2 see ‘little children’ here. i thought it was one of the very best films of 2006.
satyam 6 May 2007
08:32:31 am
aditya: The Fountain releases on DVD May 15. It did get mixed reviews. It’s wonderfully silly like much New Age stuff but it’s quite compelling.
satyam 6 May 2007
08:33:12 am
Another very interesting ‘06 film was Hollywoodland though I didn’t like it enough to put it on this list.
kmkm13 6 May 2007
09:37:52 am
It’s a pity that Bouchareb’s cast was not even nominated for the french cesars 2007.While, they won a collective award for best actor at cannes film festival.
Though the film was nominated in 9 categories at the
cesars 2007.
One of the rare films which had an immediate effect on any government it forced the conservative government(chirac -after watching the film) to pay the long due pension for the foreign soldiers who fought and risked for France.
It entered the oscar foreign category not for france but for Algeria.Fauteuil D’orchestre by Daniele Thompson was selected to represent France.
Qalandar 6 May 2007
09:46:12 am
Re: “One of the rare films which had an immediate effect on any government it forced the conservative government(chirac -after watching the film) to pay the long due pension for the foreign soldiers who fought and risked for France.”
That’s very interesting, I didn’t know this.
How come the film ended up Algeria’s official entry? Was it a French-Algerian co-production situation? I had been under the impression it was made “by” the French film industry…
How many cesars did it win (you mention it didn’t win any acting cesars, but what about others)?
kmkm13 6 May 2007
10:25:00 am
As you know Qalandar a film of foreign language can be selected by any country.case in point “Water” which was nominated for Canada or even Pan’s labyrinth was nominated for Mexico and not Babel or Children of men.Even if all three are mexican directors.Babel could have been nominated for different countries.I think the 3 mexican directors planned it out first.It’s a new rule by the oscars.
“Indigenes” had great difficulty in finding funds for the movie.It was financed by more than 30 production aids ranging from Morroco to Belgium.Even from where i live Alsace helped in the making of this movie.
It did not make it the best actor category at the Cesars.That’s scandalous man!!!Considering the fact that it got a collective award at Cannes.Just like VOLVER.
IT did win one cesar for it’s original screenplay by oliver Lorelland the director himself Rachid Bouchareb.
It was a “flop “,relatively small film Pascal Ferran “lady chatterly ” which won maximum awards followed by the thriller “Ne le dis a personne”by the young actor/director Canet. which
kmkm13 6 May 2007
10:41:45 am
In France there is a big problem when you want to make a film about the french history.And film is majorly financed by the television production house like canal+ or the number 1 television private company TF1.You should have seen them gloat after the pensions were allocated to these soldiers.Not only was it late in the day as many soldiers had died by the time they got their dues but to pride yourself afterwards is a bit too much.Considering the fact that Bouchareb had to fight intensely with these very production houses to see his dream(indigenes) fulfilled.
But at the end of the day, the biggest victory of this film is that people across the world have watched it or will eventually watch it!!!
kmkm13 6 May 2007
10:45:02 am
Anyway the presidentials are on here.In 15 mins we will have a new president in France.
Qalandar 6 May 2007
11:00:32 am
Yeah, sadly (although I don’t think highly of either choice) I guess it’ll be Sarkozy…
Thanks for the comments kmkm13, no doubt the fact that we have this film to view is the real silver lining…
kmkm13 6 May 2007
11:05:14 am
YEah man sarkozy it is…53 for him and 47 for Segolene ROYAL…estimation tns /sofres
satyam 6 May 2007
12:28:04 pm
Kmkm13: On this side of the Atlantic people are already cheering for ‘Sarko L’Americain’!
satyam 6 May 2007
12:31:15 pm
Kmkm13: Interesting info on Indigenes (released here as Days of Glory, always thought this ruined the sense of the title, specially given the film’s concerns).
On Lady Chatterley I’ve heard nothing but good things. Do want to watch this. It was playing at a festival a few weeks ago but I couldn’t make it. The DVD will release in France in a week or so. Bouchareb’s earlier work, Little Senegal, was also a fine film.
kmkm13 6 May 2007
12:56:09 pm
Yes satyam sarkozy is something.He is pro american for sure.Even went to America to click a picture with Bush.They derided him for quite sometime as he is short and the picture showed him to be at the same hight than Bush.
On Lady chatterley it came as a surprise here that this little film which made 200 000 entries won 5 cesars.
Indigenes is an apt title but these french films go to America and they have to change their titles.It’s the same for American movies.
Have you heard what the director of “Lady Chatterley” said at the cesar?
Have you seen the film by Tommy lee jones ” Trois enterrements”?Could easily have been on your list.
Have you seen another small movie which got 4 cesars for 2005 cesars Abdellatif Kechiche’s “l’esquive”?
kmkm13 6 May 2007
01:28:47 pm
The dvd of “indigenes” has already been released here in France.Haven’t watched ” little senegal”?It was playing on the cable. I am too lazy, i guess…
satyam 6 May 2007
02:16:46 pm
I was referring to the Chatterley DVD, not Indigenes.
I have seen the Tommy Lee Jones work though I wasn’t crazy about it. Have heard of L’esquive though haven’t seen it.
kmkm13 6 May 2007
02:53:48 pm
sorry yes you’re right Lady chatterley will release on 9 mai.You should see “l’esquive” it’s a good love story about a timid boy Krimo wanting to seduce his love by playing a part in a play by Marivaux ironically named ‘le jeu du hasard et de l’amour’.A different take on cliches surrounding “Les Banlieues” where art can emante…But tragically for him theatre won’t help him as he is too sincere (which ends up in a pedestrian effort by him) while playing his part.
Can be easily adapted in india!!!!The dvd’s price is quite low now!!!!
satyam 6 May 2007
04:40:46 pm
Thanks for the info. Will check it out..
satyam 6 May 2007
05:08:02 pm
Kmkm13: Actually I will watch L’Esquive during this week. I didn’t realise it was available in the US on DVD and it’s called Games of Love and Chance (ironically after the play within the film!).
The other two recent French films that didn’t make my list were Les Anges Exterminateurs and Sissako’s Bamako. I found the latter little more than blunt polemic and couldn’t quite figure out the critics who loved it. And I say this as someone who loved the director’s earlier waiting for Happiness.
One film that could still make the list is Chabrol’s L’Ivresse du Pouvoir. I missed this in the theaters and it releases on DVD here this week.
satyam 6 May 2007
05:11:13 pm
By the way if L’Esquive were to be adapted in India ‘les banlieues’ would have to be converted to the ‘metro’ proper! Because the suburbs don’t have much cultural resonance in India. And the whole ‘immigrant’ issue would also work well with something like Bangladeshi immigrants in calcutta or some other kinds of immigrants in other cities.
satyam 8 May 2007
06:00:49 am
And speaking of ‘les Banlieues’ I just revisted La Haine after many years (for the first time since the original release actually) as it just released on DVD in the US. I remember not liking it originally but I found it outstanding this time around. And given some of the recent rioting (on that sort of scale even if the event is hardly new) it seems even more cogent as a film today.
Sarkozy according to some accounts has done more for immigrant policies in a positive way than most before him. But his tough stance on the ‘rioting’ ruined his reputation in this sense. But of course he also had his eye on his candidacy! Would be interesting to see what he does on this score in the future though I am not holding my breath!
kmkm13 8 May 2007
06:39:41 am
Yes La Haine is one hell of a film.I certainly liked it when i saw it.This film will remain contemporary forever in France due to the problems immigrants namely blacks and muslims face.It’s a fitting account of a two way society where the young though french of African origin have little chance to make it.La Haine doesn’t glorify these jobless,aimless youth but shows a brutal reality where it’s more easy to become a drug dealer than a graduate.
The problem with Sarkozy is that he went to a suburb and pronounce words like ” racaille ” scums that needed to be cleaned to these youth.If you are a respectable politician surely you can’t use this kind of language.This episode is still vivid in the mind.Also considering the fact that there were 2 adolescents (zyed and Bouna) which died in an electrical transformer because they were pursued by the police.This is what started the riots.Also afterwards he came on television saying they were not pursued by the police which was a blatant lie.He never ever said he was sorry for saying those things.
Many people are kind of afraid of him not only does he control the political UMP, he’ll have full control of the police and power even the media as his friends control it.He opposes the working persons/unemployed,rich/poor,French citizens/immigrants or french with African origins rather than unite them.He certainly made his butter on the extreme left candidate Le PEN and took much of his voters.I don’t think he has done much for immigrants really.
I mean in some villages in Alsace Le PEN now Sarkozy came out with 80 percent of the votes where the risk of having an immigrant or stranger is scarce.
Qalandar 8 May 2007
07:04:49 am
Yeah, can’t say Sarkozy’s election thrilled me one bit, although Segolene Royal didn’t help matters by being so vaccuous. Actually was hoping Bayrou would do better, and still wonder how his party will fare in the Parliamentary elections that will be coming up shortly.
Satyam: not sure what you are referring to when you say Sarkozy has done stuff for immigrants! Must say I had never heard any such thing.
satyam 8 May 2007
07:07:09 am
Nice summation here kmkm13. I would add that this whole mix gets even more disturbing given the draconian powers the police have to begin with in France.
By the way I think you’ve mistyped ‘left’ for ‘right’ just before Le Pen.
Possibly the most outspoken contemporary French thinker on this entire issue is Badiou. Among other things, and in a somewhat more philosophical register, he talks about how the word ‘worker’ which was initially stigmatized in the West and was eventually institutionalized has now been converted into the ‘immigrant’. Not that the ‘worker’ became the ‘immigrant’ but that whole socio-politico-economic nexus that once defined the ‘worker’ in an industrial and perhaps even post-industrial age now defines the ‘immigrant’.
Badiou is constantly speaking out for the ’sans papiers’. It’s one of his great projects in life.
satyam 8 May 2007
07:11:56 am
Qalandar: Nor did I but I remember this view being represented in a recent piece somewhere. can’t remember where it was. I wasn’t endorsing the view. I was just interested that someone had made it and it was a mainstream source.
kmkm13 8 May 2007
07:13:09 am
Haven’t seen either Bamako’s work or Brisseau’s “Les Anges Exterminateurs”, it was a very polemical film .Brisseau was even convicted for 1 year of imprisonment by the court for making 4 girls do erotic scenes before during the trials.Only 2 girls charges were taken into account for sexual harrasment.
Coming to “La Haine” its director mathieu kassovitz didn’t make another great film after it.He is also a very talented actor starred in films like Audiard’s”Regarde les hommes tomber,”Le fabuleux destin d’amelie poulain”Lagaan opponent at the oscars , Gavras’ “AMEN ” where he played a priest during the Nazi regime.He also played with kidman in ‘Birthday Girl’and directed the forgettable “Gothika” with Halle Berry.He got the best director award at cannes and also won 3 cesars including for best film.I gather he is working on a sci-fi movie Babylon Babies adapted from a book by Dantec.
satyam 8 May 2007
07:16:09 am
Alright, here’s that NY Times piece:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05.....nted=print
May 5, 2007
In French Bid, Immigrant’s Son Battles Reputation as Anti-Immigrant
By CRAIG S. SMITH
PARIS, May 4 — The possible next president of France is the son of an immigrant with a very un-French name who has done as much, if not more, than any other French official to improve the status of minorities.
He knows the pain of being an outsider and even advocates American-style affirmative action, heresy for many people in officially colorblind, egalitarian France.
Yet the one place that the leading candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, has dared not go in the days before the election on Sunday are the volatile working-class neighborhoods of France’s second-generation immigrants, where he is largely reviled.
His opponent, Ségolène Royal of the Socialist Party, has played on fears that if Mr. Sarkozy is elected, this country’s minority youths may take to the streets as they did in 2005, setting cars and buildings aflame.
On Friday she said that if he is elected, “democracy will be threatened,” The Associated Press reported. She said she felt a “responsibility to raise the alert about the risks of this candidacy and the violence and brutality that will be set off in the country.”
The integration of alienated, second-generation immigrant youths into mainstream French society is one of the thorniest problems facing French politics today, and Mr. Sarkozy, as interior minister, tackled the problem head-on with a directness more typical of an American politician than a French one.
But his Giuliani-inspired zero-tolerance anticrime campaign, his frank, sometimes imprudent talk (tailored to attract far-right voters during an earlier stage of his campaign) and his combative style have turned him into an enemy for many young minorities. Fear that a President Sarkozy would bring five years of heightened tension and violence is an emotion operating at the core of the presidential campaign.
“There’s never been a presidential election in France in which the leading candidate causes so much fear,” said Kamel Chibli, who grew up in public housing projects outside Toulouse and now acts as a spokesman on minority affairs for Ms. Royal. “The future of the country is at stake.”
Certainly, the hoots and jeers that Mr. Sarkozy’s name brings amid the crowded high-rise apartment blocks in the Paris suburbs suggest that a Sarkozy presidency would face resistance, if not unrest. Even Mr. Sarkozy’s closest supporters concede that there is likely to be some car burning if he wins the election.
But those supporters argue that, given time, his anticrime campaign and promise of training and jobs for unemployed youths would eventually turn the tense suburbs from increasingly stagnant ghettos into peaceful pools of hope.
“If the only reason to vote for Ségo is fear of trouble in the suburbs, then democracy is in trouble,” said Yves Jégo, the mayor of one immigrant-heavy northern suburb and a staunch Sarkozy supporter. Ségo is Ms. Royal’s nickname.
Mr. Sarkozy himself has struggled as an outsider, describing himself as a “little Frenchman of mixed blood” who rose to the top of French politics without going through the normal channels of the elite École Nationale d’Administration as Ms. Royal did.
His record includes a number of efforts to improve the status of members of the country’s minorities, most of whom are Muslim. He encouraged the creation of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, which gave Islam a voice in France. He appointed the first prefect in France who is both foreign-born and Muslim. He has even argued for relaxing rules that restrict government support for building mosques.
And he supports affirmative action, which the Socialists steadfastly oppose. He has promised to find jobs for 250,000 disadvantaged youths before the end of the year.
Ms. Royal promises to reinstate neighborhood police officers and reinstate a state-financed youth employment program, both created by the former Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin and discontinued by Mr. Sarkozy. She has vowed that no young person would remain unemployed for more than six months after leaving school.
Even many of Mr. Sarkozy’s critics concede that his proposals are broader and deeper than those of Ms. Royal.
“He is more concrete, more precise than the left,” said Mohamed Hamidi, editor in chief of Bondy Blog, a fledgling online magazine focused on France’s working-class suburbs. “But he is ready for confrontation.”
Many people blame Mr. Sarkozy for the 2005 violence, citing his tough talk and policies during four years as interior minister. Soon after getting the job in 2002, he got rid of beat police officers in troubled neighborhoods, chastising patrolmen in Toulouse for organizing soccer games with local youths. “You are not social workers,” Mr. Sarkozy said.
His combative style exacerbated the rising tensions, even as it solidified his credentials with the far right, whose support was critical in winning the first round of voting last month.
While visiting La Courneuve, a working-class suburb of Paris, after a shooting in June 2005, he vowed to clean out the suburb “with a Kärcher,” a brand of high-powered industrial pressure washer.
He inflamed passions further a few months later by telling people in another suburb that he would rid the place of the “scum” responsible for petty crime.
The harsh language, which he and his supporters still defend, defined him as racist in the eyes of many French blacks and Arabs who were already bristling from the police spot checks that came with the anticrime campaign.
When two youths were accidentally electrocuted while fleeing police officers two days after his “scum” remark, working-class neighborhoods across the country erupted in an unprecedented wave of urban unrest that was largely a response to Mr. Sarkozy and his tough tactics.
While Mr. Sarkozy has moderated his language and struck a more conciliatory tone in the presidential campaign, he did not help matters by proposing last year that France have a ministry of immigration and national identity to ensure that new citizens adhered to France’s secular values.
To many people in the suburbs, the idea seemed to be a way to suppress cultural differences in favor of a traditional French way of life.
Since the 2005 violence, Mr. Sarkozy has been unwelcome in the suburbs. He made only one visit to a troubled neighborhood during the campaign, a brief, tightly controlled trip to the suburb of Meaux, where he bore the heckles and harangues of angry citizens in a closed meeting with more than 300 police officers posted outside.
But Mr. Sarkozy’s supporters say that the law-and-order drive and social programs, in time, would have a deeper impact on the stagnation in the suburbs, for which they blame 20 years of Socialist Party policies.
“You have to be firm with people who interfere with other people’s lives,” Taymir Boungou-Pouaty said as he watched a handful of police officers intervene to stop a fight outside La Courneuve’s notorious “city of 4,000” housing projects, so named because it includes about 4,000 apartments. “You can’t coddle them.”
Mr. Boungou-Pouaty, an immigrant from Congo, was one of the handful to benefit from Mr. Sarkozy’s 2005 visit to the suburb. He was hired by a French company as part of Mr. Sarkozy’s affirmative action plan and is now a volunteer in Mr. Sarkozy’s campaign.
He said many people in the housing projects supported Mr. Sarkozy, even if they were reluctant to talk about it.
“They speak through the ballots,” he said, noting that while Ms. Royal won 41.1 percent of the vote in La Courneuve, Mr. Sarkozy received a respectable 22.9 percent, more than the centrist candidate François Bayrou, and better than President Jacques Chirac fared in the 2002 presidential election. “There are people that want a little order, a little rigor,” Mr. Boungou-Pouaty said.
He is reassured because Mr. Sarkozy himself was born to a refugee, a Hungarian.
“The name Sarkozy isn’t French like Royal or Le Pen,” Mr. Boungou-Pouaty said, referring to Ms. Royal and the defeated far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen. “To have a name like that at the top of France, that’s something.”
But the accusations of racism have stuck. The soccer star Lilian Thuram says that Mr. Sarkozy told him during the 2005 unrest that “it’s the blacks and Arabs who create problems in the suburbs.” Though Mr. Sarkozy says the story is not true, Mr. Thuram has repeated it over and over, becoming a popular voice of the anti-Sarkozy movement.
“If Sarkozy wins, I’m sure there’ll be trouble the night of the elections,” said Mr. Hamidi, the Bondy Blog editor. “With Ségo, things will be calm for five years.”
In a way, Mr. Sarkozy’s confrontational style has already changed the suburbs, where economic stagnation had deepened political apathy. Many minority youths registered to vote in the wake of the 2005 unrest, and abstentions in the suburbs fell by half to about 15 percent in the first round of voting.
Mr. Boungou-Pouaty warns that Mr. Sarkozy would have only one chance to make good on his message.
“We will see how he constitutes his government, whether it includes blacks and Arabs,” Mr. Boungou-Pouaty said. “If they disappoint us, it’s over.”
satyam 8 May 2007
07:27:33 am
Kmkm13: I have seen Amen. Don’t remember Kassovitz there, I should revisit it. Haven’t seen that Audiard either. How does it compare to his other stuff? I think Un Hero Tres Discret (remember the actor here!) is his best work but I did enjoy the few others that I saw, mostly very recent stuff (the rest of it isn’t available here yet).
Amelie was a charming film of course.
On the Brisseau film I have very mixed feelings about it though he does problematize the issues in interesting ways. Both the representation of sexuality but and the representation of women in cinema. And of course the overarching issue of the male gaze.
Bamako released recently on DVD in France. I must confess I found it torture in the theater even if it’s a forceful polemic. But you should check out his earlier En Attendant le Bonheur if you get a chance. He’s another descendant of Antonioni (specifically the Passenger) here.
Qalandar 8 May 2007
07:43:26 am
Thanks for the piece.
Aside: what a world of difference between the french and US titles of “Amelie”; I have always thought the French title (“The fabulous/marvelous destiny of Amelie Poulain”) was far more in keeping with the film’s spirit than the english-language title…
kmkm13: have you seen “Water Drops on Burning Rocks” (don’t know the French title) by Ozon (off a Fassbinder script)? Ordinarily I am not one for Ozon, but this I thought was damn funny, and weirdly moving too…
Qalandar 8 May 2007
07:44:33 am
also would love to hear your thoughts on “Les Amants Reguliers” if you’ve seen it…
kmkm13 8 May 2007
08:05:43 am
Very true and violence even if sporadic and scattered through France has already started with clash against the police and i think 700 burnt cars.Sarkozy did appoint a prefet of algerian origin Aissa Dermouche in 2004 but who resigned.This nominations are illusions served to mask the reality where to find a black or muslim member of parliament is rare.Thus parliament never represents the true face of the French society.Sarkozy even insulted one of his muslim “collegues” the writer/politician Azouz BEGAG who bravely said that sarkozy was wrong in saying those things to the youth or the “banlieues”.
Sadly Qalandar I don’t think that Bayrou would have changed anything in the French political scenery.After his excellent score around 19 percent in the first round he is now laying the foundations of a new political party:Mouvement Democrate.All his UDF members left him to join Sarkozy and UMP.Not only because they thought that he would win but they need to get elected during the upcoming parliamentary election and by having a UMP contender against them would complicate the matter.Gilles DE RObien (former Education minister) is one of his fiercest rival even if they were in the same political party.It is he who convinced the Udf members to join Sarkozy.
satyam 8 May 2007
08:13:33 am
“Thus parliament never represents the true face of the French society.”
Astute point. Badiou would agree and would in fact expand this into a general statement on all parliamentary democracy (in Badiou’s sense all democracies are parliamentary democracies). In other words for him democracy in its parliamentary form (which is to say current form) obscures the true antagonistic politics of any social network and is nothing more than an extension of ‘economic possibilities’.
satyam 8 May 2007
08:14:43 am
Qalandar: The only Ozon film I have ever liked is Le Temps qui Reste.
Regular Lovers was a fine film though and I do remember the equally fine piece you wrote on it.
kmkm13 8 May 2007
08:35:40 am
I have watched this Ozon film which has as title “Gouttes D’eau sur Pierres Brulantes” and you are right it’s from a script by Fassbinder.It’s a very close account of a homosexual couple between an older man and a young man who slowly drifts apart.Ozon was very good in “swimming pool”, “sous le sables” which marked the coming back of charlotte Rampling , “5X2″ which analyses a couple in reverse their coming together and their separation or the desintegration of their marriage.Good one this.Also he made “Le temps qui reste” about old age i think and more recently an english film ANGEL.
Can’t agree more with you about the title “LE fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain”.there’s something magical about it.I get frustrated about the french titles of american films also.
kmkm13 8 May 2007
08:58:08 am
I have watched “Les amants Reguliers” and it got Louis Delluc prize and a prize in Venice.I have see it one more time to comment on your excellent analysis.But can’t agree more with your comparison with Bertolluci’s “The Dreamers”which is not regarded as a fine example of the happenings of MAI 68.By the way, camera work has to be taken into account when analysing a film even if it’s a scene.Can’t agree more.
Have you seen the cult film “Les Valseuses” with two of the biggest french actors Dewaere and Depardieu?
Qalandar 8 May 2007
09:28:10 am
I have not seen Les Valseues (love Depardieu, though my fav is Daniel Auteuil), will check it out..
Mr.Bond 8 May 2007
09:30:09 am
BTW, I watched the French movie “The Valet” this weekend in the theater. It was pretty funny.
satyam 8 May 2007
09:39:55 am
The American title on Les Valseuses is Going Places.
And kmkm13 you’re right, a lot of the the French titles on American films are simply bizarre!
Mr Bond, I’ve heard good things about Valet but haven’t seen it.
kmkm13 8 May 2007
09:55:55 am
Qalandar:Well Daniel Auteuil is a gem of an actor.My favorite actor also alongwith Depadieu,Gerard Philippe and Dewaere.One film which really made his career take off is Berri’s “Manon des sources” and “Jean de florette” with Gerard Depadieu.The recent hit cop flick with both “36 QUai des Orfevres” was superb also. Rappeneau’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” with Depardieu was a fine film with a massive central performance nicely adapted from Rostand’s play.Surprisingly,it bears some similarities with “Saajan”.
BTW,Mr.Bond haven’t seen “The valet”.
One of my all-time favorite french film is Carne’s “Les enfants du paradis”.This is a clear masterpiece.
Qalandar 8 May 2007
10:10:24 am
I love Jean de Florette (less so Manon des Sources though that is a fine film too), but these aren’t my favorite Auteuil performances (he is superb in that role though) — for a personal favorite I would give the palm to “Sade”, which was a damn good film to boot IMO…I also have a great weakness for the icy “froideur” of “Un Coeur En Hiver” (both film and performance).
kmkm13 8 May 2007
10:48:10 am
Haven’t seen “Sade” but i remember watching “Quills” which was on Sade’s life in prison.Sade is a hell of a writer.I think the term “sadique” comes from his name.”Un coeur en hiver” is a very good film though.Sautet’s “Les choses de la vie” is usually considered as a great film where after an accident a man goes through his past life while suffering physical agony.Contains fine performance and chemistry by Piccoli and Romy Schneider.
Mr.Bond 8 May 2007
10:52:39 am
Daniel Auteuil is in The Valet as well.
Qalandar 8 May 2007
10:57:18 am
Unfortunately that’s the only Sautet film I have seen…
Quills: Personally I think this is horribly inferior to Sade; the latter was so well cast and acted (Isild Le Bisco is also one of the most singular women I have ever seen on screen) it was just a true pleasure…loved the little details too (like Robespierre’s shades!)…
speaking of Depardieu and Ateuil, The Closet was a nice timepass film…
PS– as far as I know “sadique” is after Sade, as is the English equivalent “sadist”…
satyam 9 May 2007
10:05:51 pm
Yes it’s hard to beat Sade within Auteuil’s oeuvre even if I have a personal weakness for Un coeur en Hiver. My favorite Auteuil film is probably the relatively recent Cache though.
36 Quai des Orfevres didn’t do as much for me though it’s fun seeing Depardieu and Auteuil together. Worth visiting all the same.
satyam 9 May 2007
10:07:38 pm
By the way another ‘06 film worth visiting is The Painted Veil (based on a Maugham novel) starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. The film is a bit flat, Norton is a bit miscast (he produced the film) but it’s a nice yarn with some lush Chinese scenery.
kmkm13 9 May 2007
11:18:22 pm
“Cache” i missed though i have seen his other films funny games,benny’s video,la pianiste and 71 fragments d’une chronologie du hasard.Haneke is quite a provocative director.
I am amazed by the inclusion of “The page turner” in you’re list.This film came and went without a trace in France.
Haven’t seen The painted veil…
Wanted to ask you if you have watched the russian film “Le Retour”by andrei Zviaguintsev (first film) which deals with the return of a father in his family while he is accepted by his wife he is rejected by his two sons (namely one) doubt his identity.Made along the lines of Antonioni.I believe he has been selected for Cannes with his next film Izgananie.
satyam 10 May 2007
05:40:44 am
kmkm13: The Return is excellent. You should check out Koktebel if you liked this. And you should certainly watch Cache as soon as you can. I consider him one of the best contemporary directors. The other outstanding work of his is Code Inconnu. The opening sequence here has already become legendary.
I am surprised that Page Turner didn’t do well in France. I know it was very well received in Cannes. I do believe that this is a better film than anything Chabrol has made in ages (this is a very Chabrol kind of subject) with the exception of La Ceremonie (to my mind his masterpiece) and possibly La Fleur du Mal another exception.
Painted Veil I just mentioned in passing, wouldn’t really urge you to rush out to get this!
Qalandar 10 May 2007
06:09:58 am
I can watch just about anything by Chabrol, but at least on a first viewing Fleur du Mal seemed a bit “slight”, perhaps I should re-visit. I saw a film he made after that one, but can’t remember the title (a love story of sorts). La Ceremonie is my favorite of the ones I have seen, although L’Enfer is disturbing in its portrayal of the paranoia of sexual jealousy, and is very memorable film IMO.
Qalandar 10 May 2007
07:31:13 am
The Chabrol film the title of which I couldn’t remember is La Demoiselle d’Honneur (“The Bridesmaid”). It was watchable for sure, but can’t say much more, certainly inferior to everything else I have seen by Chabrol.
satyam 10 May 2007
08:38:47 am
I didn’t mind the Bridesmaid, it was better than many other films he’d done. I just saw L’Ivresse du Pouvoir and this was again rather mediocre, based on a recent French scandal. I think his best one over the last 20 years after La Ceremonie is Story of Women followed by La Fleur du Mal. But I always find Chabrol watchable. I think the Page Turner is better than all of these barring La Ceremonie and Story of Women.
satyam 10 May 2007
08:41:38 am
And yes L’Enfer has its moments for sure. Also while most of his films are slight these days these are still better than a lot of his 80s stuff. The best Chabrol by common consent is from the 60s and early to mid 70s. I don’t particularly like any film of his after this until one gets to Story of Women in ‘87. But La ceremonie is the exception in the post-70s phase (Story of Women also perhaps), just a brilliant, terrifying film.
kmkm13 10 May 2007
10:06:38 am
Right Satyam but La tourneuse de page is from a young director i believe Denis Dercourt.Coming to La ceremonie is quite a wicked film, very brutal.The two women who gang up to kill everyone in this bourgeois family is considered cult here.Chabrol also made Le Boucher which has a Hichcock touch. masterly handelled by Chabrol of character and locale.Also he adapted Madame Bovary with probably the real anti heroine(Bette Davis) of world cinema in general Isabelle Huppert not like the indian vamps.
Thanks for the other films will be on my list for sure.
satyam 10 May 2007
11:49:14 am
Le Boucher is of course one of the classic Chabrol films. My favorite from that entire period though is Juste Avant la Nuit.
Dericourt is a very interssting guy, he’s still quite young, he possesses a double degree, one of which is in philosophy, he played on a French national orchestra for five years (the viola I think), then started making films and now simultaneously teaches music theory and instruments! He apparently makes a short film every week to stay in touch with his craft. Quite remarkable!
kmkm13 10 May 2007
12:19:58 pm
yeah but must tell you a whole lot of shit get made here also.Last year’s biggest hit “Les bronzes 3″ made more than 10 million entries was crap.So was “Camping”.
I’m much more selective in choosing films i want to see TOO much crap around.I remember once you said you’ll watch anything moving.I’m much more choosy.Pascale ferran (Lady chatterley) said at the cesar ceremony that french cinema with truffaut and others which was once about good taste now through constant releasing of bad film is corrupting the audience taste .
There’s still hope though a relatively small german film like “La vie des autres” with relatively no publicity made more than 1 million entries solely on good word of mouth(bouche à oreille).
satyam 11 May 2007
07:16:32 am
Yes I confess I can see anything that moves! But here are some lists I put up sometime back:
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007/04/09/my-list-of-100-greatest-films-in-no-order-at-all/ (1)
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007/04/11/an-alternate-100/ (2)
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007/04/11/a-personal-top-100/ (3)
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007/04/12/an-underrated-100/ (4)
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007/04/13/my-hindi-100/ (5)
satyam 11 May 2007
07:18:30 am
Incidentally the Lives of Others is in my opinion one of the great films of our time. Some other films that I would put in such a list are Werkmeister Harmonies (tarr), Talk to her (Almodovar), La Belle Noiseuse (Rivette), Cache (Haneke).
satyam 11 May 2007
12:11:09 pm
Kmkm13: I did see Games of Love and Chance. Interesting but I must confess I didn’t like it as much as you did.
kmkm13 11 May 2007
12:32:37 pm
Yes but in the present context i must say anything positive coming from the banlieues is a relief !!!
kmkm13 11 May 2007
12:36:55 pm
Was just hearing one critic that i like very much talk about Miyazaki.He is really a great director i must say.Films like Le voyage de chihiro (oscar) , Un chateau dans le ciel..
kmkm13 11 May 2007
12:50:38 pm
I was quite amazed by one of your top 100 films which included ” Shoah and Nuit et Brouillard”.These are really films that will never die.It’s makes one ponder more on humanity and its savageness.How far humans ( nazi regime) can go in the hate of another race or religion.You have goose pimples when you watch these two films which shows how much emotional value
these 2 films have.
What about “De Nuremberg à Nuremberg” Which shows the propaganda of the nazi regime and its rise.Have you seen it?
satyam 11 May 2007
12:59:57 pm
That’s a film that I haven’t gotten around to yet. I do have to get the French release as there isn’t anything on this in the US or UK.
A film which tangentially touches on this entire thematic is Die Ister. The film is concerned with heidegger’s thought but of course Heidegger is extremely important for a name like ‘Auschwitz’.
satyam 11 May 2007
01:01:04 pm
Believe it or not I haven’t see a single Miyazaki so far. I hope to start with Spirited Away some day.
satyam 11 May 2007
01:04:37 pm
To be honest I think Resnais does more in his 30 min short feature than Lanzmann in his 9 hr epic! Not to take away anything from Shoah but Resnais’s is the more sophisticated effort. Have you seen his recent Coeurs? It was released here as ‘Private Fears in Public Places’.
kmkm13 11 May 2007
01:26:56 pm
Yes but lanzmann is kind of contemplative of the present state of concentation camps…True Alain Renais is a great director imo.Even now… all the the talks about the loss of creative touch from ageing directors (especially in india) is myth.
No unfortunately haven’t watched “coeurs”.I like “Hiroshima mon amour” though especially the begining with the voice over…
I urge you to watch Miyazaki’s works he passes poetry through his pictures….
On Heiddeger yes he was a true Nazi sympathiser…A french author who was a like him is Celine who wrote which is considered a masterpiece “Voyage au bout de la nuit”.I think i’ve heard somewhere that he went to germany nazi authority to complain that they were not killing enough jews!!!!!
satyam 11 May 2007
02:37:56 pm
Yes the Celine book is great though I didn’t know he had Nazi sympathies.
As a ‘Heidegger-addict’ though I must insist that Heidegger’s relationship was rather more complicated and in any case he was with the part for about 11 months as the Rector of Freiburg Univerity and eventually resigned. It got to a point in the early 40s where his classed were monitored by Nazi agents as the authorities felt he’d become subversive! Of course after the war he was banned for teaching for 5 years. In ‘87 Victor Farias wrote the book that ignited this entire scandal. About this book I can do no better than quote Derrida who said that it seemed as if the author had spent about an hour or two with Heidegger’s thought before writing this book! This despite the fact that Farias was once Heidegger’s student! In any case Heidegger’s flirtation with politics has given rise to some of the richest reflections on the coincidence of politics and thought. Suffice it to say that a great many intellectual figures indulged in some abhorrent politics at times though in some ways Hegel’s and Plato’s examples are worse than this. But the Ister does a superb job of trying to understand this entire knot of problems.
satyam 11 May 2007
05:25:04 pm
For once something by me not related to the Bachchans is making it to the all stars! Of course Rohit can be thanked for the ‘visitor question’ making it!
satyam 11 May 2007
07:47:11 pm
“Yes but in the present context i must say anything positive coming from the banlieues is a relief !!!”
Absolutely!
satyam 12 May 2007
07:00:29 am
By the way since this post might get buried over the weekend I am also linking it here (on Lives of Others):
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007.....of-others/
satyam 12 May 2007
07:03:14 am
On that note kmkm13, here’s an earlier illuminating piece on Volver and Almodovar’s cinema in general:
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007.....-of-books/
satyam 13 May 2007
05:45:01 am
For all those in the US, and interested, Pan’s Labyrinth and the Fountain release on DVD Tue.
kmkm13 13 May 2007
06:09:10 am
Thanks satyam i was quite disappointed when Almodovar didn’t win the Palme d’or.I was sad to see his face when he recieved the best screenplay.But, one day he will win it i’m sure.Have heard what he said on being a critic?
satyam 13 May 2007
06:16:57 am
I didn’t, what did he say?
kmkm13 13 May 2007
06:19:59 am
Aside what a fillm Pan’s labyrinth is!!!
There is some kind of sadness in the film where Del Toro is not satisfied with the world as it is.The refuge in fantasy is not a scape but a way to confront another kind of fear.
No matter how grotesque, ugly the beasts are they just can’t match the cruelty of the little girl’s step father.What a performance by Lopez!!!
The other film where Lopez is magnificent is Dominic Moll’s “Harry un ami qui vous veut du bien”..Real anti hero here where he urges,forces his friend to write by using all means .Can be remade in Bollywood but with no songs!!!
kmkm13 13 May 2007
06:22:41 am
Well he said that if you ask a child what he wants to become later in his life a critic or a director he will always want to be a director!!!!I think it is in a documentary about critics!!!
satyam 13 May 2007
06:22:52 am
Yes this was my favorite film of the year before I saw Lives of Others. And even then it’s hard to choose. This is a very special film for sure.
kmkm13 13 May 2007
06:24:30 am
True!!!
rks 13 May 2007
09:05:09 pm
Satyam:”For all those in the US, and interested, Pan’s Labyrinth and the Fountain release on DVD Tue”
They are at top of my netflix queue. Hope to get them on tuesday (they ship them on monday, even if they are releasing on tuesday)!
I saw The Last King of Scotland few days back. Forrest did a fine job but I liked James McAvoy more.
Qalandar 13 May 2007
09:07:00 pm
Haven’t seen Fountain, but Pan’s Labyrinth is damn good…
satyam 13 May 2007
09:11:56 pm
Rks: That’s true. I’ve also mastered this Netflix ‘economy’ where if something’s releasing Tue I make sure I return something in time for them to ship it out Mon.
satyam 13 May 2007
09:13:29 pm
And for anyone who’s interested the classic Becket with Richard Burtin and Peter O’Toole releases on DVD for the first time anywhere in the world this Tue in the US.
This is one of my very favorite films.
satyam 13 May 2007
09:17:21 pm
Rks: I would also strongly recommend Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville) and Imamura’s Vengeance is Mine. Both films release this Tue as well. Both films represent possibly the respective director’s best work to my mind. Early on in this very thread I had more to say on Melville.
satyam 13 May 2007
09:18:56 pm
Rks: I also enjoyed Last King of Scotland, principally for the performances though the film is quite engaging. For me though Forest Whitaker’s was the performance of the film, a great performance in a somewhat ‘masala’ vein much like Day Lewis in Gangs of NY.
rks 13 May 2007
09:20:06 pm
Q:”Haven’t seen Fountain, but Pan’s Labyrinth is damn good…”
I will read and comment after viewing.
satyam 14 May 2007
06:17:16 am
Would love to read your review Rks..
henry 14 May 2007
06:42:17 am
Q, most Americans don’t have the attention span for such a long title – “The Fabulous/marvelous destiny of Amelie Poulain”.
satyam 14 May 2007
07:21:11 am
How true Henry! This was a particularly poor choice though as so much of the film belongs to the order of the ‘fabulous’.
henry 14 May 2007
08:20:43 am
I simply cannot wait for Pan’s Labyrinth’s DVD. Should have caught this one on the big screen.
kmkm13 14 May 2007
10:35:53 am
Any other Jeunet film you have seen Satyam apart from the huge (at least in France) “Le fabuleux destin D’Amelie Poulain”.
coming to this title there is a nice “Rime” in it …tin and…ain.The title certainly fits the heroine perfectly.Her life just changed after it.It was like the french KNPH…
satyam 14 May 2007
12:20:45 pm
Kmkm3: Well I’ve seen Alien Resurrection!
On the French stuff I’m seen Un Long Dimanche de Fiancailles, City of Lost Children, Delicatessen. From memory I think I liked the first and third of these. He’s not a favorite filmmaker by any means though.
satyam 14 May 2007
12:25:56 pm
The Alien franchise incidentally has really had some very interesting names at the helm. Ridley Scott did the first, James Cameron the second, Fincher the third and Jeunet the fourth. The first movie in any franchise is always unique but the Fincher and Jeunet sequels are also quite interesting.
Even otherwise the sequels have remained quite true to the original concept. Cameron’s was just a blockbuster type film but the third and fourth parts have given the subject interesting twists and also played out the logic well. Having said that I hope there isn’t another one.
In a classic case of US excess there is a DVD set called Alien Quadrilogy that contains 9 discs on these four films and has theatrical editions and director’s cuts of all the films! One is ready to do a PhD after this!
In American academia the two most influential American films in the last 30 years or so have been Alien and the Matrix. The Fight club is probably third on such a list.
kmkm13 14 May 2007
01:12:50 pm
Very interesting points there.On Alien i’ve heard an interesting analysis whereby the beast represents a phallic form therefore male and Ripley’s fighting it symbolizes advocates for some sorts of matriarchy.Also after seeing Shivers by Cronenberg in which there is an interview of his where he says he was confronted by a german man who said he had stolen the idea of an alien entering your body from ALIEN.He denied and said his film was before alien.Actually he wanted to create a spider which he had seen in a picture but due to lack technique couldn’t.
kmkm13 14 May 2007
01:20:32 pm
On matrix i think the influence is global.But there have been other influential american films Terminator 1&2,DIE-HARD,Predator…
Jeunet just couldn’t match a worthy follow up to Amelie.”Un long dimanche de fiançaille” had it’s moments but wasn’t entirely satisfactory.”Delicatessen” is interesting though if you see the king of photography it has.Also Jeunet likes “Gueules” ugly faces in his cinema…
Mr.Bond 14 May 2007
03:03:05 pm
KmKm13, that’s true
Mr.Bond 14 May 2007
03:05:12 pm
KmKm13: Hi – Welcome to NG. I gathered from reading your comments that you are based in Paris. Age/Sex?
Mr.Bond 14 May 2007
03:06:21 pm
I am in NY.
kmkm13 14 May 2007
03:38:17 pm
A bit late Mr.Bond!!!But wholehearted thanks!!!!!!
Well’s I’m a mauritian actually .I’m from Strasbourg now for 5 years for my studies.SEX….Well you can guess….
satyam 14 May 2007
03:45:22 pm
Kmkm13: Well as the film stands the ‘aliens’ certainly appear very phallic but of course these are ‘drones’ in a sort of bee analogy and the ‘mother’ is the terrifying, gigantic, maternal, ‘real’ (in a Lacanian sense)! I therefore find it interesting that a woman is the ultimate survivor against these aliens, there is an all male society in Fincher’s sequel and of course the ‘woman’ here is part alien! As the sequels progress there is this interesting Durga/Kaali analogy where the terrifying death-giving ‘mother alien’ (the system is matriarchal even here as she engenders the alien system!) is the obverse of the life-preserving Ripley. Finally in Alien Resurrection Ripley in the clone form actually incorporates the Alien genetic code!
I was once a great Predator fan. Not anymore. All those 80s Stallone/Schwarzenegger movies now seem unwatchable. And Predator in any case isn’t that radically different a concept from Aliens except that there is the question of invisibility here and perhaps represents the ‘viral’ trope better.
rks 14 May 2007
04:06:47 pm
Satyam: “All those 80s Stallone/Schwarzenegger movies now seem unwatchable.”
T2 (1991) is still watchable for me. Total recall was OK.
Yesterday I saw Stallone’s Copland. I liked the drama.
akshay shah 14 May 2007
04:46:53 pm
RKS: COPLAND is a awesome movie! Simply awesome, and one of Stalllones great acting moments(there aren’t many). The basic “shell” of the story is the same as ROCKY(underdgo strikes back). Loved the performances from De Niro, Keitel and Ray Liotta(terribly underrated) here as well.
Must say I beg to differ on how the Arnie/Sly films have aged. Some of them still ROCK and can easily be watched again.
Arnie:
The Terminator
Commando
Raw Deal
The Running Man
Predator
T2
And ofcourse True Lies
Some of the comedies like JUNIOR, TWINS etc leave a lot to be desired for.
For Sly:
The entire ROCKY series
Victory
Rambo Series
Lock Up
Tango and Cash
Cliffhanger(awesome)
Demolition Man
His career from there went downhill except ROCKY BALBOA, COPLAND and a neat performance in SHADE! YES im very defensive about my action icons..furthermore, I must add The Rock is the ultimate protege for this genre, and he can ACT too!:)
akshay shah 14 May 2007
04:48:05 pm
The Rock brings a LOT of warmth and humour to his characters, and I find him much more watchable than the wooden/one note Vin Diesel!!!!!!
rks 14 May 2007
05:02:39 pm
AS: “YES im very defensive about my action icons”.
satyam 14 May 2007
05:23:08 pm
Perhaps I’m guilty of some hyperbole here! I must admit I do enjoy the Terminator movies still, Predator is again a guilty pleasure. Don’t have any taste for the others. With Stallone Cliffhanger and Assassins are probably exceptions.
akshay shah 14 May 2007
05:26:54 pm
Cliffhanger rocks!!!!LOCK UP is one ace “jail” action flick, and TANGO AND CASH is one VERY funny and likeable buddy/cop movie..Stallone and Russel’s chemistry made it work:)!! Another good masala yarn is TEQUILA SUNRISE with Gibson!
akshay shah 14 May 2007
06:04:38 pm
Assasins I always found to be quiet a “Hindi” movie!
BTW..anyone here seen WALKING TALL? This is so Bollywood masala it’s insane!!!!!!
rks 14 May 2007
10:28:42 pm
AS: Just saw that Hostel-2 is releasing in halls on 8th June!!!!!!!
rks 14 May 2007
10:32:47 pm
AS: “WALKING TALL”
Yes. few weeks back on TV, I thought I am watching some Mithun movie with little better action
kmkm13 15 May 2007
12:08:42 am
Great,enlightening take on Aliens Satyam.I with Akshay On Stallone /Arnold action flicks.Not great actors but they were effectively used by some directors.
Predator:What i like in it is the notion of nature/technology.The Alien is killed only when Arnold regresses to a natural mode and levels himself to the Alien.Mc Tiernan capures the amozon jungle like no one.
Rambo 1:I’ve just seen it.Is about the coming home of a vietnam soldier who just can’t find a place in the American society.And he is rejected ,ridiculed for no reson of his.It shows how ungrateful a society America has become. At first he refuses to fight, but when pushed he goes into a war mode of self defense.The war is very much on …
In my opinion Sly(oscar for Rocky sreenplay) is a bit more talented than Arnie.The Rocky series can be seen as his life struggle where he went wrong.A story about the eternal underdog.Sly made wrong choices and was never really accepted by Hollywood often ridiculed as just another action hero…
Mr.Bond 15 May 2007
04:26:03 am
KmKm13: Hi, just saw your email; thanks for giving your info. I was in Paris recently for a few days that is why wanted to know. I am now waiting for JBJ as they have shot a song in Paris. Loved the Louvre, but needed a week to see most of it but only had a few hours.
Mr.Bond 15 May 2007
04:28:25 am
Akshay: From your list I have seen the following:
Arnie:
Terminator 2
Predator
True Lies
TWINS
For Sly:
ROCKY – only a couple
Rambo Series
Cliffhanger
Demolition Man (I think I have but not sure).
Mr.Bond 15 May 2007
04:31:51 am
KmKm13 “In my opinion Sly(oscar for Rocky sreenplay) is a bit more talented than Arnie”
I agree Sly is definitely more talented than Arnie; but Arnie is more talented than Bush (although that is not much to say about Arnie).
satyam 15 May 2007
06:30:26 am
“In my opinion Sly(oscar for Rocky sreenplay) is a bit more talented than Arnie”
Kmkm13: Even the Predator is more talented than Arnie!
Jokes aside I do agree with you..
Mr.Bond 15 May 2007
08:03:12 am
Satyam, actually the Predator was quite smart if you remember. The question is is he smarter than Bush. I would put my money on Arnie any day
kmkm13 15 May 2007
10:02:04 am
Lol!!!! Mr.Bond and Satyam!!!!
rks 15 May 2007
10:59:09 am
Here is a Stallone news
Stallone pleads guilty to import charge http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....e_stallone
satyam 15 May 2007
09:29:06 pm
Mr Bond: Arnold is smart for sure! Which is why he became one of the top stars and then governor. On Bush check out this Lil Bush stuff:
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007.....henomenon/
satyam 15 May 2007
09:32:46 pm
Speaking of Alien and Predator there’s a guilty pleasure in a really sick way called Alien vs the Predator where they battle it out much like a video game!
satyam 23 May 2007
08:56:02 am
I have now added Tsai Ming-Liang’s recent work to the list. While it’s almost mid-’07 the film was actually released in its country of origin in ‘06 and this is how I’ve done my list. I do realise it seems a bit absurd to update an ‘06 list six months after the year has expired (!) but I find this preferable to the US system where films are listed based on their release dates in the US. This can sometimes produce truly remarkable results. Meville’s Army of Shadows was part of ‘06 lists with all the US critics when it actually released in France in ‘69 (!) simply because the film had never seen a theatrical release in the US before ‘06! We might yet see a Feuillade from the 20s make a best of ‘07!
satyam 23 May 2007
02:46:07 pm
kmkm13: I mentioned Koktebel when you mentioned the return as a film worth checking out. More recently I saw Kravchuk’s The Italian and I would recommend this film in the same vein.
rks 23 May 2007
03:02:53 pm
The fountain: I saw it, I understood the basic story line but I did not understand what director wanted to convey with all the three different story lines. I think someone tried to show me Pi and even that was too abstract to me.
I did like Mulholland Drive, where I needed to interpret the scenes.
kmkm13 23 May 2007
03:03:41 pm
Thanks Satyam I’ll catch these two.The buzz at Cannes forPalme D’or is Cohen bros “No country for old men” and Schnabel’s “Le scaphandre et le papillon” on a handicaped man and his imaginary wanderings – 20 mins Standing ovation.I’ve seen the trailer yesterday during “La vie des autres” was quite impressed by it.
satyam 30 May 2007
11:19:32 am
Having revisited some of these films from ‘06 on DVD I now think my very favorites for the year are in no order Lives of Others, Pan’s Labyrinth, Fountain, Letters from Iwo Jima. I think the Fountain is perhaps a bit of an acquired taste but I have liked it more each time I’ve seen it.
This has been available in the US for some weeks now for anyone’s who’s interested.
satyam 30 May 2007
11:29:24 am
And while Letters from Iwo Jima is the greater film Flags of Our Fathers is itself a strong work. There’s quite a bit going on in both films in rather subtle ways. A good example would be the Eucharistic moment in Flags when the soldiers are served desert at this gala which turns out to be vanilla ice cream in the shape of the soldiers hoisting the flag (the iconic picture) on which strawberry syrup is being poured. And of course the soldiers represented in that desert are mostly dead!
Of course my weakness is still for the dirge-like Letters from Iwo Jima where everything has in a sense already ended and there is in a sense only the preparation for the ‘afterlife’.
The film isn’t just about examining things from the Japanese point of view (remarkable in itself) but the way the director fuses the ‘other’ (American) into the ’same’ (japanese). Kuribayashi has an American gun in his holster (his soldiers think he’s stolen it but of course he’s spent ‘halcyon’ days in the US and is informed by that experience), Baron Nishi has a great affection for all things American including movie stars! And so on.
And again in Flags you have the perfect subversion of the whole ‘greatest generation’ mythology. One of the central soldiers is an opportunist readily accepting the cynical political spin on the event because he is glorified along the way. The next guy is somewhat bewildered by the pace of events and is even a bit guilty at times. The third ‘Indian’ character suffers constant guilt , rage at the system and in the end seems to end up a kind of 60s highwayman! Eastwood is just about hinting here that the counter-culture of the 60s that many found excessive might itself have been a consequence of the national identity forged in the war.
satyam 30 May 2007
11:40:54 am
And incidentally I now consider the score on the Fountain (which I called the year’s best) one of the greatest in movie history.
rks 30 May 2007
11:51:35 am
Satyan:”And again in Flags you have the perfect subversion ……………”
Aptly summarized. I have yet to see Letters from Iwo Jima.
satyam 30 May 2007
12:01:12 pm
Rks, you should see it right away. It’s been out for a couple of weeks. It’s a beautiful, elegiac work. And once again has a rather moving theme (score).
rks 30 May 2007
12:17:34 pm
Satyam:It is at top with short wait time for me. I have The Dinner game (original of Bheja Fry) at home.
satyam 31 May 2007
04:37:43 pm
By the way are there any fans of V for Vendetta here? I love this film!
Qalandar 31 May 2007
04:45:52 pm
I didn’t much care for it. I liked the premise but felt it all added up to a rather shrill and in-your-face film…
The comic was better IMO…
rks 31 May 2007
04:46:45 pm
Yesterday I saw Dinner Game and ,Bheja fry was almost 90% same. I do not have the same respect for BF now. But still it is better than most of the movies and acting was good.
Qalandar 31 May 2007
04:53:02 pm
I haven’t seen either dinner game or BF…maybe i shd see BF first…
rks 31 May 2007
05:09:08 pm
Q: IMO BF is a good remake just because of acting.
kmkm13 1 June 2007
12:51:38 am
Rks maine kya bola tha…By the way is there a dinner with all the cons(idiots).Weber the director of “Dinner Game “is the best director in France.But his comedies he’s a master in this genre a Superhits…He always uses Pingnon( Daniel auteuil :le placard,pierre richard:Les compérés et Les fugitfs,jacques Villret :Le diner des cons,Jacques Brel:L’emmerdeur and the recent hit Gad El MALEH in La Doublure with Daniel Auteuil) a recurrent character in his films and there is always a protagonist and an antagonist in his film.One fool /one hero…Some can be easily adapted in india that’s for sure..
rks 1 June 2007
10:22:43 am
kmkm13: Yes, You were right about Bheja Fry.
If someone is interested in DVD collection and fan of V for Vendetta , It is available for $9.46 at Amazon.
kmkm13 1 June 2007
10:43:43 am
Rks Don’t know if you like crime film or suspense which is atmospheric borders on horror.If yes Bhai see Lemming and Harry un ami qui vous du bien(Harry he’s here to help you) by the director Dominic Moll.Or see Monsieur Klein (Delon) By Losey….Great film during Occupation and hunt for identity…
rks 1 June 2007
10:49:54 am
kmkm13: I am not fond of French movies (Whatever I have seen). Tell me something which is sure shot good. Though my taste is varied but I prefer drama and comedy.
kmkm13 1 June 2007
11:28:18 am
Well Sometimes i also don’t like french movies.On comedy “La grande Varouille” (Biggest and most favorite hit in France) By Gerard Oury with comical genius Louis de funés and bourvil.It’s like a road movie & adventure during occupation…Quite hilarious.Or les aventures de Rabbi Jacob again by Oury..I bet you’ll like this one.Don’t know if you’ll find them.
On Drama there are so many films..One which i really like is Les jeux interdits by Réné Clément about 2 children during (a boy &a girl) war time or “le vieux fusil” Robert Enrico,Or one of my best french film “Les enfants du paradis” By marcel CARné Poetic,one of the masterworks in cinema,a story of love and jealousy,set in stylish Paris street theatre of 1840’s.Haunting perfs by Barrault as a mime and Arletty the elusive object of passion.The dialogues by French Poet Prevert is wonderful Sholay like even better…A bit long features 2 periods but by the end you’ll be bowled over…
Qalandar 1 June 2007
11:44:05 am
RKS: Tru “The Closet”, it’s a funny comedy. Also check out “Sade”, “Jean de Florette” and its sequel “Manon des Sources”, these films are available most of the time in american stores…
rks 1 June 2007
11:57:42 am
kmkm13 and Q: Thanks for the list.
Q: The closet is available on netflix so is Sade (but it is little gruesome for my taste from description).
kmkm13: I could not find “La grande Varouille” on my online movie rental. (http://www.netflix.com)
Aditya 1 June 2007
12:01:54 pm
i’m not sure if ‘the hoax’ came out in 2006 or this year but its a bona-fide masterpiece. intelligent, thought-provoking, and consistently hilarious. it has oscars written all over it, especially 4 best actor. richard gere gives his best performance, ever.
satyam 1 June 2007
12:31:50 pm
Aditya: If you liked the Hoax check out the related F for Fake. This is an experimental work by Orson Welles and I have a great weakness for it.
kmkm13 1 June 2007
12:34:46 pm
Actually Rks It’s “La grande Vadrouille” Galti se mistake ho gaya..But do catch the earlier movies i mentioned.
satyam 1 June 2007
12:37:35 pm
Rks: la Grande Vadrouille is not available in the US.
You know if you’re a netlfix member check out Melville’s le Samourai, Le Cercle Rouge and then go on to Army of Shadows. You’ll love these.
satyam 1 June 2007
12:39:30 pm
Qalandar: have you seen Punisher with Travolta? I am going to check out the extended cut this weekend. It’s 17 min longer than the theatrical cut.
Mr.Bond 1 June 2007
12:53:17 pm
rks: if you like comedy, you should watch the French movie “The Valet”, it was really good and I am sure you’ll like it. I watched it in a theater; not sure if it’s out on DVD yet.
kmkm13 1 June 2007
01:00:38 pm
On Comedy i would like to add the films of the genius Jacques Tati Les vacances de monsieur Hulot(Mr hulot’s holidays)or jour de fete amongst others.these are silent movies don’t many people will like it though some of his films are masterpieces.
Yep Satyam Melville is indeed a great director.Calmness, silence in L’armee des ombres is mindblowing.Some other time i will you about anecdotes on this film.Le samourai also is wonderful puzzling…
Qalandar 1 June 2007
01:03:58 pm
Love the only 2 Melville films I have seen: Army of Shadows and Le Samourai…
I have not seen Punisher, had never heard about it…the only one I saw was the B-grader from 1991 starring Dolph Lundgren…
Qalandar 1 June 2007
01:22:32 pm
Le samourai is also one of the coolest, most chic, most stylish films I have ever seen. If I had to pick a second it would be Antonioni’s Blow Up…
kmkm13 1 June 2007
01:33:31 pm
Agreed Qaladar Blow up is one of my favorite film of Antonioni i just love this director by the way.The first tme i saw i was drawn to it like few films do.Even when i didn’t understood much about it, i loved it.I don’t there’s something in this film which touches me.One rip off of it if Blow out by De Palma &Travolta worth a Dekho..Another is Jaane Bhi do Yaro..By Kundan shah though it starts like Blow up it then goes in more satirical,dark humour,pessimist film.If only on a technical level it was half as good.But coming from a low budget this film is very very good…
satyam 6 June 2007
07:59:26 am
Blow Up is a fine film for sure but it is not among Antonioni’s best for me (Eclipse, L’Avventura, Red Desert, Passenger).
Blow Out was an interesting homage not much more.
satyam 6 June 2007
08:00:55 am
I have just added Apocalypto to the list and this completes my top 20. I just saw it on DVD and now regret missing it on the big screen.
Qalandar 6 June 2007
08:30:21 am
kmkm13: I had not heard of Blowout, but I generally enjoy watching both DePalma’s films and Travolta, so might well check this out.
goodfella 6 June 2007
08:31:49 am
Glad you saw and liked Apocalypto which I thought was a wonderful entertainment. It’s certainly in my list of the best films made this past year, and I actually think it’s a bit more than mere entertainment though, as you say, not too much of a serious statement. Certainly the “exoticization” was prevalent here. A special mention for the digital photography which is ravishing here and probably the best use of digital film in recent movies.
satyam 6 June 2007
08:45:43 am
You’re right on all scores Goodfella. I didn’t mean to sound reductive about the film’s more serious commentary. Within the context of the charges that could be brought against the film I felt that it wasn’t that ’serious’ to warrant a proper rebuttal on those grounds.
The following question comes to mind though: why did Gibson follow up the Passion with this work? What is it about this Mayan culture that makes it a logical next step to the Passion? Critics have cited a certain aesthetic of violence as explanation for this. In the crudest sense the bare body of Christ being tortured in the most extreme ways is linked to all the bare bodies here that receive violence in similar ways! But I think there ought to be something more. Unless of course there is no connection at all.
The last is certainly a possibility. Because oddly enough this film even deconstructs the Passion. If that film was about an extreme position of faith this film is much more about ’self-reliance’ in a very individualistic way.
Plus the whole sacrificial moment here seems to cast a very poor light on Christ’s own sacrificial moment of the Passion.
Also there is no suggestion at all in the film that the society is in any way a primitive one. In fact the Durant quote that begins the film and the colonial ships arriving at the end (the first Christians!) suggests exactly the opposite. The statement being made here is that because of infighting these cultures were eventually colonized. The advent of the colonial/Christian event does not seem to be a positive one at all.
At the same time there are some structures of ‘mythology’ present in the film that seem to accord more with a pre-Christian Greek heritage (or otherwise) than anything else (even if one might detect some Christian parallels at times).
In any case I find the switch from the Passion to Apocalypto a bit puzzling.
kmkm13 6 June 2007
08:53:20 am
Yeah Q check it out nice hommage..I like all Antonioni’s film but Blow Up is the first one i watched from his filmography so it’s special…And also i think every time you watch it there’s something new..I just love it…
L’avventura did not understand much when i saw it but the great genius Scorsese made me an others probably sit down and understand this film and other italian masterpieces..81/2,La terra Trema..He should have an additional award for restoring films!!!!
Haven’t watched Apocalypto but was dissapointed with The Passion of Christ..
Watched Zinnemann’s The day of the jackal yesterday painstaking,slow moving, brutal, superb ,thriller i must say…A plot to kill De Gaulle.Great performance by a virtually unknown actor as the killer..
satyam 6 June 2007
08:58:34 am
In the light of Apocalypto I am going to revisit Passion. This is no ordinary task for me given that I hate the film! In general I am not a fan of Christ films from de Mille to Pasolini to Ray. I don’t mind Last tempation though.
Qalandar 6 June 2007
09:11:08 am
I must confess I was so put off by the representation of the exotic (and threatening), specifically of polytheists that, keeping Gibson’s background and history in mind, I gave it a miss in the theaters and also on DVD…
Qalandar 6 June 2007
09:15:43 am
kmkm13: Yeah Day of the Jackal was good, although I must confess that my own weakness remains for the Sibi Malayil Malayalam film adaptation, August 1? with Mammoothy as the cop…
Blow Up was the second antonioni film I watched (Il Grido was the first), and while it is not my favorite Antonioni film by a longshot, it is, along with Le Samourai, one of the most stylish films I have seen if not the most stylish. If I had to pick one I would give the palm for “chic” to Le Samourai…
Qalandar 6 June 2007
09:22:44 am
I just realized I made a cardinal sin: I spoke of “stylish” and “film” in the same sentence without mentioning Godard!!! A Bout de Souffle/Breathless is still as fresh today as ever. Masculin/Feminin is a film that feels a bit intellectually dated, but it is damn stylish too. And in color, who can forget Contempt (forget the title, Le Meprise?), my favorite Godard film and perhaps one of my favorite films, but without question the most unpleasant and painful to watch of all films that truly adore for style?
Finally, while Fellini wouldn’t get the palm on this front, individual scenes of his would: the openings of La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2 in particular come to mind…
goodfella 6 June 2007
09:30:10 am
There is also the issue of “Passion” as a “struggle” in both of these films. In a way, the struggle in Passion was a more personal one even if the ramifications of Christ’s actions were anything but individualistic. It was at its core only “his” passion. In Apocalypto, Jaguar Paw’s passion is for the preservation of a civilization, and others are subject to that passion, and it’s all to save a way of life, which definitely has a Christ parallel, as does the birth of the child at the end–the Jesus to Jaguar Paw’s Joseph and his wife’s Mary. Her solitary delivery feels like the “virgin birth,” in some ways.
satyam 6 June 2007
10:39:32 am
Good point Goodfella. And even this offers an interesting parallel in terms of what I speculated on earlier. Christ’s Passion is something that ‘we’ must experience in a ‘virtual’ sense to be true believers. The Passion is on display for there to be the experience of faith. On the other hand Jaguar Paw’s ‘Passion’ is more ’shared’ in that all those who are part of his ‘civilization’ agree that it ought not to be brutalised. In other words the latter is more of an ‘empirical’ category than the latter. It does not require belief in Jaguar Paw’s ‘ideals/faith’ to accept that the “way of life” must be preserved. With the former to accept the Passion is to have faith and to have faith is to share the experience and so on. Of course the ‘hidden’ deal here is precisely that Gibson depicts the graphic violence of the Passion because he wants to present this also as something empirical. No one who isn’t partaking of the Divine could go through it as Christ did, no one witnessing it could not but have faith therefore! I think it is this ‘empirical’ element that explains why not just Catholics but all kinds of Protestants also found this film perfectly acceptable.
kmkm13 6 June 2007
10:49:10 am
I must confess and quite ashamed that i have never watched a Malayalam film to date…
On “Le Mepris” Contempt of Godard is considered as a masterpiece in France..Haven’t watched it for a long…
On “A bout de souffle” Breathless is based(something i’ve learnt recently) on Bonny and Clyde Godard was even considered to direct it but declined as he had already adapted it.Even Truffaut was considered..They wanted a
director from the nouvelle vague.
Goodfella:you’re probably right about your references
Passion/Appocalypto(haven’t seen it) Gibson seems to be obssessed Christianity…
kmkm13 6 June 2007
10:55:26 am
Satyam:Passion was astrociously attacked from every quarters possible including the catholics i’ve watched the film recently with some views i concur totally…
He stays too , too much on the violence you don’t know if he is finding pleasure in the tortures and insult of Christ or simply depicting the horror that Christ underwent..
Qalandar 6 June 2007
11:09:50 am
Re: “He stays too , too much on the violence you don’t know if he is finding pleasure in the tortures and insult of Christ or simply depicting the horror that Christ underwent…”
My sentiments exactly — I felt there was something pornographic about Gibson’s depiction of the violence.
satyam 6 June 2007
11:12:54 am
“I must confess I was so put off by the representation of the exotic (and threatening), specifically of polytheists that, keeping Gibson’s background and history in mind, I gave it a miss in the theaters and also on DVD…”
Exactly my reasons for the theatrical miss Qalandar. As for the latter I’d watch your home movie if it were available on DVD!
satyam 6 June 2007
11:22:29 am
kmkm13: I too consider Le Mepris Godard’s strongest work leaving aside L’Histoires du cinema which Rosenbaum called a Wake-like (Joyce) work, a judgment I entirely agree with. But within ‘normative’ Godard (irony intended) Contempt seems to be the best work. L’Histoires is something I don’t feel I am adequately ‘familiar’ with despite a couple of viewings.
Breathless remains perennially stylish. Qalandar is quite right there. Godard’s films from the 60s just seem a little bit dated at this point, perhaps not this one as much. But paradoxically he is also probably the most influential director of the last 40 years or so.
On Passion what all the protest ‘repressed’ (or perhaps ’sublimated’) was the following: leaving aside Gibson’s obvious excesses what if the film was anti-Semitic inasmuch as the Christian (read Catholic if you will) is also anti-Semitic (minimally in a structural sense)?
Now as for the “pornographic” violence as Qalandar rightly puts it this ties in with my hunch that this kind of display is meant to literalise the idea of Christ. We can all be believers once again much as the witness to the Crucifixion might have been. And with better camera angles all round! In other words the empirical evidence that Gibson presents (his ‘materialism’!) ‘confirms’ the accounts of the Passion and at the same demonstrates how such ‘material suffering’ could only be predicated on some ‘partaking’ of the divine.
goodfella 6 June 2007
11:23:19 am
The violence of the film was certainly atrocious and didn’t really do what I think Gibson intended which was to move us or perhaps empathize. It just became redundant and weary.
Having said that, I still think that Gibson was trying (as the title indicates) to reference Dreyer’s superlative Passion of Joan of Arc with this film, replacing psychological torture with the pure physical which makes for an empty-headed film in relation to and something that’s nowhere in the same stratosphere as Dreyer’s masterpiece.
kmkm13 6 June 2007
11:37:21 am
Agreed , Satyam but i was really put off by the excess of this violence(spitting,whiping,beating…)if Catnarthis it it is it didn’t work for me.If giving a new belief in Christ by witnessing the physical pain i don’t think it worked.You literally want to go out there on the screen and save Christ from the brutality…
Totally agree with yourpoints GOODFELLA…I still have to catch Dreyer’s Passion…
Aside:One book that i really liked which infers Christ (believable and simple)is “Le Maitre et Marguerite”(masterpiece) By russian author Boulgakov.Depicts also the Faustian theme…
satyam 6 June 2007
12:11:54 pm
Goodfella: You should be penalized for mentioning Dreyer and Gibson’s film in the same reference! Of course the link is there but what a fall (pun intended) from Dreyer to Gibson!
satyam 6 June 2007
12:15:44 pm
Master and Margarita is indeed a superlative work. For English readers it is also available in the canonical translation of Larrissa Volokhonsky/Richard pevear (the same couple has also translated most of Dostoyevsky, Gogol, some of Checkhov, Anna Karenina, their War and peace is due later this year).
But of course the real ‘Christ’ book in the Russian tradition is in many ways the Idiot.
satyam 6 June 2007
12:19:38 pm
Speaking of Dreyer kmkm13 you should immediately check out the MK2 on Vampyr. This is the best transfer of this film and the best one likely. It was part of a Dreyer set released by MK2 last year but a couple of months ago this title was released separately. of course the set is worth its weight in gold (it was released by Criterion in the US without Vampyr) with Gertrude, Ordet, Day of Wrath. The last is possibly my favorite Dreyer.
I would recommend Vampyr more widely except that it’s a region 2 and moreover only has French subs.
kmkm13 6 June 2007
12:47:58 pm
I have just bought all these dvds Satyam.Even the Dreyer set!!!!Mk2 does a fabulous job in restoring some of the classics.Thanks any way..Just watched “L’enfant”(palme D’or) by Dardenne bros was quite good i must say..”Rosetta” is the one that i really like..Their “Camera à l’epaule” realistic style i really like…
satyam 6 June 2007
12:56:50 pm
Oh I love everything that the Dardenne Bros make. L’enfant is certainly a fine work as well. On that note I think Deborah Francois is one of the very promising young actresses. If you go from L’enfant to La Tourneuse de Pages you will be struck by her transformation in every sense.
kmkm13 6 June 2007
01:31:39 pm
You keep referring to “La Tourneuse de Pages” i’ll have to check this out for sure…Agreed with Deborah totally..I also like the hero Jeremie Regnier but he has been there for long with Dardenne…
goodfella 6 June 2007
08:31:51 pm
Satyam: No need to penalize me. In keeping with the themes here, I will practice self-flagellation for my sins.
kmkm13 8 June 2007
11:21:27 am
Just watched Natcho Cerda’s first feature today “The Abandoned’Abandonée and was highly impressed.A superbly complex film,dense piece about a russian born american woman/mother Marie?(very important) who comes to Russia in search for her parents and her own identity.In the process, she’ll find a “parent” still alive(a part/very close member of her family)..Also she’ll be confronted with her past and her doppelganger(really/literally).The movie is all about how she will “try” to escape from an ongoing, never ending circle of Time and circumstances.The mourning of a burried life or error which comes to haunt your present.It’s a “labyrinthique” film without much special effects but will make you shudder ,scare with pratically nothing.
Also the film boosts amazing photography,rich texture in the decor(ruin like),fantastic lightning watch closely the way a simple torch bringing about past features on a bed where something horrible happened.One of the best film i’ve seen on “la figure du double”..
Beware:A particularly difficult gore,brutal sequence at the end is not for the faint hearted.So raise your toast for one of the brilliant Hispanique/european directors of genre Cinema like ;Alex De La Iglesia..
P.S:A box set of Cerda’s is available but NOT FOR FEEBLE OR FAINT HEARTED..see these 3 short or long movies at your own risk I can’t be reponsible for after effects!!!
satyam 8 June 2007
12:21:38 pm
Thanks for the recommendation kmkm13. I’d never heard of this film but after reading your comments I checked on it and it’s coincidentally releasing on DVD in the US on June 19. I will be sure to check it out right away.
On a separate note I just saw yet another ‘06 film, Climates (Ceylan), and added it to the list.
I am now discovering the virtues of making these lists the American way, i.e. based on whether these were released in the US in a certain calendar year or not. Doing it my way seems true to ‘origins’ but also runs these hazards. It’s mid-’07 and I am still updating!
kmkm13 8 June 2007
12:39:26 pm
My pleasure Satyam Yes Nuri Bilge Ceylan the Turkish director…Haven’t watchen “Climates” but i had watched “Uzak” which was very good ,contemplative heavily influnced by Antonioni…Good film ..
Shouldn’t you start a new favorite list of ‘07.
satyam 8 June 2007
12:47:43 pm
LOL! You’re right! I should begin such a list. the problem is that many of these films don’t show up here right away!
satyam 12 June 2007
08:53:16 am
On another note Goodfella I recently revisited the Aviator and I must admit I badly underestimated it the first time around. I remember you commented on the visual qualities of the film at the time and I whole-heartedly agree. In fact I now believe this might be Scorsese’s very strongest work on that score with the possible exceptions of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. I would still go for the Aviator but this might be a personal thing. I love a certain kind of dynamism with the camera — Eisenstein over Tarkovsky, Kurosawa over Ozu and so on (not that I rate these filmmakers only on these grounds) — and to my mind Aviator exhibits these qualities. leaving aside the marvellous color tones of the film Scorsese is splendid in terms of filming Hughes filming Hell’s Angel (quite a meta-conceit here or cinematic trope if you will!). Then there is his usual restless camera capturing groups of people in crowded rooms, the montages etc.
The other way in which I underrated the film was that I was a bit unhappy that Scorsese had focussed so much on the ‘bright’ side of the legend. But now I realise that the film fulfills a different purpose. Scorsese I think means to de-mythologize the whole ‘pioneer’ notion in American history. There are celebratory accounts in the culture on this score and the director shows how the ‘pioneer’ in the US is usually a rather ‘embattled’ figure. Furthermore the corporate establishments are quite likely to throttle such ‘pioneers’. And of course ‘politics’ becomes an extension of corporate logic.
This doesn’t mean that I consider the film perfect by any means. For all the film’s stress on the character’s OCD there was a lot more going on that reflected his ‘dark side’. But again Scorsese is interested in the high points here to the extent that he can comment on ‘America’ as such. And the aviation industry is certainly a good one to pick, not least because in Hughes the connection between the cinematic and the ‘aviatory’ is a rich one indeed.
Dicaprio of course has a great performance here. Despite his great potential in many ways (represented not just in this film) what really works against him are the schoolboy good looks.
But the Aviator is certainly a major Scorsese work.
goodfella 12 June 2007
09:08:20 am
Glad you saw The Aviator again, Satyam. This film is especially interesting in the world of NG because of close parallels I see between Scorsese’s work and Ratnam’s Guru, which I think was as influenced by this film as Kane, if not more. Ultimately, I think that The Aviator is a richer film and more powerful and successful in its thematic ambition, though the Howard Hughes character is very much a Gurukant Desai type of “inherent icon.” Or perhaps I should say vice-versa.
On an aside, the interesting thing to note here is that Michael Mann was intended to direct this film initially, which would have made a lot of sense. Mann’s films are all about men and their work, men who are forcefully committed to their professions to the point of paranoia and I can’t think of a movie more aptly suited to this sort of vision than The Aviator, which is all about the American work ethic and it’s equally progressive and damaging qualities. Mann ultimately backed out because he opted to do the “smaller” (and if you ask me, better) Collateral following his decades spanning, superb, and highly underestimated “Ali”.
Agree on DiCaprio here, and though his magnetic looks do undermine him a bit, he’s grown into quite the burly, believable “man” this year with Blood Diamond and The Departed. He’s sort of the Abhishek of American cinema.
goodfella 12 June 2007
09:13:28 am
Oh, and Satyam – don’t think I’ve forgotten that you owe me some thoughts on The Believer! (Hope it wasn’t a bad experience for you)
Qalandar 12 June 2007
09:35:30 am
wow satyam, that is high praise indeed for the aviator. Must confess I found the preview so boring and unlike Scorsese that I decided to give the film a miss…I’m going to regret it if netflix convicnes me otherwise…
rks 12 June 2007
09:50:27 am
Satyam: Finally caught letters from Iwo Jima.
It was a long film but very poetic description of emotions of soldiers fighting for the country. You can see whole gamut of emotions; from courage, cowardiceness to foolishness. I found similarity in starting and ending as Titanic. Ken Watanabe performed very nicely as strategizing General who was short in man power and supplies. So did the guy who is baker by profession. He probably did not want to come for the war and wanted to stay with his pregnant wife. He said about the futility of war “we should sink this island or give it to Americans”. He was shown as coward (runniung away from war) for most of the film but at the end he also tries to fight without caring for his life in fit of rage. Most of the time even when the soldiers are talking you can hear the background noise of fighting or bombing. But ultimately it was Client Eastwood’s movie. His style is very evident in most of scenes. Most important he is not taking any sides but implicitly saying war is futile.
mgs 12 June 2007
10:26:48 am
i preferred letters over flags…i guess i read the book so everything seemed a bit slow and repetitive to me which doesn’t say anything about the quality of the movie. another thing is that i dont like ryan phillippe i think someone like jake gylanhaal or ryan gosling would have been better for that role…even toby would have been better.
rks – yea i liked that baker too…this is the first movie he has done…i think he is a member of a boy band in japan. ken watanbe was very good too.
mgs 12 June 2007
10:31:35 am
i preferred letters over flags…i guess i read the book so everything seemed a bit slow and repetitive to me which doesn’t say anything about the quality of the movie. another thing is that i dont like ryan phillippe i think someone like jake gylanhaal or ryan gosling would have been better for that role…even toby would have been better.
rks – yea i liked that baker too…this is the first movie he has done…i think he is a member of a boy band in japan. ken watanbe was very good too.
q – u should check out aviator. i didnt the movie itself as much as most people but it’s still one of the better movies out there…and above all how can u miss a scorsese movie? leo is good in teh movie and i usually dont like him…i think i still blame him and cameron diaz for ruining gony for me or maybe no one could have done well against daniel day lewis/bill the butcher. the aviator is worth just for the visuals like satyam says specially the filming of hell’s angels.
goodfella 12 June 2007
10:52:25 am
Yeah, the hell’s angels filming sequence is amazing. Even better on the big screen…
rks 12 June 2007
10:52:45 am
Thanks mgs. I did not know he is a member of a band.
.
Aviator has been lying somewhere in my netflix queue
satyam 12 June 2007
11:45:30 am
Goodfella: Oh I haven’t forgotten the Believer. Might even get to it today. It was an interesting work which is why I don’t want to write anything in hurried fashion on it.
On the Aviator/Guru parallel, this hadn’t occurred to me before but it’s certainly a valid analogy.
I did know that Mann could have done this though he apparently said he was fatigued after making Ali. Incidentally I visited Ali for the first time recently on the director’s cut and do agree with you that this is an underrated film. Having said that I am still happy that Scorsese made Aviator rather than Mann even if Ali is to my mind Mann’s best work overall. And on that note I think that the montage sequences he creates at different points in the film (specially at the beginning) are superb. Mann’s strongest qualities as director are still on the visual side though Ali is certainly a strong exception in that sense.
Also watching the Hell’s Angels footage here I was reminded that the introduction of color into b&w creates a startling effect. I am not referring to the color sequences as such but those points when planes collide and one can see ‘orange’ smoke, this being the only color in the frame at that point. Hughes did this years before Kurosawa who also used this kind of thing to marvelous effect in High and Low when the pink smoke emerges from the chimney towards the end of the film.
satyam 12 June 2007
11:47:07 am
Rks: glad you liked Iwo Jima.
Mks: Iwo Jima is definitely better than Flags though I think that taken together the films represent an extraordinary achievement in the genre.
goodfella 12 June 2007
12:03:49 pm
Satyam – agree very strongly on Mann’s montages. As a pure visual director he is almost unparalleled, and that eight minute opening montage in Ali is some of kind of dazzling mini masterpiece in cinematic choreography. I’d also add parts of The Insider here, which is, along with Ali, his most ambitious work. I didn’t mean to step on Scorsese’s feet at all by suggesting Mann as a good substitute for The Aviator; but it would have been interesting. What’s funny is now Mann is reportedly trying to helm a 30s noir about a private detective “fixer” hired by the studios of the time – pretty much covering “The Aviator” territory and, expectedly, the lead actor is meant to be DiCaprio.
kmkm13 12 June 2007
02:27:40 pm
http://www.boxofficeprophets.c.....indexID=17
Here’s a link on Mann’s work.I have just seen “Thief” i believe Mann is one of the greatest painter of the city.His sense of searching the best lightning is nothing short of prodigious.I think in “Thief”he combines style and substance beautifully.Caan as the lonely thief who is desperately clinging to an “illusory” family life though he knows it won’t last is simply brilliant
rks 12 June 2007
04:12:30 pm
kmkm13: I saw thief sometime back based on reviews and found it very slow. Though I liked Mann’s Insider and Ali. I think I have seen “last of Mohicans”.
goodfella 12 June 2007
07:06:16 pm
Theif is a really underrated film, kmkm13, and I’m glad you bring it up along with that link. I would reccommend to you Manhunter, Heat, Ali, The Insider, Last of the Mohicans, Collateral and even the deeply flawed, deeply misunderstood and highly atmospheric Miami Vice. Thief has some great dialogue along with what is undoubtedly James Caan’s career best performance, and of course, Mann’s nocturnal sensibilities at their peak.
The best piece of work I have seen on Mann’s works is the Taschen book that recently came out by FX Feeney on his ouevre which is a really absorbing and fairly comprehensive guide. Taschen’s directors series in general is pretty strong and offers resplendant visual guides. I definitely reccommend the Mann book.
kmkm13 13 June 2007
12:28:56 am
Yep Goodfella I have Taschen book on Kubrick (superb book with pictures,poster,biography,critics if somewhat bulky)i’ll have to search for it..Thanks.
On Mann i’ve missed Ali,Mohicans and Manhunter.By the way you’re SPOT ON Mann and his dealing with people and their work.In “Thief” the mafia boss tells Caan to “get back to work”Robbery= work????Also Caan refuses to yeild his hard earned sweat and hard working money to anyone(police & mafia)…Speaks a great deal about the value of work.Must say Thief” should be visited “en tout cas” i was touched by it….
kmkm13 13 June 2007
12:31:48 am
Rks:Man i like every cinema from slow to fast …But SLOW SHOULDN’T MEAN BORING.
goodfella 13 June 2007
05:23:41 am
Have been meaning to get Taschen’s Kubrick book myself, kmkm13…next on the list for sure.
Qalandar 13 June 2007
09:10:18 am
The Last of the Mohicans, which I re-visited a couple of weeks ago, remains one of my favorite “adventure” films from Hollywood. Like the first “Pirates of the Caribbean”, it hearkens to an era when Hollywood made swashbuckling films that were fun, accessible yet not puerile, and didn’t take themselves so seriously as to get bogged down — TLOTM is a great example, and has serious velocity.
And I do not mean to suggest that the movie is mere froth: despite being set “in” and “around” a subject that is rife for stereotypes and representations of Native Americans as “savages”, the film complicates all such representations (it of course remains subject to the overarching Enlightenment dichotomy of “savage” and “civilized”, but raises questions about exactly who and what is/are “savage” to begin with).
Daniel-Day Lewis is fantastic here, and Madeleine Stowe too leaves quite an impression, and the screen presence of the actor who plays “Magua” is riveting. Don’t know who did the photography, but the cinematography is like the film: squarely within a certain convention, but like the film, stirring. In many many ways this does not have the “feel” one (or at least I) associate with a Michael Mann film, but it remains a film I have a great weakness for. And as the first semi-romantic nocturnal moment between Stowe and Day-Lewis shows, whether it’s the 18th or the 21st century, Mann’s nights are magical.
In sum: kmkm13: check it out! Your will like this!
rks 13 June 2007
09:23:04 am
kmkm13: I do not mind slow movie, if it engages me. Most of the client Eastwood directed movie are slow but there is a undercurrent which makes you sit and observe.
kmkm13 13 June 2007
09:28:06 am
Q:Either this film missed me or i’ve deliberately missed it like other films which kept playing on my tv/cinema channels..Sometimes too much choice just kills your thirst for watching films on TV.But thanks Q i’ll check it out for sure.I like Mann’s work anyway…
And DDLewis is not an actor he is the character he portrays as simple as that…
goodfella 13 June 2007
09:29:43 am
Excellent comments on Mohicans, Q. The superb actor who played Magua is Wes Studi who is often typecast as the period Native American. He also had a bit part in Mann’s Heat.
TLOTM works best for me as a revisionist Western with serious respect for Native American traditions (the body painting on Magua and other Natives is both true to the time and a superbly Eisensteinian method of externalizing a character’s internal traits, which Terrence Mallick also used in his masterful “The New World”) and a strong sense of the politics. That last shot is hugely symbolic, and says everything about who Hawkeye is and what he represents.
satyam 13 June 2007
09:33:22 am
Qalandar: What version did you see? Mann recut the film for the American release on DVD and this is the one that survives as far as I know. I don’t even know whether the theatrical cut was ever available on DVD here. The one I have is the British R2 which features the original cut (they also have the director’s cut elsehwere). Usually I am a great fan of director’s cuts but I didn’t see this one as it came in for universal condemnation from all quarters. Most people felt Mann had ruined the vision of his film by redoing it in some radical ways.
perhaps goodfella could shed some light on this.
kmkm13 13 June 2007
09:34:32 am
Yeah Rks Eastwood is a great director but if you want a really slow great director it would be Ingmar Bergman..
On that note i loved what Bimal Roy once said to someone accusing him on being too slow he said Cinema is like life sometimes slow and sometimes fast…Anyway i feel films needs a certain indulgence and patience from the audience’s part which is not easy i accept.
satyam 13 June 2007
09:49:42 am
Speaking of the New World I am still waiting for that 3 hr director’s cut on the film!
kmkm13: I am a great fan of Eastwood over the last 15 years. But please don’t mention him in the same breath as Bergman!
Having said that I increasingly find the post-mid 50s Bergman increasingly harder to watch even as I critically admire many of these films. I find I enjoy the mid-40s to mid-50s ‘lighter’ stuff much more. And there are some masterpieces even in this period like Monica or Summer Interlude, specially the former. Bergman unfortunately became a really ponderous director later.
This is something that I lament about the Russian tradition as well. No true followers of Eisenstein (these are to be found in other traditions). Everything is post-Tarkovsky in a sense (or they make useless classics, the equivalent of Mahboob Khan’s Aan). Perhaps this is also a bit like the literary tradition where the ‘bulk and heftiness’ of Tolstoy/Dostoyevsky (in every sense!) has found more followers than the deceptively ’simple’ Chekhov. Again Chekhov true followers are elsewhere.
And it’s not just Eisenstein. A Vertov or a Pudovkin or a Medvedkin or a Dovzhenko also do not seem to have any true followers. Perhaps it’s the Soviet history that makes Tarkovskian metaphysics more attractive!
On a related note there is a beautiful transfer of Medvedkin’s Happiness (one of the greatest silent films in my view) on French R2. This one even has Eng subs for anyone who’s interested. This is part of a double pack and also includes Chris Marker’s superb Le Tombeau d’Alexandre (the director’s on meditation on Medvedkin).
goodfella 13 June 2007
10:55:43 am
I actually don’t even own the extended cut – the only version I have seen is the original print which was released on DVD a few years back and also a theatrical screening at NYU.
satyam 13 June 2007
01:05:38 pm
Goodfella, check this out:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews2/lastofthemohicans.html
I don’t think that anything but the director’s cut has ever been available on R1 (the difference between the two US releases is anamorphic in one case and things of that nature).
And read the first two user comments here:
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Moh.....amp;sr=1-1
This is not just a longer edition but also one that deletes stuff from the theatrical release and so on.
satyam 26 June 2007
09:52:15 am
Rks (and others interested): The masterful recent documentary, Darwin’s Nightmare, is finally available on DVD in the US. No one should miss this.
Kmkm13: if you haven’t seen it yet it’s been available for quite sometime in France (Le Cauchemar de Darwin).
rks 26 June 2007
09:58:16 am
Added. Any idea when is “The Lives of Others” releasing on DVD?
kmkm13 26 June 2007
10:10:02 am
Yes i missed it because there was some critics against it nevertheless i’ll catch it for sure.Thanks Satyam!
Qalandar 26 June 2007
10:28:21 am
I’ve had my brother’s copy of Darwin’s nightmare for quite a while, but haven’t gotten around to seeing it yet…
RKS: The Lives of Others is still in the cinemas depending on where you are, maybe you can catch it. I doubt it will be out in DVD for a few months yet…
satyam 26 June 2007
10:36:47 am
Rks: there isn’t a US date on it yet but it releases in the UK on Sep 10. So it should be a little before or a little after.
Pranav 26 June 2007
10:46:13 am
Satyam,
I have Pans labryinth, Flags of our fathers in my Netflix queue. I definitely prefered The Prestige by a long shot over the Illusiniost even though it had Edward Norton. The Prestige was much tighter with more twists and turns.
satyam 26 June 2007
10:55:19 am
Pranav: I agree on your Prestige point.
Rks: Zodiac is releasing July 23. The Page Turner releases July 10.
satyam 26 June 2007
10:57:35 am
Pranav: have you already seen letters from Iwo Jima?
rks 26 June 2007
10:59:51 am
Thanks Satyam & Q.
Pranav: You might want to add “Letters from Iwo Jima”
Pranav 26 June 2007
11:01:44 am
No. Letters is also in the Queue. currently watching Mel Gibsons Apocalypto.
satyam 1 July 2007
06:15:23 am
Pranav: I unfortunately missed Apacalypto in the theaters but this is a terrific action film.
satyam 1 July 2007
06:16:26 am
Kmkm13: Thanks for the recommendation on Peppermint Candy. This is indeed a fine film. I will now revisit the director’s now considered seminal Oasis. I have seen it before but don’t remember much of it.
kmkm13 1 July 2007
07:11:30 am
Never heard of it “Oasis” you say!
satyam 12 July 2007
12:20:09 pm
kmkm13: Great recommendation on Blind Shaft. Liked it very much!
kmkm13 12 July 2007
12:23:50 pm
Yeah Satyam ..I was really moved by this film really.
You’ve watched “Shower” by Zhang Yang…Or “Beijing Bicycles”..released sometimes now!!
satyam 12 July 2007
12:32:18 pm
Those two I have seen and liked.
mgs 12 July 2007
01:47:13 pm
beijing bicycles is pretty good…didn’t think too many people knew about this movie.
kmkm13 12 July 2007
02:01:51 pm
In fact damn good imo..bears reference to the neo realist ,extremely reffered italian Masterpiece De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves…
satyam 12 July 2007
02:03:34 pm
Mgs: I’ve led a sinful life!
satyam 12 July 2007
02:06:30 pm
kmkm13: I actually revisited Memories of Murder after our discussion the last time around. I still prefer the Host though Memories is better than I remembered it as being. And now that I also have Zodiac in my mind I think this is a very similar film (though I prefer Zodiac). The one problem with this director is that both here and in the Host the film becomes more interesting because of political allusions etc but the ‘allegory’ is always a very thin one. Of course the narratives are nonetheless worth the viewing experience. I have also seen Host twice, I enjoy this very much! But then I am a great fan of monster movies. A recent relatively good one was Primeval.
mgs 12 July 2007
02:08:36 pm
satyam i recently saw best of youths after u recommended it a while back…i liked it a lot…the length didn’t really bother me since i was really into the movie.
one movie that i saw a while back and liked a lot was the memory of a killer…even though i hate ripped off movies i think the memory of a killer would make an awesome remake…if dir. by someone talented and not a lakhia or gupta or someone who will just copy it scene for scene and still mess it up. i thin beijing bike would be awesome as a remake as well by someone like chandan arrora…
satyam 12 July 2007
02:08:58 pm
Mgs: These relatively obscure Chinese/Korean movies (and not only these) are hard to keep a track of. Because there has been such an explosion on the DVD circuit in terms of foreign movies that even after seeing many of these it’s hard to remember them. And unfortunately I’ve never made lists for myself.
Another interesting Chinese film, which offers a take on Vertigo, is Suzhou River.
mgs 12 July 2007
02:11:36 pm
that’s true satyam and b/c of the explosion a lot of times there are some not so great movies too taht i end up wasting my time on. caught vertigo recently for the first time a couple other hitchcock movies so will look for suzhou river.
have seen the Norwegian movie elling by any chance?
kmkm13 12 July 2007
02:18:08 pm
Yeah Satyam it’s a hard choice for me really..Agreed on “The Host” imo …Great film ..He achieves a lot in it ..
kmkm13 12 July 2007
02:23:17 pm
By the way just seen YIYI by Edward Yang..I think it’s darn good..The way he focusses on different characters..The final scene of the grandson is very moving imo..Won Best director for it in Cannes i gather..
mgs 12 July 2007
02:29:10 pm
what did u guys think of nobody knows and together…
i’ve been meaning to watch the host…is this the same one that had a US theatrical release a few months age?
satyam 12 July 2007
02:41:33 pm
Edward Yang died just a few days ago at the age of 59 (succumbed to colon cancer). His masterpiece in my view is A Brighter Summer Day. But Yi-Yi is the only one that is officially available anywhere. Other fantastic films of his are The Terrorist, Mahjong, Confucian Confusion, That Day on the Beach, Taipei Story.
satyam 12 July 2007
02:42:31 pm
Mgs: yes the Host was playing in theaters recently. It will release on DVD (US), Jan 24. This is also the release date for Zodiac.
satyam 12 July 2007
02:45:33 pm
Mgs: Didn’t care much for Together to be honest but then I am not much of a Chen Kaige fan barring Yellow Earth.
The same goes for Nobody Know though this film has many admirers (along the with the director’s other films — Maborosi and After Life).
I haven’t seen Elling.
kmkm13 12 July 2007
02:46:51 pm
Mgs yet to see Noboby knows.will catch it soon though..
Sad to know Satyam..yet to catch other films of his..
satyam 12 July 2007
02:47:43 pm
And glad you liked Best of Youth. I didn’t have an issue with the length myself.
Again I haven’t seen Memory of a Killer. Will put this one and Elling in my queue.
satyam 12 July 2007
02:54:41 pm
In general I feel that the most interesting cinema over the last 10-15 years has emerged out of Iran, China (Mainland, Taiwan, HK), West Africa. The French industry has also reinvented itself after a relatively dismal period in the 70s and 80s. In terms of an engagement with the most urgent political questions of our time I would place West Africa and China even over Iran perhaps. Of course there have also been great films and filmmakers elsewhere but in these two areas of the world a whole constellation has emerged.
On that note I would urge everyone to see the stupendous Waiting for Happiness (the film is set in Mauritania). It also released on DVD recently in the US. The director (Sissako) has since made Bamako though I didn’t like this one.
Also in this regard the one filmmaker that has been very important for both traditions is Antonioni and for West African cinema the Passenger is the seminal film.
mgs 12 July 2007
03:05:15 pm
need to watch both zodiac and host.
i liked together it’s a bit cheesy but i still liked it. the whole time i was watching the movie i kept on thinking of rajpal yadav for the father’s role. again another i think chandan arora would be good at.
i saw both elling and memory of a killer a couople of years ago…they were both pretty good movies. let me know what u think. all four of the movies are def. worth watching though.
Qalandar 12 July 2007
03:25:02 pm
MGS: Am glad you saw Best of Youth, despite the 5-6 hour length and the somewhat predictable developments at various points, I found this to be quite a moving film, and one with repeat value…
satyam 12 July 2007
05:31:41 pm
Mgs: ‘Best of Youth’ reminds me of ‘Days of Youth’. Check this one out, it released on DVD here a month ago. As I mention somewhere in this thread this war film does the job better than Eastwood’s films combined! And I say this as a fan of Eastwood’s films.
satyam 13 July 2007
07:22:03 am
And oddly when you initially mentioned Best of Youth I was in fact thinking of Days of Youth and I was wondering why anyone would complain about the length here and then Qalandar’s comment made me realize it was the other film!
But the ultimate in ‘endurance’ is Tarr’s Satantango which clocks in at seven and a half hours. Usually they split this up into two screenings on consecutive evenings. I have always wanted to watch this in a theater. I somehow missed it in the city, then it was playing at a theater closer to where I live but they were showing the complete thing in one go with 2-3 intervals. So it would have been an 8 hr deal in the theater! I didn’t think myself capable of this!
The movie is available on DVD though as are the director’s outstanding (and dramatically shorter!) Werkmeister harmonies (my favorite within the director’s work) and Almanac of Fall (a ‘Red Desert’ of a color experiment).
satyam 18 July 2007
01:18:42 pm
kmkm13: have you seen Poison Friends (Les Amities Malifiques)? quite an interesting film…
satyam 18 July 2007
01:19:32 pm
Excuse me, meant to type ‘malefiques’.
kmkm13 18 July 2007
01:39:49 pm
No i believe the Malik Zidi got the best debutant at cesar after being rejected once or twice..But i did catch him in “Les Temps qui Changent”with Deneuve and GéGé national meaning Gerard Depardieu..Quite good i must say.
I’ll catch Les Amities Malefiques though i’m on Satantango now..Baran is wonderful.Is Majidi’s latest featureThe willow Tree available?Can’t find it here..
satyam 18 July 2007
01:51:39 pm
You’ll be busy for quite sometime with Satantango! Check out Werkmeister Harmonies also if you can.
And yes I also liked Les Temps qui Changent quite a bit. I have a weakness for Techine. Of the films I’ve seen of his I think les Voleurs is probably the best.
Again I love Baran. Willow tree is unfortunately not available at this end either (or anywhere else as far as I can tell). But a Majidi film is always something to look forward to.
satyam 18 July 2007
01:56:47 pm
By the way I just checked and Tarr’s Almanac of fall is also available in France. This is also a masterpiece.
kmkm13 18 July 2007
01:59:31 pm
Yeah i have 2 discs more but must say the B/W texture is brilliantly capture..almost like comic strip.
Agreed on Les Voleurs i remember liking Les Innocents very much..I just love Sandrine Bonnaire very simple girl.. Varda’s Sans toit ni loi with her is good also..
kmkm13 18 July 2007
02:01:11 pm
“By the way I just checked and Tarr’s Almanac of fall is also available in France. This is also a masterpiece.”Seen it ,wanted to discuss it with you sure it’s a masterpiece seems morelike theatre to me..Have to check once more though!
satyam 18 July 2007
02:03:48 pm
Yes the Varda film is good. Don’t think I’ve seen that Techine though.
As for Satantango I think it’s the ‘Greed’ for our times! Check out this related piece:
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007.....ims-greed/
kmkm13 18 July 2007
02:08:47 pm
I have read it yet to see it though it was on TCM sadly missed it ..I believe it has a very long version.
satyam 13 August 2007
02:10:58 pm
For all interested Branagh’s Hamlet finally makes its way to DVD in a 2 disc set tomorrow. This is a US release and the first DVD release of this film anywhere in the world. It’s a gorgeous transfer and has some nice extras as well. And for those who are not aware this is the only time that a complete Hamlet text has been brought to film. In fact if I’m not mistaken a complete Hamlet has not been performed on stage either. Of course there is the whole scholarly controversy on what the complete Hamlet really is! But in any case this film should not be missed!
satyam 17 August 2007
02:48:13 pm
And another reminder here that Inland Empire (Lynch) is now out in the US.
On another note I saw the Lookout (this also released recently) on DVD and quite liked it.
rks 17 August 2007
02:56:59 pm
“lives of others” is releasing this weekend.
Last night was watching “Once upon a time in America”, did not know that it is two dvd movie
Qalandar 17 August 2007
03:02:26 pm
RKS: highest possible recommendation to Lives of Others bro, this is a must watch in every sense of the term…
Qalandar 17 August 2007
03:03:09 pm
speaking of which, I wonder why kmkm13 hasn’t been around for several days now?
rajen 17 August 2007
03:14:31 pm
KmKm is shell-shocked after watching CDI.
rks 17 August 2007
03:19:58 pm
Yeps, He has been absent after CDI release. I hope he is ok.
Q: “Lives of others” is at top of my queue. Should get it Tuesday.
Bond 22 August 2007
01:12:08 pm
It was really tragic that the hero of Lives of others passed away. He acted so well.
HAL 23 August 2007
04:01:55 am
Wow. Just skimmed through the discussion. Have few questions to ask:
First one had to be: How old are you, guys? Starting with Satyam, Q, Goodfella, Henry, Akshay, mgs, Rks, Bond, Kmkm, etc…
I’m asking this because I suspect you guys watched more films than I’ve lived my life
HAL 23 August 2007
04:12:09 am
Okay, that was exaggerated a bit
Qalandar 23 August 2007
06:53:41 am
HAL: I’m 29…
Ravi 23 August 2007
07:00:52 am
Qbhai you are 29 but you write as if you have a 50 year old head on your body.
HAL 23 August 2007
08:06:24 am
I second Ravi.
Still Wondering how you guys manage(d) to get your hands on some of the aforementioned films. Now my to-be-watched list is full
rks 28 August 2007
09:28:56 am
Saw “Lives of others” last night. There is nothing to describe the movie. Simply marvellous!
rks 5 September 2007
04:03:10 pm
Some thoughts on TLoO
Pros:
1. a taut Political thriller.
2. Ulrich Muche does a fine job of Stasi man. He has few dialogues but his eyes are very expressive.
4. Deals with human morals in unkind situations.
5. Ultimately it is about freedom – the basic nature of human being.
6. Background music is very good.
cons:
1. Little difficult to understand Ulrich Muche not meeting any inocent like Sebastian Koch in his long career as Stasi.
The movie is little slow initially but picks up after that.
rks 5 September 2007
04:07:01 pm
%%$^ space bar
– It submitted the draft
**Innocent**
Qalandar 5 September 2007
04:07:09 pm
Thanks for posting rks…sad to think Ulrich M died so soon after such a seminal role and performance…
rks 5 September 2007
04:19:17 pm
Didn’t know that this is the same guy everyone was talking.
satyam 22 September 2007
04:07:38 pm
Rks: Glad you liked the movie. I hadn’t seen this comment of yours earlier.
rks 22 September 2007
04:16:09 pm
Thanks Satyam. It deserved the Oscar and the good thing is that it is not a dry movie which people associate with Oscar winners.
satyam 23 September 2007
11:56:35 am
Rks: You should also check out After the Wedding. I think it’s available at this point. This as you might know also made the Oscar shortlist. The others were Pan’s Labyrinth (which you’ve seen) and Days of Glory.
Did you ever get around to the fountain?
rks 23 September 2007
02:41:58 pm
Satyam: I have seen fountain and Days of Glory (I liked the film).
satyam 23 September 2007
04:53:41 pm
My apologies Rks, I didn’t remember the earlier comment.
By the way Lynch’s Inland Empire is also out, I personally consider it his masterpiece, but one could be forgiven for finding it indulgent. It’s very different from Mulholland or Lost Highway though.
rks 23 September 2007
05:04:02 pm
Inland empre @Home
….Will watch it today.
satyam 23 September 2007
05:14:29 pm
Rks: It’s a Lynch 3 hr deal. You have an understanding spouse! But let me know your thoughts. In the theater I found it possibly the most ’scary’ film I’ve seen. Laura Dern has a supreme performance here but not one that will ever win an Oscar!
akshay shah 23 September 2007
08:48:12 pm
Quiet easily one of the finest posts I have ever read on NG!!!
Satyam: WOuld love to hear your thoughts on THE PUNISHER uncut version?!
I have quiet a few reviews pending which I hope to get to this week:-)!
BTW finally got my hands on a copy of PANS LABRYINTH!
A.Shah
satyam 23 September 2007
10:00:54 pm
I enjoyed the Punisher principally because of Travolta. The film could otherwise have been done much better. But it’s certainly worth watching. I am not familiar with the comic here. Therefore cannot do more of a comparison.
Hope to see a review from you on Pan’s Labyrinth.
satyam 23 September 2007
10:02:11 pm
As for this being one of the best posts on NG I would say if at all this is true the responses makes it so.
rks 27 September 2007
09:39:10 am
Tried my hand on Inland empire, First one hour I could make something then I got severe headache. Returned it today. Will probably try some other time. Mulholland Drive is a cake compared to this one.
satyam 27 September 2007
10:32:01 am
Rks: Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
satyam 2 October 2007
09:50:41 am
Rks: Another film that you must definitely see is Jindabyne (Australian film). It just released in the US and it’s simply outstanding. I regret missing it in the theaters very much.
satyam 2 October 2007
09:54:15 am
Yet another recommendation would be 13 Tzameti. By the way I am unsure if you saw Page Turner but this is also available now.
rks 2 October 2007
10:07:40 am
Thanks for recommendations. I have been careful lately after Inland empire
. I did some atoning (to my wife) by watching Shooter
Page Turner was in my queue just bumped it.
satyam 3 October 2007
07:47:44 am
And if you’re a superhero buff the new Fantastic Four is out on DVD! I actually didn’t mind the first one either. The reviews were a bit too harsh. The same goes for this one. It might be better than the previous one actually. I think the franchise has a certain campy quality to it which is rare these days. Obviously I would have preferred a Spidey kind of deal here but the films are still enjoyable. I eagerly await Iron Man. I’ve also heard there’s a Hulk in the works.
satyam 3 October 2007
07:50:08 am
“I have been careful lately after Inland empire
. I did some atoning (to my wife) by watching Shooter”
LOL! I’m sure there’s a lot of ‘atoning’ to do. This is a ‘marriage wrecking’ film!
Speaking of which Atonement is out later this year (based on the McEwan novel) and it’s received good reviews on the festival circuit.
rks 5 October 2007
11:44:11 am
Saw Jindabyne last night.
**Possible Spoilers**
It is a sensitive movie dealing with relationships, race and morals. The movie is slow at start but moves at fast after the fishing incident. From my point of view characters were not well formed. Laura Linney character looked sensitive but from practical point of view conflicted. Reason: She becomes sensitive to death of the girl with whom she has no connection apart from the fact that her husband found it. But she was willing to wreck her marriage for going extra mile to help and sympathize with Girl’s family. (I might sound rude and insensitive) I felt she should be doing the same thing for all the people killed in that way. I couldn’t find the reason for Caylin-Calandria character’s weirdness. The conflicting scenes between husband, wife and mother in law were very real looking.
Movie showed perfectly the race conflict between whites and Aborigines.
satyam 5 October 2007
12:15:10 pm
Glad you saw it Rks. A somewhat related film is rabbit Proof fence.
akshay shah 6 October 2007
02:56:37 am
Just saw ZODIAC-WHOA! What a movie, thoroughly terrific!
A.Shah
satyam 7 October 2007
06:15:09 pm
Rks: Two other movies since I have somehow become your ‘netflix’ guide without being invited to do so!
First off if you liked 28 Days Later the sequel 28 Weeks Later releases this week. I quite enjoyed the latter in the theater.
Then an early 80s Pacino film, Cruising, has also made its first appearance on DVD. This is worth checking out. But be warned. With the NY gay scene of the period on full display here (sometimes quite graphically) this might not be a family film! And after Inland Empire I know you’re on ‘probation’ anyway!
rks 7 October 2007
06:42:18 pm
Satyam. Thanks.
I have added 28 weeks later. I think I have seen 28 days later in parts on TV. Looks like it is a drama more than a Sci-Fi (which (along with Fantasy) I am little averse to unless it is Matrix or T2). Cruising also added but at bottom right now.
Moreover I am short with free time as my midterm, Paper, presentation due.
Qalandar 7 October 2007
06:45:28 pm
rks: are you studying? For some reason I thought you were only working…
rks 7 October 2007
06:50:14 pm
Q:”For some reason I thought you were only working…”
Mainly working. Part time MBA student.
akshay shah 7 October 2007
07:50:29 pm
I’ve seen CRUISING, one helluva film alongside Pacinos SERPICO and DOG DAY AFTERNOON.
BTW I saw MP3(MERA PEHLA PEHLA PYAR)–somewhat enjoyable film from Robby Grewal(director of SAMAY, and producer of YAHAAN)!
a.Shah
satyam 11 October 2007
11:34:23 am
By the way has anyone seen de Palma’s recent Black Dahlia here? I can understand why this was panned so much for critics for its plot devices (Though I’d like to think the director was having some fun with noir traditions, along with Ellroy!) but technically it doesn’t get too much better than this in Hollywood. The film is a marvel of lighting. And not just this.
rks 11 October 2007
11:38:34 am
Yes .
Aarkayne 11 October 2007
11:41:17 am
Satyam:”By the way has anyone seen de Palma’s recent Black Dahlia here”
I did and did not like it too much. I think de Palma got too carried away in the ‘looks’ of the movie than the narrative….it was a disappointment in that sense, for there was not story to it ultimately.
Coming from someone that has given us MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, SCARFACE and UNTOUCHABLES it was sad.
satyam 11 October 2007
07:47:33 pm
Aarkayne: I have been revisiting a lot of significant de Palma recently and I certainly would not want to compare Black Dahlia with his best work. But technically it is among his most proficient ones.
My favorite work of his might be Blow Out. I tend to like Scarface less than I once used to. Conversely I like Carlito’s Way more than before. No arguments on Untouchables. de Palma is of course one of the great practitioners of ‘contamination’ in cinema. A number of his films pay homage to Hitchcock, Blow Out does this with Antonioni and Coppola’s conversation, Untouchables has that marvelous scene from Battleship Potemkin and so on. There is actually an upcoming work from Stanford U Press on him which is supposed to be seminal on cinema in general and not just the director. I’ve been watching these movies as preparation for the book!
satyam 11 October 2007
07:49:40 pm
Great review on Black Dahlia Akshay.
Thanks for pointing it out Rks. And on that note best of luck with your test.
akshay shah 11 October 2007
07:56:18 pm
Satyam: This one just didn’t do it for me, I actually liked the recent HOLLYWOODLAND a bit more than this, however I do agree that technically THE BLACK DAHLIA is a marvel of a movie, but nothing compares to De Palma’s older works:-)
Over time I enjoy CARLITO’S WAY MORE than I enjoy SCARFACE! I have a great weakness for Penn’s performance here, and this is one film that has some superlative masala moments(the climkax I just love).
satyam 11 October 2007
08:11:07 pm
Agreed Akshay, I too prefer Carlito’s Way at this point. And I found Hollywoodland to be an excellent work.
akshay shah 11 October 2007
08:20:47 pm
Satyam: Glad we agree on HOLLYWOODLAND, quiet a few people didn’t like this one. I think Brody is a terrific actor in the right role. Loved his work in THE JACKET!
BTW was CARLITO’S WAY ever remade properly in Hindi? I remember watching it in Jan this year and it kept reminding me of a old Hindi film?
SCARFACE I know inside out, frame to frame, dialogue to dialogue….its something I can easily watch again though it springs no new surprises over a period of time…
On the other hand I managed to catch DOG DAY AFTERNOON again and god this film rocks, I have a great weakness for hostage dramas!
satyam 11 October 2007
08:25:00 pm
Don’t know about a remake of Carlito’s way..
Two other Pacinos worth checking out are And Justice for all, Panic in Needle Park.
akshay shah 11 October 2007
08:38:03 pm
Have never heard of those 2 Pacino films…will check them out for sure. I saw ALL FOR THE MONEY earlier in the year..quiet liked it! Totally “typical” Pacino role but he plays it so damn well, a complete guilty pleasure a bit like ANY GIVEN SUNDAY!
rks 11 October 2007
08:50:56 pm
Satyan:”And on that note best of luck with your test.”
Thanks. It was due on Monday.
satyam 11 October 2007
09:41:13 pm
Akshay: also check out Travolta’s recent Lonely hearts.
akshay shah 11 October 2007
09:52:09 pm
Thanks bro! I hadn’t realize Travolta had done anything decent lately..the last I read he was in a movie called HAIRSPRAY and critics ripped him apart…
BTW Just put up a Bachcnan post from PFC..interesting read to say the least!:-)
satyam 17 October 2007
02:31:06 pm
Rks: I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone, also part of my list here, finally releases in the US in a few weeks. It already shows up at netflix. This is a film with very little dialog though. I consider it the director’s masterpiece. The final image here is one of the most haunting ones in recent cinema. The film is also about the ‘chaff’ of globalization. Features characters from the subcontinent but Tamilians will find it a little more resonant.
rks 17 October 2007
02:53:35 pm
Satyam:One of the reviews on netflix page “A very beautiful, intensely uncompromising film. No, it’s not “INLAND EMPIRE”, but it’s still a masterpiece in its own right.”
Pranav 17 October 2007
07:25:11 pm
akshay, you mean “two for the money”. I thought the movie was atrocious.
akshay shah 17 October 2007
07:29:51 pm
Pranav: I didn’t find it bad at all, but more than anything, it’s Pacino’s tremendous performance which made it worthwhile…though this is something he could sleep-walk through no doubt!
Pranav 17 October 2007
07:32:14 pm
Pacino I thought was good but Matthew McNo….was terrible.
akshay shah 17 October 2007
07:36:15 pm
Agree on Matthew, he’s usually pretty good too thouhgh i preferred to see Edward Norton or Bale here even to elevate proceedings!
satyam 21 November 2007
02:58:26 pm
Anyone who can should check out No Country for Old Men in the theaters. It’s a mesmerizing film. Javier Bardem here plays one of the most unique characters in Hollywood history. And the film has some spectacular camerawork as well.
satyam 21 November 2007
03:04:34 pm
Rks: My latest recommendation is the Killer of Sheep. This to my mind is one of the greatest films ever made. It’s just released on DVD. It was made on a shoestring budget though and has a very grainy look. It’s not plot driven but becomes a rather moving experience as you keep watching it.
Herzog’s Rescue Dawn is also out. I found it not much more than reasonably engaging but worth checking out I guess. By the way Christian Bale eats actual maggots here for a scene! This beats Daniel day-Lewis skinning a rabbit for Last of the Mohicans.
And of course Live Free or Die Hard is out. Like every other movie in this franchise I enjoyed this one too!
jayshah 21 November 2007
03:08:28 pm
‘And of course Live Free or Die Hard is out. Like every other movie in this franchise I enjoyed this one too!’
Yes its about the only film I can comment on in this thread…it kicks ass, though the 3rd one is still my fav!
satyam 21 November 2007
03:11:31 pm
In the pure masala sense the third was the best. Samuel Jackson really enlivened things. But as a pure film the first one is probably my favorite.
Speaking of which the latest Pirates (where I had trouble keeping awake in the theater) also releases soon. Transformers did a few weeks back as well.
satyam 21 November 2007
03:12:28 pm
“its about the only film I can comment on in this thread”
Good for you Jay because this means you’re not a sicko like me!
satyam 21 November 2007
03:14:08 pm
Speaking of recent releases I found American Gangster pretty humdrum. The performances are nice, Denzel is always a joy to watch but the narrative plods along.
satyam 21 November 2007
03:20:00 pm
By the way this is one of my most awaited films:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/.....eo/4928963
kmkm13 21 November 2007
03:30:35 pm
Films i’ve seen recently…and liked…Control BrilliantB:W…moving
The devil knows you’re dead…Lumet at his best
28 weeks later…Brilliant too with the genre
La question Humaine ..not bad!
satyam 21 November 2007
07:33:38 pm
kmkm13: I loved 28 weeks later myself. I’m a fan of this franchise. I’ve heard great things about the Lumet too and was coincidentally planning to catch it this evening but then it didn’t work out. I will do so at some other point.
I finally caught up with La Vie en Rose. While I am a great Edith Piaf fan I found this film insipid.
Ferran’s Lady Chatterley releases next week on DVD here. I didn’t get a chance to watch this in the theater.
beldevere 21 November 2007
07:38:57 pm
>Ferran’s Lady Chatterley releases next week on DVD here. I didn’t get a chance to watch this in the theater
you have to watch it with a adult..ok. dont be a bad boy….
rks 21 November 2007
08:39:01 pm
Thanks Satyam. I have been rather lazy with netflix lately.
satyam 22 November 2007
08:42:54 am
Rks: Yes I know you’ve been busy. But as I said if you get the chance don’t miss No Country for Old Men in the theaters. I must warn you though, in case you’re bringing the family along, that there are lots of dead bodies and blood here!
satyam 27 November 2007
08:16:46 am
After my recommendation of No Country for Old men (which no one should miss in the theaters as long as they don’t mind the sight of blood!) I will also do the same for Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (again as long as one doesn’t mind a scene or two of fairly graphic sex).
I still prefer No Country.. it’s simply a very gripping film and often amazingly shot. But the Lumet is a fine film in its own right.
I also checked out Beowulf on 3-D. The effects were superb, the film a bit tepid (strangely given the innate drama of the subject), which is to say it had its moments but wasn’t consistently engaging. Of course there is the nude ‘graphic’ of Jolie for those who might be interested.
satyam 1 December 2007
08:36:05 am
I have now added yet again a film to this list! LOL! 2007 is nearing its end and I am still adding films to the ‘06 list! Not my fault. I go by release date in country of origin!
satyam 8 December 2007
01:09:29 pm
Rks: The Namesake has now been available on DVD for a couple of weeks, in case you didn’t know. Another one you should check out is Asif Kapadia’s the Warrior with Irffan Khan. This has of course been around for quite sometime.
I would recommend Lady Chatterley but you’ll end up divorced with this one!
rks 8 December 2007
01:24:42 pm
Satyam: Saw Namesake sometime back. I liked the movie. Bourne is at top of queue which is realeasing this week. Lady Chatterly is in queue (long wait)!
satyam 9 December 2007
11:02:13 am
On Lady chatterley, I should tell you (just in case you have the extended family on this one!) that there is full frontal nudity here for both leads and the sex scenes while not graphic are in some ways much more suggestive. But I do think this is by far the best Chatterley version even if I didn’t like it as much as some of the critics. Don’t believe this is one of Lawrence’s great books (Sons and lovers, women in love, Rainbow) in any case.
satyam 9 December 2007
11:03:33 am
Incidentally the director’s cut on Zodiac releases first week of Jan. Supposed to be significantly longer. Also 3:10 to Yuma releases the same day.
rks 9 December 2007
02:46:31 pm
Satyam: No movies even with friends, if I don’t know about the movie
.
What is the difference in this different cuts?
satyam 9 December 2007
08:14:47 pm
Rks: Don’t know what will be new in Zodiac..
satyam 9 December 2007
08:16:04 pm
Speaking of which you should check out the Troy director’s cut as well. I enjoyed the theatrical release but this 30 min longer cut fleshes out the film..
rks 18 December 2007
10:35:58 am
Saw “After the wedding” yesterday. A very powerful emotional drama. Acting was first rate, especially from Rolf Lassgård. It was melodramatic at times but very touching.
Ravi 18 December 2007
10:43:03 am
rks has spoken, so need to catch this movie this week. Watched 28 weeks later last week , thought it was ok nothing great, got a little gory after some time.
My wife walked in while I was watching the movie and after couple of minutes, was asking me what kind of sick movie I was watching.
I watched King Arthur again last night and liked the movie better than my first time over, I am a guy who likes historicals a lot, I watch the movie and then go and read all about the actual events and try to relate them etc.
rks 18 December 2007
10:54:59 am
Ravi: “After the wedding” is a Danish movie (nominated for Oscars along with water). It has good chunk of dialogues in Hindi and English! They tried passing Mumbai as Kolkotta! You can watch it your wife.
28 days later: I was talking with kmkm13 the other day, I liked it till the husband gets the Virus from wife. It was very predictable after that.
rks 18 December 2007
11:02:49 am
Finally watched all the 5 movies in Oscar best foreign category. My ratings
1. Lives of other
2. After the wedding
3. Days of Glory
4. Pan Labyrinth
5. Water
I don’t consider water to be in same class as other four.
satyam 19 December 2007
01:12:38 pm
Rks: Agreed on After the Wedding. My ordering on those 5 films would be a bit different from yours but I do agree that Water does not at all belong to that league.
Incidentally the Zodiac director’s cut turns out to be a bit of a scam. Apparently there are only 4-5 minutes added here and nothing significant.
satyam 19 December 2007
01:16:45 pm
For any Blade Runner aficionados out there the Final Cut finally released on DVD. The best way to purchase this is to get (in the US; in the UK it’s being done a bit differently) is to get the 4 disc set which includes the Final Cut (the film has never looked as good though some CGI has been added at points), the director’s cut, the original theatrical release and the European version (and of course extras). The best part is that this is available for the price of a regular DVD! However for the true fanatics of the film (which I am not!) there is a 5 disc edition which also includes a rough cut. However the price more than doubles for this and I don’t personally consider it a worthwhile investment (though this is cheaper for the UK edition).
satyam 19 December 2007
01:20:24 pm
Ravi: If you’re referring to the Clive Owen King Arthur I don’t mind this myself. You should also see First Knight with gere and Connery. Neither film is more than passable but I too have a weakness for this sort of thing.
If you like historicals you should check out (among recent films) the director’s cut (and only this!) on Kingdom of Heaven.
Ravi 19 December 2007
02:07:52 pm
Thanks Satyam, have seen the “Kingdom of Heaven” but not the director’s cut , liked the movie. I have a lot of affinity towards that genre, so usually like them if they are half decently made.
satyam 11 January 2008
11:21:54 am
Rks: It’s recommendation time again! 3:10 to Yuma is now out on DVD and you should definitely watch this. I had a piece on it at the time:
http://www.naachgaana.com/2007/09/10/310-to-yuma/
rks 11 January 2008
11:26:48 am
Satyam: Saw it on Tuesday. I will read the write-up.
rks 15 January 2008
11:05:43 am
Saw Zodiac yesterday. I liked it a lot as there was very less blood involved unlike other serial murder based movies. Though it was 2hr 40 minutes long, I didn’t feel it. There were good performaces by ensemble cast (Even though the movie revolved around Jake Gyllenhaal’s character). Some good shots of San Francisco.
ILG 15 January 2008
11:08:13 am
Zodiac was good.But because its based on true story,end was less than satisfying.
rks 15 January 2008
11:20:07 am
ILG:**SPOILER – Don’t read** Here is Wiki piece which says based on DNA evidence.
Ravi 15 January 2008
11:22:02 am
Zodiac was pretty good, like you I did not feel like it was a 2.40 minute film rks, not bad for Hwood movie.
I saw “The Kingdom” started of good then kind of tailed off.
Will try to see 3.10, somehow the trailers that came along during the NFl games engrossed me a little bit. They were
1) Vantage Point
2) Jumper
3) 10,000 BC
little bit intrigued with all the hype surroudning Cloverfield, but will wait and see how it pans out, getting nostalgic about Rambo, will see how that plays out,might catch it in the theaters we ahd a pretty good sequence with “Rocky” and Live Free or Die hard.
ILG 15 January 2008
11:41:23 am
Ravi,
I hope your Patriots loose badly.Very badly.
ILG 15 January 2008
11:41:57 am
Hope fully at the hands of the Giants.
satyam 15 January 2008
11:47:35 am
Ravi: I’m looking forward to Cloverfield as well. I’m a sucker for this sort of thing! Unless of course the reviews persuade me otherwise.
rks 15 January 2008
11:48:41 am
“I hope your Patriots loose badly.”
satyam 15 January 2008
11:48:43 am
And yeah the Kingdom was pretty mediocre.
satyam 15 January 2008
11:50:38 am
You wouldn’t want to bet smart money on anyone beating the Pats this year! For what it’s worth I hope the Pack goes all the way. I would like them to make up for that loss to Denver years ago!
satyam 15 January 2008
11:53:33 am
Zodiac is the first Fincher film I’ve completely liked..
ILG 15 January 2008
11:54:06 am
If Giants loose to Packers as they very well might,I will root for the Packers.
Imagine after the Red Soxs winning the world series,if Patriots win the Super Bowl and the Celtics the NBA crown,those constipated Bostonians will get even more insuferable.Apun ka Ravi bhai is excluded ofcourse.
ILG 15 January 2008
11:54:44 am
Kingdom was blah.
satyam 15 January 2008
11:54:44 am
And in case ILG thinks I’m completely nuts for supporting the packers over the giants well I lived in Minnesota before I lived in NY!
ILG 15 January 2008
11:55:47 am
Re:And in case ILG thinks I’m completely nuts for supporting the packers over the giants well I lived in Minnesota before I lived in NY!
Well,to be honest the word ‘traitor’ did come to mind.
satyam 15 January 2008
11:57:15 am
“Imagine after the Red Soxs winning the world series,if Patriots win the Super Bowl and the Celtics the NBA crown,those constipated Bostonians will get even more insuferable”
LOL, that’s true! By the way to complete the sports thing above I am a nut in another way. I never really supported the Twins! It’s Yankees all the way for me! On the football I would always support the Vikings first.
On the red Sox it’s funny but when they won in ‘04 and Kerry put on that cap I had a bad feeling that it was the best news he’d get that season. Sadly I was right!
rks 15 January 2008
11:58:11 am
“the Celtics the NBA crown”
I have serious doubts..them defeating Pistons in seven game series in their own conference let alone a healthy spurs or sharp shooting Suns.
satyam 15 January 2008
11:58:50 am
“Well,to be honest the word ‘traitor’ did come to mind”
Never liked the Knicks either! And I don’t like our current ‘imported’ Senator!
Ravi 15 January 2008
11:59:37 am
Rajen bhai, I have been a patriots fan since my dirst year in the US when the not so mighty patriots were 1 and 15 and that was almost 17 years ago.
So, I have been through thick and thin with them and even though I have moved out of Boston almost 14 years ago have been a religious Boston sports fan and love the Patriots more than anything else, since the Direct Tv package became available have not missed a single pats game.
But, I am a different type of fan, I don’t like to brag about them as to not jinx them so I just sit and don’t comment about them till the season ends.
That said the team that I or any of the Pats fans are scared about was the Colts as they match up well with us and so it is a relief that the Bolts beat them. But, if luckily we win the next game and go to the Super Bowl I would rather face lil Manning than Bret Favre(which reminds me about “There’s Something about Mary”) , that guy is capable of throwing for 6 touchdowns or 6 picks and we don’t knwo who we are getting.
So, I am keeping my fingers crossed and will see how all this plays out.
ILG 15 January 2008
12:02:33 pm
Dont feel much for the current Knicks.But you gotta love MSG.How can you not!
Your feelings for the current ‘imported’ senator are well known.Tho, your boy did disappoint me with his charactarisation of Clintons’ remarks.Anyways Feb 5 should be an interesting night,whoever wins.As long as mudslingign is avoided.I can live with either as the President.Anybody will be an improvement after the current ‘travesty’ in the White House.
ILG 15 January 2008
12:03:58 pm
Ravi,
Do you like your head coach?
ILG 15 January 2008
12:07:23 pm
BTW,before Obama campaign jumps at my throat the use of word ‘boy’ had no racial undertone.
satyam 15 January 2008
12:08:47 pm
“Tho, your boy did disappoint me with his charactarisation of Clintons’ remarks”
Are you trying to introduce race into the forum ILG?!
Seriously though I’ll stick with my boy! I think the Clintons are doing a Rove on him currently..
And when does that white boy get out?! That’s what I’m interested in!
satyam 15 January 2008
12:10:00 pm
“BTW,before Obama campaign jumps at my throat the use of word ‘boy’ had no racial undertone”
Ha! His surrogate here just jumped on you!
ILG 15 January 2008
12:10:00 pm
Satyam,
Our comments crossed.
ILG 15 January 2008
12:12:58 pm
Sorry to take the discussion OT,but I think Obama is using the race issue very effectively and crying wolf at any oppurtunity.Clinton was the first ‘black’ president and Obama will not be able to have that distinction.
satyam 15 January 2008
12:13:56 pm
Oh absolutely ILG, MSG rocks! That’s the only reason to go see the Knicks!
“Anybody will be an improvement after the current ‘travesty’ in the White House.”
Be careful what you wish for! I don’t want the pastor in the WH with his brilliant command of foreign policy!
ILG 15 January 2008
12:18:19 pm
Gotta go.
Unlike Satyam and Q,us ordinary mortals gotta work to earn our living.
satyam 15 January 2008
12:20:29 pm
Don’t think it really helps him to outline race when his whole campaign has been based on transcending race. Plus the more he does this the more he becomes the ‘black’ candidate which means scaring off white voters and you can’t win without the latter. What did happen was that they put pressure on the Clintons and that’s not a bad thing! It helps him in SC but I’m not sure if it does beyond this. In any case he tried to put a lid on it yesterday and of course Clinton responded. I am led to believe that there’s been blowback against the Clintons in the Dem establishment on this. But I do believe this was driven more by independent voices not associated with the campaign much more than it was with the campaign itself. And the Clintons did not back down because they saw some opportunity here with white voters. In any case the episode was avoidable. But as I said they’re doing a Rove on him, basically taking him on with his strongest credentials, the war vote on the one hand, the MLK/JFK analogies on the other.
satyam 15 January 2008
12:24:46 pm
“Unlike Satyam and Q,us ordinary mortals gotta work to earn our living”
LOL! Now you’ve introduced the ‘work card’!
I’m sure you have an alluring patient waiting for you! Dil Hi to Hai!
Ravi 15 January 2008
12:45:36 pm
I love Bill Belichick, how can we not love him, he is the man. Everyone in the country except the Boston fans hate him.
But, I would like to very clearly say, Brady is the man and he is the intnagible that cannot be replaced. Patriots without Brady is the “Colts with Mannning”. The coolest QB ever, every one would die to have him QB their team.
I watched Jets Vs Pats in Dalls this year in “Champs” and there were aorund 16 screens and 10 of the were showing the pats and I was the only frikkin drunken guy supporting the Pats. Everyone is watching and rooting for them to loose.
Ravi 23 January 2008
09:03:57 pm
I finished watching “Amazing Grace” and being the history buff that I am , I liked the movie immensely and was moved by it. Though I read in a few places that everything is not accurately portrayed in the movie and that cinematic liberties have been taken I still came out impressed after watching the movie.
A slow movie but in my opinion a “Must See”.
satyam 23 January 2008
09:42:02 pm
Agreed Ravi…
rks 24 January 2008
11:31:03 am
Saw “the lookout”. Though the story was very thin, presentation was good. The movie reminded me of Memento.
satyam 24 January 2008
11:46:28 am
Yes the Lookout was alright, nothing spectacular though.
rks 5 February 2008
11:08:28 am
Saw “Raise the red lanterns” on weekend. Visually very captivating photography. Story was good but pace was very slow. **Spoiler** You never see the face of husband clearly**End Spoiler**
satyam 5 February 2008
11:10:22 am
For all those interested in American Gangster the DVD will release in a 2 disc set on Feb 19. This includes a director’s cut that’s 18 min longer. The running time is now just shy of 3 hrs.
satyam 5 February 2008
12:01:31 pm
I love Raise the Red Lantern! It’s one of my favorite Yimou films along with Red Sorghum and Ju-Dou. I like some of the others as well but his more recent swashbuckling epics are not much to my taste. Despite their obvious visual strengths these come off as too plastic to my mind. I had trouble keeping awake with his recent, somewhat operatic, Curse of the Golden Flower! And I’m not even getting into the lazy (though not necessarily less disturbing) nationalism peddled in many of these films.
satyam 5 February 2008
12:04:40 pm
A related earlier comment:
“As I suggested in my impressions on the film (http://www.naachgaana.com/2007.....ridgement/) there are two ways of reading this one and Western reviewers have of course been overall very positive on this one. I think that within an Indian context the themes don’t seem well worked out, from a Western perspective it becomes more understandable as these reviewers are far more used to things being obliquely presented. I must confess that I am myself a bit split on this issue (as my piece on it reveals). I did mention then that even on a ‘festival’ reading the film wasn’t emotionally resonant but I have since reminded myself that this is very much in keeping with a certain brand of Chinese cinema (Yimou has regrettably become the lastest subscriber to it) which is v