manjits Reviews

The Italian (2005)

Excellent direction, acting and cinematography

[10/10 · 30 September 2010]

"The Italian", a debut film by Andrei Kravchuk, is an outstanding film by any standard; and yet the film failed to win any major awards – not even the consolation of a Best Foreign Film Oscar. It won the minor category of Children's film award created for the purpose at Venice, but nowhere else, as if a film about children automatically becomes a children's film.

Three reasons spring to mind; it was a commercial dud possibly due to lack of commercial skills of the makers; contrary to public perception, shock value and financial success rules the fate of a movie even at the top festivals where the judges are mostly the mega-stars from Hollywood and around the world; and the debut production of a young person from a poor country still on the other side of the divide stood as little chance of an award as of Castro winning a Nobel Peace Prize.

So what did I find exceptional in the movie? To start with the least important, the cinematography was par excellence. The depiction of desolate, gloomy environment of Russian winter, with telephoto shots of barbed wires quivering as if in the cold air; the claustrophobic shots of vast landscape (even if done through back projection) from the inside of cars and train were awesome.

The second most outstanding quality of the film was the acting, particularly by all the child actors. It wasn't just great; it was breathtaking in its realism, as if the kids were chosen from an actual asylum which they weren't. The adults had no chance to compete against such talent, but managed to perform professionally.

The most outstanding characteristic of the film got to be the director, whose command in every field – music; editing; locations; camera angles; choice of lenses and suppression of any tinge of sentimentality – was evident.

I don't accept it's a rehash of Dickens's Oliver Twist suggested by some commentators. The harsh brutality of criminal gangs of 18th century Britain in Oliver Twist has nothing in common with the sad declension of Russian society and morale since the glasnost. If anything, the story has more in common with the magical realism of Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

That's why the unsentimental ending gels with the mood of the movie.

Samson & Delilah (II) (2009)

A classic in the minimalist tradition of Bresson

[10/10 · 18 December 2009]

Don't go by the fact, it's an Australian film made by a virtually unknown aboriginal writer-director-cinematographer Warwick Thornton on a shoestring budget with untrained first-time actors. "Samson and Delilah" is a movie Robert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog or Federico Fellini would have been proud of at the pinnacle of their glory. (And in the true Australian tradition, the next movie by Warwick Thornton may turn out to be a total dud – whatever happened to Stephan Elliott? – but I hope not.)

It's made in the austere style of minimalist emotions pioneered by Bresson in 1950s and 60s. There is no background music, other than a few recordings the two characters listen to on radio or tape; and hardly any dialogues (the two 14-year old aboriginal protagonists don't exchange a single word throughout the film).

Getting bored? Don't be. It's a profoundly touching and satisfying art film, the like of which we have not seen too many in the history of world cinema. It would easily be in my personal top-50 best movies of all times. However, if the best of Robert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog and Federico Fellini bore you, then please don't bother.

Grizzly Man (2005)

Shallow and pointless

[5/10 · 18 December 2008]

I am a great fan of Werner Herzog, and consider him along with Ingmar Bergman and Robert Bresson as one of the most uncompromising director of the films.

However, I am not impressed by this film. Leaving aside the character of Timothy Treadwell for the moment, I find the film rambling, shallow and pointless. The comments by the people are all badly staged. Herzog's own commentary is at times pedantic or worse meaningless. Like his comment that bears' blank eyes don't show any emotions for humans - just an eye for another source of food. Herzog's editing also lacks any sense of purpose.

Of course, part of the problem with the film is the character of Timothy Treadwell. The guy as seen in the film is a megalomaniac, who is not only intruding into the nature for no rhyme or reason, but is also intruding into his own film supposed to be about his beloved grizzly bears. There are just 2 long shots of Amy who was with him for 2 seasons and died with him, and may be a dozen shots of the bears. Rest of Timothy's film is all about himself - his harangue and meaningless patter about his love and protection of grizzly bears in Alaska. It's a great tragedy that such characters exist from time to time, who claim to be naturalist, but in fact end up giving a bad name to naturalists. In Australia, we had a similar character Steve Irwin, who died in similar circumstances filming an underwater documentary film. They all believe the animals love them for their pranks, not realizing the animals may be viewing it as torture.

All in all, a disappointment from a great director.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

Best Aussie movie

[9/10 · 18 September 2008]

This is my favourite Aussie movie of all times - a classic hilarious comedy in Australian tradition.

There are 3 aspects of the movie which make it such an outstanding entertainer.

Firstly, it's the brilliant screenplay by writer-director Stephan Elliott about 3 drag queens - a gay, a bisexual and a trans-sexual - from Sydney going on a bus to Alice Springs, a distance of over 2000 Kms to the centre of Australia, for a public performance. It's a road movie unlike any I have seen before, outrageously funny in one moment and poignant and touching the next.

Second, the performances by the 3 lead actors are outstanding. It's hard to pick one which has outshone the others. My personal favourite, like a lot of others, is Terence Stamp as the trans-sexual.

Third, the stunning costumes are worth watching just for themselves. Some of the scenes in the movie where we see the characters in their wildly colourful costumes against the background of an outlandish landscape are breathtakingly beautiful and memorable.

It's a movie one can see many times, and enjoy it every time.

Cabaret (1972)

Exceptionally well made film

[10/10 · 20 May 2008]

Cabaret is an exceptionally well made film - the music, choreography, acting, screenplay and direction are all of very high caliber. Even after 36 years, it hasn't aged, and is as shocking and entertaining as ever. It deservedly won 8 Oscars in spite of competition from one of the most beloved movies of all times The Godfather. Although the academy is notorious for decisions based on emotions rather than merit, in this instance, I consider the splitting of best direction and best picture Oscars between the 2 films as a just outcome. It's therefore very surprising, it's not on any of the all-time-great lists - a great injustice, or could it be a conspiracy? It'll certainly be on my list of 100 all-time-great movies.

Au hasard Balthazar (1966)

Sheer poetry

[10/10 · 15 May 2008]

The films of Robert Bresson have a special place in the history of cinema for their sheer poetry unmatched by any other director past or present. The films are austere and precise in the extreme. Even the emotions have been deliberately drained out; histrionics are non-existent and use of music minimal. Like poetry, it's not everyone's cup of tea. However, for those who develop the taste for it, the impact is indescribably beautiful.

Au Hasard Balthazar is the pinnacle of his artistic achievement (followed closely by Mouchette).

It's the story of human exploitation and cruelty to animals as well as to other humans. The protagonist is a donkey at the receiving end from his various owners, ranging from sadists, drunks and money-minded. The only one who has some soft spot for him is a young girl, who herself is a subject of exploitation and cruelty by some of the same people. The last scene of death of the donkey among a flock of sheep is among the finest in the history of cinema.

The Road (1954)

Among the best of Fellini

[10/10 · 12 May 2008]

La Strada is among Fellini's best films. Later, some of his films became more obscure and arty. This simple story of two diametrically opposite characters brought together against the backdrop of post-war poverty stricken Italy is superbly told through stunning B&W cinematography, haunting music and exceptional performances by the lead actors, especially Anthony Quinn as Zampano. The man, a roadside performer, is incapable of any soft feelings, let alone love, for another human being. The girl, sold to him by her mother, hates his insensitive and brute nature, yet tries to adjust, till he commits a horrific act which scars her already fragile psyche, and a point of no return has reached between the two. The manner of his desertion of her is one of the most poignant moments of the film for the audience, his own repentance though too late comes many years later in the final scene.

Signs of Life (1968)

My favorite Herzog

[10/10 · 22 November 2007]

I first saw this film in 1969 in Bangalore (India) in a German film festival. The film was unheralded, being the first feature from an unknown director. However, the film made an everlasting impression on me, and I considered it among 2 or 3 of the best films I had seen till then. I kept track of Werner Herzog films ever since, and have been seeing them all I could lay my hands on. Even today, I'll put it as among the 10 best films I have ever seen, and it remains my favorite Herzog movie. The film is sheer poetry. It's a film about 3 characters'(2 soldiers and wife of one of them) boredom in an isolated Greek island, and how each one handles it. While one of the soldiers snaps up at the end, and tries to destroy everything in his impotent fury - managing only to kill a donkey ultimately - the second soldier keeps himself and first soldier's wife sane by just being raucously funny. I found the story, direction, camera-work and acting fascinating,and far from boring, as suggested by some reviews. I believe, Herzog has been influenced by India's Satyajit Ray in his style of presentation. He is one of the 3 most uncompromising film directors of the world in last 50 years, the other 2 being Ingmar Bergman and Robert Bresson, and his first feature is among his best.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Overrated

[5/10 · 21 April 2007]

Brokeback Mountain is a reasonably good film, but nothing like the hype it's been made out to be. It reminds me a little of John Schlesinger's 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy, which was way ahead of its time. Without denigrating Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal performances, Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight were sensational in Midnight Cowboy. I have seen 4 Ang Lee directed movies (Eat Drink Man Woman, Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and this one), and they all are well-made commercial movies, but none of them are great or original in any way. It was therefore a surprise to me this movie winning best director Oscar. Even the screenplay was very jumpy, and left a lot to be desired - there was no real insight into what the two characters shared emotionally between them to carry on their affair for 20 years, in spite of having girlfriends, wives, children and individual lives of their own. I believe, both the movie and director are bit overrated.

Omkara (2006)

Vishal Bharadwaj and Saif Ali Khan excel

[8/10 · 13 April 2007]

I didn't have much expectations of Omkara; had never heard of Vishal Bharadwaj; expected another violent Bollywood pot-boiler. Turned out, it's one of the most accomplished Bollywood films of all times. Vishal Bharadwaj is an artiste of highest caliber, and succeeded beyond expectations in all the areas - direction, screenplay and music - he has put his stamp on. The screenplay, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello in the rustic setting of Uttar Pradesh's crime-ridden politics, is spell-binding, and could match the best of Kurosawa. The dialogues in Bhojpuri dialect are no doubt foul and vulgar in the extreme to match the setting, but to those who can understand the dialect, the humour is fascinating, and the dialogues possibly the best ever in the history of Hindi films. Unfortunately, the subtitles can't do justice to all the nuances of the dialogues. The most awe-inspiring aspect of the movie is the fantastic performances from all the cast, but above all by Saif Ali Khan as Langda Tyagi (Iago). From what I had seen of Saif Ali Khan in Dil Chahta Hai, Salaam Namaste, Ham Tum, Parineeta and others before this movie, I would never ever have imagined him in this role, let alone expect an epoch-making performance. He was more famous for his lineage - the incredibly gifted Sharmila Tagore who withered away her talent in Bollywood, her more famous Nobel-laureate grandfather Rabindra Nath Tagore, and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi the notable Indian cricket captain of yester years - than for his acting prowess. Well, am I surprised? To put it in perspective, I could recall 2 past performances in Hindi cinema, which were bolts out of the blue - Amjad Khan in Sholey and Kanhaiya Lal in Gunga Jamuna. The one from Saif Ali Khan in Omkara is a volcanic eruption. Mind you, Ajay Devgan has given the best performance of his career in the title role, so it's not as if there was no competition. The credit must go to the director as well - it was an inspired casting. I can't wait to see other movies of Vishal Bharadwaj, and of Saif Ali Khan, even though I know I'll probably be disappointed.

Mahal (1949)

Classic suspense movie

[9/10 · 14 March 2007]

This is one of the greatest suspense movies of all times in any language. Kamal Amrohi was a genius, who could never reproduce at the same level, as in Mahal, his debut venture. In this respect, he reminds me of Orsen Welles, whose debut venture Citizen Kane was his best, and one of the greatest movie of all times. What upsets me most is that Mahal is considered a ghost story by many commentators. Nothing could be further from truth. It's a great suspense story, told in a straight forward way, and yet exceptionally hard to guess the surprise ending on first viewing. Khemchand Prakash's music is among the finest in Hindi movies. But for his early demise, he would have been as much an icon as Naushad he introduced to Hindi films.

15 Park Avenue (2005)

An outstanding philosophical film

[7/10 · 26 January 2007]

Aparna Sen's 15 Park Avenue is a film about nature of reality.

A young delusional girl, prone to imagining things and hearing voices, possibly out of sheer boredom, is taken to be schizophrenic by her educated father and control-freak educated elder step-sister. Controlled, pitied and treated like an invalid (even if out of love and affection), she has ghost of a chance to develop as a normal person. When a boy offers to marry her, her father and step-sister passionately try to convince him against taking such a step. A traumatic experience, caused primarily due to her sheltered existence, finally takes her across the line of no return, and she lives full time in a delusional world of her own.

The family and society around her are intolerant of her delusions,and want to suppress them with medicines, electric shock therapy, anything, even though they all have delusions of one kind or other of their own.

Her mother doesn't see the irony in allowing a ghost-buster to treat her of the delusions. Her step-sister is a professor of Physics, teaching among other things Quantum Mechanics, a subject in which a stream of experts accept parallel multi-universes and many more dimensions in space than the 3 we see. A friend recounts with admiration an experience with a holy person claiming to hear hallucinatory voices. Far away, George W Bush has real or fake delusions of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, and is allowed to invade Iraq.

As some viewers have already pointed out, Aparna Sen shied away from attacking the mother of all delusions -mainstream religions, which is a pity.

In other words, accepted reality is what a majority or an influential minority believe in. That's been the case since the beginning, and lot more powerful people than Mithali in the film, among them Bruno and Galileo, have suffered as a consequence.

The film's controversial and difficult ending was necessary to show it's a film about nature of reality, and not the case study of a schizophrenic girl.

All the cast have given great performances, but Shabana Azmi and Konkona Sen Sharma have excelled. Aparna Sen has produced an outstanding philosophical film.

Wild Strawberries (1957)

A gem among the history of movies

[10/10 · 21 April 2006]

Ingmer Bergman's films are usually about what's happening inside the mind of a character, rather than in the outside world, and Wild Strawberries is a classic of the genre.

The story in the conventional sense is almost nonexistent, and I have no qualms about spilling whatever there is. In any case, it's only my version of the story.

A 78-year old doctor is to be honored on the 50th anniversary of his graduation from the university. The old man's day is normally filled either recalling his dreams while asleep, most of them he is unable to comprehend, or day-dreaming about the girl he loved in his youth, who ditched him to marry his brother. It's no different on the day of coronation, when he is traveling to the university accompanied by his daughter-in-law, estranged from his son.

Significantly, he never day-dreams about his wife he lived with till her death. Occasionally, when she does appear in his dreams, he is guilt-ridden to find himself devoid of any feelings for her other than lust.

During the journey, his daughter-in-law confides in him, that his 38-year old son is cold, detached, selfish and vainly principled - traits she observes in him as well as his 95-year old mother they meet on the way. The old man has loaned an undisclosed sum of money to his son, and in spite of son desperately needing money, and old man having no use for it, both father and son insist on returning the money as a matter of principle. Although feeling sorry for his son not enjoying life in his prime, just like himself, he feels himself absolved of any guilt feelings - it's in the genes - and goes back to day-dreaming of the girl he loved but lost.

It's a film pleasing to the senses - B&W cinematography is exceptionally beautiful, the background score is haunting and nostalgic. As a character study of old age, it's pioneering. Ingmer Bergman is one of the purists of the cinema, who has not compromised the least bit in any of his movies. He, along with few others notably Robert Bresson and Werner Herzog, has made cinema the art form within 100 years of its origin. Bergman's Wild Strawberries (and Seventh Seal) are among the gems.

Turtles Can Fly (2004)

An honest but depressive film about Iraq

[8/10 · 15 April 2006]

A boy without arms, a child with defective sight and a Kurdish girl who has suffered at the hands of Saddam's army in the past and is frightened at the prospect of American soldiers arriving in few days. Americans are promising to create a paradise in the land of suffering. Yes, for sure! Turtles can also fly. If these were the only characters in the movie, the movie would have become unbearably gut-wrenching, and probably surpassed Bresson's Mouchette as the greatest tragedy of all times. In fact, the girl has some resemblance to Mouchette. However, Ghobadi isn't at the pedestal Bresson was, and couldn't take the risk. The addition of Satellite and others has considerably lightened the depressive tone of the movie. Yet, it's a very honest film about situation in Iraq. Look forward to more of Ghobadi.

Bombay (1995)

Totally crap

[3/10 · 28 August 2005]

This one is among the worst Mani Ratnam movies I have seen. Not that Mani Ratnam is a great director in my opinion - he's just among the better ones in Bollywood full of third rate directors. But this movie has nothing to commend itself. The movie is supposed to be based on historical incidents, but there is no accuracy in any of the incidents depicted. I would rather read Times of India. It's a totally crap commercial movie, trying to find balance in the 1992/93 massacre, where there was no balance shown by Shiv Sena government or the police force in Mumbai. In a supposedly serious movie, there are unbelievable number of trash and irrelevant songs and dances. While the riot scenes are being shown, there is a background song on the virtues of unity and harmony. Total waste of 3 hours.

Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002)

Exceptional must-see movie

[9/10 · 20 August 2005]

An exceptional movie. Aparna Sen's choice of majority Hindu population as perpetrators of communal violence was daring, and probably killed the film's prospects at the box office,but significant. There have been innumerable instances of communal violence in India against Muslims, lower class Hindus and Sikhs, for which not a single person has spent a day behind bars. True to life, Aparna Sen's film isn't focused on the violence or the people behind those crimes. That happens. The terror is in the background, only it's effect on the protagonists is visible on screen. The main story is about the change of heart of an orthodox, highly educated, prejudiced and ignorant woman. Some of the subtle nuances would probably escape non-Indian viewers, but there are plenty of things to appreciate for all. The ending ("Goodbye Mr Iyer") would easily be among the best 10 endings I have ever seen in any movies among them Mouchette and Dead Poet's Society. In the acting department,all the cast have acted well, but special mention must be made of Konkana Sensharma for her outstanding performance. Aparna Sen's direction is outstanding, and outclasses any of Mani Ratnam's films who makes similar kind of political-personal dramas. A must see movie for all.