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Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith (28 May 2005)
I am not, and should not be, ashamed to admit that Episode III was by far the best of the six movies. Even Empire Strikes Back could not have come close to the nuanced Revenge of the Sith. They said the dialogue was bad, the script weak, the performances inane. I think "they" were simply being too snotty. Most movies require some suspension of disbelief and perhaps it is a sign of my jadedness and age, but I have begun to be more lenient towards a few of them. The movie ties the prequels to the first three parts quite well. Anybody who invested any time in the Star Wars enterprise will have probably already seen the movie or inevitably will see it sometime soon, so it would be a waste of my time to speak of the plot. So, I move to the visual appeal of the movie having dismissed the question of the script. This movie vindicates Lucas' decision to bide his time and wait for better technology before he could launch on his prequels, though if he is as shrewd now as he was then, he will look to milk the franchise in the years to come with new releases and productions timed with advances in CGI. Then, the performances. Yes, some of them looked flaky but they played out their parts well within the confines of the script -- however weak or strong it may have been. Christiansen gets credit for showing us the seething anger we were looking for in the transition from Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader. Some said that was a little overdone, but that should not be his doing. But there was no doubt in my mind that the best performance in the movie was by Ian McDiarmid as Chancellor Palpatine.

Bunty Aur Babli (27 May 2005)
In an interview a long time ago, Amitabh Bachchan was asked what he would have ended up as had he not become an actor -- he wasted no time in replying "Allahabad mein doodh bech raha hota". As good an actor as he has been in all his roles as the angry young man, the tall and lanky romantic hero or the greying sage, none of them would have made anywhere near the iconic impression on a country of a billion had it not been for Amitabh Bachchan's penchant for humour aided by his ripe baritone laden with tart and sharp one-liners. That was what endeared him to us; we identified with his self-effacing, quick-witted, fun-loving persona. Bunty Aur Babli is a happy, engaging throwback to that part of Amitabh Bachchan that has sadly eluded us all these years. But what is more good news: his flair to make us laugh thrives and is equally alive in Abhishek Bachchan whose performances in recent movies (Yuva, Naach and now Bunty Aur Babli) have filled me with a sense of contentment and relief knowing now that he is more than equal to his grand lineage. Of course, for that personal charm and comedic sense to work in a movie one would require that the script itself be well-imbued with the Bachchan flavour of wit and Bunty Aur Babli is a shining exemplar to this. Coming away from the movie, I was so impressed with the script that I was tempted to write a personal note of appreciation to Jaideep Sahni who is credited with the screenplay and the dialogue.

The plot scarcely matters when the script and dialogue are this good, but if it must be mentioned Bunty Aur Babli is loosely an amalgam of Bonnie and Clyde (albeit a Bollywood-harmonised version) and Catch Me If You Can. More than the storyline, what works so well for the movie in addition to the superb performances and dialogue -- which I shall return to soon -- is how well the movie absorbs and portrays the classic, rustic elements of small-town life in Northern India, and Uttar Pradesh in particular. For people that hail from that area, this movie is sure to hit the bulls-eye. At a time when rampant corruption and shameless politicking are what spring first to mind at mention of UP and Bihar, this movie tells us of people simple-minded, laidback and ingenuous in their thaat-ravaiya, of their immeasurable contributions -- counting great stalwarts like Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Mahadevi Varma, Premchand not to mention humorists like Bedab Banarsi -- to Hindi literature and popular culture.

Returning to the specifics of the movie itself, the Abhishek Bachchan-Rani Mukherjee combination now is beginning to assume the mantle that was once occupied by great screen pairs of yesteryears. Rani Mukherjee is effervescent and, well, bubbly. Abhishek Bachchan is a chip off the old block. He manages to retain all the mannerisms of his father's. And then, of course, there was the man himself. His disguise reminded me more of his turn as the dock-worker in Hum and he looked definitely much older than the regular Deputy Commissioner of Police but when you have Amitabh Bachchan in a role that requires him to revisit his roots, such trifling non-details are not worth more than a second's thought. The support cast was great and distinguished although they were only support cast -- Prem Chopra, Raj Babbar, Rameshwari and Kiron Juneja "Sippy" -- the last two re-emerging from hibernation. The singularly most spectacular moment of the movie though was, surprisingly for me, the Aishwarya Rai item number. The song was a typical UP folksong with Rai as the foxy naachnewaali and the Bachchans, inebriated with cocktails and liquor (I wish they had used Bhang instead!), joining her in the song-and-dance. As much as it pains me to say this, Rai was quite good in her short stint and thank goodness for that -- there was every danger of her five minutes in the movie threatening to spoil three hours of the most enjoyable Hindi cinema I have watched in a long time. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music, with the minor exception of Nach Balliye was brilliant and made good use of Gulzar's native lyrics, the central highlight being Rai number -- "Kajra Re". The one thing the movie could have done without was the irritating last-minute solo slow refrain after the end of the song -- brainless and vexing.

The Captain's Paradise (20 May 2005)
Sir Alec Guinness in an Ealing-style comedy in the 50's when all things British had the Midas' touch. Needless to say, the movie was effortlessly elegant and pointedly comical. Alec Guinness seems to have figured out the perfect marriage by marrying a domesticated woman that he keeps at Gibraltar, romancing a sensuous mistress at North Africa and keeping a bay's and a ship's length between the two. Sadly, his perfect marriage starts to tinker as each pines to be on the other shore of lifestyle and the captain is left high and dry in the midst. His angst is so acute that he prefers the shooting squad to going back as the opening scene tells us. If something must be said in brief to extol Guinness' performance, I shall stifle my adulation for the man and be contented in commiserating with the captain and his first mate. The only reason The Ladykillers as a movie was a tad better than The Captain's Paradise was Peter Sellers. Otherwise, both are on par -- splendid.

The Verdict (20 May 2005)
I had this urge to watch a string of legal thrillers, and I started off with The Verdict. Starring Paul Newman, James Mason and Jack Warner, The Verdict tells the story of a washed-up shyster lawyer who suddenly finds a conscience within him to pursue criminal charges for an egregious case of medical malpractice instead of settling out of court. The movie shows him pitted against the Church, a veteran lawyer played brilliantly by James Mason and the court establishment itself which has, a trifle hard to believe this, been overtly "bought over" by the hospital and the clergy. The movie doubtlessly sports a stellar cast but does not use it well enough. Perhaps this failing has to do with the premise itself. It might not have been then, but the plot of an ambulance-chaser bringing the mercenaries of the corporate world has -- since Grisham's emergence as the central braintrust of all things legally related -- lost its sheen and been beaten to pulp. Still, this should not be held against the movie for it was the pioneer and set the trends. Nonetheless, the movie did not exploit its innovation all that effectively. Mind this should not be purported to mean that the performances were not spectacular which they were indeed -- especially Newman and Mason. But it could have done with more powerful dialogue, a more captivating and compelling script and storyline which it sorely lacked.

Three Days of the Condor (12 May 2005)
Sydney Pollack's movie based on James Grady's novel "Six Days of the Condor" is a fantastic espionage thriller made in the Cold War days but surprisingly is without a reference to the time. Not wanting to give any more away, I shall instead focus on the technical aspects of the movie. The scenes of a cold New York '70s winter with the city in all its original breathtaking glory are quite a treat. The only grouch I have against the movie is the lovemaking scene between Robert Redford and a beautiful Faye Dunaway which is positively the clumsiest I have ever seen to date. As acting performances go however, they excel and so does Max von Sydow. The movie was reminiscent of John le Carré's espionage novels which were subsequently turned into great television series like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People -- both starring the great Alec Guinness.

Three Kings (6 May 2005)
When David O. Russell's "I ♥ Huckabees" came out, many were distinctly unimpressed by it even in spite of its very quirky episodical premise. Some compared it with Russell's earlier "Three Kings" and confessed to being thrown off the loop. I now see what they probably meant. I have not seen Huckabees, but Three Kings came very close to making a good impression on me. Three Kings is perhaps, and will probably remain for a while, the only fictional satire based on the United States' engagements in Iraq. It attempts to turn the motive for war on its head and focuses on the soldiers in Iraq and what they see and compute from their military exercise. I wish though, that it went the whole length in trying to subvert the war-as-a-necessary-evil and the positive-sum game themes. Instead, Russell chickened out at the very end to put a purely commercially oriented spin on the whole movie replete with it-was-not-as-bad-as-you-thought epilogues to the climactic conclusion. As usual, George Clooney was brilliant in his role. Mark Wahlberg just passed muster, but the star was Spike Jonze who plays the "redneck" effortlessly.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring
There is much too obvious symbolism and purportedly deep and hard-to-elicit mystical reality in this movie. The movie in some sense is an homage to Buddhism and draws deeply from Buddhist teachings and philosophy. The weather cycle is easily seen to be a metaphor for the different phases in the protagonist's character -- from a child guilty of cruelty to a boy guilty of lust to a man guilty of anger and finally returning to his origins to begin anew as a hermit. The cinematography is breathtaking and the actors are fresh and in-character. Quite a treat to watch.

A Shot in the Dark
Peter Sellers. Pink Panther. And to a lesser extent, Blake Edwards. As much as "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" might attempt to convince you that Peter Sellers positively loathed acting in Blake Edwards whimsical slapsticks, you are never completely in agreement. That may be because of Sellers' genius at foppery or Edwards' total mastery of the slapstick. A Shot in the Dark continues after the Pink Panther series to follow Inspector Clouseau as he is convinced that a Scandinavian maid, foxy and voluptuous though she may be, is innocent of all the murders that seem to follow her like a shadow. Yet another attraction to this movie is a brilliant little cameo by the suave George Sanders.

Stray Dog
Although Kurosawa can be repetitive in his themes and motions, he remains one of my favourite directors simply because of how much groundwork he laid that was built upon by scores and scores of movie-makers after him. One recurring theme in each of his movies is the following pith that I shall remember before I watch another: "All of Japan is a philosopher". Every character in his movies has something subtle, simple and profound to say and it is only because the actor playing that role, the writer of the dialogue and the director behind the camera are very talented that you never suspect the credibility of Kurosawa's premise. Notwithstanding this minor complaint, Stray Dog is brilliant in its story, heightened suspense, character portrayal -- what less could one expect of the incomparable Toshirô Mifune and Takashi Shimura, and the newcomer-soontobe-majormoviestar Keiko Awaji and of course the homilies.

The Perfect Murder (16 April 2005)
This was a delightful, albeit little-known, movie about a "murder" in upscale Bombay and how almost everything else including a diamond-smuggling racket, a rape, a women's protest march and a Swedish police officer has something to do with it. The movie is based on H R F Keating's Inspector Ghote novel. Playing Inspector Ghote is Naseeruddin Shah who is wonderfully understated and earnest in the lead role. The Swedish police officer is essayed by Stellan Skarsgård who turns in a good comical sidekick performance. Amjad Khan, Ratna Pathak (playing Naseeruddin Shah's wife on screen too), Mohan Agashe and Dilip Tahil are others featuring in the movie which is impressive enough.

Boogie Nights
I felt ambivalent after watching Magnolia. It pulled at different directions and I could not conclusively determine what the movie's mojo was if at all it had any. It was just a rambling, desultory look into the dysfunctional lives of a few oddball characters who shared a common thread. There was frequently a reference to child abuse but it was merely a tiny whisper. It helps to keep this in perspective when writing of Boogie Nights. P.T. Anderson's earlier venture shaped the hazy vision of Magnolia. Boogie Nights definitely did have a plot and a very curious one at that -- pornography. The movie serves more like a ready pocketbook reference to the underground pornography industry of the 70's juxtaposed into the years of free love, the flower children and marijuana. As the years serve out, the movie progresses from the rise of a star to his days of fame and then inevitably to his fall which, perhaps unintentionally, provides for much amusement. In the lead roles, Mark Wahlberg and Burt Lancaster are stellar in their respective roles of protegé actor and guardian angel director but the support cast is good too with Julianne Moore, Heather Graham, John Reilly, Philip Hoffman and Don Cheadle. What puzzled me however was the ending -- when after all the trials and tribulations and the advent of the direct-to-video porn industry everybody goes back to start from scratch. But maybe that was what it was all about -- full circle.

Kung-Fu Hustle (14 April 2005)
Kung-Fu Hustle is so much of an improvement over Shaolin Soccer that I wonder if Stephen Chow did not feel guilty about his first venture. Maybe the intent was there with Shaolin Soccer, but Kung-Fu Hustle is easily the definitive spoof homage to the kung-fu movies and their imitations in Hollywood. The story is brilliantly held together by the principal actors in the landlord v. ganglord muddle while Stephen Chow provides comic relief from time to time with equal poise. All the hilarity and outlandish tomfoolery do not in any way make excuses for the gore and liberal dosages of blood spewing out from all possible orifices which is just as well -- nobody, not I at least, expected to see a movie on kung-fu without its concomitants. The action sequences are wonderfully choreographed and very original in their jest while the dialogue has been flawlessly translated to retain all its native Mandarin/Cantonese humour so much so that for once the original diction seemed to have the right comic timing.

Brother (11 April 2005)
As part of the International Week, the Caltech Russian Club screened Brat (Brother). The movie tells the story of an ingenuous young man who comes to St. Petersburg after a mysterious stint at the army. He is innocent in the ways of the world and is the hearty sort of chap -- a perfect ambassador for Russia. For all his camaraderie and easy-going charm he is nonetheless an extremely sophisticated assassin. For him though, that presents no moral dilemma. He uses his fighting skills both as a vigilante to browbeat lowly hooligan ticket-offenders on buses and as a killer for hire with an uncanny knowledge of guns. One act never grates irritably on the other. He loves his music loud and blaring, his friends the downtrodden and his women as they come. The movie also throws helpful insights into the new Russia. St. Petersburg (or St. Pete's but formerly Leningrad as his cynical brother corrects him) is a town that is trapped in a bizarre time of punk and acid, mohawk and ganja, McDonalds and empty seatless trams. Free markets never seem in imminent ascendancy over the old ways of the Communist world and all are trapped in the cold, brutal climes of the Arctic winter.

Shaolin Soccer (6 April 2005)
With the upcoming Kung-Fu Hustle, I figured I should precondition myself with Stephen Chow's earlier work -- Shaolin Soccer. When it was released, I remember there was a big brouhaha about the visual wizardry and the innovative gimmickry to blend kung-fu with soccer. Sadly, it was all the praise it got that stuck in my head and I paid no heed to some of the gentle criticisms many of our so-called acclaimed film critics cautioned their readers with. Thirty minutes into the movie, I was appalled to find how low the bar is set for movies that make ever so slight a mention of martial arts. Even the plaudits for its wire-work, and its self-ridicule were ill-deserved. Sure, Stephen Chow is to be commended for at least not taking himself too seriously but he, like all other men of his ilk, succumbs to the credo of what-sells-works and ends up in no better shape than the bit-piece movie directors that line Filmcity in Bombay. The movie is crass and at best a confused, half-witted attempt to make a genuinely good action comedy along the lines of the Jackie Chan movies.

Sin City (3 April 2005)
There was a time when comic books were in the realm of innocence -- when Spiderman and all the other superheroes were in bright contrasting colours of red and blue and you knew that the good stayed good while the evil became worse. Then, something happened in between; a glitch in the programming perhaps or maybe it was I that had grown darker and more cynical. The comic books acquired shades of black, grey and jet blue. The superheroes came into their own. They no longer had a strong moral inner voice and they had to follow certain human compulsions like infatuation, sex, greed and money. This was perhaps first characterised in Spiderman when Mary Jane was blended into the stories as his wife who grudged him his alter-ego.

Of course, all along this time much to my ignorance there was this underground, deeply cliquish culture of noirish comic books. It was this that fostered the revolution in mainstream comic-book culture. Amongst the pioneers of this genre were Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons. Both had worked on either side of the fence. Although I cannot claim to be a huge follower of their work I was quite enamoured of what little I had seen of their influence on the Batman comics and that was more than enough motivation for me to grok Sin City. But the incredible line of trailers and Robert Rodriguez's almost fan-like commitment to imbibe Frank Miller's creation as faithfully as possible onto the big screen kept my adrenaline going for almost a week in advance.

I am happy to report that it lived up more than completely to my expectation. The movie throbs with intensity and verve. It interweaves four of Miller's stories into a visceral, two-hour long tingling sensation. My pick of the episodes was The Hard Goodbye by a long shot although all of them were brilliant in their own ways with fantastic performances from Mickey Rourke and Benicio Del Toro.

Prisoner of Second Avenue
Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft star in this fantastic adaptation from a Neil Simon play about a middle-aged couple struggling and griping about their Manhattan survival. Jack Lemmon plays an acerbic veteran New Yorker who has lived all his life there but nonetheless finds something to snipe about every passing moment and yet is the proverbial lemming to its vast sea of apathetic humanity. If this were not enough, he loses his job as his company faces a severe crunch while his house is burgled in broad daylight and all the crooks leave behind are his pyjamas. Through this and through all his bitter, stinging rebukes his wife earnestly and affectionately stands by him until he suffers a nervous breakdown and she faces the harsh brutalities of the city in his stead. It becomes pretty clear from the dialogue that Neil Simon must have been a huge influence on all the numerous New York sitcoms that followed in the subsequent years, but most importantly Seinfeld. Needless to say, the only reason I picked this movie up was for Jack Lemmon and he leaves me longing for more. But Anne Bancroft turned in with a surprisingly delectable performance and corrected my impressions after The Graduate.

Bright Young Things (22 March 2005)
Bright Young Things is based on Evelyn Waugh's novel about early twentieth century London where following the first war life in the upper circles of society had returned to its normal state of exuberance -- there were drunken orgies, mindless and vulgar displays of opulence and ostentation and an entire nation swept up in the mad pursuit of the pleasures and pastimes of the haute couture. Dripping with satire and vintage patrician English humour in classic Evelyn Waugh style, Bright Young Things is quite a decent translation onto the screen by Stephen Fry.

The Story of the Weeping Camel (22 March 2005)
In an almost forgotten land far to the north of China is a tribe and a family in it that rears camels. It is the time of the year when the mothers start to calve. One of them has given birth to a calf but is refusing to lactate it. This forms the core of this movie as it relates the story of the camel and the simple lives of these people who live in complete harmony with their spartan surroundings with nary a worry in the world. All their quotidian struggles revolve around their pack of camels, bathing the boys and divine music. Meanwhile, the cruel mother needs to be treated and the youngest boys in the family set off for the cultural centre to get the violinist over to soothe the camel. The movie is very effective in its minimalism. There is absolutely no background sound, all the strains of chatter and music are heard from the people and their homes and hearths. But this also seems to be its own detractor -- I had to fight off sleep quite hard to stay fixated on the screen but I would attribute that to my sad internalisation to movies that are more conducive to small attention-span viewers.

Gunner Palace (15 March 2005)
Perhaps this year's most anticipated war documentary, Gunner Palace is the first of its kind -- and there shall be many to follow in its wake -- to tell the story of the U.S. soldiers in Iraq through them. Through the movie, we see a group of soldiers who make Uday Hussein's "pleasure-dome" their living quarters and playfully rechristen it Gunner Palace. The palace comes replete with a swimming pool, a mini-links and a grand bedroom with "cheesy furniture", as one of them put it. The camera follows the men through their daily rounds, as they stumble upon IEDs (improvised explosive devices) with mortal apprehension and as they mix with the children and the civilians. It tries to give us an even-handed picture, not tilting to any side, but largely being sympathetic to the soldiers and giving their long list of rants maximum exposure. One does get the acute dilemma the U.S. faces in Iraq from the laggard preparations of the Iraqi Civilian Defense Corps and the recidivism of the many interpreters the army employed in the past.

For all its genuine and noble intentions however, Gunner Palace does not hold up to all the great standards of a good documentary. For one, it is in bad need of good editing. There are long scenes where the director has surrendered, perhaps not without reason, to using long takes featuring soldiers as they rant and philosophise about their predicament but in its stead loses the viewer's hold on the subject. I was quite puzzled by the fact that towards an hour's end, the movie seemed headed to a conclusion as the cameraman whose voice stays with us through the first half wraps up in Iraq, heads for home and provides us with enlightening montages of his refrigerator to convey his nostalgia but then, we return all of a sudden to Iraq -- now minus the voiceover for the large part -- and are treated to a more relaxed resolution to the movie.

Rounders
In the tradition of "cool" movies like Ocean's Eleven, Nine Queens and The Sting, Rounders is yet another shining addition. I could have foretold that merely by seeing who is cast in it -- Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Torturro, John Malkovich, Martin Landau and Famke Janssen. Matt Damon plays a talented poker player struggling to give it up to pay attention to his girlfriend and law school but with the release of Edward Norton, his close friend and poker muse, he realises he does nothing better. I shall spare myself the trouble of writing about the performances. The story draws heavily from the poker psyche in every respect -- in the dialogue, the character sketches and the tight plot structure and delivers its punches adroitly.

American Splendor
Before Sideways, Paul Giamatti shone in American Splendor. Both as Harvey Pekar and Miles Raymond, he plays the role of the introverted, intellectual social ingenue to flawless perfection. American Splendor excels as a movie not only by virtue of his and Hope Davis' brilliant essays but also on account of Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner themselves -- the former's suicidal and cynical world-view and gruffy voice and the latter's grit.

Ray
Ever since Ray Charles passed away last year, the media and tinseltown have been agog with his reminiscences. Taylor Hackford's biopic spares no effort in sketching all the dark shades to his persona and Jamie Foxx lives and breathes the man himself.

Marooned in Iraq
Bahman Ghobadi's latest movie, Turtles Can Fly is being raved about and spoken of in glowing terms. Marooned in Iraq was an earlier exploration into detailing the lives of the Kurdish and their oppression by the hands of Saddam Hussein. The plot involves a much-esteemed singer going in search of his former wife across the bloodlines of his land ravaged and pillaged by a brutal dictatorship. Ghobadi imbues the movie with quirky eccentricity and dry wit which sparkles even more in the Kurdish dialect. The songs of the Kurdish people are hearty, their laugh innocent and unmindful of the torture they have been subjected to and their material concern for their wives and women is nothing if not humorous.

Nobody Knows (24 February 2005)
This was one of the most powerful movies I have seen. It tells the tale of a mother who abandons her children leaving the ten-year old son to look after his two sisters and brother. The movie moves at a slow, almost halting pace and yet every still is filled with raw power and great force. And as it nears its climax, one is left shocked and chilled to the bone by its stark purity and ruthless inevitability. If I am being frugal with words and plot details, it is because it is beyond description and peripheral critique.

Suspicion
Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion stars Cary Grant and the spectacular Joan Fontaine whose performance in Rebecca the previous year as the demure, overawed wife was charming. While she was only nominated for Rebecca, she won for her role in this movie. In Suspicion, she etches her reprisal in Rebecca with even more clarity as a newly-wed who grows in fear and doubt about her husband's suspicious dealings. Cary Grant is the usual cocky self. Both Rebecca and Suspicion were movies Hitchcock made that primarily involved British actors and themes in British settings.

Battle of Algiers
Battle of Algiers tells in excruciating and minute detail of the insurgent struggle for independence from French occupation. There are chilling similarities between the Algerian story and what is being observed now in Iraq and that alone heightened its value considerably. Jean Martin's performance as the ruthless and cold-blooded Col. Mathieu in particular was singularly exhilarating.

Maria Full of Grace (14 February 2005)
Catalina Sandino Mareno was nominated for her performance in the lead role in this movie. She plays a stubborn Colombian young adult who is pregnant and needs some money to support herself. She becomes a "mule" and carries narcotics by ingesting it in gelatin pellets. The movie reflects on the horrors attending many such "mules" as they weigh the perils of their task with its payoff. The performances are quite flaky, including that of the lead actress. While its premise is admirable, the movie is uncertain of itself and resolves itself rather bemusedly in support of illegal immigration.

Collateral (13 February 2005)
Jamie Foxx was nominated for his performance in this movie in a supporting role to Tom Cruise. Directed by Michael Mann, the movie centres on a taxi driver who is unwittingly used as an accessory to the killing spree of a calculating contract killer. As a contemplative assassin, Tom Cruise gives a very satisfying performance. Jamie Foxx, while quite engaging, was not very distinguishing. In all, it was a good movie to watch over tea and biscuits but not much to rave about.

Black (4 February 2005)
I looked forward to Black with a lot of expectations. The teasers and the previews were particularly compelling, the storyline quite powerful and the cinematography looked surreal. Add to this Amitabh Bachchan's endless raving about this being his toughest and finest performance and I was absolutely determined to watch it the day it released. Maybe it was the weight of my expectations but I left the cinema hall slightly dissatisfied in the power of the movie, definitely unconvinced about Bhansali's so-called genius and less than impressed by both Bachchan's performance and his thoughts of it. What I was singly blown away by however was Rani Mukherjee's fantastic performance as the deaf-and-blind woman. She embodied every single nuance and every single stretching of the facial muscles that I visualised of people with that handicap.

The story I must admit was unique and quite bold in its strokes but was slightly sullied by needless melodrama and jarring performances from everybody around Rani Mukherjee. The mother in particular got in my nerves so that I was foaming at the mouth every time the camera shifted to her and she spoke her lines. Granted that the movie was somewhat of an extension to Bhansali's earlier Khamoshi which perhaps explained why the lead character was Christian but was there any need to overextend this by using English as a medium where Hindi would perfectly have sufficed?

Barry Lyndon
Much as it may displease most and, perhaps even worse, discount myself I have not been a great fan of Stanley Kubrick. I have to admit that his genius as a director has always escaped me -- I can never forgive him for the scene of the apes in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I attribute my appreciation for Dr. Strangelove only to a brilliantly written screenplay (Peter George and Stanley Kubrick) and mostly to the acting talents of a certain Peter Sellers. I was persuaded into seeing this movie partially because many remarked that this was his best work but mainly because I had not realised till then that the movie was based on William Thackeray's novel whose acerbic Vanity Fair I was quite impressed with (at least its opening). Had Barry Lyndon been an hour shorter, perhaps there might have been much to admire in it but in its current length it was distressingly boring and rambling. To its credit however, the movie was a wonderfully enacted period drama with stellar performances from all its actors and especially Michael Hordern, the narrator and it was brilliantly sharp and acerbic as one would come to expect of Thackeray's works. But those fine merits were dragged down by the lack of editorial discretion displayed.

Sideways (15 January 2005)
What a great way to open the year! Sideways was one of the funniest movies I have seen and it ranked up there with The Incredibles easily as two of the best movies I have seen ever. With the movie, I have also discovered my favourite film critic -- Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal. Every one of his recommendations have been on the ball, and every one he disparaged deserved no more than a mere cocking of the snook. Sideways is carried solely by its immensely talented cast. Paul Giamatti as the downbeat, excessively demure wine connoisseur, Virginia Madsen as the gorgeous, warm and smart single and Sandra Oh in a much improved setting than her previous sidekick roles in past forgettable movies delivered in the prime of their acting talents. But the real star of the movie was quite obviously the fantastic Thomas Haden Church. His funny exuberance and disarming naïvet proved to be a perfect contrast to Giamatti's jaded, world-weary and divorced outlook to life with the result that the two together played the latest odd couple incarnation to natty perfection and aplomb.

School of Rock
This was a great treat to watch and credit goes to Jack Black for a wonderful performance, Mike White for a great script and Richard Linklater for a brilliant directorial effort. With this movie and High Fidelity, Jack Black has ensured for himself the perfect typecast status of the sneering, contemptuous yet immensely lovable rock afficionado. His zest to invoke hilarity in every gesture he makes translates so wonderfully that both Arun and I were in peals of laughter every time he spoke in that soft, marshmallow voice while his fingers danced all over his face and body. The script was a perfect fit for Black's histrionics and the casting of the children was immaculate. Brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable.

Flavors
This was a largely rudderless movie with some funny moments now and then. Reef Karim and Pooja Kumar as the lead pair were a treat to watch and Bharati Achrekar and Anjan Srivastav reprising in a way their famous roles of Mr. and Mrs. Wagle were a class apart but the rest of the cast was third-rate and criminally bad.

Swades (18 December 2004)
Having burned my fingers long ago by watching Shah Rukh Khan in Kal Ho Na Ho, I was wary of another Shah Rukh Khan movie. Also, I was not excessively fond of Lagaan as others were and there was no special fascination to follow Gowariker's repertoire. What drew me to watching the movie however was the plot -- that of an Indian native living and working in the United States faced with the dilemma of staying back or returning to India. Since college, this has been a tricky hand-grenade lobbed at most of us rather nonchalantly and most often we have had to contend with giving non-committal responses.

Swades very articulately captures this dilemma. It gives it broad perspective from both points of view although, and this should not be surprising, generally favouring the argument to return. Hey, the movie is Indian after all. A NASA scientist returns to India to look for and bring home to the United States his mother-like guardian. The guardian is now in a village tending to a strong and principled female protagonist who runs a school. The two sides of the argument now are effortlessly projected onto the male and female lead and a love story follows as an inevitable and rather nice concomitant. The movie does not, as others have done and as Lagaan itself did, pander to sentimentality although this is a minority opinion. Others have wondered why it needed to be so sanctimonious. This is understandable -- the movie as seen by a villager in India or someone who has lived all his life there can hardly be appreciated. It makes points and highlights circumstances that are only too well-acquainted with to that segment of the audience. It takes the idealistic high road and that can be a bit off-putting to those who come to a theatre to be regaled with conjurer's tricks and flights of fancy. It is as the cliché might go a thinking man's movie and people seldom come to the theatre ready to think.

But that is what is so appreciable about Swades. It does not degenerate into the morass of commercial viability. It makes its points very cogently and very persistently. The movie's highlights -- that of the scientist motivating the village to build a hydel power plant harnessing a little stream, his earnest efforts at trying to overcome still lingering caste differences and exhorting villagers to send more children to the school and his genuine and heartfelt commiseration with a weaver-turned-farmer who finds it increasingly hard to make ends meet to feed his family needing to overcome the social ostracisation for having changed professions -- are all based on the harsh realities of rural India. These points need to be made, these tales need to be publicised. This is what the ruling government is referring to as the need for an equitable and socially viable growth agenda. Particularly perceptive was the point when the scientist confronts the village heads who speak contemptuously of the so-called decadence of American society and lack of values and heritage in the United States. The scientist rightly opines that it is a sham and a sorry state of affairs that we as a nation resort to a facade of cultural values and heritage in order to claim supremacy (of the moral kind at least) amongst nations. There were many such flashpoints where the movie reveals a very gentle Gandhian aura to it and that impressed me a lot. In the end though, one suspects that the scientist's decision to return to his fold was more generally based on purely personal reasons (that is what the movie gives us to understand) than on moral grounds.

The movie does have Shah Rukh Khan giving a very understated, restrained performance as a pensive individual who is shaken and emotionally stirred by what he sees around him. It was clearly the best performance I have seen of his since Yes Boss. Gayatri Joshi's essay has been labelled competent by most movie reviews. That is perhaps shorthand for not bad for a newcomer. I could not agree more. Her facial expressions were spot-on but her dialogue delivery left a lot to be desired. The rest of the cast does a splendid job in propping up the two leads, in particular the actor who played the weaver-farmer.

Finally, the movie's colours are astounding especially in regard to the earthy village imagery. I have rarely seen such a brilliant composition of the blue sky, the brown soil and the lush green foliage. The music is an A-plus match and the background score is particularly a treat. This was easily one of the best Hindi movies I have ever seen.

Phir Milenge
With India now overtaking South Africa in terms of number of people who are HIV-affected, the lack of a meaningful movie that spread awareness about AIDS was much criticised. The AIDS crisis in India is in effect two distinct crises -- one affecting the lower-class and one affecting the upper class. While awareness of the disease as such is less of a concern amongst the latter section than social perception is, amongst the lower-class it is more than half the battle and a serious dilemma. With India's HIV-affected demographic very heavily drawn from amongst this class, the responsibility of a medium such as cinema, with its power to convey and confront, should have been to discuss this issue in that context. This demands nothing less than a thorough, demanding and penetrative look into prostitution, drug abuse and child exploitation. While not immediately relating itself to the AIDS conundrum, Madhur Bhandarkar's Chandni Bar nonetheless did a commendable job of bringing these issues to the fore with raw, unmitigating power. Regrettably, with Phir Milenge Revathy has taken the easy way out. She displays her confusion and conflicting priorities of commerce and charity by infusing a socially relevant movie with unnecessary klutz. To start with, the movie is dragged down by its starpower -- it is all very admirable for the actors to be performing pro bono (I heard this was the case with Salman Khan) for the movie, but they only make the movie less realistic, less accessible and pull it away from its intended message. The movie's plot is heavily borrowed from Philadelphia and this in itself is a big impediment in bringing the movie to the Indian masses. Besides, it completely ignores the bigger hydra of lack of awareness and social ostracisation in the lower-classes. The dialogue is uninspiring, unnatural and completely cluttered. In effect, the movie was made by a bunch of snobs for a bunch of snobs.

House of Flying Daggers (16 December 2004)
This was advertised as a sequel, albeit a weaker one, to Hero. The movie was significantly worse than that. The theme was nowhere as captivating as Hero's. The movie got lost in a conflict between the desire to make a potent, message-driven film and the necessity to pepper it with dishevelled Chinese amourette. The only appealing aspect of the movie was the cinematography.

Virumandi (15 December 2004)
Kamalahasan's Virumandi was intended to be a strong message against capital punishment. It starts out very promisingly on this regard with a documentary-maker who interviews prisoners on death row to examine their views and sensibilities on having to face death. The death penalty theme is interwoven with a story of a clash of two village zamindars who end up together in prison -- one serving a life sentence and the other on death row. The movie makes use of the alternative reality device that involves two narrations of the flashback one by each of the zamindars. In addition, there are very strong performances by all the lead actors. The visual imagery is very brutal and graphic but that gives the movie the raw power. However, all the effort into the movie comes unstuck in the last 25 minutes during which time concessions are made to the integrity of the plot to preserve Kamalahasan's iconic status. It is always amusing when such things happen because the more the movie delved into the plot the more difficult and less believable it is to concoct a commercially appealing conclusion. Minus those 25 minutes and plus another 10 minutes leading to a natural climax would definitely have made the movie an all-time great.

Ocean's Twelve (10 December 2004)
After the crest comes a trough. Ocean's Twelve was a must-go-to after having watched the snazzy previews and after Ocean's Eleven. I guess for that matter, any movie starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac and Andy Garcia all together is a must-go-to. The movie did have some funny lines once in a while but for the large part was very uninspiring.

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (10 December 2004)
This was the coup de grace of the day -- the major movie event for which I might have been willing to tolerate ten films as cheesy as Road to Perdition. As all movies that cause a stir even before they are shown, this movie had generated tremendous excitement about it. Peter Sellers was one of the most enigmatic and complicated personalities of English cinema and it must surely have been an ordeal to capture his life in exact. Let me get the minor flaws of this movie out of the way first before I go on to rave about it. If it suffers from anything, it is that it has been perhaps unusually cruel to Sellers' legacy. Sellers is portrayed as a megalomaniac and an actor whose arrogance and contempt for himself led to his downfall. Perhaps it was so -- I have no idea but I am willing to think better of a man who regaled millions with his Pink Panther roles and several other delectable treats as Dr. Strangelove, Being There, The Ladykillers and The Mouse That Roared.

On to its strong points and there are many. But without further ado, I must first compliment the support cast in the movie -- fantastic. Emily Watson, Stephen Fry, John Lithgow, Miriam Margolyes and Charlize Theron were simply a treat to watch. Next, the screenplay. The movie is as personable, charismatic and eccentric as is its central character. Peter Sellers was a versatile actor, as is only too obvious from Dr. Strangelove and this movie portrays that versatility very effectively by having Geoffrey Rush as Peter Sellers imitating the characters Peter Sellers interacts with -- his mother, Blake Edwards and Stanley Kubrick.

But nothing, and I mean nothing, could have made the movie remotely as good as it is if it were not for the brilliant performance of Geoffrey Rush. Peter Sellers could not have played Peter Sellers as well as Geoffrey Rush has in the movie. The mannerisms, the glasses, the ceremony, the swagger, the quizzical look and of course the trails of an accent -- all Peter Sellers bona fide. It is a pity that Mr Rush himself is not quite as picturesque a character as Peter Sellers is (or is he?) and so we will not have the occasion in the future to see a movie about Geoffrey Rush. With that single performance, Geoffrey Rush has transcended into my hall of fame.

Finally, a big note of appreciation to HBO for making such movies and showing them. I personally am not quite well off to patronise them but I do hope the fine folks at Hollywood and the rich liberals everywhere else in the United States continue to do so.

Shattered Glass (10 December 2004)
This was a brilliant movie and not just because it followed Road to Perdition in my movie marathon. It tells the gripping true story of a promising college intern at The New Republic pulling one sensational story fabrication heist after another and how it took the courage and integrity of one inexperienced editor to haul him. It made me realise how serious an offence a violation of journalistic ethics is and how unpardonable it ought to be. Stephen Glass of course went on to write a book, The Fabulist, covering his exploits and so did Jayson Blair in a near-repeat of the TNR episode with the New York Times. Hayden Christiansen and Peter Sarsgaard ought to be commended for compelling performances. Christiansen was very convincing as the overachieving college kid who was putting on a veneer of integrity and modesty and Sarsgaard was fantastic as the newly-appointed editor who had big shoes to fill and faced a conflict between his own ethics and his responsibility to back his reporters. Incidentally, on a sad note, Sarsgaard's character Chuck Lane replaced Michael Kelly (played in the movie by Hank Azaria) who was recently killed in Iraq while covering the war.

Road to Perdition (10 December 2004)
Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition flattered to deceive. All that camerawork, rich sound and luscious Midwest photography amounted to nothing because of the plot. It was so hopelessly predictable that I was at times annoyed with myself for staying on with it. This movie also had many blessings from all the standard sources I learn of movies from and so it was frustrating to think that they all had it so wrong. Not Tom Hanks, not Paul Newman and definitely not even Jude Law could do enough to retrieve the movie from its pretentiousness and contempt for the audience.

Autograph (8 December 2004)
This Tamil movie came with big recommendations and consequently was only almost impressive. It tells the nostalgic story of a young advertising company executive as he visits the places he spent his youth in to invite some old acquaintances to his marriage. And some of these acquaintances also include past flames. The movie is segmented as such and tells how he loved and lost. The movie in general deserves plaudits for a refreshing change in storyline but fails in execution. I think the culprit is the male protagonist -- his performance was flat and in sharp contrast to those of the female protagonists, particularly Gopika who played with great dignity the role of the Malayali widow. However, Cheran deserves high marks for character development and a taut script.

Shwaas (4 December 2004)
Winner of the national award for best film, Shwaas has also been chosen as India's official entry to the Oscars this year. It tells the story of a villager who takes his grandson to the city to get the latter's eyes checked for some niggling ailment but is distraught to learn that he suffers from an atypical cancer of the eye. He is confronted with the only option of having to consent to an operation on the boy by which his life shall be saved but he will necessarily lose his eyesight. The movie is based on a true story. Sandeep Sawant in making the movie has sought, perhaps unintentionally, to cast it in the mould of the minimalist genre one associates with most Iranian filmmakers like Majid Majidi. There are splendid performances from all concerned, especially the grandfather, the doctor and the medical social worker. What did detract from the movie however was its self-consciousness -- it seemed like the director had already envisioned a niche target audience before he set out to make the movie. As for the movie's chances in the Academy Awards, I am not holding my breath because with such a theme and plot the movie is now just another ordinary international movie, though still many shades better than previous nominees like Zus & Zo, Les Invasiones Barbare and so on.

Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II (24 November 2004)
Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II revels in its unconventionality and sports it prominently in its title, in the credits in the slickly made DVD cover and about everywhere else. The movie is a self-professed goulash of the atypical genre featuring Go!, Swingers, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The movie stars Arshad Warsi as a cool copywriter with a policewoman-girlfriend who gets entangled with the underworld purely by happenstance. A hilarious movie with its comedy particularly heightened by Arshad Warsi's suave performance and great dialogue delivery, Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II is yet another refreshing breather from the typical glut of movies though it cannot possibly cater to beyond a select, niche audience.

Touching the Void
Touching the Void is a gripping and mind-numbing docudrama that tells in chilling detail the real-life episode of two climbers coming down Siula Grande in Peru as one falls down breaking his leg, subsequently slips into a crevasse, is left for dead by his partner and subsequently manages to crawl out of the crevasse and survive against all odds. The movie is made all the more hard-hitting as it weaves interview clips of the two climbers and a reconstruction of the events as they unfolded and are narrated by them. Watching the movie alone was a humbling experience and left me in awe of Joe Simpson and his heroic descent of Siula Grande.

The Incredibles (19/21 November 2004)
Of late, my movie-watching has slowed to an astonishing two or three a month. Consequently, a movie must really earn it to make it into my must-watch-now list. The measure of how good The Incredibles really is then can be gauged from the fact that I watched the movie twice in a cinema hall in the space of two days and it was the first movie that I was seeing in November. First up, being a Pixar movie it must be held to a different standard compared to other movies and yet it meets every expectation and answers every question asked of it. I should get the niggling and seemingly insignificant question of the CGI out of the way first -- I was never much impressed with what went into the making of Finding Nemo though the common wisdom has been that with the helming of that movie Pixar had claimed and established a permanent hegemony on water effects but with The Incredibles Pixar has done something even more spectacular. They are now the undisputed wizards of computer-based animation. They make a traditionalist mourning the death of hand-drawn animation feel less bitter and accept computer-based animation's easy superiority. This is the first Pixar movie that features human characters significantly and one wonders after seeing The Incredibles why this was so much of a holy grail at all. The expressions on every face, synchronised so tautly with the voices behind and the dimensions all are so on the ball that I have now begun to be more convinced than ever of the possibility of movies in the near future that are entirely computer-generated.

Now, the story. The Incredibles weaves a really imaginative story of superheroes being thrust into the everyday life. I am sure there are fans of superhero legends such as myself who have always been fascinated by what happens after THE END of a particular tale, after the superhero vanquishes the forces of evil and how he faces his normal life, how being good and powerful cannot always draw bouquets and how there is little acknowledgement of the difficult dual roles that they must lead in society. Brad Bird with the story of the Incredibles characterises and brings into reality this what-after-the-happily-ever-after conundrum. But Bird does not just satisfy himself by looking into the normal lives of such superheroes, he ventures to pass metaphorical commentary on a society where superiority or distinction is discouraged and people are in an Orwellian sense forced to conform and toe the line.

But the story cannot be all allegorical and of moral purport unless it is related with humour and dry wit and this is something the Pixar family excels in. With the story-telling talents of Brad Bird, the wonderfully spot-on casting of voices, the delightful characters of a mighty, all-powerful father (Mr. Incredible/Robert Parr), his supple, lithe wife (Elastigirl/Helen Parr), their ten-year old superfast son (Dash/Dashiell Parr) and their unsure and shy force-field wielding teenage daughter (Vi/Violet Parr) and the superb voice talents of Holly Hunter (playing Elastigirl), Samuel L. Jackson (playing Lucius/Frozone), Brad Bird (playing Edna Mole), Jason Lee (Syndrome/Buddy Pine), Craig T. Nelson (Mr. Incredible/Robert Parr) and Spencer Fox (playing Dash) The Incredibles is one that binds all of these elements into one hell of a movie.

Team America: World Police (16 October 2004)
What defines a good political satire? It is a piece that takes uniform shots across the bows of all political parties, it should mock and belittle the government. There should be a bent of anti-establishment malaise cleverly tinged with humour and finally but perhaps most importantly it should try to laugh at all of us that create such political institutions. By these standards, the movie comes nowhere close to being a political satire. But one might also argue that when watching a piece of political satire, take for instance the example of American politics, one should have no inkling if it was made by a Republican or a Democrat. By virtue of this definition, Team America performs much better. It does end up being in some very subtle form, a lampoonery of American foreign policy and takes very crude swings at those that oppose it but there is nothing in it to justify any conviction that the creators of South Park are liberals or conservatives. I did not mind the hour's worth of rough, blunt and vulgar comedy but the aftertaste was not particularly savourable.

Chokher Bali (25 September 2004)
I personally went to see this movie in spite of Aishwarya Rai in it hoping that Tagore's plot would redeem her presence. Unfortunately, she managed to outdo herself and was a constant jarring reminder to the histrionic limitations of women popularly deemed attractive. The story revolves around an enigmatic young widow with a rather complex persona. At first, she yearns to quench her sexual desires and ends up either falling in love or being infatuated with her friend's husband who reciprocates. This meets with unfortunate consequences when the friend discovers the illicit affair and banishes herself to Varanasi. But once that happens, the widow turns to ensnare her lover's friend -- a celibate and a Vivekananda follower -- who remains steadfastly unmoved and unimpressed by her advances. Rejected by him, the widow is overcome with remorse and abject self-reproach. The story moves to Varanasi from Calcutta where all the main characters assemble and is resolved there.

Tagore's plot and characters resonate with the avant-garde social moods in Bengal at the beginning of the 20th century. The movie however seems to rest solely on how the director has chosen to interpret Tagore's central point and in that sense Rituparno Ghosh has been disappointing. At times, and especially at the conclusion of the movie, Ghosh seems to be telling us that the entire story is metaphorical of the struggles between the intelligentsia and the revolutionaries in Bengal though it was not very clear to me why and how that was. Then, at times he returns to what I think was Tagore's message -- the women themselves, especially the widow and how she wrestled with the clash between the social mores and the increasingly acceptable reform movements (like that of Raja Rammohan Roy's widow remarriage drive) and finally (perhaps most interestingly) her sexual hunger. But in the end, what comes across is a haphazardly edited, directionless and muddled cesspool of a bounty of characters with very little to stitch a tale through their lives and ultimately failing to portray a consistent rendition of Tagore's story.

In spite of Aishwarya Rai's and the director's best efforts though, the story does seem to shine through which is a credit to Tagore's genius and nothing else. The acting from the others with the exception of the widow's lover is very flaky but at least an earnest effort when compared with Rai's self-obsession and Devdas hangover. The dubbing into Hindi was very primitive and I think was done perhaps by someone more well-versed with Bengali.

Fog of War
This won the Academy Award for Best Documentary this year. It was claimed that the AMPAS wished to make known its stand against the war by awarding this movie the award and not surprisingly, Errol Morris the movie's director and prominent Democrat voiced his opinions when given the stage. Sadly, all this controversy distracts from the movie which is really not so much about the wars United States has been actively involved in as it is about Robert McNamara, the man who had the ear of several presidents and at one point of time was as reviled as Donald Rumsfeld is today. McNamara in his life after being Secretary of Defense went on to become director of the World Bank, strangely reminiscent of a Yes Minister episode: "Jobs for the Boys", which was why the name rang a bell in my mind. But the man has had a distinguished career in public service not to mention his stint at Ford as president. McNamara graduated from Harvard with a Master's degree in Business Administration and put this to good strategic use in his position as Secretary of Defense. The movie only lightly treads upon the moral issues in Vietnam. Its organisation in the form of simple "lessons" McNamara imparts in foreign policy struck me as jarring and sermonesque, no doubt a concoction of the director's. In terms of pure effect or raw power it did not even begin to compare with Hearts and Minds. In terms of a good biographical sketch of McNamara it fared very well and I have a sneaking suspicion that that was McNamara must have intended.

Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home (10 September 2004)
For those of us devoid of cable television at home, the DVD route is the only option to catch and experience the wonderful world of HBO programming. I particularly like the emphasis HBO puts on stand-up performances. Bill Maher's Victory Begins at Home is another shining example of insightful political commentary in a post-Walter Lippmann world that is disarmingly incidental to the comedy accompanying it -- the ultimate ideal being Jon Stewart's The Daily Show which again eludes those of us with only public television channels to view. Maher's material is articulate, cogent and almost very well-researched in addition to being extremely hilarious. However, Maher seems to lack the gifts of delivery and timing that are so much the hallmark of good stand-up comedy. The true stalwarts in that area that I have heard or watched are Bill Hicks, Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock in that order. This particular one-hour monologue features related montages and murals that are beamed to screens behind Maher as he hops from one topic to another. I was at a loss to conclude if this was meant to enhance the comedy or to explain it. Nonetheless, it was a great hour of laughs and lessons.

Dirty, Pretty Things (28 August 2004)
Dirty, Pretty Things is a searing and candid look into two interconnected problems many countries face but are embarrassed to discuss openly -- illegal immigration and organ trade. In a bustling London suburb, the movie's two protagonists -- a Nigerian doctor on the run from his country driving cabs through the day and moonlighting as a receptionist in a hotel and a Turkish maid in the same hotel share an apartment which is also procured through surreptitious means. Being illegal immigrants, they can ill-afford to expose or even discuss the ongoing racketeering in human organs at the hotel. The movie stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as the doctor and Audrey Tautou as the Turkish maid and is made by Stephen Frears of High Fidelity fame. With such reputation in its credits, and the potential in its plot the movie could scarcely go wrong and yet I felt that it just missed living up to its billing. There seemed a reluctance to go beyond merely previewing the various ills attendant on these two social crises and what little effect that percolated was achieved through melodrama and stereotype. Still, the movie merits a viewing merely for its attempt to recognise and accept the plight of illegal immigrants.

Hearts and Minds (23 August 2004)
And this is why God envisioned the documentary. This movie would rank as the best historical documentary I have ever seen. It is a searing collection of personal reminiscences, disturbing imagery and simply the most perfect form of objective journalism and movie-making. Documenting interviews with people ranging from the great policymakers at the time including Clark Clifford and Walter Rostow to the simple Nixon-loving parents of a soldier killed in action to a deserter and his wife as he proceeded to testify in a Congressional hearing cataloguing the sorry plight of the many (perhaps conscientious) deserters who were in worse shape than he, the movie vividly blends in surreal, hard-hitting and brutally candid scenes of the war with an evocative voice comprising of the many that confessed to being brainwashed and went to die in a foreign country and the "gooks" who defied the might of the United States. The movie is well-paced and attributes the entire episode to America's preoccupation with warding off communism which slowly consumed it until it became a matter of pride and reputation as thousands died in a foreign land and the spirit of the VCs not dented a bit in spite of the B52s and the napalm. Peter Davis uses irony to tremendous advantage as he implicates Hollywood as part of the war propaganda machinery showing slices of jingoistic and valiant calls to arms but the pièce de résistance is the inimitable straightshooter Former Sgt. William Marshall who gives it as it is.

Les Invasiones Barbares (22 August 2004)
The Academy Award winner this year for Best Foreign Film, this French-Canadian movie tells the tale of a university professor in Montréal lying on his deathbed as his family and friends regroup with him to share his last days. A hackneyed theme you could say, and I would agree. This seems to be the formula nowadays for writing books and making movies aimed at the critical audience. The incorrigible cynic that I have become, I did not find the movie particularly impressive. But we shall get to what pulls the movie down subsequently. What redeems it is the interesting and sometimes cutthroat editing which hardens every preachy scene with common-day pulp philosophy by abruptly cutting to a different montage leaving no time for the viewer to take away any moral intended. The movie also has an undercurrent of warm satire hinted at Canada's multicultural ethos and, of course, healthcare. The movie however ails in its steadfast adherence to a well-nourished and familiar recipé for foreign films and typical stereotypes. The man on the deathbed is a history professor disillusioned with history and of course a charming womaniser who sleeps with his students in addition to every other woman he acquaints himself with, his estranged philistine son distances himself and returns when he finds his father ailing. The professor numbers gay Italians, his own former bedmates and a happily married middle-aged man amongst his friends who weep profusely only on the day he is put to sleep. And every Canadian notwithstanding the red tape that comes with free healthcare becomes a do-gooder samaritan just for the sake of the protagonists. In short, the movie self-consciously attempts to portray rather touchingly but rather fleetingly a smorgasboard of all that is quintessentially Canadian and does not succeed all that well. Still, those that have not tired of this genre should find the movie a delectable treat and a good one to watch.

The Bourne Supremacy (20 August 2004)
Perhaps I have outgrown the espionage genre but this movie came off as rather flat and pointless. Of course, as an obligatory disclaimer I should mention that I have not read any of the Bourne series by Ludlum but there were a lot of stereotypes the movie could have very well done without. For starters, we should lose the pouty, thickly Irish accented sinister middle-aged FBI character. Why do such plots still have to maintain a tenuous link with Russia? With the demise of communism and the KGB, we now have cheap pastiches of Yukos and Mikhail Khodorkovsky to make up for them. As a movie, it lacked any cohesion and coming to think of it any central idea. Matt Damon did however make up for all the movie's foibles with his focused and intense performance which comes so naturally to him. However did he even think he could do comedy (Stuck On You)? Finally, in what can only be seen as a recognition of growing awareness about India and its tourist delights, the movie begins with Bourne and Marie hiding away in Goa.

Ayitha Ezhuthu (28 July 2004)
This was a much sleeker version of "Yuva" rendered in Tamil. With the exception of Madhavan who looked out of sorts playing a Madras hoodlum, the performances were much better in the Tamil version not to mention Sujatha's dialogue which in retrospect sounded so bland in Hindi.

Raghu Romeo
Rajat Kapoor's brilliant little indie venture was a treat to watch. The movie is co-produced by NFDC and a dozen other overnight entrepreneurs who responded to the director's call over the net and chipped in with contributions somewhat akin to the manner Living in Oblivion was made. Raghu Romeo is a hilarious send-up of the crass television soap operas that dominate afternoon viewing in India -- particularly the saas-bahu kind. Saurabh Shukla's dialogue and his own performance add pep to the movie but it is really enhanced by yet another great show by Vijay Raaz as the lead character who in a curious manner of escapism falls in love with a moralising and vermilioned-through-her-scalp Neetaji essayed by former MTV video jockey Maria Goretti.

Pride and Prejudice
Ever since I finished reading the novel which was not a week ago, I was anxious to see the televised version. This one was made in 1995 and starred Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. I am happy to say that it exceeded my wildest expectations and other than imagining Mr. Darcy to be less handsomer than Colin Firth is and Elizabeth slightly thinner than Jennifer Ehle is, it is almost as if Jane Austen pictured it herself. Every character is impeccably rendered with all the mannerisms so flawlessly portrayed. The gargantuan task of maintaining continuity and adapting the book to the celluloid was most admirably accomplished by Andrew Davies and both he and Simon Langton deserve glowing praise for such a splendid show. The biggest dose of encomium is reserved for the cast themselves who carry off the weight of all lovers of the book so effortlessly. This is one of the few adaptations that I would come so close to condoning those that watch it before reading the book.

Spider-Man 2 (2 July 2004)
As a regular movie, Spider-Man 2 is bunkum. As a comic-book movie, it imitates the comic-book perfectly but fails to justify its raison d'etre -- the comic-book would have done admirably better. As a sequel, it is incomplete, flatter than its predecessor. As a vehicle for Kirsten Dunst, the franchise needs to throw her overboard. The only justifiable reason for her being there was for the skin exposure which, unless the FCC changes its mind, cannot get better/worse than the level it enjoys in this movie. Heck, she even gets wet yet again. Surely, that does not need another iteration. Tobey Maguire is as usual brilliant in an understated performance and is the only saving grace for it regular movie-wise. Some of the dialogue is brilliantly written and quite humorous.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1 July 2004)
This movie came with glowing recommendations and incessant allusions to the possibility that Quentin Tarantino based his naming of characters after colours in Reservoir Dogs on this movie. I was even willing to condone the movie as a classic B-grade suspense thriller replete with stereotypical one-liners on women, the Japanese and homosexuals but after a point the movie begs to be lambasted for its corny dialogue and trite plot.

Dev (27 June 2004)
When a director of Govind Nihalani's repute and an actor of Amitabh Bachchan's stature come together to make a movie about the Gujarat riots, one has the right to feel at ease and overanxious to applaud their venture. Unfortunately, Dev succumbs to an overdose of brutal imagery, badly miscast characters and a vague, confused resolution. But the biggest gripe I have with the movie is the very presence of Fardeen Khan in it. He deserves no mercy, no clemency and no overlooking of faults. Shun him for his own good and our well-being. Surprisingly, the best performance was by Kareena Kapoor who is outstanding as the sole-surviving victim (modelled on Shah Bano) of one of the unleashings of the riots. Bachchan's very persona that has so long now been well-established in the mould of the angry young man disqualifies him from portraying the role of a hapless, forceful-at-times and meek-at-times police officer who fails to see the real designs of his superiors. This is where the movie plays truant with sense. Om Puri essayed his role well as the bigoted OSD who condones the riots and even foments them but inexplicably yet again, his own character is resolved rather absurdly unmindful of the calling of logic.

Lakshya (26 June 2004)
One of the best Hindi movies I have seen in recent times. Granted that the storyline was a bit hackneyed, the cinematography, action sequences and the ensemble acting performance elevate the movie much beyond the paltry norms of regular Hindi cinema. The movie is delicately assertive without being excessively jingoistic or hot-blooded, unrushed without being dull and touchingly warm without being cloying or effusive. Hrithik Roshan's performance as the zealous army man is particularly noteworthy and so is Preity Zinta's foil as his idealistic love interest. Amitabh Bachchan's role is sadly only a sidenote and does not give him much opportunity or leeway in expressing himself more forcefully. The highlight of the movie is the lilting melodies and invigorating war music sequences directed by Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa which had me humming tunes from the movie for almost a week afterwards.

The Pink Panther
This has got to be one of the greatest slapstick comedies of all time. With Peter Sellers, David Niven as starcast and delicious spots in Italy and France as shooting locales no movie can go wrong. Coming back to Peter Sellers, The Pink Panther captures Peter Sellers at his self-deprecating, Chaplinesque best even though he portrayed far better such characters in movies like The Ladykillers, Being There, The Mouse That Roared amongst others. David Niven is effortless as the cool, debonair jewel-thief who has a crisis of conscience in his latest bid.

Mystic River
Clint Eastwood should stick to Westerns. The AMPAS should decide to honour all its debts of gratitude and obligations within every calendar year (that way, the rest of us might have been spared the disappointment of seeing a rather insipid and clichéd performance of Sean Penn and wonder at his winning the award). Marcia Gay Harden should be banned from making any more movies until she undergoes a voice culture session. Lawrence Fishburne must make up his mind as to which side his loyalties lie -- hiding behind sunglasses to avoid emoting or getting serious about acting. Clint Eastwood should stick to Westerns. And one should avoid watching Mystic River.

Clerks (13 June 2004)
I am at a loss to understand what made this movie such a cult sensation. The stylised witticisms and supposedly pointed observations in highfaluting language coming from regular everyday clerks is rather unnatural. In as much as this was an independent movie, surely the casting should have merited better attention. Kevin Smith tries rather flatly to infuse too much panache into this movie and the whole Jay and Silent Bob act is corny and gets on one's nerves. A disappointment.

The Last Supper
This is a darkly funny movie about a bunch of liberal-minded graduate students on a "vigilante" conservatives-killing spree. At the beginning, the movie took broad swipes at the pro-choice, gun-wielding, white supremacist factions but as the bodycount steps up, the students themselves fall prey to their hollow notions. The real star of the show is Ron Perlman whose cool, unsentimental logic makes most sense and actually turns the students around.

Yuva (12 June 2004)
As a Mani Ratnam movie, Yuva came somewhat as a disappointment and this was in spite of having resolved not to carry with myself any form of baggage in the form of the indifferent reviews the movie had received before I myself went to watch it. With the exception of the first part which centred around Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee, the story lacked force and conviction. I look forward to seeing how well the Tamil version is since as much as Mani Ratnam's reputation has adorned national significance, he remains at heart a Tamil moviemaker. The notion of grassroots politics and the role of youth in it which is what the movie focuses on, bears more proximity to the situation the South than it does the North.

Pornstar: The Legend of Ron Jeremy
Ron Jeremy has been hailed as the biggest porn star and yet he is uncommonly fat, loves to eat and has a big paunch. This documentary was intended as a biopic as well as an insight into the porn industry and the accompanying social stigma. A lot of assumed myths are shattered about the men and women in this field.

Diner
Barry Levinson's first movie in a series of movies based in Baltimore, Diner is a brilliant, heartwarming and funny movie about a group of friends who reunite on the occasion of the wedding of one amongst them. The movie projects the changes in lifestyle and circumstances the men who knew each other as boys have to reconcile with and how they stick up for one another. The movie also has Levinson's flair for gentle, poker-faced humour which one got to see more of in Rain Man. The reunion theme is visited albeit in a darker sense in Sleepers which was another fantastic effort from the director. I look forward to watching the remainder of the Baltimore series that includes Avalon, Tin Men and Liberty Heights.

Hum Tum (5 June 2004)
A Hindi version of When Harry Met Sally, this movie is redeemed by performances from Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee. As an actor, Saif Ali Khan has turned from his insipid performances in earlier movies like Hameshaa to spectacular accomplishments in Dil Chahta Hai, Ek Hasina Thi and now Hum Tum.

Living in Oblivion
This movie was as independently made as they come. Apparently some of the money was put forward by a couple of actors in the movie. The movie is somewhat self-referential which is something that I am not quite enamoured of but the one-liners and Buscemi's and Keener's performance more than compensated for my bias. A good watch.

War of the Shaolin Temple
Following the Kill Bill series, I was inspired to watch a few martial arts movies fully aware that the production values were going to be abysmal. Sadly, I was not prepared for the War of the Shaolin Temple. Although the fights were at times enchanting, it was hard to focus on one single combat between two fighters seeing as scores of others were in simultaneous duel.

Being There
Peter Sellers revels in this sedate movie about a gardener called Chance and how he ends up walking on water. There is gentle satire mixed with grandmotherly wisdom in how Chance's unhurried reflections on gardening and the simpler pleasures of life has such an effect from everybody from the President of the United States to a butler.

Il Bidone
No more Fellini for me. Or if I must watch them, I shall on 2x with the subtitles. The last time, I watched a Fellini I felt bilious and betrayed. It was La Dolce Vita and its self-indulgence simply turned me off. This movie is more about greed and treachery untempered by the hapless world around its characters. Ever so often, one of them comes close to a moral purgation but then is reluctant to shake his traits off. The final resolution to the movie is particularly depressing yet powerful. There were many things Il Bidone has in common with The Bicycle Thief, both are avant-garde Italian movies made by directors who were considered to be amongst the best in their time. Both are fatalist and offer unflinchingly harsh portraits into basic human nature. Where they differ in their treatment is, I guess, in the politics of their directors and here Vittorio de Sica's leftist, Plebeian vision far outshines Fellini's cynicism and disenchantment with the hedonism of his times.

Stand By Me
I wish more of Stephen King's non-horror novellas were made into movies and that he continues to write many more in this genre. His other non-horror novella was "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" of whose translation to Hollywood one hardly need make a mention. Stand By Me is based on Stephen King's Body and is a fascinating, heartwarming story of four boys in a little town in Oregon hiking through thirty miles just to look at the body of a kid that was knocked down by a train. The boys discover the body only in the last thirty minutes, so most of the movie focuses more on the boys themselves and their affection for one another. Particularly touching was the special bond between Gordie Lachance (who goes on to become The Writer who narrates the entire episode) and Chris Chambers. A great movie with fantastic performances from all four boys, not to mention a cameo appearance by John Cusack and a sinister portrait from Kiefer Sutherland.

Mera Saaya (31 May 2004)
This was an unexpectedly good movie that strayed very little to Bollywood humdrum like the compulsory "comic" interludes which fell flat and the clichéd conservatism with regard to the model code of conduct for a Hindu woman who is married. The movie was made by Raj Khosla, one of Guru Dutt's close associates and the one who made C.I.D. His interview about Guru Dutt convinced me to think better of him and I was not disappointed after watching Mera Saaya. The songs were great too.

See How They Run
In my rush of blood after watching Journeys with George and The War Room, I saw another political documentary, See How They Run but it did not compare with the former two on any scale, not the least being the scale of the elections. The documentary follows the 2000 Mayoral elections in San Francisco with Willie Brown seeking re-election and vying against some listless rivals before Tom Ammiano appears on the scene. The documentary is quintessentially about San Francisco and how isolated it is from mainland America. As one of the Republicans joked, you would need a passport and visa to know and appreciate anything of its politics. And much as I admired it for this, I definitely was at a loss when it came to the movie. This seems to have been the director's first attempt and that might seek to exonerate it from its amateurish look but then, so was Journeys with George.

Conspiracy (30 May 2004)
This is a movie that was made for TV, albeit the HBO. A brilliant recreation of the Wannsee Conference where a group of influential bureaucrats and military men alike met and debated, nay were forced into a consensus on General Heydrich's proposal to "evacuate" the Jews using a novel method involving gas chambers. From the recreation, the most anybody got to with regard to expressing their moral position openly was on the question of what was to be done with the mixed Jews and who counted as Jews or Germans. Full credit to Frank Pierson and Loring Mandel for bringing to screen the only record of what transpired on that day and full credit to the cast -- foremost among them being Kenneth Brannagh as Gen. Heydrich, Stanley Tucci as Col. Eichmann and David Threlfall as Dr. Kritzinger for a stellar ensemble performance. I wish though that the movie had stuck closer to the transcription of the Conference. For instance, the movie makes mention of Auschwitz and the gas chambers but the transcripts (they are online) have nothing on them. Only that detracted from the movie.

The Triplets of Belleville (29 May 2004)
A unique and mostly funny animation feature. The movie was nominated for the Oscar but had to contend with Finding Nemo. So I am guessing exactly one member of the AMPAS must have voted for it. But what a movie! Some at IMDb compared it with Shrek. I would say this movie is as far away from Shrek as Shrek itself was from what was then mainstream animation genre. The story is weird, the characters are dark and eerily "geometrical" and the title song is a runaway hit. If anything, the movie dragged along at times and some of the scenes could have been done away with even at the expense of such fine animation being lost to the audience.

The Householder
The Householder is one of Ivory-Merchant's earlier productions. The movie is based on Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's novel by the same name. It is a humorous look into the life of a newly married college professor who finds it hard initially to love his wife and his own new set of increased responsibilities. And by the time, he manages to realise this his mother enters the scene and makes life difficult for both of them. The movie stars a dashing and young Shashi Kapoor and the beautiful-beyond-words Leela Naidu (who incidentally was Dom Moraes' second wife and strangely enough Dom Moraes passed away a few days ago). It was interesting to watch an English movie with the dialogue being spoken in an accent so authentically Indian. There was a class distinction even here, with Shashi Kapoor and Leela Naidu delivering their dialogue in impeccable convent-school fluency and polish while Durga Khote's intonation was thespian and affected in the manner of a mother trying hard to teach her eight-year old son to express himself as each word was spoken in a poetry-reciting contest. The rest spoke their lines in the style they learnt the language second-hand from arts colleges and English movies.

Ying Xiong (Hero, 28 May 2004)
Overruling my prejudice and contempt for Chinese movies, I decided to watch this movie which was being screened as part of a weeklong celebration organised by Caltech's Asian Pacific Student Union. The movie was screened at the Beckman Institute Auditorium and the big screen there was one of several factors that worked in favour of watching the movie. On the whole, I was not too disappointed. Jet Li, once again, was the weakest link. Not even Zhang Zi Yi could do worse than he did. But the rest of the cast was quite good. The story was somewhat of a minor copy of Rashomon in the way it was related in different overlapping versions by the protagonist. But I was not there for the story though it was riveting. I was there for the fights. And there were many though they were made to look as if the situation warranted their existence and nothing else, almost as if a condescending concession was being made to the martial arts genre. Even the fights, it turned out, were not the best part of the movie. Hero was one of the most visually breathtaking movies I have ever seen. The use of colours in each of the scene was simply exhilarating and left me stunned and wondering why we do not see more of such ethereal cinematography and, well, colour in today's movies. I would watch the movie a second time with the TV on mute and gaze at the colours. That was how impressed I was with the cinematography. Towards the end, the movie got interesting too and quite moving in a way. Finally, the most entreating aspect about the plot was its consistency. It was resolved to a logical, if cold, conclusion which had me admiring it.

Spoorloos (21 May 2004)
Spoorloos, or The Vanishing, is a one-of-a-kind psychological thriller. A man and his girlfriend are holidaying in France, when his girlfriend mysteriously vanishes. The man is distraught but is determined to look for her. Three years on, he is still haunted by her and is not able to come to terms with his life without her. He wants to know what became of her and that curiosity, to put it mildly, is ultimately what the movie is all about, not to mention the French chemistry professor and loving family man who architected the kidnap.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (15 May 2004)
My first Charlie Kaufman movie was Being John Malkovich which I could not bring myself to like in spite of John Cusack and Catherine Keener. It probably had more to do with my revulsion for John Malkovich himself however erudite and suave he may be, for I loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The movie is a brilliant exploration of how cherished our memories are to us and what unimaginable sway they hold over us. Some of the premise was foppish and Kirsten Dunst's character was entirely redundant made much more so by her insipid cheerleader performance. She just could not compare with Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet and Mark Ruffalo. While I adored Jim Carrey for The Truman Show, Kate Winslet was an amazing revelation after having despised her in _that_ movie and Sense and Sensibility. Whosever idea it was to shoot the movie in the winter in New York deserves special applause. Some of the scenes captured in the white snow enveloping a morose Jim Carrey and an effervescent Kate Winslet brought out exactly the contrasts in response to the winter.

The Candidate
One could be forgiven for thinking this was a documentary. But no! Michael Ritchie's The Candidate won the Academy award for best original screenplay in 1973 which goes to show one of two things -- either the Academy is overwhelmingly Democrat-leaning or the members were playing Russian roulette, neither of which is in much doubt. It was not my intention to pan the movie because I enjoyed watching Robert Redford move from being an idealist to a confused but complete politician (with the bells and whistles of stormy hotel-room affairs and all) but surely the screenplay did not deserve to be rewarded for the movie came across more as a disjointed collection of episodes from an election campaign, relayed without bias, fervour or sentiment which is as it should be for a documentary.

Hoosiers
This movie must be watched purely from the point of view that it was the pioneer of the underdog-beats-favourites sports movie genre. And it was based on or inspired from a true story. If only the romance angle had been done away with, it would have been perfect. Nonetheless, Gene Hackman delivers a fluent performance as the determined, know-all coach and his role is alone worth the watch.

Le Cercle Rouge
One could say that Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge is a dispassionate, steadily moving crime drama about an ex-convict, a fugitive convict and a troubled ex-cop. But the movie has many more pivotal characters, like the Commissaire who delivers the motif of the movie when he says "Nobody is innocent, Mr. Mattei" (in French of course) and then disappears and Mr. Mattei himself who is the inspector under pressure to nab the fugitive who escaped under his guard. With so many prominent characters, the movie might have, at the risk of sounding like Roger Ebert, collapsed under its own weight but still manages not only to stay afloat but also deliver the killer punch, the pun notwithstanding.

Go
This comes from the director of Swingers and sure enough, does not fail to satisfy. It was billed as a black comedy but I thought there were more shades of regular comedy to it than irony or trenchant wit. Desmond Askew as Simon and Timothy Oliphaunt as Todd Gaines are hilarious while Katie Holmes is noticeably cute, though she has only a secondary role to play.

Best In Show (5 May 2004)
Christopher Guest's "mockumentary" is bitingly (pun unintended) funny. It is a trenchant send-up of the world of dog shows and the people obsessed with them. For its part though, some of the dogs were indeed extremely royal to look at -- the American Husky and the bloodhound for instance while some were positively loathsome -- the standard poodle, the shih-tzu being the most disgusting of the lot.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off
This is one flippantly suave movie, with a good performance from Matthew Broderick. Of course, it was uncut in parts but made for good entertainment on the whole. Oooh.. that Ferrari!

Jerry Seinfeld: I'm Telling You For the Last Time (29 April 2004)
This hilarious one-hour routine comes additionally with a great prelude where Seinfeld's material is given a decent burial and is mourned by, amongst others, Paul Reiser, Jay Leno, George Carlin and Garry Shandling. It has the usual punchlines about relationships, men and women, Superman and Chinese food. There is also a five-minute Q&A session with the audience where Seinfeld continues to maintain his edgy and quick wits about him.

Breaking Away
I suspect that "Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar" was loosely inspired on this movie. Other than the movie itself, what is most alluring is its soundtrack which features a delightful medley of popular Italian operas and concert pieces like the Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro and so on.

Diggstown
James Woods and Louis Gossett Jr. star in this reasonably entertaining movie about a ten-men knockout challenge. There is nothing extraordinary about the movie other than that the performances are decent and it was funny in most parts.

Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (16 April 2004)
The consensus is that Vol. 2 is better than Vol. 1 in that there was more character development. I might have felt the same thing but, somehow I liked to think of Kill Bill as a salute to the seventies, the B-grade movies and the martial arts movies of that era. In that regard, Vol. 2 did not have nearly the same kick as Vol. 1 did. So, I shall say this: Vol. 2 makes up for some of the weaknesses in Vol. 1 but is not spectacularly better in itself which, from the point of view of the two movies really comprising one big four-hour movie, makes sense and redeems Tarantino. For instance, the dialogue is crisper and the black humour is to be experienced to be believed. The blood-spurts in Vol. 1 do not compare to the wacky ways of dying as explored in Vol. 2. Having said that, the background music was nowhere near as perfect as it was in Vol. 1 and at times even proved to be rather distracting. Uma Thurman continues to be "gangly" but the real star of Vol. 2 is indeed David Carradine. I have not seen any of his movies prior to this but given what has been written in the reviews and said in Tarantino's interview with Jay Leno that I happened to catch fortuitously after returning from the movie last night, this is his best performance. As for the movie references, Vol. 2 easily tops Vol. 1. For instance, chapter 7 titled the Lonely Grave of Paula Schultz has, I suspect, been heavily influenced by one of the Hitchcock Presents mystery series. And Carradine's Superman analogy towards the end was really impressive.

Swingers
A hilarious movie about nothing. There are obvious parallels to Seinfeld and in fact the movie plays out like an extended two-hour session of Seinfeld where the lead characters talk about their break-ups, Las Vegas, the LA gun story, swing dancing and money. Very smart dialogue and a sensational performance by Vince Vaughn who has shades of Kramer in his role.

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (13 April 2004)
This is a delightfully hilarious movie. Satyajit Ray's ideals of minimalism and simplicity are conveyed quite effectively in this feature but what makes it such a treat to watch is the enchantingly rustic music composed by Ray himself and the splendid performances Tapen Chatterjee and Rabi Ghosh render as the principal characters, the latter in particular providing for most of the comical relief with his apparent pragmatism. I was warned by reviews and reviewers alike that the six-and-a-half minute dance scene appearing early on in the movie can be a chore to endure but for my money, it was amongst the best highlights of the movie. Even though the movie was made in 1968, Ray appears not to have attempted use of any sophisticated equipment to achieve his special effects and instead relies on the versatility of the visual medium and our perception of it. The dance, splendidly choreographed, and the blending of the percussion, present a surreal and (pardon the cliché) psychedelic effect to the viewer.

The Man from Laramie (7 April 2004)
It started off with the hackneyed and corny anthem about the Man from Laramie sung in unison as the credits rolled. In fact, uptil the first half-hour I had no idea that this was more than just a Western and assumed that James Stewart could not surely have made all good movies. But, was I wrong. This movie has an intricate plot and was surprisingly quite good -- perhaps on account of my having no expectations from it. Be that as it may, I am more enamoured now than ever of my favourite hero.

The Ladykillers (31 March 2004)
This is the original 1955 Ealing Studios comedy starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers and needless to say, the much better version and I say this in spite of not having seen the newer version and in spite (or perhaps on account) of the Coen brothers. Classic British trenchant satire with awesome performances from Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and of course Katie Johnson as Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce.

Trois Couleurs: Bleu (Three Colours: Blue, 27 March 2004)
The first thing that struck me about this movie was the profusion of blue. There is blue in the little glass chandelier, in the clear night waters of the swimming pool and a blue in Juliette Binoche's eyes. I was hardly aware that this movie and the two that followed it were such sensations and having seen Bleu, I can see why. This is the story of the doting wife of a composer who struggles to realise that her husband and daughter are dead. She is constantly harrowed by their memories and wants to forget them and she does so by renouncing her past life and living ascetically. Juliette Binoche playing the lead role was extremely impressive in her performance so much so that I avoided watching an interview she gave about the making of the movie for fear that it would blemish my memory of her portrayal. I was also impressed by the rich colour, the fine cinematography and Kieslowski's exquisite attention to detail as he follows Binoche so consciously with the camera in an attempt to show the movie from her viewpoint. Something that did intrigue me though was why she did not rue the loss of her daughter as much as she did that of her husband.

Babí Léto (Autumn Spring, 23 March 2004)
This is a delightful Czech movie about old age and death. While the protagonist, who is seventy-five, mocks death and is oblivious of it as he stages his pranks to buy mansions and curtsies to young women his wife is overwrought by her approaching end and strives continuously to prepare for it. She distributes her husband's pension into money for the funeral, the flowers, a nice obituary announcement and music while her husband seldom brings it home. Significantly, within a month of its release Vlastimil Brodský who played the lead role and had terminal cancer committed suicide.

All the President's Men
An intensely entertaining political thriller, All the President's Men captures in near-accurate detail most of the events leading to the greatest journalistic achievement in United States history -- the uncovering of the Watergate scandal. While all the suspense is owed entirely to actual occurrings, the movie deserves applause for its unflinching devotion to incidents as they happened. An important piece of cinema for any political junkie.

Barton Fink
Coen brothers' Barton Fink is a perplexing movie. Sure, it won the Cannes Grand Prize but then the French have always mistaken vacuity and abstractness for art. I believe that the sole enterprise of making a movie is to convey a point articulately. No film director deserves to make a movie if he fails in that simple premise. It does not matter how deep or shallow the thesis of the movie is but the basic idea is to put it across clearly without contradictions and without any entangled philosophies. So I disapproved of Magnolia and so I disapprove of Barton Fink. The movie is about a writer who comes from a Broadway hit into the halls of a B-grade film studio to write a movie about a wrestler. In his little creepy shanty away from the glare of Hollywood, he befriends an insurance salesman and feels he has connected with the people he writes about. But there is no writing as he suffers from a bout of the block. Things turn absurdly worse as he finds himself involved in the hunt for a serial killer. At many points in the movie, it appeared to me that there was a certain symbolism which however was left unsubstantiated by what followed immediately afterwards. This does not in any way take credit away from two great acting performances from John Torturro and John Goodman. Barton Fink and the disgusting "The Hudsucker Proxy" have shed my delusion about the Coen brothers. They deserve their plaudits only for "The Big Lebowski" and "O Brother Where Art Thou".

Melvin Goes to Dinner
This is a brilliantly refreshing movie that comes across more like a one-act play, which indeed it is seeing as it is based on a play called "The Phyro-giants" written by Michael Blieden who plays Melvin in the movie as well. The principal characters meet up quite "unexpectedly" at a dinner and end up expounding on and enquiring about sex, life, religion, relationships. It is the essence of "Seinfeld" squeezing out the frivolity and melding in the spontaneity of "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Plus, there is some suspense too! Top-notch acting from all the principal characters. There is not much by way of directing Bob Odenkirk has to do and not realising this initially, I set off to check out his "Mr. Show" which turned out to be possibly the worst comedy series I have ever attempted to see. Yet, this little indie gem has none of his foibles. A must-watch.

L'Homme du Train (The Man on the Train) March 5 2004
One of the worst foreign movies I have seen in recent times. But then, the others I saw were masterpieces -- Nueva Reinas, Le Dîner de Cons, Cidade de Deus. Still, the stupor this movie induces is beyond compare. I kept hoping that the movie would conclude a bit more forcefully but I was badly shortchanged with its equivocal ending. A regrettable waste of time.

Le Dîner de cons (The Dinner Game) 5 March 2004
A hilarious French comedy in which a bunch of upper-class smirks invite middle-class simpletons to a dinner and parade their "idiocy". The protagonist, a rich book publisher, ends up getting more than he bargained for with his prize catch.

Nueve reinas (Nine Queens)
This is a nice Argentinian con-movie. Neat editing, good screenplay and great acting. Saying anything more will spoil the effect.

Igby Goes Down
Kieran Culkin stars in this new-age "Catcher in the Rye" adaptation. The story revolves about a dysfunctional family comprising of a schizophrenic father, a snotty mother and an overachieving elder brother and its effect on Igby, portrayed surprisingly well by Kieran Culkin considering his elder brother. The movie was fairly good in most parts but rather overbearing in a few to bar it from being deemed perfect. Nearly there.

The Insider (20 February 2004)
In some ways, this movie is as much a story about journalistic ethics as it is about a tobacco industry whistle-blower. It was surprising to learn that the "60 minutes" program on CBS has such a high standard and is regarded with so much esteem. While the story is based on real-life incidents and hence is riveting, the movie did not impress me much especially in regards to Crowe's acting and Mann's directing. Crowe was tipped to get the Oscar for his performance but I dare say Richard Farnsworth easily merited the award over him though Kevin Spacey eventually walked away with the honour. Not surprisingly, he did not win the Oscar for a similarly overplayed performance in "A Beautiful Mind". I suspect if his mannerisms and tics in either movie are based on reality and find them distracting and insulting to the character. As for Mann, he relishes in over-stylising many scenes -- slow takes as Al Pacino walks out of the revolving door and ill-placed jazzy music in other parts of the movie.


The Royal Tenenbaums (17 February 2004)
There was so much promise in this movie as it started. For one thing, the director's reputation. I loved Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" and expected the same of this movie. For another, the starcast -- Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray and last, and possibly the least, Gwyneth Paltrow -- simply had to deliver. The movie even starts out well, in the delightfully quirky manner representative of Anderson, with fairy-tale settings in a quaint unnamed town in New England that has streets named after famous authors. But then, the story starts to get unnecessarily complicated and even that may be excused if it were not for the rather crashbang, abrupt way the subplots are solved and packed off in the end. Almost as if, the story had to be narrated in its limited time and the director was doodling around for the first three quarters of it. A sore disappointment, though the soundtrack is amazing as usual for which credit should go to Mark Mothersbaugh.

Cidade de Deus (13 February 2004)
Prasanna recommended this stunning movie a long time ago but warned that the movie was violent. That, coupled with my own lethargy, discouraged me from wanting to seek this movie proactively. I hate to admit it but the Oscar nominations that came its way and particularly Meirelles' reaction following that brought the movie back into my field of vision, and fortunately the theatres too. This movie is an excoriating look into the shocking undercurrent of violence in what Buscapé, the main character in the movie, calls a picture-postcard Rio. Vivek tells me that when he was there, he saw a shooting in the business district at 10.30 on a busy Monday morning. The movie is wickedly humorous and is styled much in the likes of Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" and particularly Guy Ritchie's "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" though admittedly darker and more cynical. Arun and I have now completely submitted to Latin American filmmaking artistry and it will be a while before anybody in the Northern Hemisphere can emulate Meirelles and Salles in their mastery over cinematography, visual effect and screenplay. Vivek claims watching this movie again was a purgatory experience that rinsed him of all the atrophy from living in LA. I do not know the Brazilian experience but, having seen this movie, I am dying to find out.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
This movie is an adaptation of Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". I kept postponing seeing this movie until I had read the book but that never came to be. The movie charts the life of a convict being evaluated for insanity in a mental asylum and how he rebels against the totalitarian regime of Nurse Ratched. A masterpiece handled capably by the one and only Milos Forman who is giving Billy Wilder a serious run for his money in his position as my all-time favourite filmmaker.

Designing Woman
They said "Designing Woman" put paid to all doubts about whether Gregory Peck can do slapstick comedy. They did indeed and he can do it as well as I can walk on a tightrope ten thousand feet above sea level on one leg. I have not seen him more misfit than when he forces himself to look silly as he utters the tripe from the script to Lauren Bacall. And what is with the pairing anyway? Bacall's androgenous voice in contrast with Peck's deep baritone voice only adds to the disbelief at the most miscast romantic couple if ever there was one.

Spartacus
Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus" was a slight disappointment considering that it starred Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov and Charles Laughton. Perhaps it was do with my getting used to the idea of Kubrick venturing to shoot a movie that would not have given him much scope by way of innovation. I also found out later that this was the only movie whose script Kubrick had no control over. Yet, the movie for all these foibles was a decent watch and Ustinov's officious disport and his sharp barbs with Laughton were brilliant. And I cannot stop without mentioning that the extended version that I saw contained Crassus' (played by Olivier) lines to Antoninus (played by Tony Curtis) about his affiliation towards bisexuality veiled thinly by mentioning his ease with eating both oysters and snails.

Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown
Pedro Almodovar's "Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown" is an amusing roller-coaster ride into the life of a TV star on the bounce, her trysts with the taxi driver, her frantic girlfriend and her lover's family. This being my first Almodovar, I cannot say how it compares with his other movies. It was alright as far as entertainment fare goes.

Z (24 January 2004)
A brilliant and tense political satire about the police state and its collusion with right-winged organisations to throttle the growth of communism in France. Good ensemble performance. It is interesting to note that both Costa-Gavras, the director, and Vassilis Vassilikos are Greek-French. Also, the plot is based loosely on a real-life incident in a similarly unnamed town in France.

Summertime (24 January 2004)
A big disappointment. Ought to be re-titled "See Venice with Katherine Hepburn". There is no chemistry between Hepburn and Rossanno Brazzi. The locales of Venice are well shot but little else about this movie warrants attention.

Mississippi Burning (13 January 2004)
This movie is based on the real-life investigation into the murder of three civil rights activists in 1964 in a small town in Mississippi. The movie brings to the fore all the ugly hatred and blind belief in white supremacy that much of the United States was plagued by in that era. Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe put in good performances. Although the movie tended to get preachy at times and rather starkly critical and contemptuous of the Southerners of that time, it was brilliantly made and captured well the essence of the real incidents.

The African Queen (12 January 2004)
A big letdown. From the man who made The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, The Asphalt Jungle and Beat The Devil, I expected more. A rather dated romance between Humphrey Bogart with wattles on his throat and a blanched Katharine Hepburn in the midst of a foolish adventure down the African rivers to blow up a German boat at the basin: how much more clichéd can it get?

The Big Lebowski (7 January 2004)
Another delectable masterpiece from the Coen brothers. The movie follows The Dude who also happens to be a Pasadena millionaire's namesake, Jeffrey Lebowski but prefers to be called The Dude. Some goons keep roughing him up and urinating on his rug which "ties the room together", a woman wants to conceive with him, he is asked to make a ransom hand-off to rescue a nymphomaniac and all this happens just before the bowling league. But The Dude takes it easy. A brilliant movie with amazing dialogue and fantastic performances from Jeff Bridges and John Goodman. The movie resembles, in parts, Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep" and this was confirmed in an interview of the Coen brothers.

Kaakha Kaakha
This was a surprisingly good action movie in Tamil, with good performances from Surya and the rest of his crack team in the police crime branch. The best Tamil movie I have seen in a long time and easily the best Indian movie amongst those released last year.

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (19 December 2003)
In some sense, it was a return for me too. Two years ago, at about the same time, Arun, Manu and I dragged a reluctant PK and Prashanth to see this movie in Santa Barbara. We sat in similar seats -- front row left of the huge screen. I slept through the initial part of the movie on account of tiredness from the day's hike to Mt. Baldy. On the whole, I found the movie a bit disappointing. I shall invoke the je ne sais quoi though since I do not exactly know what felt void -- perhaps it was the exasperation from seeing the same old characters, perhaps the overwhelming special effects or perhaps the emphasis on grandeur of scale than on character sketches which is the spirit of Tolkien's work. Peter Jackson seems to have conveniently overlooked the allegory and the heavy metaphor the books conveyed and has gone instead for re-interpreting it in a manner more conducive and more lucrative to today's tastes. Call me snobbish, but it was disconcerting to see such a masterful tale being sold and pandered to a largely clueless audience -- the ejaculation of "she's hot" from someone in the front row upon the first appearance of Liv Tyler in the movie being a case in point.

People vs Larry Flynt
This brilliant movie left me impressed with Milos Forman. In recent times, I have come into contact with "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "People vs Larry Flynt", "Man on the Moon" and "Amadeus" -- all the very best of Milos Forman and the very best of cinema. The movie depicts Larry Flynt as a shrewd, manipulative and self-obsessed liberal who successfully managed to build his porn empire purely by virtue of the United States' conscientious affirmation to the protection of free speech. It cannot be denied though that what he fought for (it was a landmark Supreme Court decision that overturned Gerry Falwell's defamation suit against Larry Flynt) was a much cherished ideal and he deserves to be applauded. Woody Harrelson, Edward Norton and Courtney Love turn in stellar performances.

Patton (30 November 2003)
Patton and his once-upon-a-time deputy Gen. Omar Bradley present a similar study in character as do Sgt. Barnes and Sgt. Elias in "Platoon". Patton, as Bradley put it, loved his job while Bradley was trained for it. The movie explores the last four years in Patton's life and brings out all the charisma, eccentricity, belligerence and delusion that identified him. A grand motion picture that deserved all its plaudits although George Scott refused his "Best actor" award terming the whole event a "meat parade".

Kal Ho Naa Ho (28 November 2003)
I am ashamed I saw this movie and that too within days of its release. I feel like one of those wastrels that would spend his month's wages to watch a crass Bollywood movie first day first show. Movies like "Kal Ho Naa Ho" are the reason why movies like "Pinjar" go unappreciated and skeptically viewed. Now that all the venom has been spent, I should mention a few positive things about it. The movie was irreparably damaged by Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar (I am willing to exonerate the director Nikhil Advani though not without a reprobation for having sold his soul to the mindless formulaic film-making machinery that Karan Johar and his kith have come to symbolise, and that too only because Advani co-wrote the screenplay for the brilliant "Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin") but what saves it from any blushes is the brilliant and effortless performance of Saif Ali Khan. I always knew that all that blue blood from his father and level-headedness from his mother would amount to something. The movie additionally has some extremely hilarious moments though at the expense of lame jokes about homosexuality and blunt stereotyping of the Gujarati community in America. The music however does not seem to suffer from any such hang-ups. The same cannot be said of the lyrics.

Platoon (27 November 2003)
Oliver Stone's second movie in his trilogy on Vietnam is a stark and guilt-laden commentary on the rape of a young soldier's innocence. Supposedly a retelling of Stone's personal experiences in Vietnam, this movie brings to the fore the atrocity and savagery of war. Of most interest is the dichotomy brought out by Berenger's Sgt. Barnes and Dafoe's Sgt. Elias. The two are hardened war veterans but the former is a brutal, merciless and calculating killing machine while the latter is a considerate and just soldier. Great performances all round, although I still think "Full Metal Jacket" was a more complete Vietnam movie. "Platoon" occasionally strays into melodrama, relies on gross and blunt picturisation of the worst things in war for its effect and suggests ever so slightly that the United States was the only culprit.

Gangaajal
Yet another movie about Bihar, corrupt police officers, power-drunk politicians and kingmakers. The movie seemed to be making a point about the pointlessness in waging a battle against the elements but halfway through is seized by a bout of self-righteousness and makes a pig's breakfast of the remaining half pandering to cheap, clichéd resolutions to the problems it exposes. Ajay Devgan is wasted in his role though he does play it well. Gracy Singh makes no impact on the movie by dint of her insignificant character and her clumsy acting style.

The English Patient (23 November 2003)
This is the screen adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's "The English Patient", the story of a Hungarian Egyptologist who is on his deathbed, his face badly scarred. He is nursed by a French Canadian nurse who is losing her only companion through the war -- hope. The monastery that she has temporarily taken hold of is visited upon by a Canadian spy who has connections with the dying man and an Indian landmine expert who does not know if he will return in the evening after searching for and defusing landmines planted in fields, under the pianos and in wells. The novel is a beautifully written masterpiece and the movie does it justice. A great ensemble performance, but Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes deserve special mention.

Pinjar (22 November 2003)
This movie was a pleasant surprise. I walked in expecting to see a typical Bollywood mish-mash of glycerine-induced pathos, ridiculous songs and dances and the customary violence but instead there is this exquisitely crafted gem. The movie is based on Amrita Pritam's novel "Pinjar" which is evident from the powerful, poetic dialogue and is directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi. The story is set around the Partition era. For people like me who were born a generation after Partition and so spatially remote from it, there is not the same element of pain and anguish as there would be for our parents and grandparents and those that subsequently grew up suffering from it. It was a sordid episode in Indian history which I feel sorry not to be able to connect to (although there is the shameful episode of Gujarat). Asides aside, this movie explores the Partition and the insular social norms of that age perceptively without betraying a bias to any convictions. A few gripes with the movie though were its length (194 mins), the song and dance sequences (though the Qawwali was exceptionally good) and Priyanshu Chatterjee. It must however be said that Chatterjee is expected to play a big formless idiot incapable of portraying any emotion or intellect which he does effortlessly. Urmila Matondkar is a revelation and Manoj Bajpai acquits himself creditably.

Destry Rides Again (21 November 2003)
This movie was supposedly the forerunner to all Western comedies. It stars James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. About Dietrich, I quote Arun who saw her for the first time in this movie: "In my childhood days, I read so much about Marlene Dietrich's legs in Reader's Digest. I now see why." And needless to say, yet another brilliant performance from my favourite hero. There isn't much comedy but I did find why it was a forerunner with The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and High Noon drawing material aplenty from it.

Beat the Devil (20 November, 2003)
John Huston directed this movie and co-wrote the script with Truman Capote. The movie is a farce about itself and John Huston, making light of his earlier film noirs, Key Largo, The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Interestingly, all three starred Bogart and so does this. The movie has a weak premise with too many twists to savour and has rather a disenchanted look to it almost as if it was made half-asleep. Nonetheless, it is redeemed by great acting by Robert Morley and Jennifer Jones. I bought the DVD for four bucks and I think them well-spent.

Mulholland Dr. (15 November, 2003)
I was more than tempted to say merely, "No comment". But this movie caused me great angst during the time I watched it and I am not going to let go easily. It came with high recommendations. Make sense of the movie if you can. And I am not the one to let a challenge go by. But I wasn't good at second guessing David Lynch. The movie's premise deserves plaudits and there are many other movies with near similar themes that I suspect it is inspired from. So much so that I think there should be a separate genre of such movies -- the ones that take delight in hoodwinking the viewer. It would be very crude to call this a sleight-of-hand, a legerdemain, a cheap prestidigitation stunt. But I suppose that was what it was.

Gaslight (8 November, 2003)
A brilliant movie starring Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and the fantastic Charles Boyer. Bergman stars as a loving, unsure and nervous woman fraught with anxiety as she returns to her aunt's house in Thornton Square with her new husband upon his insistence. Ten years prior to that, her aunt had been mysteriously murdered and the case remained unsolved. Boyer who plays Bergman's husband slowly arrests Bergman mentally convincing her of her slow deterioration into derangement with the help of trifling instances of staged robberies, faked episodes she has no "recollection" of and intimidation by the newly hired housemaid played superbly by Angela Lansbury. And with reason too. George Cukor does a Hitchcock-ian turn with this movie and revels in it. Bergman went on to capture the Oscar while Lansbury got a nomination for her debut role. But the real star of the show is Boyer whose cold, sinister look is more than enough to curdle the blood.

Glengarry Glen Ross
Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, Jonathan Pryce. So the acting is pretty much beyond comment. The movie is about a night in the lives of a couple of real-estate salesmen who are under fire to sell land with the "leads" (prospective clients) they have. The narrative is taut, the dialogue intense. One begins to feel strangely sympathetic to the cause of these much-harried salesmen and yet wary of their cunning gifts of persuasion and affable manner. One of the best movies I've seen in recent times.

Lost in Translation
This completes the series of movies in or about Japan that I have seen over the past month. Lost in Translation is a funny, if a bit over-stretched, take on life and culture in Japan. It re-asserts a few points that I observed in Kill Bill and presents some of its own conclusions. Perhaps, it will help the viewer to watch the movie equipped with the knowledge that it probably was intended to be more of a documentary film than a film that is incidentally a documentary. Bill Murray is exceptionally good in his role and Scarlet Johansson is impressive though not in the same league.

Jackie Brown
Quentin Tarantino's "second movie". Having watched two and a half of his remaining movies, I more or less knew what to expect of Jackie Brown. It once again goes about describing in sordid and over-stylised detail the life of a fictitious gangster who is curiously well-tuned to pop-culture. Tarantino has made an art of glossing inconsequential pieces of the story with heavy doses of witty dialogue or brilliant music so much so that it seems to gel in well with the rest of the narrative. In Jackie Brown, this is a bit overdone. A movie that ought to have been shown and told in less than an hour instead yawns over 2.5 hours and by the time one nears the end of the movie, one is frustrated at having spent so much time merely to satisfy someone's egoistic indulgence.

Kill Bill (Volume 1) (October 11 2003)
We now come to the only reason I had to review all the other movies in one sitting. Pompously paraded as Quentin Tarantino's 4th movie, Kill Bill (Vol. 1) is one of the best half-movies I've seen in recent times. Some perspective first. I saw and thoroughly enjoyed Pulp Fiction and groaned along with everyone else when Forrest Gump got the Oscar instead of Pulp Fiction or Shawshank Redemption (the latter no doubt being my choice). I saw and thoroughly loathed Reservoir Dogs inasmuch as it was hailed as the modern version of The Asphalt Jungle (a far better movie by all counts). Tarantino has worked hard to ensure that his movies defy any typification. It worked with Pulp Fiction and it has worked spectacularly with Kill Bill. If you don't want to read further, here's a one-line sum-up: the movie is Tarantino's paean to Japan, the art of fighting, Uma Thurman, the 70s, anime and inadvertently Bollywood.

The premise is quite simple and reminiscent of many Hindi movies and the Westerns before them. Hero is nearly killed and his family wiped out, so he sets out to take revenge. The givens: there is no attenuation in his fighting skills and there is no lawmaker to haul him in, akin to the Wild West. Tarantino brings about a subtle alteration and goes for a female protagonist instead. Uma Thurman is The (pregnant) Bride. She used to be part of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad but now wants to hang her boots up, marry and settle down. Bill, her boss isn't too pleased and teams up with the rest of the squad to wipe her out alongwith her entire family in a small church in El Paso, TX. The movie opens with Thurman profusely bleeding and pleading for her life with Bill. She mutters a half-sentence when all of a sudden a loud bang renders her mute. In inimitable Texan style and allusive to the Coen brothers' style of movie-making, we learn that The Bride is alive when she spits out a glob of blood at an admiring Texas ranger knelt beside her. That was four years ago. In a decrepit and abandoned room of coma patients, a mosquito injects its proboscis into pale skin and its sting wakes The Bride up. This sets up the prologue for the enthralling remainder of the movie.

The movie is full of subtle references and throwbacks to an era bygone in the United States. First and foremost amongst these is the music. Does Tarantino have a taste for music! The opening tune, "Bang Bang" sung liltingly by Nancy Sinatra as the credits roll brings out the melancholy and irony of the church scene. Each of the fight sequences is neatly choreographed with only the aptest piece. The fight sequence between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii for instance, starts off with slow flamenco guitar to mimick the deliberative stage where the fighters size each other up and make delicate circles in the snow. It steps up to soft rock (uncertain of sub-genre) with quick beats as the advances and retreats begin and then reverts to a slow tune at conclusion. The band at the House of Blue Leaves in Tokyo is a bunch of barefoot women strumming vigorously on the guitar as their delirious Americophile listeners do their shake-a-leg routines in a mish-mash of disco and swing. Truly, what better way to capture the essence of the 70s than to have it done by the Japanese who love it most and are content to be trapped in a bubble frozen in time.

The essence of Kill Bill is in its fights. There are knife-fights, duels with Samurai swords, astounding gymnastics that match with any given Jackie Chan movie. There is even a scene which is an unintentional homage to Bollywood. The scene involves The Bride single-handedly taking on O-Ren Ishii's entire brigade of funny-looking trained fighters and ultimately brutally slaying or maiming each one of them. Of special note is the bloodspurt which also features in the anime clip detailing O-Ren Ishii's tale. Now, this is easily the most convincing argument that all the violence depicted in the movie was merely an over-exaggeration and a subtle spoof of the so-called action genre of movies. I thought the bloodspurt idea was simply brilliant and every time a slash across the flesh led to a geyser of red liquid erupting accompanied by the sound of liquid gurgling and splashing on the floor, it had me in splits. And finally, I have heard arguments on both sides regarding casting Uma Thurman as The Bride. Personally, although I did notice that she was a bit unseemly during all the martial arts sequences I thought that in totality she did justice to her role. And of course, there's always the clincher: this ain't the whole movie yet! Looking forward to Kill Bill, Vol. II. (I do wish they could have done without the twist to the tale though.)

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (October 10/11 2003)
What was all the fuss about this movie? So, it is anime and its Japanese and it has John Lasseter as its executive producer. That's still no reason to rant and rave about it as though it were a watershed moment in cinema. I am no fan of anime (why is it that people like it? It can't be because its difficult to do which it isn't. More often than not, sketches depicting any change in emotion in the character's face have only to be modified with the mouth evolving from a straight line to a big black ellipse. And any movement is a sequence of three discrete stills relying on the viewer to take it in like a flicker-book. It can't be because of the Bambi eyes -- Bambi has them too. I have an even more perverse theory about it being Oriental and involving cute little girls which I am inclined to believe in by dint of Holmes' maxim about what remains after eliminating the impossible being true however improbable it may sound). It stretches out so thin and so incoherently as if it were a misplaced dream sequence reproduced moment by moment. Perhaps Pokemon fans would appreciate it better but I can't relate to them, they measure up only to my knees. Strangely, or perhaps not surprisingly, this movie pipped Titanic to become the biggest blockbuster in Japan. Only that statistic does credit to it, I'd rather have this than Titanic being the most adored movie in any country.

Spellbound (October 2003)
Hitchcock, Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman. So it should be surprising why I hadn't watched this earlier. That was on account of some tepid accounts some of my friends gave of the movie. The movie has Peck arriving at a hospital masquerading as Dr. Edwarde, a psychiatrist who is to take over as the new head of the psychiatry department. Ingrid Bergman -- one of the resident psychiatrists who is unfortunately stereotyped as the cool, unromantic and sound doctor of Teutonic descent falls for Peck's looks and Peck's books. But Peck is not who he pretends to be and furthermore, he is visited by strange nightmares and Bergman takes it upon her to cure him and unravel the mystery locked up within him as well as without involving the disappearance of the original Dr. Edwarde. Arguably not amongst Hitchcock's masterpieces, this movie nonetheless presents some interesting tidbits about psychoanalysis (at least enough for some amateur attempts). Of course, no talk of this movie is complete without mention of the fact that Dr. Edwarde's dream sequence was based on art by Salvador Dali. There, I shall now be looked upon sympathetically at the gates of Heaven.

Calcutta Mail (September 2003) This movie stars Anil Kapoor who arrives in Calcutta to search for his son who has been kidnapped by some Patna henchman. There are some unnecessary elements -- Rani Mukherjee, the songs and Manisha Koirala in that order. The intent was there to make a good movie but it looked rather too hurried and ended up being dominated by Anil Kapoor who assumes a larger-than-life character.

Premada Kaanike (September 2003)
Yet another Kannada movie, this time starring Rajkumar. The movie begins promisingly with a murder committed on a train witnessed by Arati who is on her way with her nephew (who I suspect is really a girl in boy's clothes. Why was it that girls were used to masquerade as boys in the olden days? Was it because they looked more presentable or was it because boys were simply a nuisance to work with?) to take up the job of a governess in Rajkumar's mansion. No prizes for guessing who the murderer was -- Rajkumar himself. The rest of the movie outlines how Rajkumar was compelled to do what he did and how Arati is confused by his persona. For a Rajkumar movie, this was one of the better ones I have seen ever since colour entered Indian cinema (the earlier black-and-white movies of Rajkumar's are my favourites, seeing as they were mostly based on folklore and mythology). Of course, the highlight of the movie is the enchanting music. Worthy of particular mention is "Baani gondu" sung by Rajkumar.

Udbhava (September 8 2003)
I am a die-hard Anant Nag fan. He is probably the foremost character actor in the Kannada movie scene. He has great poise, dialogue delivery and a firm deep voice. Udbhava, starring Anant Nag, is a brilliant poltico-social satire and a great commentary on the gullibility of a major section of the Indian middle-class especially when it comes to religion. The story reverberates with many instances of trenchant humour so typical of Saki and Orwell. Anant Nag essays the role of an extremely shrewd and cunning backstage politician and kingmaker. When an accident occurs on the road where he stays, he is intrigued by the comment of the involved motorcyclist who mentions that the accident wouldn't have happened had the road been broader. And that sets off a hilarious con act inflicted upon the neighbourhood with Anant Nag performing merely the role of a well-wisher, a samaaja-sevaka (social worker) with a roof on his head and yeradu ganda makkalu (two sons). The dialogue is sardonic and crisp. With Ashwath, Dinesh and Balakrishna in addition to Anant Nag, the acting is non-pareil. A must-watch for any Kannada movie fan, and especially an Anant Nag fan. Other delectable Anant Nag movies are Beladingala Baale, Gowri Ganesha, Ganeshana Madhuve and many others that I have doubtless seen but forgotten the names of.

Teen Deewarein (September 6 2003)
I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. This is Nagesh Kukunoor's third movie and from what I could make of the buzz the movie generated, it was supposed to be one of the best movies made in recent times in India. The movie stars Naseeruddin Shah, Jackie Shroff, Nagesh Kukunoor and Juhi Chawla. It depicts the life and times of three prisoners on death row in a prison in Hyderabad -- one of them eagerly awaiting the noose, one who thinks he is innocent and one who thinks of the prison and his impending sentence as a passing phase and a joke he indulges in with the cops. But the movie also attempts to look beyond these prisoners and makes a feeble attempt to portray hardships faced by prisoners in a "typical" Indian prison (I say "typical" because few other prisons in Hyderabad or the rest of the country for that matter, have people so fluent in both Hindi and English). There is some black humour, some sentimental claptrap, some cheap thrills and some really bad poetry. That said, I am guilty of comparing this movie with a few other prison movies of an entirely different sphere -- "Shawshank Redemption", "The Green Mile", "American History X" (some of it) and "Dead Man Walking" (so others tell me, I haven't seen it myself) and incidentally Nagesh Kukunoor's movie comes across as a slick mish-mash of all these. When viewed in the perspective of humdrum Hindi cinema, this is quite an innovative movie and the attempt is laudable. As far as acting honours go, Naseeruddin Shah and Juhi Chawla take the lion's share of the plaudits. Jackie Shroff is as usual wooden. Nagesh Kukunoor is quite refreshingly er... Gult!

The Player (August 30/31 2003)
Robert Altman. Tim Robbins. That was enough to have me want to watch this one. Neat story but a bit over the top, clichéd take on how stories are made into movies in Hollywood and the private lives of its movers and shakers. I hated the movie-within-a-movie involution though.

Almost Famous (August 30 2003)
Reasonably good movie, although I liked High Fidelity which is based on a similar theme. But given that the movie was almost entirely based on true incidents in the early life of Cameron Crowe, it definitely merits a viewing. Great acting by Frances McDormand (I loved the way the opening credits have her name scribbled in a pencil with an "i" in Frances hastily etched out and replaced with an "e"), Patrick Fugit and Billy Crudup. I wasn't too enthralled by Kate Hudson. Every time she said something, she giggled as though she were going to stretch out and yawn next.

The Two Towers (August 29 2003)
Finally, I exorcised my LoTR ghosts. There was a period when I positively hated myself for instantly liking Fellowship of the Ring. But then a third viewing somewhat lessened the guilt and even aroused curiosity about the second part which I had steadfastly avoided hitherto. The movie turned out quite well, I thought it a tad stretched out with many redundant scenes. Better than the first part at least in that the violence was less graphic, or so I thought.

Mr Smith Goes to Washington (August 16 2003)
My second viewing of the movie and I found it refreshing and invigorating as ever. Granted Jean Arthur is a ham in her part, and granted some of the scenes designed to be humorous didn't come off that way, but James Stewart's stellar performance dwarfs absolutely everything else cheesy about this movie. What a performance from him and from Claude Rains.

Bound
Another of Prasanna's recommendations. This is the debut for the Wachowski brothers of "The Matrix" fame. Its been downhill all the way since. The movie has a flimsy opening note, a taut spine, and a tame ending. I had no idea what the lesbian angle had to do with the rest of the movie. For my money, they could just as well have been Thelma and Louise. The dialogues were amongst the worst I've heard in a long time, and are especially jarring when delivered in Violet's grating voice. However, the movie has its surprises and twists though I wasn't too impressed.

Blood Simple (August 9, 2003)
I watched this movie on Prasanna's recommendation. After a wave of foreign films on seemingly lighter shades of human character, this noirish movie came as a jolt. Perhaps I have been out of noir for some time now, but I found the movie too stretched out, intricate and confusing. There are perhaps at most forty lines of dialogue in the movie and some may say that that in itself adds to the effect, but I thought it unnecessarily Spartan. On the whole, my first impressions weren't too favourable. Perhaps it shall grow on me upon multiple viewings, though I think not.

Bacheha-Ye aseman (Children of Heaven)
Majid Majidi's second internationally-acclaimed masterpiece (the other one being "Color of paradise"). A very sweet, yet stark movie that relates what happens when a boy loses his sister's new shoes and how they keep it concealed from their father because they realise there isn't enough money in the house to get a new pair. The tale is told with great pathos and captures excellently the innocence and sometimes precociousness children can display.

Le Goût des autres (The Taste of Others)
The French are brilliant with ensemble pieces about complicated romances and portrayal of life in the complex mesh of petite bourgeoise and high art. This movie was a perfect specimen of this. Very elegantly acted out with a nice screenplay.

Abre los ojos (Open your eyes)
The original on which "Vanilla Sky" was based. The movie was alright although I went in with too much expectation. Nothing much comes of showing fantasy/sci-fi movies to geeks. The end was so predictable that I never expected it coming.

Abril Despedaçado (Behind the Sun) (July 18, 2003)
Yet another movie from Walter Salles ("Central Station"). As Arun put it, it had a good dose of magical realism in it. Poetic and understatedly brutal. Not as good as "Central Station", in spite of its nice parallel allegory.

Zir-e poost-e shahr (Under the skin of the City) (July 15, 2003)
A stark, well-shot Iranian movie. Someone remarked that the only two genres of movies one can make in Iran are 1) religion/metaphysicism and 2) the Revolution and its consequences. That explains the energy and perfection in the movies that are made.

Central Station (Some time last week: July 4-11, 2003)
Must-watch for all foreign movie aficionados. About the relationship between a self-serving retired school teacher, now letter writer at Rio's Central Station, and a young boy.

Breakfast At Tiffany's (May 12/13 2002)
Up until the last ten minutes of "Breakfast At Tiffany's", I was absolutely baffled at why this movie wasn't being rated a classic. And then the last few mushy scenes undid it all. And what's more, the movie is particularly loyal to the written word up until (of course) how it ends. Still, the movie was particularly delightful to watch, especially Audrey Hepburn playing Holly Golightly. Its her movie and hers alone. She fits the role of a self-delusioned (childish in a way) New York middle-class loner wanting to break into the ranks of an unattainable higher rank. I think the love angle between her and her writer-neighbour was secondary. The director thought otherwise. What a waste to such a good story.

Spider-Man (May 11 2002)
Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" fits quite well into the mould of the conventional superhero movies. Its made box-office history raking in as much as 120 million dollars within days of its opening. While the surrounding hype and the reputation of the comic-book preceding it did much to help, a significant portion of credit should go to Tobey Maguire and the rest of the cast. Much has already been said about Maguire's acting potential, and I shan't bore the passer-by any further with my encomiums. Let it be said though, that I am looking forward to (hopefully) intelligent movies from Tobey Maguire. Overall, an enjoyable movie, its sentimental cliches notwithstanding.

Company (May 3 2002)
After nearly three weeks without a single movie, I _had_ to watch a good one to make amends. "Company" from Ram Gopal Varma is a stylish, sophisticated sequel to his earlier work, "Satya". The movie itself is about the corporatisation of the Mumbai underworld and plots the rise and fall of a local hoodlum. The movie is fast paced, with some stunning visuals. But what really makes the movie great are the awesome performances from virtually everybody; Vivek Oberoi, Ajay Devgun, (needless to say) Mohanlal, Seema Biswas, Antara Mali, Manisha Koirala... In particular, Ajay Devgun has played the role of his lifetime, and it made me wonder what on earth has he been doing so long? Vivek Oberoi is of course, a revelation. One only hopes that he does not fall into the mire of cheap cinema. About the plot, Varma continues from where he left in Satya. While Satya portrayed the brutalities of the underworld more explicitly and focussed on happenings-on within Mumbai, Company goes one step beyond. It is widely rumoured that the movie was modeled on the fallout between Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan. Of course, the moral is that crime doesn't pay. And this is portrayed tellingly by a shaken, changed Chandu (Vivek Oberoi) as he is hit with destruction all around him. A definite must watch.

Shadow of a Doubt (April 15 2002)
"Shadow of a Doubt" is another of Hitchcock's early masterpieces. The premise is bringing murder and stealth to an unsuspecting, "average" good-natured family in a small town in the form of a visiting uncle. Uncle Charlie is one of two men suspected of having committed a series of murders. When he comes a-visiting his nearest of kin: his voluble but sweet sister and his dearest niece Charlie, there seems nothing wrong. But slowly, young Charlie begins to suspect and that's the high point of the movie; the fall from innocence to a foul world of lies and treachery. It also marks the coming of age of young Charlie; she is now a full-fledged woman, the "head of the family" who has taken it upon herself to resolve this issue but shield her unsuspecting, weak-hearted mother. Great camera angles, a wonderful screenplay, and of course brilliant acting from Joseph Cotten.

Brazil (April 11 2002)
Emancipation. That's one word that I could think of after having watched Brazil. Terry Gilliam transports the viewer into a dark, frighteningly impending future, where it is hard to tell, when will the bubble break if at all it will. The story of a delusioned meek bureaucrat caught in a bizarre, contorted whirlpool of comical monopoly and endless escapades, as related in Brazil comes across more as a brutally plausible insight into the possibilities of how the future might shape up. The title is quite apt, as it represents (according to Gilliam) the inevitable lapse into a magical, timeless Utopia upon the rhythmic, titillating strains of "Brazil". Coming to the movie itself, there is some great use of colours and artwork that can only be the hallmark of a perceptive eccentric that Gilliam is. His world of "somewhere in the 20th century" comprises of windowless dungeons, an oblivious (almost drugged) people and an anarchic leviathan state portrayed in ethereal blue. But there run two themes in parallel, both of course, representing the hallucinations of the hero. He is constantly transported into a dream where he has to save a mysterious beautiful woman but has to fight an invisible, omniscient beast (an obvious metaphor standing for the battle of the individual against a suppressive, imperious collective organization). There are also frequent runs-in with a vigilante superhero heat engineer who represents the latent freelancer non-conformist in him. But, in the end, as the tagline puts it so succinctly, its all a state of mind. Gilliam has used black comedy as a wonderful sweetener to coat his deliverance of a bleak sentence that we may have to serve. Comparisons are inevitable, one would say this is the prequel to Gilliam's even more telling visions of the future as captured in "Twelve Monkeys", definitely a huge step-up from Monty Python; the only other movies of his that I've watched.

Sexy Beast (April 6 2002)
Sexy Beast is a gross, supposedly British gangster movie. I found it inconsistent and hedonistic. The story is supposed to revolve around a retired gangster who is wanted by neurotic Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) for a crack job. While the premise is definitely worth a movie, this was definitely not it. To start with, the movie tries to be funny: the boulder scene, the failed hunting expedition and Don Logan's eccentricity. But its interspersed with (ugh!) mushy romantic interludes, superfluous sentiment and all about a bunch of pleasure-loving hoodlums. There really is no focus in the movie, it starts of with the "protagonist", then Don Logan, then the past life of each of the characters, the crack job (which is portrayed in a pathetically abrupt manner) and, beat this, the "protagonist"'s hallucinations with the "Beast". Utter garbage.

Bullets over Broadway (April 1 2002)
Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway" is a wonderful, and witty characterisation of the typical Broadway play. But more than that, its a tribute as are all Allen's movies, to New York; with its high-priest elitism, its murky mafia and yet, its surreal under-appreciated brilliance. The movie relates the story of a "genius" playwright whose play is finally financed by an underworld don in return for a part for his girl. Joining her is an "impressive" cast including a fastly fading yet gifted actress, a chirpy socialite and a bulging middle-aged Briton fresh from a strictly controlled diet. Through John Cusack, Allen portrays shades of himself; the self-deprecating and confused humour. Dianne Wiest represents the consummate self-serving, shrewd actress leveraging Cusack's fixation on herself to twist the play to revolve around her. But the star of the movie is easily Cheech, played with ease by Chazz Palmintieri: a no-nonsense, practical hitman who ends up rehashing the original script to a more appreciated tale. The camerawork gives one the feeling of being part of the backstage audience. Overall, good show.

Sunset Blvd. (March 29 2002)
Following the death of Billy Wilder, I simply had to see what is commonly regarded as his masterpiece (although I think that title is uniformly held by quite a few of his movies). Sunset Blvd. is a reflection on the harsh mistress that Hollywood is. It presents, in a rather hard-hitting manner, the lunacy of a yesteryear star. At the same time, through the character of Max the butler, Billy Wilder depicts an even more cynical take on the delusions of the celluloid screen. The last act in the movie is particularly acerbic.. people who've seen it know what I mean.

Traffic (March 25 2002)
Traffic is a brutal and in a way, shrewd depiction of the much-debated spectre of drugs in the US. Based on a documentary series, this movie adopts the episodic device to present the different angles of the problem. The movie is directed by a suave Steven Soderbergh who won the Oscar for his effort. I think he deserved it, and the movie surely ought to have won the Best Picture award too. Michael Douglas and Benicio Del Toro put in some top class acting. In fact Del Toro virtually swept all the other acting awards too.

Ghost World (March 22 2002)
Ghost World is a funny realistic take on the transitional phase of two teenagers in America. What distinguishes them is that they loath the numbness of hip-hop music and Britney Spears that affects all others around them. While one of them is fiercely set on independence and has a grip on the real world of adults, the other is in a strange warp caught between sneering at her haplessly hypnotized peers and being equally cynical of a delusioned adult world. She just cannot see herself coming to terms with a society that happens to be boring and absolutely cliched, and in this little tumult of hers, she manages to tweak around with the lives of a lot of people around her. Based on the comic book series (which I haven't read), this is an insight into the slow stultification of society and the angst it causes for people who don't know where they fit in. There's some really great acting from Thora Birch and the amazing Steve Buscemi. I thought the movie's conclusion was as indecisive as the protagonist in it but maybe, it was intended.

M*A*S*H (March 17 2002)
Robert Altman's brilliant satirical masterpiece is one of the most talked about movies right from the day it released till date. Altman used his movie to lampoon America's role in Vietnam and does so with great aplomb. MASH is the story of a group of dexterous, irreverent army surgeons in a war-torn Korea (a very obvious insinuation to Vietnam). They go about their lives as if nothing had ever happened, and they are transported to just another (pardon the pun) operation theatre. Replete with sexual innuendoes and cynical humour, MASH was more than just a comedy; it was the pacifists' best mouthpiece against Vietnam. It was a roaring success, surprising as there was a time when Altman feared his movie would never see the light of day. Altman's non-interference and unconventional direction led to disputes with the movie's two main actors (Don Sutherland and Elliott Gould who tried to get him fired) and with Ring Lardner Jr. who pencilled the screenplay. Nonetheless, it has gone on to be an unforgettable classic.

Charade (March 17 2002)
This is easily the deliberately-silly-yet-funniest movie I've watched in a long time. Quite reminiscent of the kind that Bollywood used to serve up before the long tongue-twisters took over (the ones replete with a picnic outing in front of a studio, tight bell-bottoms, boogie-woogie and rich sound effects for the fight scenes), this movie stars Audrey Hepburn and (sigh) Cary Grant who looks the handsomer with his lush greying hair.

Gosford Park (March 16 2002)
This is a stylish movie about the distinct existence of many fine-grained class layers in early twentieth-century England society, a time when the last vestiges of the Raj were still prominent and steadfastly held onto. And oh, of course, there's a murder mystery. The more the movie played out, the more I thought it being straight out of a typical Agatha Christie Poirot novel, and hence the more I loved it. Peppered with some real biting wit, thanks to an amazing Maggie Smith, and also served up with stellar performances from the graceful Helen Mirren, the cute Kelly MacDonald and... oh yes, the Americans.

The Shining (March 15 2002)
Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's novel by the same name is a true milestone in horror movies. The setting, the shots, Jack Nicholson and King's chilling story-telling creates all in all a really scary visual experience. And I think it sort of cements Kubrick's class, since it proves he's a master of every genre of movies (Full Metal Jacket, Dr Strangelove, Paths of Glory, The Shining... whew!). This is probably amongst King's early works since there's no outward reference to Maine, but nonetheless amongst his most scary. Although, I must add, that there were elements in the book (and hence the movie) that seemed to suggest nether-worldly actions, which I thought the movie could very well have done without. It sort of robs the plot of all its effect.

The Sweet Hereafter (March 14/15 2002)
This is a movie in the likes of Magnolia. I thought the thrust of the movie was in portraying the reluctant transition an adolescent girl makes from her childhood innocence to harsh, lonely adulthood albeit on her own terms. But there are a couple of side-plots along the way. The premise is this, there is a tragic schoolbus accident and lots of people in a small community lose their kids. Ian Holm, a high-flying "ambulance-chaser" comes and attempts to sue whoever is responsible for the accident. The movie depicts the silent undercurrents stirred up owing to the different reasons people want to join the suit. The movie is brilliant, especially for streamlining the plot with Robert Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin". That's a true flash of genius. Especially since this metaphorical allusion isn't present in the book.

Four Weddings and a Funeral (March 14 2002)
Reasonably decent if only for everybody else in the movie other than Hugh Grant. Actually, that's not being fair, he does a good job too.. or rather, of what is expected of him. Funny in many parts, a bit of an overdose of sentiment towards the end.

Alien (March 10 2002)
Alien is one hell of a chilling and claustrophobic movie. There are definite signs of a greater epic of Ridley Scott, Bladerunner that was to follow. While the story is amazingly spine-tingling, its the unbelievable special effects that make the movie a masterpiece... and this was way back in 1979. Scott's vision of space travel and its concomitant sociological impacts and the influence of artificial intelligence in shaping human endeavors is very much believable and starkly depressing.

Adam's Rib (March 3 2002)
This is a reasonably funny movie with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in it. The chemistry between these two legends is simply the best onscreen chemistry I've ever seen. They are so made for each other. Though I must admit, the storyline is a bit flimsy (particularly, the basis of Katharine Hepburn's defense of the accused... women's lib and the like), the saucy, high-society dialogue between the two is enough to warrant watching the movie.

The Manchurian Candidate (March 2/3 2002)
This movie was the forerunner of various conspiracy-theory plots we see today. A chilling tale of an army "hero" who is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving the lives of his men in Korea, and the recurring nightmares of a Major. This movie still retains the same frightening political insinuations today as it did then. A well-made movie, with brilliant performances from Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury.

Lawrence of Arabia (February 26 2002)
After watching "Bridge on the River Kwai", I simply had to watch "Lawrence of Arabia" again. And it only confirmed my observation about "Bridge...". Peter O' Toole has the penchant of playing oftentimes the most complex of characters (this and "Lion in Winter"). As a story, "Lawrence of Arabia" is the tale of the journey of a man whose keen intellect and enormous willpower shaped history, from his sense of adventure, to painful self-inflictions of redemption and finally a sadistic, brutal urge to destroy. It is a recounting of the bitter conflicts that raged on in Arabia and in the hearts of those who engineered them. Stellar character sketches from the incomparable Alec Guinnes (who, as the Sheikh emerges the ultimate Machiavelli), Claude Rains, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif and of course, Peter O' Toole.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (February 22 2002)
There are startling similarities between "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Lawrence of Arabia". Both portray the megalomania and an inflated ego of individuals leading them to perform seemingly impossible feats. And in a starkly comical way, both show how the ends to great things can come in quite the most freakish manner. This movie, I'd say is a much more overt and acerbic piece of cynicism about the war than "Paths of Glory" was. An awesome movie, rounded my weekend off perfectly.

Amadeus (February 21 2002)
Another of Milos Forman's masterpieces. Excellently adapted from the Peter Shaffer play. This is a playwright's (Shaffer's) version of Mozart's life interwoven with Salieri. Mozart's death still seems to be a mystery, and there were rumours that Salieri plotted his death. You could say in a way, that he was responsible seeing as he made sure Mozart could never reap rewards from his phenomenal genius. But more than the schemings of Salieri, or the life of Mozart, this is a divine celebration of Mozart's music. In Salieri's own words.. "He was God's own voice, his instrument". I must say that my appreciation for Mozart's music has increased manifold after watching this movie.

Yojimbo (February 15 2002)
I watched Yojimbo after watching its sequel Sanjuro. I believe that Sanjuro was better, simply because it achieved the effect of violence without much gory bloodshed. Besides, the character sketches in Sanjuro were better, the Chamberlain, his wife and of course Sanjuro himself. That said, this is still a wonderful piece of movie-making from Kurosawa. It has all his standard hallmark devices - jazzy music, Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, a lone Samurai.. it goes on.

La Grande Illusion (February 9 2002)
Any opinion on this movie would only lower its esteem. Although on the exterior, it appears to be a movie on the First World War, it is really the transition of a Europe from the aristocrats to the bourgeoise. Absolutely flawless and most powerful.

Stalag 17 (February 6/7 2002)
Billy Wilder's "Stalag 17" is a memorable movie on the lives of POWs in a German camp. Its the story of Sgt. Sefton's (William Holden) sharp pragmatism vis-a-vis the desperation of his fellow inmates. Though the plot is mainly about finding out the snitch who betrays all escape plans and other prison secrets, the movie captures precisely and comically the day-to-day existence of POWs, realism giving way to unachievable fantasies, and Sefton's "every-man-for-himself" attitude. Holden is remarkably good, and so is Robinson Stone (Joey). But contrary to popular opinion, I found Strauss' and Lambeck's comedy a bit contrived and of the slapstick variety, though I'm sure it must have been a hit in the dim 50s especially immediately after the war.

Sanjuro (February 4 2002)
There is some rustic simplicity yet unimaginable greatness in Kurosawa's movies. Through a deftly woven commonplace story, he manages to portray life's deepest metaphors. One can come away learning what he already knew, but much more reinforced. Sanjuro is another of his gems. I must admit though, that I have only seen "Shichinin no Samurai" and hope to see the others. When you compare Sanjuro to Shichinin no Samurai, you still have the same pearls of wisdom being thrown around, the same brilliant war strategies and the same awesome Toshiro Mifune but with much lighter baggage. You feel like laughing at the stupidity of the nine wannabe Samurai who Sanjuro ties himself up with, and then there's the Chamberlain's wife who with outward ingenuousness manages to reveal (albeit only to Sanjuro) a gentle, learned soul. And finally Sanjuro himself: a mighty Samurai but also a wisened one. Both the Kurosawa's movies that I've seen have led me to draw parallels between his stories and Vishnu Sharma's Panchatantra, the Bodhisatwa and the Jataka. That same simplicity yet intricate depth.

Lola Rennt (January 31 2002)
Lola Rennt is an innovative movie about a theme that has long fascinated me. The idea of every little thing, from a shove to an extra word said, influencing the future course of events. That is precisely captured in this fast-paced German movie about Lola who is on a frantic run to help her boyfriend who's stuck in an ugly mess. On her way, she encounters a host of people - from perfect strangers to her father and his lover, and every little nuance goes on to make a big impact on their lives. The movie is quite slickly made and has an ultra-modern shade to it.

An American In Paris (January 29 2002)
Touted as the complete musical, it should have been playing on Broadway. The way I saw it, it was basically a launching vehicle for Leslie Caron and nothing more. There were too many dance and song sequences (they were good - I grant them that) that hampered the storyline (which in itself was altogether too flimsy for my taste). Some dialogues were laced with crisp, cutting humour, but that was all there was to the movie.

Pat and Mike (January 28/29, 2002)
I consented to seeing this movie for the sole purpose that it starred Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. I wasn't disappointed with the scenes they were in together. But, the storyline per se is tragically botched - utterly clumsy. And the supporting cast wasn't too impressive either. Clichéd, though watchable solely for those two.

Rang-e-Khoda (The Color of Paradise) (January 27, 2002)
This is a story of a blind boy who sees the world from its sounds and patterns. He feels the alfalfa plant blowing in the wind, and "listens" to what it wants to say with its soft rustling leaves. He feels the wet smooth sand left behind by the last wave and mumbles a language invisible and incomprehensible to the rest of us. It is also a story of a timid father, who refuses to accept things as they are, and is too scared to live with himself. This movie is one of the deepest movies I've seen in years. Replete with a lot of metaphors and theological innuendos, and most amazingly related through the eyes of a blind child. Fantastic effort.

The Shawshank Redemption (January 23, 2002)
I saw this movie for the third time. And every time that I've watched it, I've felt uplifted, but not because of the actual message of hope that it delivers. My upliftment has been more to do with the strange peace that Andy Dufresne finds in himself. This cannot be better expressed than the opening credits of the movie to Jack Lawrence's lilting "If I didn't care". Andy is not at war with the world but is never dependent on it either. There is a sense of inevitability in him. The outside world only hastens or delays it. Morgan Freeman's Red is the perfect foil to Andy Dufresne. Studied, hardened by 30 years in prison, and genuinely scared of having to ultimately confront a world outside the four walls of prison. In all, this movie though does have its share of feel-good frills, but ultimately is a masterpiece owing to the interplay between these two. Stephen King's short story and Darabont's screenplay alongwith some magical and poetic cinematography only compound the sheer beauty of this work of art. Enough said.

American History X (January 19/20, 2002)
Hate is baggage. That, in one sentence, is what American History X is all about. Set in the follow-up to the sensitive Rodney King incident, this graphic movie plots the ideological tumult brewing up in one brother and clearing up in his ex-skinhead elder brother. I wouldn't call the movie powerful since the inherent theme is quite cliched, but Norton's stellar performance (can we expect anything less from this genius?) as a hateful skinhead and later calm and genuinely scared about how his past will affect his family, coupled with some bold and stirring scenes make this movie a contemporary masterpiece. I believe that this movie alongwith Fincher's two movies, Fight Club and Se7en, represent the first instances of what I call "brutalism" in cinema.

Touch of Evil (January 16, 2002)
A stark and gripping tale of decadence and squalor in a trouble-stricken town that borders two countries as well as ethics and treachery. Orson Welles displays his genius in the portrayal of Capt. Quinlan and how he rationalizes his "intuitions" with the raw deal he's got being an officer of the law. Some pretty pertinent points with regard to the responsibility of an officer of the law, where his commitments to his job end and arrogance and abuse step in.

The Straight Story (January 15, 2002)
How would you describe a truly honest self-exploration of a 73-year old man who has stood the ravages of time, body withered, but mind and heart steady as ever? You could start with Alvin Straight. David Lynch's "The Straight Story" is as much the story of a voyage on a rackety lawn-mower across the Mississippi from Iow-eh to Wisconsin as it is the expression of humility, nonchalance and stubbornness of Alvin Straight. An astounding portrayal by Richard Farnsworth, so much so that I think he probably deserved the Oscar more than Kevin Spacey for American Beauty.

To Kill A Mockingbird (January 9, 2002)
A truly beautiful adaptation of one of the greatest books ever written. What amazed me most was the unusual but really impressive cinematography, and the masterly strokes of a young Robert Mulligan. Its really a feat to have made a nearly flawless movie out of Harper Lee's novel. Of course, they did leave out the part about Scout's aunt coming and taking care during the course of the trial, but I'm sure that can be overlooked. And the kids were incredibly good, and the child actors we have today are a far cry from these young virtuosos.

Outbreak (January 5/6, 2001)
The usual disaster movie, with really pathetic, almost an unemotive rendition by Dustin Hoffman. Overdose of corny, bland humour. Good plot but badly handled. After "Das Boot", Wolfgang Petersen has failed to come up with good movies.

A Beautiful Mind (January 5, 2002)
Reasonably good, and a dead-ringer for Oscar nominations. Crowe's acting is amazing but Jennifer Connelly steals the show. Paul Bettany is quite good too. There are some cliché d scenes now and then, and the story isn't 100% loyal to the real John F Nash; rather mellowed down and more fairy-tale like version made for the screen. Worth a watch.

Lion In Winter (January 4, 2002)
An intricate, amazingly complex movie with powerful performances from the entire ensemble and particularly from Katharine Hepburn. Peter O' Toole once again plays a megalomaniac completely overwrought with himself. Stunning dialogues, laced with sharp humour.


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