A Run-down
A recap and impressions of the few movies I had watched over the past few weeks-
Gangster (2006, Hindi) - One of the better Bollywood movies of this year. Though the entire plot is revealed in the first five minutes by a brilliantly done shootout sequence, the film works solely on the strength of its narrative. Unaffected performances (especially Shiney Ahuja - the actor gets a near-perfect follow-up to Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi), beautiful photography and superb songs. Definitely not a *great* movie. Sincere, honest and a commendable effort, yes.
Fanaa (2006, Hindi) - Hype. And then some. The coming together of two of the best actors of our times is definitley an event of sorts. The hype was inevitable. Living upto it was tough, no doubt. But to fail so miserably and enormously is sacrilegious. A mildly enjoyable first half and a disastrous second. Amateurish characterizations, unpardonable loopholes, hugely inconsistent narration topped by bad music and a trying-hard-hard-hard-to-be-cute child artist. And just thinking about what this movie could have been, had the director not handled the mildly interesting plot like a 12-year-old, Kunal Kohli cannot be forgiven.
Phir Hera Pheri (2006, Hindi) - No way it could have matched its predecessor. I was well placed to set my expectations right. The movie *belongs* to Baburao Ganpatrao Apte. However, the characters try hard to re-live the Hera Pheri magic, and they fall way too short. A few hilarious sequences in first half though. And the cliffhanger climax...well, one of the worst ever. Not only in terms of content but the way it was handled. A lot of 12-year olds doing rounds of Bollywood these days I guess.
The Omen (2006, English) - Remakes seldom work for me. And they must not even try to remake a movie of the stature of 'The Omen' (1976) when they are not going to bring anything new to it. A scene by scene re-doing of the magnificent original AND a bad one at that. Must be avoided at all costs.
Chinatown (1974, English) [1, 2] - Masterpiece. As perfect as cinema can get. Jack Nicholson is stunning, brilliant and at his charming best. Faye Dunaway is divine. A perfect screenplay elevated to dizzying heights by an inspired and flawless direction by Roman Polanski. No more needs to be written. Drop everything, rent-borrow-steal, go watch!
Musafir (Dir By: Hrishikesh Mukherji, 1957, Hindi)- The original ensemble movie of Indian cinema -long before Darna Mana/Zaroori Hai gave a bad name to the genre - Musafir plays like a dream. The central character - a house and the landlord looking for tenants. One after the other three families inhabit the house. Three different stories, three different set of characters, three different emotional backdrops. And marked by a few brilliant commonalities which are woven seamlessly into all three of them. Suchitra Sen (her usual melodramatic self), Kishore Kumar (his usual uninhibited and brilliant self) and Dilip Kumar (in a Devdas-ish role) come 'together' to give us one of the best movies Bollywood had ever produced. One dare not expect anything less when masters like Hrishikesh Mukherji and Ritwik Ghatak (screenplay) join hands.
Pickpocket (1959, French) - Similar to that of my first experience of watching an Andrei Tarkovsky movie. Just couldn't get the heads or tails of it. Some of these "great" movies somehow don't get along with me so well -b lame it on my limited knowledge of the grammar of cinema.
The trouble is, until and unless one is already familiar - and therein lies the paradox - with the work of Robert Bresson, odds are heavy that you'd end up hating him the first time you watch his work. His hatred for 'acting', the excess of false & unrealistic movements, grossly unrealistic conversations, blank & expressionless faces of all his actors and snail-paced narrative makes it painful and excruciatingly boring. However, as you familiarise yourself with his 'style', with his sensibilities, with his way of looking at the world, you inevitably end up marvelling at his genius and appreciating him for what he actually was rather than what you would've wanted him to mean to you.
- - - - -
Fade Out
Gangster (2006, Hindi) - One of the better Bollywood movies of this year. Though the entire plot is revealed in the first five minutes by a brilliantly done shootout sequence, the film works solely on the strength of its narrative. Unaffected performances (especially Shiney Ahuja - the actor gets a near-perfect follow-up to Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi), beautiful photography and superb songs. Definitely not a *great* movie. Sincere, honest and a commendable effort, yes.
Fanaa (2006, Hindi) - Hype. And then some. The coming together of two of the best actors of our times is definitley an event of sorts. The hype was inevitable. Living upto it was tough, no doubt. But to fail so miserably and enormously is sacrilegious. A mildly enjoyable first half and a disastrous second. Amateurish characterizations, unpardonable loopholes, hugely inconsistent narration topped by bad music and a trying-hard-hard-hard-to-be-cute child artist. And just thinking about what this movie could have been, had the director not handled the mildly interesting plot like a 12-year-old, Kunal Kohli cannot be forgiven.
Phir Hera Pheri (2006, Hindi) - No way it could have matched its predecessor. I was well placed to set my expectations right. The movie *belongs* to Baburao Ganpatrao Apte. However, the characters try hard to re-live the Hera Pheri magic, and they fall way too short. A few hilarious sequences in first half though. And the cliffhanger climax...well, one of the worst ever. Not only in terms of content but the way it was handled. A lot of 12-year olds doing rounds of Bollywood these days I guess.
The Omen (2006, English) - Remakes seldom work for me. And they must not even try to remake a movie of the stature of 'The Omen' (1976) when they are not going to bring anything new to it. A scene by scene re-doing of the magnificent original AND a bad one at that. Must be avoided at all costs.
Chinatown (1974, English) [1, 2] - Masterpiece. As perfect as cinema can get. Jack Nicholson is stunning, brilliant and at his charming best. Faye Dunaway is divine. A perfect screenplay elevated to dizzying heights by an inspired and flawless direction by Roman Polanski. No more needs to be written. Drop everything, rent-borrow-steal, go watch!
Musafir (Dir By: Hrishikesh Mukherji, 1957, Hindi)- The original ensemble movie of Indian cinema -long before Darna Mana/Zaroori Hai gave a bad name to the genre - Musafir plays like a dream. The central character - a house and the landlord looking for tenants. One after the other three families inhabit the house. Three different stories, three different set of characters, three different emotional backdrops. And marked by a few brilliant commonalities which are woven seamlessly into all three of them. Suchitra Sen (her usual melodramatic self), Kishore Kumar (his usual uninhibited and brilliant self) and Dilip Kumar (in a Devdas-ish role) come 'together' to give us one of the best movies Bollywood had ever produced. One dare not expect anything less when masters like Hrishikesh Mukherji and Ritwik Ghatak (screenplay) join hands.
Pickpocket (1959, French) - Similar to that of my first experience of watching an Andrei Tarkovsky movie. Just couldn't get the heads or tails of it. Some of these "great" movies somehow don't get along with me so well -b lame it on my limited knowledge of the grammar of cinema.
The trouble is, until and unless one is already familiar - and therein lies the paradox - with the work of Robert Bresson, odds are heavy that you'd end up hating him the first time you watch his work. His hatred for 'acting', the excess of false & unrealistic movements, grossly unrealistic conversations, blank & expressionless faces of all his actors and snail-paced narrative makes it painful and excruciatingly boring. However, as you familiarise yourself with his 'style', with his sensibilities, with his way of looking at the world, you inevitably end up marvelling at his genius and appreciating him for what he actually was rather than what you would've wanted him to mean to you.
- - - - -
Fade Out
posted by Anurag at 7:52 PM
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