CineFactsNStories

My Left Foot (1989)

2011-02-22T04:34:00.000-08:00

This is a biopic about an Irish artist who was born with a terrible disease called cerebral palsy. This disease renders his total body motionless except his left foot. I started this movie 4 times before because of various recommendations/excellent reviews etc. But I could never watch it beyond the first 5 minutes as I formed a certain preconceived notion that it might be 'full of self-pity' or 'tragical in nature' or 'dry and documentary like'. Somehow today I forced myself to drop all the notions that I had about it and go ahead and just finish it. To my surprise this movie was anything but what I thought it would be. The artist never ever shows 'self-pity'..he becomes successful/famous/rich..and his life is so rich with interesting incidents that it barely sounded like a documentary at any point in time. To be candid, i was in tears throughout the movie, not because of pity/sadness but because of the resoluteness that the artist has shown. Recently I watched 'There will be blood' and then I decided to watch all the other movies of Daniel Day Lewis and he is totally spellbinding in this one. No wonder DDL won an Oscar for his role in this movie!

Happy Accidents

2010-07-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

Another sci-fi + comedy/romantic movie (after kpax) that makes me want to write (a quick) blog post about it - Happy Accidents (2000). Vincent D'Onofrio (Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket) has brilliantly played the role of a back traveler from year 2470, who is in love with Marisa Tomei (in 1999) and tryies to alter her life by saving her from a road accident . He believes she has died so , several times in her past lives. He also believes in Cheeseman theory of using a strong emotional jolt can alter the direction time and events (momentarily :). Anyways, I liked this movie of how it tries to tie these concepts -- romantic pesty relationship, spiritual (breaking out of cycle of previous lives), and scientific(wormholes for back tavel) in one beautiful story.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

2009-12-19T15:41:00.000-08:00

      After watching Scoop, the actor-director combination of Scarlett Johansson(SJ) and Woody Allen(WA) intrigued me quite a bit. I went on to add 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' and 'Match Point' to the top of my Netflix queue. This movie is an entertaining slaughter of the objective ideals by the subjective ideals. It reminded me of other movies such as 'The Dreamers' and 'Stealing Beauty'(Bernardo Bertolucci) where American tourists end up in cerebrally subjugating roles. Somehow I find this subjugation exceedingly hilarious.
      The movie follows two girls (Vicky and Cristina(SJ)), Vicky knows exactly what she wants and Cristina knows exactly what she does not want. I had to use the word 'exactly' because the girls think they know what they want or do not want 'exactly'. And they visit Barcelona to spend their summer and pursue career. They meet this charismatic artist Juan Antonio (played by Javier Bardem of 'No Country For Old Men' fame) at an art exhibition and the rest of it is mutual exploits to put it short.
      What I am interested in however is the way WA depicts the collapse of deductive ideals of the girls when subjected to the charm of non-conformist ideals of the artist. The course of Cristina reminded me of this quote by Chuck Palahniuk 'If you don't know what you want, you end up with a lot you don't.'
      However the real adrenalin in the movie starts when Maria Elena, ex-wife of artist (played by penelope) whom Juan Antonio literally worships enters the scene. The intellectual contrast between the real non-conformist Maria Elena and the fake non-conformist Cristina was apparent.
The relation between Maria Elena and Juan Antonio is brilliantly written by WA. I would watch this movie again to see their chaos, if not for anything else. Would have loved the climax if Vicky left Doug(Vicky's factory made zombie husband) to eventually become the missing-missing ingredient of the relationship between Juan and Maria. That would have given a tint of Nietzsche to the story.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

2009-11-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

This movie is based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. There is a surprise almost every ten minutes in this movie. It is so full of surprises that by the end of the movie I almost lost track of the all the twists and turns. I had to watch this one back to back to appreciate all of its thrills. This movie is centered around a compulsive liar Tom Ripley brilliantly played by Matt Damon. As far as I see the most crucial talent he had was to lie effortlessly and cleverly. Tom is hired to bring back Dickey Greenleaf (the victim of Ripley starring Jude Law) who is a non-conformist playboy spending his father's allowance with his writer girlfriend (starring Gwyneth Paltrow) in the tropical blue seas of Italy. Not to forget, this movie also casts Philip Seymour Hoffman (character name: Freddy Miles) who almost nails Tom but gets nailed doing so.

The best part of the movie is that it slowly draws the viewer to start identifying himself with Ripley. I never wanted his good luck to end anywhere whatsoever throughout the movie. Another tip to watch the film is to enjoy the breathtakingly beautiful locations of Italy. I will give this one the maximum rating. Also added 'Plein soleil' (a french mv based on same novel) to the top of my netflix queue.

Pi

2009-06-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is a movie about a certain math genius who thinks there is a pattern of numbers in the operation of nature and everything in it. While watching this, I could not but think of Aronofsky's other movie 'Requiem for a dream'. The scores were very closely intertwined. It occurs to me that the score in his movies is actually better than the content and depiction of the movie itself. It turns the whole movie into a psychedelic experience. And the movie is made in black and white to make it more intense and absorbing.

Blade Runner

2009-05-12T09:41:00.001-07:00

This was the sci-fi movie we watched and discussed on the Human Robot relationships depicted in the movie.

One interesting line of discussion we had was, what would we define as Robot, specially when robots starts looking Human? if they are bio-engineered to have blood and muscle like us (clones) Vs mechanical: wired and electronic how does the ethics debate change? Are they still Robots?

Second interesting theme was, what is the need to know who is human and who is robot?
Is it the intrinsic human tendency to categorize everything and apply rules based on that? i think in Anthropology this is the phenomenon repeatedly observed where the tribe defines whats self and other, and applies different rituals and rules based on that.

Earth

2008-11-23T16:23:00.000-08:00

This is a intensely made movie directed by Deepa Mehta and has the partition of India as the backdrop. Again as in 'Fire', Deepa Mehta does a good research for this movie to depict the violence and nastiness of the partition. As the movie proceeds we can see the restlessness built in the hearts of the characters although it can be seen that this restlessness is in total contrast to the relaxed mood of the characters in the first half of the movie. None is saved from the heartbreak in this movie. Interested people can also watch out for 'Khamosh Pani' which also has the partition as the backdrop. Earth shows us the scenes of the partition where as the Khamosh Pani shows us how this violence took shape with all the details. Both provide us with a nice understanding of what actually happened during the partition and the way it affected other events that were to happen.

K-PAX (2001)

2008-10-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

After Arul tweeted about the soundtrack of this movie K-Pax, Pallavi & I saw this one last night . This is a 9+ stars out of 10 movie in my definition. Simply amazing for a sci-fi lover. Here comes the adjective/tags train -- a fast pace, thought-invoking, entertaining, sci-fi, has-a-message, inspirational, open-ending, funny and fresh one. Kevin Spacey is brilliant in the main role of playing alien(Prot) from planet K-Pax. One way this movie is different than others of its kind, there are always few parallel universe in this movie which hold true all over the movie. That is you could be seeing the movie in an entirely different universe/perspective than person next to you. There is really something very quantum-ish about this movie which entertains you on a different level. I won't try to summarize the movie here because of the same reason.
Here is a quote out of the many in the movie --

Prot: I wanna tell you something Mark, something you do not yet know, that we K-PAXians have been around long enough to have discovered. The universe will expand, then it will collapse back on itself, then will expand again. It will repeat this process forever. What you don't you know is that when the universe expands again, everything will be as it is now. Whatever mistakes you make this time around, you will live through on your next pass. Every mistake you make, you will live through again, & again, forever. So my advice to you is to get it right this time around. Because this time is all you have.

Dance like a man

2008-09-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

Me being a fan of Shobhana had to watch this movie sooner or later. And that too it involved very important Indian traditions like Bharat Natyam and all. The movie beautifully depicts how the Indian culture is burdened by the dogmatic notions of the society. Even the so called progressive thinkers are unable to cross the orthodox principles to move into a more utilitarian society. The way this movie shows the complications involved in the inter-community marriages and male dominance of olden days is amazing. A nice watch for anyone interested in Indian culture.

Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007)

2008-08-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

aka The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
A very inspiring movie. It depicts the struggle to connect, to the world and to our own soul. Capturing this as an image is done very cleverly in this movie with a brilliant cinematography and wonderful dialog that inspired from the book itself.

Before I confuse you more, the story(it is a real life story) in short goes like this. It's about a 40 something man, an editor of ELLE, who gets locked up in his body, a medical condition called, "locked-in-syndrome". This is described to be the closest to being buried alive. His brain fully functions but the only way he can communicate is by blinking of his left eye. The only part of his body that he could move. And with that he manages to write a book, of his frivolous life before and of his dreams he creates in his head being locked in.

The movie is shown from the view he gets of this one eye that he could blink, or rotate but restricted beyond. Imagine see the world with one eye when you cant move your body or neck. We see how the people come in and leave while he struggle to be in sync with the reality following them through his restricted gaze. And when that is broken he falls back into his own world of imagination and memory. The dialog is equally brilliant. It borrows the intense words from his book, "The diving bell and the butterfly" that he is writing. And with a background of the repetition of the french letters based on frequency of usage E, S, A, R, I, N... it constantly reminds us the difficulty with which such intense ideas are expressed. The sound track is wonderful too... I loved the song "All the world is green". Though the story sounds very sad, its narrated in a high spirit so don't delay in watching it thinking it will be too gloomy.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

2008-08-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

If I would have to describe the movie in one sentence it would be "It's a wonderful movie". Frank Capra shows that a brilliant movie could be made using the very first principles and a ultra-simple storyline. Now this movie with a breathtaking climax has all the features of a great and legendary movie. The story starts with a simple and confused guy not knowing what to do in his life does everything that comes in his way and sticks to his small town without a hint of where he is going or what he is going to get. But all the things that he secretly wants in his life fall in place as if through some magic. This magic turns out to be a very rare kind of magic in the sense that you dont even know that it exists. This movie reflects this magic in the end.

Once upon a time in China 3

2008-07-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

This isnt yet another movie from the series but a very sensible mix of colors, culture, martial arts, romance and fun. Jet Lee is pretty neat as usual and so is the action choreography of the movie. Rosamund Kwan is great in the movie. The story revolves around martial arts schools as the other movies in this series, but focuses on the grand Lion Dance competition which is a visual and martial arts treat. I usually like the way the movie(& the series) portrays the way China absorbs the modernization, how it affects the existing culture and people and how blind violence is used to create problems & true martial art (principles) solve those problems. Anyways, its very entertaining !

Mar adentro (A Sea Inside)

2008-07-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

Mar adentro (A Sea Inside) is the real life story of Ramon Sampedro, a smart, witty, flirty Spaniard who is paralyzed below neck for roughly three decades. Fed up of his disability and dependence on his brother’s family, Ramon has been legally fighting the right for Euthanasia or to legally end his life. For his court case he asks a lawyer named Julia, who is also suffering from a degenerative disease to help him. He thinks that a lawyer who might understand his pain might be able to represent him better. Julia agrees and visits him to prepare his case for legal battle. She is touched by his creativity, imagination and amazing sense of humor and soon they fall in love with each other. Ramon still wants his death and Julia still has to help him. The story also involves his brother’s family who takes care of him and a woman named Rosa who becomes his friend.

I have always believed that Comedians are best actors of all to be considered for serious roles. No other actor could uphold this better than Javier Bardem who plays Ramon. He is such a genius that he can literally make you laugh and cry at the same moment that too just by using his face and lines. The director and writer Alejandro Amenabar also deserves a special mention .He doesn't asks for the pity of his audience, the path that many other such stories take. In fact Ramon loses his calm and control in just one scene in the whole movie. Some scenes like how Ramon imagines the beach which is off limits to him are visual treats as well.

In summary this movie is a complex masterpiece which is sometimes dark, funny and touches your heart. It logically and rationally questions the moral , religious and philosophical values which are often associated with issues like Euthanasia and suicide. Movies like these make the reading of subtitles for a couple of hours worth the effort.

IMDB Link

Chungking Express

2008-06-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

"Coolest movie", and very enjoyable. The movie consists of 2 stories of 2 cops, who just had a breakup. It's brilliant in the way the mundane-ness of everyday life is shown so interesting...

...giving voice to our irrational thoughts,
Cop223: We're all unlucky in love sometimes. When I am, I go jogging. The body loses water when you jog, so you have none left for tears.
Cop223:We split up on April Fool's Day. So I decided to let the joke run for a month. Every day I buy a can of pineapple with a sell-by date of May 1. May loves pineapple, and May 1 is my birthday. If May hasn't changed her mind by the time I've bought thirty cans, then our love will also expire.

...giving form to the spirits within, the way Faye Wong dances for the "California Dreaming" going on and on and loud, to block all the thoughts, and hand-held camera work, enigma.. the Blond-raincoat-and-shades-wearing-Asian-girl: Somehow I've become very cautious. When I put on a raincoat, I put on sunglasses too. Who knows when it will rain, or when it will turn out sunny?

...giving music that takes you right into the scene, Hindustani raagas, Reggae, California Dreaming all so well mixed and just right for the scene.

And here's Quentin Tarantino on Chungking Express

The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)

2008-06-04T09:35:00.001-07:00

This is one of the best movies made by Frank Capra. Even though there are very famous movies of him like "Its a Wonderful Life", this movie represents one of his best work. Although this was not a box office success when it was released, this movie is intensely made and it deserves all the acclaim that it got today. Each and every emotion is intensely depicted. This movie is about ill-fated love between a certain Chinese Warlord called Yen and a American Missionary known as Megan Davis (played by Barbara Stanwyck). Initially the movie shows two young missionaries (Bob and Davis) in China who are to be married. Their marriage gets postponed as they had to save some orphans in the spreading Civil War. Bob asks General Yen to give him a safe passage pass, but Yen does not believe at all in this missionary stuff, so he handles him a worthless paper describing his foolishness. So when Bob and Davis tries to save the orphans amidst of this Civil war, the chaos strikes them and both get unconscious and get separated. Davis gains her consciousness in the Yen's private train. From then onwards Yen develops a dangerous fascination towards this extremely beautiful and high spirited Davis (american missionary). Slowly as the movie progresses Davis' own attraction towards Yen is brilliantly depicted by Capra in a dream in which she allows him to kiss her. The costumes used are totally exotic and beautiful. The movie content is highly controversial and it is even banned in England for depicting a missionary fall in love with a cruel Chinese warlord.

Psycho (1960)

2008-06-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

By now most of us have seen this movie multiple times. I just want to put up some of the dialogs that I liked from this movie. And one more thing to mention, this movie is among the first psychological thrillers ever made. The murder scene in the bathroom is supposed to be one of the most famous and tough shots of Hollywood. And not to forget all the remakes of this famous movie just didn't work out at all. I will just list out some of the dialogs I liked from this movie Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock ..

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This is the conversation between Marion and the salesman when Marion trades her car with the one in the showroom. Remember Marion is in a real hurry .. :)

SALESMAN:
Well, it's the first time a customer ever high-pressured the salesman! Uh-figure roughly--your car plus seven hundred dollars.
MARION:
Seven hundred?
SALESMAN:
Ah, you always got time to argue money, huh?
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This is the conversation between Norman Bates and his mother when Bates tries to arrange a dinner for Marion.

WOMAN'S VOICE:
No! I tell you no! I won't have you bringing strange young girls in here for supper--by candlelight, I suppose, in the cheap erotic fashion of young men with cheap erotic minds!
NORMAN:
Mother, please!
WOMAN:
And then what, after supper? Music? Whispers?
NORMAN:
Mother, she's just a stranger! She's hungry and it's raining out.
WOMAN:
(mocking) 'Mother, she's just a stranger.' As if men don't desire strangers. Ah! I refuse to speak of disgusting things, because they disgust me! Do you understand, boy? Go on! Go tell her she'll not be appeasing her ugly appetite with my food, or my son! Or do I have to tell her 'cause you don't have the guts, boy? Huh, boy? You have the guts, boy?
NORMAN:
Shut up! Shut up!
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------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the dialog that Marion has with the Bates Motel owner while having her dinner. By now Marion has stolen the 40000$ from her working place and is fleeing away from the police and private detectives. This conversation makes you feel that Bates is the Psychooooooooooooo.. :)

NORMAN:
It's all for you. I'm not hungry. Go ahead. (delightedly watching her eat) You--you eat like a bird.
MARION:
(nodding to the stuffed birds) You'd know, of course.
NORMAN:
No, not really. Anyway, I hear the expression 'eats like a bird'--is really a fals- fals- falsity. Because birds really eat a tremendous lot. But I don't really know anything about birds. My hobby is stuffing things--you know--taxidermy. And I guess I'd just rather stuff birds because I hate the look of beasts when they're stuffed--you know, foxes and chimps. Some people even stuff dogs and cats--but, oh, I can't do that. I think only birds look well stuffed because--well, because they're kind of passive to begin with.
MARION:
It's a strange hobby. Curious.
NORMAN:
Uncommon, too.
MARION:
Oh, I imagine so.
NORMAN:
And it's not as expensive as you'd think. It's cheap really. You know--needles and thread, sawdust. The chemicals are the only thing that cost anything.
MARION:
A man should have a hobby.
NORMAN:
(sitting back) Well, it's--it's more than a hobby. A hobby's supposed to pass the time--not fill it.
MARION:
Is your time so empty?
NORMAN:
No, uh--well, I run the office, and uh, tend the cabins and grounds, and--and do little errands for my mother--the ones she allows I might be capable of doing.
MARION:
Do you go out with friends?
NORMAN:
(pause) Well, uh--a boy's best friend is his mother. (Marion tries not to react.) You've never had an empty moment in your entire life, have you?
MARION:
Only my share.
NORMAN:
Where are you going? (when Marion doesn't answer right away...) I didn't mean to pry.
MARION:
Um--I'm looking for a private island.
NORMAN:
(leaning forward) What are you running away from?
MARION:
(taken aback) W-why do you ask that?
NORMAN:
(shaking his head, relaxing back into his chair) No. People never run away from anything. The rain didn't last long, did it. You know what I think? I think that we're all in our private traps--clamped in them. And none of us can ever get out. We--we scratch and claw, but only at the air--only at each other. And for all of it, we never budge an inch.
MARION:
Sometimes we deliberately step into those traps.
NORMAN:
I was born in mine. I don't mind it anymore.
MARION:
Oh, but you should. You should mind it.
NORMAN:
Oh, I do (laughs) but I say I don't.
MARION:
You know, if anyone ever talked to me the way I heard--the way she spoke to you--
NORMAN:
Sometimes--when she talks to me like that--I feel I'd like to go up there--and curse her--and-and-and leave her forever! Or at least defy her. But I know I can't. She's ill.
MARION:
She sounded strong.
NORMAN:
No, I mean--ill. She had to raise me all by herself, after my father died. I was only five and it must've been quite a strain for her. I mean, she didn't have to go to work or anything like that. He left her a little money. Anyway, a few years ago Mother met this man, and he talked her into building this motel. He could've talked her into anything. And when he died too, it was just too great a shock for her. And--and the way he died--(laughs) I guess it's nothing to talk about while you're eating. (Marion breaks her enthrallment, looks at the food in her hand and smiles.)

Anyway, it was just too great a loss for her. She had nothing left.

MARION:
Except you.
NORMAN:
Well, a son is a poor substitute for a lover.
MARION:
Why don't you go away?
NORMAN:
To a private island, like you?
MARION:
No, not like me.
NORMAN:
I couldn't do that. Who'd look after her? She'd be alone up there. The fire would go out. It'd be cold and damp like a grave. If you love someone, you don't do that to them even if you hate them. You understand that I don't hate her--I hate what she's become. I hate the illness.
MARION:
Wouldn't it be better--if you put her--someplace--?
NORMAN:
(Norman's demeanor darkens. He leans forward.) You mean an institution? A madhouse! People always call a madhouse 'someplace,' don't they. 'Put her in--someplace.'
MARION:
I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to sound uncaring.
NORMAN:
What do you know about caring. Have you ever seen the inside of one of those places? The laughing and the tears--and the cruel eyes studying you. My mother there! But she's harmless! Wh-- she's as harmless as one of those stuffed birds!
MARION:
I am sorry. I only felt--it seems she's hurting you. I meant well. (Marion is more than a little spooked by his personality transformation.)
NORMAN:
People always mean well! They cluck their thick tongues and shake their heads and suggest, oh so very delicately--! (He sits back. The storm is over. Gently:) Of course, I've suggested it myself. But I hate to even think about it. She needs me. It-it's not as if she were a--a maniac--a raving thing. She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?
MARION:
(her concern relaxed) Yes. Sometimes just one time can be enough. Thank you.
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Adam's æbler aka Adam's Apples

2008-05-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

Saw this movie with no prior information as CG suggested and thoroughly enjoyed it. Its about a neo-nazi being sent for reform to a church under the supervision of a priest, Ivan. Ivan has an extreme sense of faith and positive outlook to everything. Adam is constantly trying to achieve one simple goal he set for himself, to bake an apple pie. While on this task he is stubborn to not rub off any of the faith or goodness from Ivan. There is a constant tension of will Adam-raise-to-good or Ivan-loose-his-faith and the contrast is interesting. Overall its a great story, with intelligent twists and a thoroughly enjoyable dialog, that gives the characters a full personality. You actually get them, their style, their act, their talk and even what they think like. A MUST SEE

Casino

2008-05-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

Yet another gem from the classic combination of Scorsese, De Niro and Joe Pesci. Joe Pesci is undoubtedly one of the best comedians of the 70s and 80s. He is hilarious in this movie. His dialogue delivery is so swift and funny that you will end up laughing like a drain. This movie features the rise and fall of a Casino bookie known as Ace (played by De Niro). Also features Sharon Stone as a drug addict with whom Ace falls in love. This movie is half narrated by De Niro and half narrated by Pesci. Throughout the movie Ace struggles with the friendship of Nicky (Pesci) and the love for Ginger (Sharon Stone). Features a great background score and highly stylist shots which makes me remember the movies of Guy Ritchie. A must see for people who like mafia stuff glorified.. :)

Leben der Anderen, Das a.k.a. Lives of Others

2008-05-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

2007 Academy award winner for Best foreign film...
The story is about strict surveillance executed in East Germany before the collapse of Berlin wall.
About how one of the officer who was to listen, transcript every movement of a writer begins to admire the writer as he sees the "system" he believes in is being misused by the few powerful.
Wont say more about the story. As the movie roles on, for me it actually allows me to think through, feel and own the acts of the characters, like I am in their skin in their story.
Viewing the whole movie I cant think of even one frame or word or expression being better or different, it is so finely done.

One thumb rule I am beginning to follow is, "Most Academy award winners for Best foreign film are a must-see!"

Rebecca

2008-05-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

The Hitchcock marathon continues .. :) Rebecca is a psychological thriller in which every character is haunted by their own minds. There is no one to catch or there is no mystery to be solved but the characters are deeply haunted by some thing or the other throughout the movie. Mr De Winters who is depressed with the death of his wife Rebecca marries a naive and modest young woman who enters the Manderley only to find that everyone there adores Rebecca. As time passes she feels more and more alien to the Manderley palace. It seems as if Rebecca is the one who decides the course of events in everyone's lives in the Manderley palace even though she is dead a long time back. The second Mrs De Winters tries desperately to be loved by De Winters only to find that he is haunted every moment by the death and memories of Rebecca. Hitchcock launched his career in Hollywood with this movie and this movie went onto become one of all time great movies. This movie is also considered by many to be the best work of the "Master of Suspense".

Marnie

2008-05-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

This is a movie which is more closely related to psychoanalysis and has a kleptomaniac as its protagonist known as Marnie. This is one of the not so well known flicks of Hitchcock. Marnie is a compulsive thief who uses her beauty to trap the employers to get herself a job and then eventually robs them. This thing continues till she enters the Rutland's publishing company which is owned by Mark (played by Sean Connery). But at Rutland's she gets caught by Mark who forces her to marry him in spite of her sickness. Mark desperately tries to help her to get over her psychological sicknesses. But she never lets him come near her even after the marriage. Mark tries to get to the core of the problem and finds that Marnie has a repetitive dream in which she refers to her Mama. Though this movie is not up to the expectations of a Hitchcock movie I think it has psychoanalytical relevance and also offers insight about the origins of a repetitive and haunting dream.

The lady vanishes

2008-05-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

This movie is set in a train where a young woman travels with an old lady known as Miss Froy. Now the young lady falls asleep and wakes up to find out that Froy has disappeared into thin air. Everyone in the train including the ones in the compartment claim that they have never seen any such lady with any such features described by this young woman. All the passengers in the train suddenly start behaving mysteriously and once again kudos to Hitchcock for weaving such a beautiful mystery with minimal possible resources. The pursuing investigation depicts the young lady just had some wild hallucinations and there never was such a lady known as Miss Froy on the train. But the young lady could not believe that such vivid memories were only hallucinations. She finally finds a companion who would believe in her and agrees to help her in the the investigation of the vanishing lady. This is a lightweight suspense movie with all the characters beautifully woven by Hitchcock. Again the suspense lasts till the final minute when all the pieces start falling into place.

The 39 steps

2008-05-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

This is a movie about a gentleman who gets himself into the middle of a dangerous spy game trying to help a spy lady who eventually gets killed. Now this man is accused of the murder of this spy lady and then he is literally left with no one who would believe him. Throughout the movie this guy gets chased chased chased .. This movie has all the characteristics of a Hitchcockian classic and is supposed to have launched the career of Hitchcock. The whole plot unveils only in the final five minutes of the film. After seeing several of his movies I started feeling that maintaining the suspense till last minute is quite an art in itself.

A Peck on the Cheek

2008-04-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

This is a story about the search for the birth mother of a cute-naughty girl Amuda, with her loving and foster parent. The movie shows a nice juxtaposition of motherly love, love for nation, fear and terrorism as they search for Amuda's birth-mother. With all the intense terrorism and blasts there is a nice tone of humor in the portrayal of Amuda's present family and their love story. Words are less and best when used, like in all Maniratnam's movies that stand apart from the mostly verbose Indian movies.

Paths of Glory

2008-04-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is a film about the class differences in the French army during WW1 and is directed by Stanley Kubrick. This film depicts the suicidal ant hill mission where the French army tries to take on a hill well defended by the Germans. It depicts the lower classes in the army(like the soldiers) to be much more morally responsible and integrated than the higher classes. Throughout the movie there is a moral degradation of the higher class generals in search of promotion or fame. The degradation goes so far as to give an order to attack their own army. Kirk Douglas gives a brilliant performance in his role as an officer who tries to fight all the vile stuff that goes on during this movie. This is one of the best Kubrick movies I have seen.

One Hour Photo

2008-04-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

This movie is about a weird photo guy Sy Parrish(played by Robin Williams). Sy tries to escape his solitary and monotonous job by observing and admiring the family photos of Yorkins. Slowly this admiration turns into a dangerous obsession. And this obsession jeopardizes his career and he loses his job. Throughout the movie Sy tries to get closer to the Yorkins in a desperate manner. We can observe this when he tries to get a gift for little Jake or when he tries to get closer to Mrs Yorkins by trying to read the same book as Mrs Yorkins does. But this never really happens due to standoffish nature of the society. For those who like psychologically stimulating thrillers this mus be a good watch.

Anita and Me

2008-04-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

One more movie of the theme: diaspora, but very differently handled. Its interesting to see how did different cultures interact. This movie is about growing up and friendship of a 12 year old Indian(east) girl: Meena with a pretty blond: Anita in England in 1970's.

Bend It Like Beckham is an entertainer but this one is a classic. The movie touches various topics: racism, growing-up, diaspora and friendship all with a nice sense of humor. The thick Black-country accent is hard to follow but going through the story from the child perspective helps us hold our attention.

I always love movies on this theme. I feel a natural curiousity to understand how different cultures are read or perceived out of their context. Other movies on Indian(east) diaspora are: Bend it like Beckham, Namesake, Mitr: The Friend, American Desi. If interested in this genre do check out Russel Petter's Stand Up Comedy( yes, you can you can find it on YouTube :) .

Anita and Me stands out for sure from the list above,
- in its slightly French-movie(cute like in Amelie) like narration,
- set up in 70's and
- it surely dealt it at a greater depth than superficial stereotype humor.

Drunken Master (Jui kuen)

2008-04-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Saw this one few days ago, a kung-fu classic out of my recent uprising Martial Arts appreciation. Jacky Chan is always action + humor but its the later half of the movie you realise why the movie is a classic . Here is a glimpse of the drunken kung fu moves towards the end of the movie.

Jacky Chan is brilliant and so is the action choreography, storyline is bit loose. If you are just into the action and sweat , just jump to the middle of the movie and start watching.

Crash

2008-04-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

Saw this movie last weekend and pretty impressed with the message it conveyed. Narrated in similar fashion of Amerros Perros. I like this movie for the fact that it illustrates racism, such a sensitive subject in a very mature and balanced way. Movie being such a gripping medium forces people into believing certain philosophies through a strong story. But this masterpiece doesn't draw any conclusions or statements but allows viewers to see the criss-crossed confusions in our heads with a bunch of connected stories.

Watching this film I felt, that Racism doesn't exists only in how the "other" treats you but also in how "we" perceive ourselves. Like fear doesn't exists without our acknowledgment of it.

Awakenings

2008-04-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

This is the story of a neurologist Sayer(played by Robin Williams) who tries to solve a intricate pathological situation related to a set of patients who survived the Encephalitis Lethargica (also known as Sleeping Sickness) outbreak in 1920s. But almost all these patients who survived this disease were in a catatonic state ever since. Sayer was hired to diagnose and treat this condition. This movie depicts the struggle of patients to fight and the struggle of doctors to treat some of the impossible diseases. Robert De Niro plays the protagonist (Leonardo) as one of the patients on whom Slayer experiments using a new drug called L Dopa which is actually devised to treat Parkinsonian patients. Sayer somehow believes that this drug will eventually awaken the catatonic state of the patients. So he goes onto try this drug on Leonardo. After he tries this drug several interesting miracles take place during the course of the movie. Both Robin Williams nd De Niro were at their best ..a mus see..

King Kong (1933)

2008-04-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

This older version of the movie is released in 1933 which is 72 years before the newer version.

Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.

is the last dialogue of this classic version of King Kong. And this dialogue alone describes the whole wisdom of this movie and the reason why this movie is one of the greatest movies ever made. Here BEAST becomes the metaphor for senses and BEAUTY refers to the sense objects. So this classic version is built on the very basic moral fundamental that even if a king craves for sensual objects outside the realm of rationalism, he is subject to destruction in no time. Just a few days before, I saw the newer version of King Kong and it gave me a mild impression "Wow nice graphics" and nothing else. In the newer version the protagonists become friends of the King Kong which is so unrealistic, considering the highly insecure nature of the present day people. After watching this newer version I was so reluctant to see the classic version thinking that it would be same bullshit. But the classic version escaped all these silly hypocrisies and went onto destroy the beast mercilessly and hence entered the list of beautiful classics...

Letters From Iwo Jima

2008-04-01T20:21:00.001-07:00

For all those who like wartime flicks this is a must. Brilliantly directed by Clint Eastwood, this movie depicts the Battle of Iwo Jima from point of view of Japanese soldiers (features english subtitles). This same battle was also shown from the American point of view in "Flags of our fathers" also directed by Clint Eastwood. The battle is a part of world war II and features some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The name of the movie refers to the letters written by Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi starring Ken Watanabe (of The Last Samurai fame). This movie depicts the helplessness of the Japanese soldiers due to lack of the reinforcements from the headquarters. All the Japanese soldiers on the island are bound to die and they show great courage till the last moment of the battle. Some of the soldiers are ordered to commit suicide by their Commanders hence depicting the wartime irrationality. The movie also has a protagonist called Saigo who is a baker conscripted to Japanese army. He is like a witness to all that goes on during this battle. He is repeatedly saved by the general Kuribayashi who orders him to do some errands potentially saving his life. The background score of the movie is wonderful. This movie also won a Oscar for sound editing and also won several other awards. Be sure to concentrate while watching the movie as the names of the locations and faces of the soldiers are pretty alike..

21

2008-04-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

Saw 21 this weekend. Me likes mathematicians and maths... been watching Star wars.. got the Yoda's lingo. Will write about Star Wars after we finish watching 1,2 and 3...

Coming back to 21, it is decent... can be shorter. Felt like a mix of Good will Hunting and Ocean's 11
The twist in the tale wasn't mind boggling enough for me. After watching A Beautiful mind, me caught on to Go(a board game), hoping to try Blackjack http://www.hitorstand.net/game_m.html

The prestige

2008-03-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

Yet another non linear and not so cryptic flick(consider Memento) by chris nolan. This movie shows the darker side of friendship where two magicians fall into rivalry. As any other film based on magic and illusions, this flick has got a lot of twists till the last minute which makes it highly gripping.Its more of a fine trick performed by Nolan..

The Spiderwick Chronicles

2008-03-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

Saw this in an Imax, was a great experience for me. Specially because I get really nervous even for kid's thrillers... Ring was the last thriller I saw, didn't leave a good feeling at all and since then, I maintained some distance from thrillers. My mind goes on to create and see those visuals in and around everything for quite some time. Its haunting. And all the ill-logic of these movies wants you to think and obsess and solve them...

Anyways I braved to go and see Spiderwick and it is good. It's good for the mix of good and bad portrayed in a balance, fairies and the goblins, both look really striking and good in contrast. Makes me want to come back home and visualize these out-of-the-natural beings and forms. What kind of an imagination do each of us have to draw to life creatures we not seen? We humans are pretty smart to give form to God close to our own image... proclaiming our superiority. I would add for caution in lot of cases though not all.

Like someone long time back asked me, how would Martians(if they existed) look? Will we even recognize them as living? would we classify them as plants or animals? I think building the nomenclature and classification so that it scales to the unknown is a great problem... ohhhh wait... where am I going? to information architecture? Back to Spiderwick, its always amazing to imagine and give form to the unknown.

À la folie... pas du tout

2008-02-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

One more good example of non-linear story telling. A story told in 2 perspectives. Each half makes you hate and love the 2 characters. And then from the peak there is a reversal these emotions as you begin to see the other side. Audrey Tautuo's great acting makes it possible to believe in such strong contradictions. The story starts to fall in place with the start of the second half, but the imagination isn't over till the end. Thoughts can never be ruled, not by others, and not even by our own selves!

iL Postino

2007-08-08T16:55:00.002-07:00

This felt so much like Cinema Paradiso... the simile and metaphor discussion scene and the scene with poem on sea are my favorites... the conversations are great through out. I became an instant fan of Neruda... read somewhere from his work... "Love is short, forgetting is so long." such formations of simple words to express complex fuzzy feelings that every mortal feels but cant get the right words to express... sure resonate... and we instantly see the poet reading our heart...
Neruda apart, these movies really make you want to instantly take a U turn and do-it now... like Motorcycle Diaries make you want to go on your life's trip, Il Postino makes you want to express beyond the regular logic of words...

Motorcycle Diaries

2007-08-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

Shame on me I didnt see this movie before... been lazy. Its an awesome movie that shows how two people go on a trip, and one allow the experiences to inspire him while the other remains numb. Felt that life in general gives us so many opportunities to become heroes but we just choose to be numb...
And Gustavo's music is awesome through out...

2007-06-07T22:38:00.000-07:00

Another one like Momento.
and yah another one like The Illusionist.
But only half good either ways... a hybrid of very not so linear story on the time line and lots of magic... techniques.
But who cares I enjoyed it.

Dead Poets Society

2007-05-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

I loved watching this movie, speaks about education to make free thinkers.
Loved Robin Williams acting like in "Good Will Hunting" as an inspiring teacher, but this movie is older... and Ethan Hawke like in "Gattaca", someone trying to Jump off the cliff... Gattaca is another of my fav, will write about it when I see it 17th time

Hotaru no Haka ( A grave of the fireflies)

2007-05-05T23:22:00.000-07:00

A movie about how people fought the war of survival at home, while men fought in the war. "You have lost the war if you die."

Again its a beautiful movie on affection between brother and sister... I miss my sis so much when I see these kind of movies... Another one that highlights this relationship is "Children of Heaven", my favorite. The small girl, Setsuko acted brilliantly as the lil sister.
Watching this movie, one would never feel like wasting a morsel of food... hunger and the fight to survive sometimes kills the spirit even of best of us.

All I felt watching this movie was, war wasn't worth it, there should be no boundaries, politics, taxes... all that matters is hunger, survival and life. Why bother about concepts beyond... that server as amusements and to write horrid histories as wars and battles... of men's arrogance?

A very Long Engangement

2007-04-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

Amelie was extra bright and colorful... and this one has a sepia tone as it tells the story of the search and black and white as it tells the story of the war... both equally stunning in their visuals.
Oh I dont want to talk about fundas on visuals and blah... I simply loved the movie :) Hope is something wonderful that can keep our spirit going, and I love the small "if" conditions we impose as a check it realistic...

Pan's Labyrinth

2007-04-28T12:23:00.000-07:00

So many contrasting themes... civil war and magic, the sadist and the innocent... woven beautifully together. But I don't know some of the scenes were too gruesome for the movie to be a child's fantasy ... that makes the whole movie kind of adult fairy tale movie... ;) the captains acting is too realistic... I almost hate him completly by now... I love the lullaby thats hummed... visual wise nothing very out of the blue, same creppy creatures.... whats best is the way the story is stiched very nicely the civil war and the child's fairy tale imagination... Memoir of a Geisha has a combination of art and war... but the topics arent as apart as in this movie and also the continuous intersection of these too varied themes is really tough... rather dealing with one after the other...

I am Sam

2007-04-28T03:58:00.000-07:00

Its a verrrrrrrrry sentimental and touching movies... made me cry a lot, I also could easily cry a lot, coz I was watching it alone... Really helps one understand what is it about being a parent. Movie wise Sean Penn's acting is great, you believe he is actually a person of 7yrs old's intelligence and curse every adult in the movie who is trying to talk stupid about law to him ... the dialogs are great at many places... that you want to keep them under " " and save as notes for life.

Mosquitoes, Rain, The Sentinel and Khosla ka/i Ghosla

2007-04-25T03:47:00.000-07:00

They went on and on... all through the night, thats how it goes on, when u have no power, loads of mosquitoes, rain, 2 average movies.... but a bunch of enthusiastic lot who want to be up all night and just want some silly boring back drop to actually indulge in the fun of their own company...
by the way we were watching (7 of us) the movie on a laptop... some 15ish inch thingy

Khane-ye doust kodjast? or Where is the friend's house?

2007-04-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

A movie that takes you back to your kindergarten, where things you dont care much about now scare us like they are life threatening problems. The fact is everytime I look back at life I find most things silly, I look down upon then as grownup... even yesterday's monstrous troubles seem petty... seems there is so much we are learning from life... And i think this happens as long as you are young at heart, vulnerable, ready to learn and ready to accept the fact that there is so much more, so we first learn a bit from that and can beam up and smile at our yesterday's silliness.

But actually this movie isnt much about what I was rattling away...
Its a beautiful depiction of the fears, fighting and peace in the mind of the child... with a 100% belief, clarity... I think as we grow up we get experience but miss out on simplicity...

I love the country life and very naturalistic background sound that preserves the truth of real life... I was so reminded of my several village study trips to a small village in Gujarat called Otha ji Na Chapra, the narrow lanes and how everybody knows everyone, in one scene as the boy is running through the narrows lanes, there comes a calf blocking the narrow path... thats so real... small villages but partitioned in several parts... direction given as "the blue door", the house next to dead tree... and the old men always sitting in the verandas to chat up... one must really stay and observe the kind of interactions in village to be able to capture them in such realistic manner...

just one more random thought... the small boy was running sooo... much, gr8 stamina i must say... shame on me, got to pull up and exercise... i pant after just climbing up to 3rd floor :(

and if you like this movie... you must also see "Children of Heaven", yet another movie on the beautiful perception of life that children hold...

The Namesake

2007-04-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

Tabu's acting is really good, I read the book so can never feel the movie has done a good job...
good capture of kolkata, been there last dec... its like a city caught up in the time of british raj.
Tried hard not to cry....... as i was sitting next to a stranger... but as Ashok passes away i cudnt control.... thinking of... wont talk abt that here.

Must see to understand how life feels when u cant feel the roots, and when everyone hopes to fly to greener pastures... whats happiness or good future really? the clean roads? cool gadgets? great mind-labs?... everybody has their own answers i believe.

La Finestra de fronte

2007-04-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

I adore the sound track and specially the one as the titles roll down...
had a very similar feel like Rouge of Krystofsky's tri-color triology

.... a story of young woman tied up to the not so right guy, old man with lots of memories and a young man.... and yah... spying into neighbor's life...

The cakes and pastries shown are awesome visuals...

600.... saw 300 twice

2007-04-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

its awesome visuals, and great fighting spirit... must see before u go for an exam or a jury...
and ya the editing and music was really cool... zack synder was ad film maker... and the movie was actually gripping through every moment :)

one great quote, in 2 words, "remember us"

was like a 2 hr gripping trailer... each and every shot is cool...

no way an expert... but just me rattling away to glory

2007-04-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

from now on, I will write abt the huge volume of movies i am consuming these days....

and yah... may have spoilers... so dont curse me after u read them...