Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud

1995 by Claude Sautet

Nelly leaves with her husband who have decided not to work and is finding it difficult to pay off all their debts. She is introduced to Arnaud, an old business man who is very rich, by a friend, who offers her financial support. She rejects his offer at first, but then decides to leave his husband and moves out to a new studio apartment. She starts working for Arnaud, typing his book. Here she also meets another man, the editor who will publish Arnaud's book, with whom she could think about a serious relationship. Arnaud knows about this relationship and is quite jealous but he behaves in a way which is quite doubtful. Nelly decides against the editor and is more attracted to Arnaud. But then Arnaud's wife is back and they decide to go on a long trip.

A typical French realistic movie, where there is a normal life going on but with some turns here are there in the life of some characters. Knowing something about French way of life is a must to understand this movie. Knowledge of French would be even better. I was sure the subtitles werent really good. May  be is the reason why I wasnt able to laugh out on many dialogues of Arnaud, which are packed with cynicism of a typical rich French man. Movie progresses mostly through the scenes between Nelly and Arnaud and Aranaud's comments with an expression-less face, I thought, is a highlight of this movie. I wasnt sure if I felt pity for Nelly at the end. She left her husband, she decided against a man, ideal for her age, and finally the old man goes with his wife.

I chose this movie for Emmanuelle Beart and Claude Sautet. For Emmanuelle it looks a pretty ordinary role and for Claude Sautet this is not a great movie either.

1492 - Conquest of Paradise

1992 by Ridley Scott

Christopher Colombus thinks differently from the rest and is sure that he can find a new route to Asia. It takes lot of hard work for him to convince his queen to set out on this expedition and finally reach the West Indies and is glad to meet the new tribes and the abundant nature in the islands. He returns back to Spain and goes back to the Indies, but with more men and power. But this time he also has to manage some noble men who follows the powerful men in the Kingdom. These noble men have different ways to deal the native tribals which soon make the new paradise land a chaotic land. Columbus is replaced by another Viceroy and is jailed in Spain. By this time another Italian have already discovered the continent of Americas. Columbus still feels he has only been proved right, even if somebody else reached the continent first.

All the drama behind these expeditions has been nicely shot. So are the friction between the aboriginals and the invaders. The movie will definitely make us feel bad about all the terror which was done by Christianity in the historic days, may it be upon people who thought differently or upon the aboriginals of the invading islands or countries.

This movie, I would say has one of the best cinematography I have seen. Its not about landscapes or panoramic shots. The lighting is brilliant, subdued for a good majority of shots and the camera is brilliantly placed and absorbs the emotions and moods wonderfully. It is a pity that this movie never got its due attention. May be because of its slow pace through out. But I cannot imagine this one in any different way.

An excellent performance from Gerrard Depardieux as Columbus. So does Sigourney Weaver as the Queen of Spain, who only have few scenes, but she is all out there as the queen in those scenes.

I am still wondering why this movie is never mentioned when people discuss about the best historic movies. May be the west do not want to look at nearly realistic portrayals of how badly they have treated indigenous people.

Also it would have been better had this been taken in Spanish language. Mr. Scott wisely cast Depardieux for the role of Columbus as he wanted somebody from Europe, but had the language too been Spanish may be the movie would have been different. 

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se

2010 by Ashutosh Gowariker

A group of youngsters plan an uprising against the mighty British in small  town Chittagong, now in Bangladesh, about an year after 1930. Their plan is to capture the Telegraph office, the Police lines, the European club and the Cantonment all within a short span of time, the same night. A group of teenagers who are angry with the British as they lost their football ground to set up an army camp, joins the revolutionaries. On the planned day, all looks fine, except that the revolutionaries didn't think at all that their chosen day was Good Friday. A major part within the plan was to raid the European Club where the English officers were supposed to be for dinner, so that they could arrest all of them in one raid. Being Good Friday they found the Club empty. From there all went wrong and the British strike back and within a short period they search and arrest some of the revoloutionaries and the rest are killed.

A true story and the movie is inspired by a book. However it is a terrible attempt as a movie. If not for the patriotic factor, I would have stopped watching it within the first 30 minutes.

Performance of leading actors were sub standard. These stars are dressed like in the 30's. But the fact that their body language is from 2010's, is enough to describe how serious they were about their job. Most of these actors are only good for doing their routine song and dance numbers and soulless characters. They are not able to do characters which require intelligent understanding and reactions. In fact, some of the teenagers , I thought, could embarass the superstars in moments of brilliance. Of course, its also about casting and the director. Director doesn't seem to have cared to even change the hair styles of most revolutionaries.

I havent read the book. But the script is a pity. I thought, the whole thing could have been intelligently told within about 90 minutes, but the movie runs over 150 minutes, with two (or three) completely unnecessary songs. And scenes after the uprising, are comparatively better than the uprising itself or its build up.

Cinematography too was terrible. Mr. Gowariker who gave us movies like Lagaan and Swadesh have taken many steps backwards with this movie. His selection of subject was good. But it all went wrong, from scripting and casting onwards.

The best plus, for me, was a track which played during the titles and also for some part during the beginning. It looked very new, genuine and very Indian and to the theme.

Also if not for this movie, I would have remained ignorant about this small chapter from the Indian Independence struggle.

Drive Angry - 3D

2011 by Patrick Lussier

Ridiculous, Horrible, Stupid movie. Nicolas Cage escapes from HELL to save his grand daughter from the bloody killers who had killed his daughter too.

The only plus of this movie is the performance of William Fichtner who is the Accountant from Hell, chasing Cage.
Dont even understand why this had to be shot in 3D.

Magadheera

2009 by  Rajamouli , watching for the third time for my wife

In the 1600's, Udaigarh kingdom is about to be attacked by the invading forces of Sher Khan. Udaigarh is loyally protected by Kaala Bhairava who belongs to a warrior clan in which men are so brave and will not die without killing at least 100 enemy men and mostly they die before 30 years fighting for their homeland. Young princess Mitrananda devi adores Kaala Bhairava, but Ranadeb Billa her cousin is dying to marry her. He forces a competition out for deciding who can marry the princess and inspite of his wickedness it is Kaala Bhairava who emerges winner and Billa has to leave Udaigarh. The King likes Bhairava but is sure that his daughter will be a widow sooner if she marries him and hence request Kaala Bhairava to forget his love, which he sadly accepts. A special prayer is to be offered at an auspicious moment in a sacred Shiva shrine, which itself has a fearsome location, in some part of Udaigarh. Kaala Bhairava escorts princess to the shrine, where she asks him to proclaim his love for her. At this moment Sher Khan's army arrives at the shrine. Billa had turned a traitor and had attacked the palace with Sher Khan, killing the king. Sher Khan had heard a lot about the bravery of Bhairava and challenges him to prove it. Kaala Bhairava single handedly faces about 100 warriors of Sher Khan and kills them all while Sher Khan can only just count the number of dead and towards the end he is in awe of the bravery of Bhairava and proclaims himself a slave to Bhairava as a mark of respect. But Billa interferes, as he was promised help to marry the princess, and fights with Bhairava and is killed, but manages to seriously wound the princess before his death. Mithrananda only wants to know if Bhairava loves him but dies before he speaks out. Bhairava jumps down from the peak after the princess. Four hundred years later Bhairava, princess, Billa and Sher Khan are back in human form as Harsha, Indu, Raghu veer and Solomon. Harsha, when he accidently touches the finger tip of Indu, has a kind of shock which makes him crave for her love. Raghu Veer and Indu are still cousins and Raghu veer desperately needs to marry her. Solomon is a fisherman who is ready to help Harsha in anyways to help him have his love. How Harsha manages to win the love of Indu, how he finally realises their past and how he manages to convey this to Indu and to unite finally, only after the death of Raghu Veer, makes the full movie.

There are many many things that I would like to talk about on this movie, but dont know where to start etc.
A kind of fairy tale story, which we would have loved to hear as a child for all the heroism and thrill it offered, or as a teenager for all the romance. But it has been beautifully penned into a modern day script which effortlessly shuttles us between the 1600's and 2000's. The movie starts in 1600's with the titles, comes back to the life of Harsha and gives us glimpses of his past as he is after Indu and with an accident, takes us back to the 1600's with the whole story and then again completes it in the 2000's. I liked a lot how this has been structured. The movie keeps its excellent pace through out and offers a lot of thrilling moments through out, which has all been beautifully shot. May it be the moment were Harsha recognises his Indu - the scene in which he follows her bus atop a horse, or the scene when Bhairava is saved by his horse , whatever there is a lot of heroism here which I am sure even a staunch feminist would enjoy. All those lighter moments between Harsha and Indu will really make us relax down. And the stunts have been excellent too.

Except for Enthiran, which was a later production and seems to have spend much more money, I havent seen any Indian movie doing this kind of an excellent job with special effects and computer graphics. The difference is we do not worry about the special effects or graphics at all while watching this movie. You are gripped into the story and all what you see are only just part of the story and unless you really care for all such things happening behind and away from camera you will not think about all this special effects at all. There is a particular camera movement, when the camera follows the horse racers entering the kingdom and camera just pans upwards, very fast, by the two towers, I cant describe it, thats simply brilliant. Great great imagination. Technically as well, on all aspects may it be Camera , editing, sound engineering, costumes and sets or whatever this movie is amazing.

Magadheera, for me, is a perfect entertainer. It has every thing we would wish for from an entertainer. A simple and nice story, good thrills, good music, charming actors and wonderful frames. Though it is pretty ordinary for some time in the beginning following Harsh, which I think was important for the box office results, it is wonderfully done. Had the director known that people would accept this movie even without that masala item, I am sure the director would not have compromised for those scenes and couple of other songs. Having said that all those songs are nice to listen to and well shot.

I have to say that Ram charan Teja and Kajal Agarwal has a beautiful charm and they have a movie for their lifetime. So is Rajamouli. This movie could be his hall mark.

Finally, at the end as the credits rolls there is a song which actually introduces all the people behind the camera. Well this is not quite new for Indian cinema now. But in Magadheera this is just very different that the song is picturised with only a few steps and in a very funny way. I cant explain it. I have watched this song alone for more than 20 times. Its really really good.

I was not an admirer of main stream Telugu movies, but Magadheera changed all that. I did watch a few more Telugu movies after my first Magadheera show.

If this movie was made by Hollywood with white actors, I am sure, the movie would have still looked the same but it would have gained universal acclaim. Unfortunately it is from an Indian regional language and its a pity that even many people in South India havent heard about this movie.

One of the best entertainers of all time from India.

Le clan

2004 by Gael Morel

In a small French town quite away from any major city, three brothers are finding it difficult, just after the death of their mother, with a quite weak father. There are not many opportunities for the youth from the poor backgrounds and with out the help of strong parents, it is very easy for them to take the wrong path. Marc is macho figure and involves in some petty drug sales and when he is beaten up and his pet dog is killed wants to take revenge but ends up being paralyzed. The eldest brother Christophe is out of the prison and seems to have learned a lot and is happy to do a menial job in a Pork factory. But he is sincere in his job and soon takes up his boss's place and finds a girl friend too. The youngest Olivier, is in love with a boy of Algerian origin Hischam.

There are many good points in this movie, but still I it was not an easy watch. The movie intends to bring forth the difficulties faced by young men from poor backgrounds in small towns of France. These boys walk a tight rope that they can easily fall down to the dark side from where they might never be able to get back to normal life. At the same time it also shows a lot of hope in the way one of the brother gets back in to normal life after a stint in the prison. There is subtle machoism in this movie and there is extravagant homo sexuality as well. The movie is told through the eyes of Hischam, who actually is connected to all three brothers and is gay, might be the reason why the camera is always panning through the male body. Marc, especially has an excellent physique and great skin which definitely can evoke wow from most woman. There is this shot where the father is looking at the nude entangled brothers, which was shocking for me, but I didnt understand what that was meant for. Like wise there were many excellent frames, which I must say, is so typical of French movies from what I have seen.

Performances by all the actors has been really good and the scene where Marc is attending his physiotherapy was so well done. You could feel the pain. I also loved the Capoeira dance (a slave dance from Brazil) scenes, though short, as performed by Hischam and two brothers.

This movie is not for everybody, if you love heavy abstract stuff and want to think seriously and find out what all is about, this is the movie. I wont be able to watch this again.

There are no female characters at all, until when the girl friend of Christopher arrives for a family meal, and I found it difficult to digest, there are no female in sight at all. Even when the brothers are paying for sex, they are doing it with a trans sexual, not a woman.  Strange. 

True Grit

2010 by Coen brothers

An old fashioned Wild wild west kind of movie, the end product is quite ordinary Hollywood, except for some nice moments between the 14 year old and the old Rooster, disappointed actually.

I simply dont understand why so much hype around this movie, except for the performance by the young Hailee, I didnt find it amusing.

Manon des Sources - part 2 of Jean de Florette

1986 by Claude Berri

About 10 years have passed after the tragic death of Jean the hunchback. Ugolin and his uncle, Cesar are very successful with their carnations farming. Manon the daughter of Jean has grown to a beautiful young girl and is a shepherdess. May be because of all the tragedies and the attitude of the villagers, they live a life in the wilderness keeping away from the villagers. There is a new character, Bernard, who is a teacher and there is some attraction between Bernard and Manon. Ugolin happens to see a dancing nude Manon and he is spell bound by her beauty. He tells Cesar, who has been always pushing him to get married, about her. Cesar hasnt seen her yet, and after watching her, without her knowledge, he tells Ugolin that she reminds him about Florette, a beautiful woman who was in the village and left village later. Ugolin proposes to Manon in a very strange manner and she is not affected at all by the proposal. Manon over hears two hunters talking about the spring and how the Soubeyran's and even the whole village was responsible for the death of Jean. May be this brought back all the bitter memories of her childhood. Because of one of her goats, she accidentally finds the source, responsible for all the water streams in the village. She blocks this source and lack of water affects the whole village. The priest even accuses that somebody amongst them are responsible for this. During a public gathering, Manon accuses the Soubeyrans', ie Ugolin and Cesar, of being responsible for the death of her father. Ugolin nearly agrees with Manon, but breaks out and proposes to Manon in public, offering her all what he have. She spits on him and runs away to Bernard. Cesar accuses the whole village for the death. Here Manon also announces that she is the grand daughter of Florette, which is a shocking news for the village. Ugolin hangs himself and Cesar is really struck by the death of his nephew. Bernard convinces Manon that, if her father knew about the spring he would have gladly shared it for the whole village and convinces her to open out the source. They open out the source and the villagers consider the arrival of water as a miracle. Manon marries Bernard and the whole village attends their wedding. Delphine an old blind woman meets Cesar outside the church and tells him about the grave mistake he did, by not replying to the letter of Florette. Cesar is surprised and says in military they did miss many letters and never received any letter from Florette. Delphine then reminds him about a night he spend with Florette, after which he went for military service. Florette got pregnant and she then wrote to Cesar about marriage and how she would wait for him. At the same time she was being teased by the whole village for being pregnant and since she never heard back from Cesar, she had tried to killed the baby in many ways without any results. That is when Florette left the village and finally married a black smith. Cesar wonders whether that child was alive and Delphine replies in affirmative, just that it was a hunch back. Cesar is heart broken and immediately finds he has lost all his strength and knows he is near death. He prepares a letter for Manon and dies that night.

This is not a typical part 2 of any popular movie, if both the part 1 and 2 were shown as a single movie, I am sure most people would have seen it in one go and still admired it as an epic movie. Manon des sources has some beautifully shot moments which I have to list out:

- the samll scene where Ugolin is spell bound by the beauty of Manon

- the public meeting to discuss the water problem when the Mayor boasts he has managed to find a water expert. Brilliant scene which really reminded me of one Malayalam classic by K G George - Panchavadippaalam.

- the public gathering where Manon accuses the Soubeyran's followed by Ugolin proposing and breaking down and Cesar accusing the village.

- the scene where Cesar is reading the death letter of Ugolin, what a touching letter. He dies not because he is accused of Jean's death or because of the loss in the farming, its because he knows Manon doesnt love him but more than that she loves Bernard, and Ugolin wants her to have all what he have.

- the scene where Delphin explains the Florette story and when Cesar realises that Jean was his own son

- and finally the scene where Cesar makes his letter for Manon, passing out all what he have to Manon.

The movie is beautiful, just that the above scenes stands out for their beauty, for how its directed and for the drama and emotion. The two death letters, of both Ugolin and Cesar, both are so touching that we wish Manon forgives them for all their sins.

The show stopper for me are Daniel Auteuil again and Yves Montand. Brilliant, excellent and brilliant. what can i say. The scene where Daniel shouts in the public meet that 'this is not just a problem but a catastrophe' immediately made me think about actors like Gopi and Nedumudi Venu in the Malayalam classic Panchavadippaalam.

I watch Emmanuelle Beart first in Belle des Noiseuse and that took me to Un Couer en hiver, which I consider as her best performance so far, from what I have seen. Its because of her I came across Manon des sources, in which she must be only 17/18 years old, and I saw Jean de Florette. Emmanuelle is so beautiful as Manon and there are excellent shots of her, accentuating her beauty. But performance wise, she has to give way for Daniel Auteuil and Yves Montand.

And if you ask me, Jean de Florette is better than Manon des Sources as a movie. I simply wish this should have been released as a single movie and have only one major doubt. How can a beautiful girl like Manon be living in the wild without ever being seen by most villagers. 

Nouvo Cinema Paradiso

1988 by Guiseppe Tornatore

Salvatore, called as Toto is a young boy in a Southern Italian village who is so fond of cinema. He spends all his time at the village cinema house which is called Cinema Paradiso. He is like a pest to Alfredo who should be in his 40-50's, who runs the projector. He is so intrigued by cinema and really wants to learn everything about what is happening in the projector room. He takes the film bits home and shares them with his mother, who lost her husband in the world war II, at a young age. The local priest has a big influence and he actually censores the movies which are shown. A preview show is done only for the priest who wrings a bell, meaning Alfredo should cut that scene before its screened for the public. Toto, as he is there always, is so curious to know what happens on screen (in the kissing scenes), but Alfredo doesnt even let him touch the censored bits of film. Alfredo is kind of fond about Toto but is still reluctant to teach him the details. However, when  Alfredo has to take an examintion in the school, he has no option than to take help from Toto, who throws him his copy bit. Thats the beginning of a unique friendship between a boy and an adult. Toto soon learns everything about projection. Unfortunately, there is a fire in the projector room and even if Toto manages to pull out Alfredo, he loses his eye sight. A village man, who has just won a football lotterry, decides to rennovate the cinema house and calls it Nouvo Cinema Paradiso. The only person who can manage the projector is Toto, who is glad to work. Cicco, the new owner is not obliged to the priest and he doesnt mind any kissing scenes either. Alfredo visits Toto often at the cinema and motivates him to not miss his school. Toto, is in the high school, still working in the cinema and he meets Elena, daughter of a rich banker. They like each other but her father doesnt approve the relationship. Alfredo is all advise for Toto in all matters. Toto by now also has a small movie camera with which he makes his own short movies. Elena soon leaves the village with her family and Toto has to go for military service. His attempts to contact Elena is in vain.  Alfredo motivates Toto to leave the village forever to pursue his dreams with movies and never to come back. He gets a strong promise from Toto to not return. Toto is now Salvatore an established film maker and he hasnt gone back to his village in 30 years. His mother informs him about the death of Alfredo and Salvatore comes back to his village for the funeral. Alfredo's wife tells him how much Alfredo loved him. She gives him something, as desired by Alfredo. Salvatore is also sad to see the theatre, which is not used these days, getting demolished to build a parking space. Alfredo goes back to his city and watch the reel of movie, the present from Alfredo. The reel is a short film made of all the censored kissing scenes, which Salvatore so longed to watch as a child.

The movie, though, is told in a flash back as and when Salvatore is informed about Alfredo's death. It is a simple and beautiful film. First of all the child Toto, how charming this boy is. He carries the movie in his shoulders for the whole time he is there. Secondly his friendship with Alfredo is so well told. The movie literally took me back to my own childhood, when we used to visit our village cinema houses, we had two nearby, with thatched palm leaf roofs and simple benches and chairs as seats. We used to collect the bits of films from the theatre compound and make our movie still projections using mirrors, an electric bulb and a cylendrical tube etc. I got really nostalgic about those days. The scenes inside the theatre have been excellent. So many funny moments. The disappointment and the excitement of the audience in watching the kissing scenes looks the same, through out the world. Excellent. So was the examination scene. There are some brilliant frames which can even evoke applause from professional still photographers. Its not just fun, there are many moments when this movie gives you a simple good feeling and a lot of nostalgia. And finally the joy and tears in the eyes of Salvatore when he watches the old kissing scenes,are simply beautiful. I think it is that last scene which takes this simple movie to a few levels above other good movies.

Italy or India, old movie houses all have had the same fate. So is the feeling we have when we go back to our past and meet some objects or people which were part of our life, years back. This movie will really make us think about our childhood.

One of the movie houses in my village is now being converted to a marriage hall. The other one was brought down by fire, intentionally set by the owner himself to, at least, claim the insurance.

The King's Speech

2010 by Tom Hooper

George was not supposed to be the King, in fact he was considered incompetent for the job as he has a serious problem - stammering. He is unfit to address any gathering, let alone the more far reaching addresses over Radio. But circumstances change and he has to be the king. His, and his wife's, efforts to break through out of the stammer issues and how he finds a non conventional speech therapist, work with him, and finally make an all important address to the Nation over radio forms this film.

Last year, it was 'The Young Victoria' and this year it is The King's Speech. If Young Victoria was about all the drama behind her ascension to the throne and the turbulent days during the first few years of her rule, The King's Speech too has the drama behind the ascension to the throne by George VI, and something more. His disinterest for the throne, his pain, anger and embarrassment being a stammer all is so well taken.

A truly brilliant performance by Colin Firth is the highlight of this movie, I believe it is a British movie. I love Queen's English, as its so pleasing to listen to, quite clear to understand as well (even without subtitles), so whenever I am told there is a movie about Royal British life, I am eager to watch. Not sure, if I was so satisfied after watching this one though.  

Jean De Florette

1986 by Claude Berri

Ugolin returns back to his native place, a village around the beautiful Provence region in France, and has a new idea to cultivate some flowers - carnations - in large scale, which can offer him better profits than other corps. He is like a right hand man to his uncle Soubeyran, who is an established farmer and a big land owner. He secretly cultivates the flowers and when it is ready to be harvested, he invite his uncles and reveals the secret. Soubeyran is not impressed but Ugolin takes him to the florist who offer a price, inspite of being off season, which impresses his uncle a lot. They are glad that they have a great idea but needs some new land for large scale cultivation. The problem in the region is lack of perennial water streams. There is a neighborhood farm land which will be ideal (which is known for a perennial water source), but the owner doesnt want to sell it and Soubeyran , though not intended, kills this farmer. He doesnt regret it at all. They find out that Jean, the hunchback, is the legal heir of the land. Soubeyran and Ugolin finds the origin of the water source and covers it with some cement so that nobody else can find this out. So even if the new owner wants to do some farming he will not have any options with water and will finally sell the land. To their surprise, Jean arrives with his wife and child to the village. Ugolin offers lot of help for them to settle but finds out that Jean has lot of plans with farming in the land. Ugolin tries his best to de motivate Jean, who has some solution for everything, some out of the box ideas and lot of optimism. Soubeyran asks Ugolin to be as nice as possible with the Hunchback and family so that they will have good control over him and can also make sure that he will never find the water source. Jean works hard, he has to get water from one mile away, madly in fact, and has good results from the kitchen garden and rabbit farm. However, nature which was initially kind turns very cruel to him and there is an extended summer which means he is losing on all accounts. They even pawn their farm land and home with Soubeyran to have some extra money, hoping to repay it very soon. A few days of rain can change his fortunes and Jean is very optimistic. He is alone and the whole village in fact looks down on him and the family. As a last attempt, he tries to dig a well in his plot. With the last bit of money he has, he buys some explosives and tries to break the large mass of rock. Poor man gets killed in this attempt.  Jean's wife and child has no optiion, but to give the land and home back to Soubeyran and collect a few thousand Francs as balance and leave the village. While they are getting ready to leave, Soubeyran and Ugolin cant resist going up to the water source and open it up. They are so happy and were unable to wait for a few more minutes for Jeans wife and child to leave the village. Jean's child, Manon, was following them and she is shocked to see water gushing out in their land, so close to their home. Soubeyran and Ugolin is still enjoying the moment, unaware of the fact that Manon, the little girl of Jean the hunchback, who strived hard unto death to find water, is aware about the water source.

I dont know what to say. A beautiful story (originally a novel) made into a very beautiful film. The first feeling I had after watching this movie is to go to my village and start farming. Years back, when I saw Maravathoor Kanavu, a Malayalam movie, then too I had this feeling, a little. But this time the feeling is 10000000... times more may be. Because this is simply excellent, excellent and excellent. The beauty of Aix en Provence is so well captured and so are everything about the life around a rustic Provence village. Each and everybody who appear on screen is a real person. More than anything, it looks like, till few decades back village life was same, even if it was Asia or Europe. We saw in 'Lagaan', how much the villagers craved for rain and Ashutosh Gowariker had to use a song there to capture the situation. In Jean de Florette there is the same situation, sans songs, but is simply beautiful. We feel like crying for Jean.

Life was hard and it was a constant struggle between man and nature. It is the struggle of our forefathers, their common sense, their intelligence and inventions which have lead us to our modern life. How much I wish, this movie was dubbed and released in India. For the great Indian middle class and corporate world, who seem to have lost count on the poverty in our country and the importance of Agriculture, this movie is a must watch. May be they will think for at least an hour about our farmers. At least our Hon. Minister, P Chidambaram, who dared to announce that he wish to see 70% of Indians living in cities, this movie is a must watch. I dont think any normal human being can complete watching this movie without sparing a thought for farmers who struggle with nature to feed us.

I always felt Daniel Auteuil is an excellent actor, but he can only portray simple and quite kind of characters. I was wrong. As Ugolin, I cant think about anybody else. Even the minute subtleties for such a character is taken care of, I must say. If not for him may be Ugolin would have just been an ordinary village man who is just a stupid assistant of a crooked land owner.

And Gerard Depardieux, as always, is excellent. First, I didnt understand why Jean had to be a hunch back in this movie. Even if he was a normal man, that would not have changed the story. But this is not modern France. In a rustic village, and even in French cities, hunch backs were basically looked down upon by normal population. They were not supposed to be intelligent and are stupid basically. In French literature, hunch backs lived in a world of their own and were villains. And here the hunch back is supposed to surprise the whole village.

I would always consider this as one of my best cinematic experiences. A movie which gives me this immense feeling to be a farmer, which make me think so much about the struggles of our fore fathers, which make me wonder about the influence of nature on humans, which make me admire some artists and craftsmen, who dont even speak my language, is definitely going to live with me. I will always sing its praises. This is one which can be watched and enjoyed by anybody, irrespective of whether one likes to watch movie as an art product, an intellectual piece or pure entertainment stuff.

Jean De Florette, which also has some excellent music to accompany, has a second part too. Both the parts were simultaneously shot, but released as two movies. I cant wait for the second part.

Rocco e i Suoli Fratelli - Rocco and his brothers

1960 by Luchino Visconti

Italy is witnessing mass migration of poor peasants from the South to its Northern cities. Rosario Parondi, who just lost her husband, come to Milan with her 4 kids (Simone, Rocco, Cirro and Luca) hoping the eldest, Vincenzo who is working in Milan, can do something to end their miserable lives. She is a very possessive mother and immediately dislikes Vincenzo's fiancee and her family. They have to struggle for a better life now. Simone starts training to be a pro Boxer. Vincenzo meets Nadia, a prostitute and introduces her to the whole family. Simone is too much attracted to her and even steals a kind of ornament (I dont know what its called) from the Store manager, where Rocco works, to present to Nadia. Nadia gives the present back through Rocco, telling him she doesnt want to see Simone anymore. Simone could have been a successful boxer, but he has many other interests than boxing and soon fails. He has too many negatives in his stride to emerge a champion. Rocco, who always dreams about going back to his home town, joins the army. He meets Nadia again and they really fall in love. He is the person who can lead Nadia to a normal life. But Simone finds this out and he ends up raping Nadia in front of Rocco. Strangely, Rocco advises Nadia to go back to Simone as he needs her more and is desperate to get her back. Rocco too starts training to be a pro boxer. When the ex manager of Simone goes for a police case to get back a big sum of money which Simone had stolen from him, Rocco enters into a long term contract in Boxing and pays back the money. Rocco thus enters professional boxing for the sake of saving Simone and he starts a successful career. Simone is searching for Nadia who is running away from him, and is back into prostitution. Simone pleads before her but her words, how much she despise him, provokes the criminal inside him and kills her. Rocco would like to save his brother, but the younger brother Cirro, who is working in a company, informs Police and believes the family is better off without Simone. Cirro explains to the youngest brother, how much it was important for the family to get rid of Simone. He explains Rocco as a saint, who lives only for the family not for himself, but doesn't think one should be that much forgiving, for it was Simone who destroyed the family peace.

This is an epic story, told as chapters about each brother. Except for certain things, I couldnt help thinking how much Indian this story was. I cannot be specific, but we might have seen many similar tales in India. I always felt that it was in Italy and Spain I could find some kind of an Indianness in their people. This movie reiterates that feeling.

Story is everything here, we are unable to understand few things though. How can Rocco forgive Simone after  raping his girl friend in front of his eyes, and how can Nadia go back to Simone after being raped, How can Rocco be so generous, he is the protagonist here and is more like a Biblical character. The kind of big brother we often see in Indian movies. Simone is the perfect antagonist, but how can he still want to live with a woman who shouts (and spits on his face) that she hates him. Well, few questions like that, but I would still say its a great story. Though, it is told as different chapters on each brother, its Simone and Rocco who really runs it through. Italy is still famous for its male domination. Well, may be that is quite evident here. And the mother of the five children, I felt, is very much Indian. For me Rosario Parondi is the best character in this movie.

Having said that the movie is too much dramatic at some points. It is excellent in many parts though.

While watching this movie, should I say most Classics in Black and White, I felt bad that I did not learn Black and white film developing and printing when I started taking pictures. If I did, I could have still used my manual cameras to take beautiful b&w shots. Black & White is brilliant.

Sorry to say this. Ever since I saw Le Meglio Gioventu, whenever I watch a long movie I am forced to compare it with L M Gioventu and I feel sorry for Rocco..., I am sure more people might find Rocco as a Classic Italian from a great Italian master, but L M Gioventu, for me, is the best example to make an epic movie without losing its pace at all. 

Der Untergang - Downfall

2004 by Oliver Hirschbiegel

Russian army is only about 12 Kilometers away from Berlin and almost everybody around Hitler is sure that Berlin will be captured. All his loyal men are wondering what to do next, to leave Berlin to save themselves or to fight until death or to convince Hitler to leave Berlin or even just suicide as the last resort. Hitler in the mean time realises that most of his generals were cowards and havent listened to him and have acted against his orders which has paved way to losing the battle. He is full of confidence one moment and is depressed the next. More and more news arrives about the cowardice of his generals and also about some valiant generals and soldiers. Inspite of all the pressure by some of his generals, Hitler is adament he will not leave Berlin, for he does not want people to curse him finally. At the same time he also says that evacuation of Berlin is not possible and people deserves what they are facing now. Eva his girl friend seems to be enjoying these moments and is adament she will not escape, so are some secretaries of his, who finds all these happenings so unreal. Hitler marries Eva and announces that they will commit suicide and orders his body guard to make sure that the enemy do not even find their bodies. His loyal servants burns their bodies afterwards. Once defeat is confirmed many of his loyal generals too commit suicide. Traudl Junge, his young secretary manages to pass through the Russian army and escapes Berlin. The movie is an account of her experiences.

This is a brilliant movie. It is so well taken that inspite of being the story of the most hated monarch, it still has many moments that will touch you. The Cinematography is more than brilliant, it can serve as a lesson on how to capture the mood of a theme, without ever making the viewer think about the camera, inspite of having a lot of action around.

Bruno Ganz lives as Hitler. What a performance. He looks fearful and even attracts our pity in some scenes. The scene where he listens to the song by his ministers children, followed by his discussion with Eva and secretaries how to commit a painless suicide, and his last good bye to his close assists were simply excellent.

Alexandra Maria Lara, my favourite German actress has also done well as Traudl.

Finally may I say, this is purely a directors movie. Excellent movie, a master piece.

Makeup Man

2011 by Shafi.

A typical Malayalam 'masala' romantic comedy.

Rich girl and man elopes. She is lucky to act in a movie and her husband diguises as her make up man. Unfortunately, she is attracted more towards movie life and there are problems between them and finally all ends in good terms.

It has all the typical Malayalam romantic comedy ingredients.
2 songs
a hero who looks 2 decades older than the heroine
all unnecessary characters, played by great actors who dont have any opportunities for good roles these days
All machoisms of normal Malayaalee husband, who seems to get applause even from the Malayaalee women in the theatre
Some police men, media and television news & a court scene which is out of this world as always
and some laughs here and there
plus
almost 3 hours of length which could have been told in 2 hours

In fact, Sunday was a day for an excellent comparison between Tamil and Malayalam movies. 

Nadunissi Naaygal - Midnight Dogs

2011 by Gautham Menon

Samar, as a child, is sexually abused by none other than his father. Because of a vigilant neighbourhood woman Meenakshi, Samar is saved and Meenakshi takes care of Samar thereafter, who calls him Veera. Even as a teenager Veera falls in love with Meenakshi. One night he has this terrible dream about his past and ends up in the bedroom of Meenakshi and he is more of Samar and nearly rapes her. For some wierd reason, which we should make out, Meenakshi continues having Veera in her home and she gets married to one of her old friend. This is too much for the boy and Samar stabs Meenakshi's husband on the very first night on their bed and there is a fire in the room. Meenakshi too is killed, later in the hospital I guess, because of this fire. But for Samar, Meenakshi is alive around him and he moves to Chennai from Mumbai to a home which looks apt for his kind of personality. Here he hunts down other girls and kills them. He cuts the hair, after he abuse/kills his victims, and presents to Meenakshi, for Meenakshi had lost all her hair in the fire  have a liking for the hair of these girls. He sees Sukanya, a school mate and tries to get her to his home. The movie unfolds through the events of the night when he tries to get Sukanya and through his confessions.

But let me tell you, this movie has a brilliant script. Of course, there are loop holes here and there but still, may I say this movie is quite different from the run of the mill ones, and is brilliant in more than a few aspects, unless we want to sit down and only criticize. The truth that Samar has a dual personality problem, that he lives as both Samar and Veera is clear only towards the second half of the movie. His halucination of having Meenakshi, whom he saved from the fire but left alive with a terrible face, who is living with him in the strange house in Chennai is made to look real until his dual personality is presented. But the script and the director - both by Mr. Menon, has done quite enough to keep the surprises in tact and producing a special thriller out of a true story. He has gone quite out of the way for this in few things, the length of the movie is only 90 minutes, there is  no background music or any songs, mind you its a thriller but with no background music, and only few actors.

It is the performances of the lead characters, especially the debutant Veera who plays Samar, who makes this one a very different watch. It is difficult to believe that its only his first movie. The Cinematographer, who has worked mostly under low lights, and the editor, both have done a brilliant job.

When I was told that this movie was about a serial killer and bla bla, I suspected that this would be yet another adaptation of a script/s from elsewhere. But all credits to Gautham Menon, this is purely an Indian thriller. To nit pick, we could find similarities with many such stories, but the way how it is told, Nadunissi Naaygal is a surprising winner.

I still thought, Mr. Menon has scripted it for an audience who are intelligent, even the lay man in the theatre seems to have enjoyed it, so I couldnt understand why he still decided to give a routine explanation by a Psychiatrist at the very end, which was not required at all.

Veera have some deadly dogs, but still the title isnt relevant. 

The Mechanic

2011 by Simon West

Jason Statham is again a pro killer and agrees to train Ben Foster into a hit man, just because he had killed Ben's father. They are a deadly team, until Ben has doubts about his father's death. Typical Hollywood and the end too is typical.

Like Sanctum, another less than average one. Ben Foster was good. Jason Statham needs to think seriously about his choice of movies. Of course he is best fit for action, but he could go for some action movies with a difference I guess.

La Strada - The Road

1954 by Federico Fellini

Gelsomina is described even by her mother as a strange girl, and is sold to Zampano, a street entertainer, a man with an iron heart, for 10,000 lire. Gelsomina is taught some trumpet and drums so that she can help Zampano during his street performances. She is happy to travel and do some bit of music and dance and also to eat some food but she has to bear the horrible treatment meted out to her by Zampano. She seems most worried about the fact that Zampano easily falls for other woman. Finally she runs away from Zampano and happens to witness another street performer 'the fool'. Zampano promptly finds her. Zampano ends up in a new circus group where the fool also performs. For some reason he doesnt seem to like Zampano and even make fun of him and disturbs him during his performance. When Zampano tries to attack him they are both jailed by police. The Fool is released first and he talks to Gelsomina about Zampano. He tells her that may be Zampano likes her, is the only reason why he keeps her inspite of her inability to cook or be a good performer and her strange looks. He tells her there is a reason why even a small stone is there in this world. When Zamapano is out of jail, they are back on the road again and Gelsomina suggests to get married, but he is only irritated by this. On road, they come across the fool and though not intentionally the Fool gets killed. Gelsomina is shocked by this and doesnt looks normal. Zampano waits for a few days to see if she gets back to normal, but not and finally decides to leave her as there is a fair around, where he can make some money and it is no use waiting for Gelsomina. After few years he overhears somebody singing like Gelsomina. The woman tells her that it was learnt from a woman found on the beach by her father. She is no more. Zampano is more than affected by this news and is heart broken.

A story by a great master, it is like the romance between a beauty and the beast. There is no romance in this movie, but it is all over. Zampano acts like a terribly cruel man for almost the whole length of movie but in the climax we must think that he was moved by Gelsomina, the strange woman with qualities of a child, but with an ugly face as told to her by the Fool.

This movie would not have been great, if not for the casting. The three main characters, Zampano, Gelsomina and the Fool, they are perfect, especially Gelsomina. I cant think about any other actress, from all the movies I saw from across the world, who can fit in the features required for Gelsomina. She is happy one second and cries the next second and is clue less the next. What a brilliant performance. There have been so many characters who make us feel for them. But Gelsomina is different as we start feeling for her within the first 10 minutes of the movie, it keeps on growing. So when Zampano deserts her, I really thought this is a very different turn, may be it is going to be good for her, but the final news really make us sad. What a character and what a performance. Her face haunts me even today.

This is the best of story telling, some great characters, excellent performances, Cinematography for the movie, nice music and a real craftsman as the director. Simple is Brilliant and beautiful.

May be it should have been titled Zampano and Gelsomina or just Zampano or Gelsomina. You hear the name of Zampano throughout the movie, but not Gelsomina. I dont think even a few times. 

La battaglia di Algeri - The Battle of Algiers

1966 by Gillo Pontecarvo

As the name suggests its about Algeria's struggle for Independence from the French. FLN is an organisation, by a small minority of Algerians, fighting to gain independence through any means. The organisation has a strange hierarchy, wherein  any member might not be acquainted with more than 3 other members. They have the support of the people and kills French policeman in simple, but excellent, operations. When a police commissioner, who believes normal laws are not enough to deal with such fighters, plants a bomb in the Casbah, the locality dominated by Algerians, killing many locals, FLN also starts attacks with bombs killing French. It finally turns into a very violent battle and the French desperate to hold their foot, calls for their Army, who are just after an embaressing defeat in the Indo china war. Army soon manages to capture most of the FLN members, especially all their leaders and the battle of Algiers seems to be won by the French. But after a quiet of couple of years, without any organisational movements there is a strong popular movement and this time French has to withdraw themselves and Algeria wins its freedom.

This movie is beautifully captured in black and white has dialogues in French and Arab and is wonderfully directed by an Italian and seems to be produced by both Italian and Algerian firms. This could be an Italian or  Algerian movie.

This movie, which is based on a book, is wonderful as it could have ended as a documentary, but is so brilliantly directed that it ends up as a thrilling movie, with so many great moments of emotion, thrill, patriotism and everything except romance.  The scenes like ,a to be FLN leader witnessing the killing of a freedom fighter in the jail, the FLN operation to bomb three different locations in French Algiers by their 3 women cadets keeping the bomb in their hand bags, the deeds of the little boy who work as FLN messenger, the press meet of a captured FLN top leader, the press meet of French army colonel, the plight of a tortured Algerian to rat out his leader and the final revolt of the people, all are so brilliantly shot.

The background music is so different, but adds brilliantly to the mood of the movie.

It is impossible to think about all what is happening around us, while watching this movie. The current revolts in the middle east, the occupations of Afghanistan, Iraq, the problems in our own Kashmir and Eastern states, all kept flashing in while and after watching this movie.

Just like America managed to ban a Turkish movie on Iraq occupation (I was told about this movie by a friend who said it was like a documentary) immediately after Iraq was occupied, this movie was banned by France for more than 3 years since its release.

This is a must watch movie for every human being, but not for the fascist and colonialist. 

Love and Other Drugs

2010 by Edward Zwick

Jamie is an incredibly smart sales man working at an electronic shop and is excellent in handling woman. When he lose this job, he starts working for a Pharma company, selling drugs. Now he meets Maggie in a hospital, who has been diagnosed with stage 1 Parkinson's disease at her young age. Maggie is a free spirit and doesnt want to enter into any kind of relationship and is interested only in sex. Jamie is getting lucky with his new job and have started selling Viagra. The movie is all about how they are in love and in spite of hesitations, finally end up in a relationship.

A typical hollywod romantic comedy, except that the heroine is having Parkinson's disease at a young age. There are some funny moments, especially in the first half. But as always, its all very predictable and the script or director hasnt done anything to make us feel that this movie is above the ordinary. Most importantly, in the climax when Jamie explains why he needs her, its pretty ordinary. Theres nothing moving even if the heroine seems to be affected.

The difference is about the charm of Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. Not exceptional performances, but the charm is there, in fact there is nothing special in the script for them to make exceptional performances.

And let me confess, I was surprised and happy to see Anne Hathaway nude, never before.

Also, there was a very beautiful song, starting , I lived in a place called ...

Un Coeur en Hiver - A Heart in Winter

1992 by Claude Sautet

Stephane is an introvert, but a master in repairing Violin, in a workshop run by Maxime, frequented by celebrity Violinists. They have been working together for so many years and seems to know each other very well. Maxime reveals to Stephane that he finally seems to have met a woman for his life, and is ready to leave his wife for her, Camille a violinist rising to fame. Camille's violin has a problem and Stephane repairs it for her. The extra ordinary coldness in Stephane is strange during the meetings, but Camille seems to be interested in this strange man. Stephane also has a friend, with whom he meets often and she does think Stephane has an interest in Camille. Stephane or this lady friend of his doesn't seem to have any other interests in their friendship. Camille is interested in knowing more about Stephane but he is not interested in talking about himself at all. The occassional absence of Maxime does offer more chances for Camille to get close to Stephane and she express her liking to him. But Stephane is very cold and rejects her completely. Camille reveals her mind to Maxime as well. In a restaurant, Camille, who still cannot believe she was rejected, desperately tries again to talk into Stephane and his rejection makes her go nearly violent. Maxime too is angry and slaps Stephane there. Stephane walks out  from the Violin workshop and sets up his own shop. After about 8 months Maxime visits Stephane again wanting to be friends again and Camille too seems friendly. Past is past.

We have seen so many love triangles. This one is a master piece of a Love triangle story. Typical of French movies, a lot of story is left for the viewer to interpret. How come Camille is interested in Stephane, why is he rejecting her and so on. It is when we watch such a beautiful movie we miss the original language, many subtleties are missed by the subtitles.

From recollecting some moments of the movie, I guess this :- Stephane is gay and he holds a special admiration for Maxime. He is unhappy that Maxime would leave his wife for a new woman and is quite jealous of Camille. Stephane uses the moments he have with Camille to cast a spell on her, in his own ways, and intentionally rejects her love to make her upset and to let Maxime know that Camille is fallen for his friend. May be he was hoping by this, Maxime would let her and he would have his friend back. Maxime also seems to be hurt that Camille is interested in Stephane, but because of his love for her, he is more disturbed that Stephane hurt Camille by rejecting her. Camille realises that Stephane is never going to love her and falls back to the comfort of Maxime's love. With time, the past has been accepted and normal friendship seems to be back, though there is a particular shot which says Camille still thinks about Stephane. I might be wrong in my assumptions, but I have to say this is an exceptionally great movie.

There are many many beautiful moments and some of these scenes explain how so much things can be told without saying anything at all. For eg: there is a scene were Camille visits the book shop where the lady friend of Stephane works. They dont speak anything about Stephane here, but the Camera follows their faces and their looks say everything. So is the scene in the restaurant where Camille tries to talk and finally cant control her rage, she simply cannot understand how a man can reject her.

I have seen only very few actresses, who have a very beautiful face and a perfectly beautiful body plus excellent talent to act. Emmanuelle Beart is definitely one of them. An important point in the movie is how can a single man reject the love of a beauty like Camille and I think there cannot be any better person than Ms. Beart for this role. Her eyes speaks more than a thousand words. I was charmed by her physical beauty in 'La Belle de Nouiseuse', here she proves she is more than that.

As the title reads, this movie is about a cold heart which is difficult to understand and who better than Daniel Auteuil to enact it. This role is made for him.

Cinematography in this movie is so beautiful and it can be a lesson to how to capture human beings and their emotions. There are also beautiful excerpts of  Violin.

For me this movie is a real master piece.
How much I wish to write more about this movie, better.