Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 3:34 pm
House of Bamboo (Samuel Fuller, 1955) 7/10
Underworld U.S.A. (Samuel Fuller, 1961) 6/10
Shadow (Zhang Yimou, 2018) 9/10
Hard Boiled (John Woo, 1992) 8/10
Comes a Horseman (Alan J. Pakula, 1978) 7/10
Pakula's offbeat and revisionist western is set during the waning years of WWII. Deliberately paced film gently recalls classic westerns of the past with familiar tropes of the genre. A land baron (Jason Robards) with delusions of past grandeur takes on two neighbours, a woman and a war veteran, by trying to browbeat both into giving up their land to him. The feisty woman (Jane Fonda), helped by her devoted aging hand (Richard Farnsworth), and the laid back veteran (James Caan) stand their ground against strong-armed tactics by the baron's goons and attacks on their land and cattle. There are additional problems for all the ranchers as they owe big debts to the bank allowing a close friend (George Grizzard) of the baron to manipulate the bank into giving his land to him so he can drill for oil. The evil baron takes matters into his own hands against everyone leading to a fiery finalé. Fonda's presence recalls her dad Henry Fonda, a veteran of classic westerns from Hollywood's golden era while Farnsworth, a veteran stuntman in numerous westerns (including for Henry Fonda), makes his acting debut after numerous unbilled or bit parts (since 1937) as the grizzled old cowpoke (shades of a gentler Walter Brennan) and was rewarded with an Oscar nomination for his sympathetic performance. Both Caan and Fonda have great chemistry as they gently warm up to each other. The spectacular location - Wet Mountain Valley in Colarado, all rolling hills and vast meadows - is captured in all its glory by the superb widescreen cinematography by Gordon Willis.
Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki / When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Mikio Naruse, 1960) 10/10
Naruse never got the same adulation as his contemporary Japanese directors - Yasujirô Ozo, Kenji Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa. This was mainly due to a certain lack of style in comparison although his films show a remarkable sensitivity in depicting the female psyche. Like Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen (in his dramas), Naruse depicts his female characters in a bleak and pessimistic light but shows great sensitivity in exploring their position in a working class milieu. Mama (Hideko Takamine), a 30-something widow always strapped for cash, works as a bar hostess in the Ginza district of Tokyo. At home she is constantly pestered by her aged mother and good-for-nothing brother for money which she provides out of guilt. At work she maintains a conservative and traditional outlook. She dresses in a prim kimono unlike the other girls who wear western attire and while she welcomes and entertains men at the bar she politely refuses to sleep with them. At the bar rumour has it that she made a vow to her dead husband that she would never ever love another man which greatly endears her to the bar manager/pimp (Tatsuya Nakadai). The sharply drawn, almost brutal, screenplay follows the dead-end life of this woman as she struggles to maintain her independance and honour in a society that stinks of the madonna-or-whore paradox dominated by male-centric views of women. Desperate because of her advancing age she has options of either branching out with her own bar for which money is needed or getting married to an eligible man. After three disastrous attempts with men - one proposes but turns out to be a liar and fraud, another with whom she falls in love is married and won't give up his family for her and she rejects her manager who has silently been in love with her. The film ends on a positive note as totally dejected she puts on a brave face and ascends the stairs to the bar to start yet another day at work. Shattering film is exquisitely acted by Hideko Takamine who worked extensively with Naruse in a dozen films throughout the 1950s and early 1960s becoming a top star in Japan playing strong-willed, poverty-stricken women held down by the traditional family system.
Late Autumn (Yasujirô Ozu, 1960) 8/10
Wistful but thoroughly charming comedy-drama is almost a reversal of Ozu's Late Spring (1949). However, instead of a widower trying to get his daughter married in the former film here the young girl has a widowed mother who wishes her daughter would settle down. The leading lady in both films is the luminous
Setsuko Hara who played the young daughter in the previous film and here plays the widowed mother. Concerned that her daughter (Yôko Tsukasa) needs to settle down she takes up the offer from her late husband's three friends (Shin Saburi, Chishû Ryû, Nubuo Nakamura) in finding a suitable husband for the young girl. The film takes on the mantle of a gentle farce - with a jaunty score straight out of an Italian romantic comedy - as the three friends go about suggesting candidates which the girl keeps rejecting. It transpires that she does not want to leave her mother alone. So the three bumbling men decide to take matters further into their own hands to find a suitor for the mother - the candidate being one of them who just happens to be a widower. Needless to say this causes a misunderstanding between the daughter and her mother which happily is resolved by the end. The film has a number of Ozu's signature traits - scenes with impressive spatial compositions, the camera placed at the floor level viewing characters as they sit still and the director's familiar theme of showing post-war changes in the attitudes of the modern young which he contrasts with the traditional older generation. The film is shot in stunning colour with outstanding production design often viewed by the still camera capturing static shots of bedroom interiors, dining areas, hallways and restaurants. The film also glorifies Japanese cuisine making the film a gastronomical delight.
The Greatest Story Ever Told (George Stevens, 1965) 5/10
A repeat viewing after many years. Found out an interesting bit of trivia unknown to me before - the opening sequence between Herod the Great (Claude Rains in his last screen appearance) and Herod Antipas (José Ferrer) was directed by David Lean as a favour to Stevens. This is a long (clocked in at almost 3.5 hrs although the original cut was over 4 hrs), rambling and often boring epic about the life of Christ. Max von Sydow was chosen to play Christ because his face was unfamiliar to Western audiences despite being a star for years in the films of Ingmar Bergman. He brings a strong sense of nobility and dignity in his portrayal and is surrounded by an all-star cast of familiar Hollywood faces, many in tiny wordless cameos, playing assorted characters. Critics at the time found all these faces a distraction but they actually seamlessly fit into the story in a subtle manner. What I found distracting was Stevens' choice of location for the film. Arizona, Nevada and Utah were chosen for most of the outdoor shoot with Christ posing against the grandeur of the Grand Canyon as a backdrop along with familiar Monument Valley from all the John Ford westerns. Out of all the stars the only one who comes off totally unconvincing is John Wayne as a centurion watching the crucifixion and drawling in his familiar voice the hokey dialogue "Truly, this man was the son of God”. Other prominent actors (some in blink-and-you-miss-them parts) appear as John the Baptist (Charlton Heston wearing a hideous wig) whose beheading is not shown, The Virgin Mary (Dorothy McGuire, a great star playing an important role, but who is shockingly just a silent and mostly weepy observer), Barabbas (Richard Conte), Pontius Pilate (Telly Savalas who shaved his head for the role and remained shaven till the end of his career), Satan (Donald Pleasence), Angel at the Tomb (Pat Boone), various jewish priests and Roman guards (Martin Landau, Victor Buono, Michael Ansara), the disciples - Judas (David McCallum who jumps into fire instead of hanging himself), Matthew (Roddy McDowall), Simon (Robert Blake) - Herodias (Marian Seldes), assorted people who were either healed by Jesus or who helped him (Shelley Winters, Ed Wynn, Van Heflin, Carroll Baker, Ina Balin, Angela Lansbury (must have blinked or was on one of my many, many loo trips because I never saw her), Janet Margolin, Sal Mineo, Joseph Schildkraut) and Simon of Cyrene (Sidney Poitier) who helps Jesus carry the cross to his crucifixion. The film's production design, cinematography, costumes, special effects and score received Oscar nominations. The definitive screen version about the life of Christ remains Franco Zeffirelli's all-star television movie.
Downhill (Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, 2020) 1/10
There was really no need for Hollywood to remake the Scandanavian "Force Majeure". It's just an excuse to cast two comedians - Will Ferrell and Julia-Louise Drefuss - in a drama that feels very forced. It also does not help that both play rather unappealing characters stuck in a marriage that appears to be wavering. A family skiing holiday (with two sons in tow) in the Austrian Tirol proves fatal when an avalanche scare becomes the catalyst of doom for their relationship. When danger of being crushed by the moving snow becomes inevitable he makes a run for it leaving behind his terrified wife and sons. So begins their nightmarish holiday with wifey in full snarling mode at guilty hubby. Everyone is miserable and moody throughout despite the spectacular location and even the crude humour of one character falls totally flat. Skip this crappy film.
Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966) 4/10
Quoting Jodie Foster - "Cruelty might be very human, and it might be very cultural, but it's not acceptable". And this is especially true towards animals. Bresson's cruel film charts the life of a donkey from birth to death. A life that starts as a pet to a young girl whose father works on a large estate. The life of the girl runs parallel to the donkey and involves physical violence directed at her. She is loved by the owner's son but they move away after his mother dies. The girl remains at the estate as her father is put in charge to look after it in the absence of the owners. The donkey is given away and as the years pass it is used as a beast of burden for different owners all of whom treat the animal with intense cruelty. Escaping from an owner it finds its way back to the estate and the now grown-up girl. The boy who loved her returns but she now prefers the baker's son, a cruel and insensitive youth given to creating havoc with his buddies. When the donkey is sold to the baker it faces more cruelty at the hands of this young man who lights its tail with fire. It just goes on and on, the cruelty, and in a relentlessly deadpan way by which Bresson appears to be making (maybe?) a spiritual parable to Christ. Life's a bitch and then you die. Which the donkey finally does in a field surrounded by sheep. The only moment of relief this film brings. While the donkey goes through life in a totally passive way, seemingly accepting its fate, all the human characters behave without logic. Pretentious film is frustrating and an ordeal to sit through and its only plus point is the superb cinematography by Ghislain Cloquet.
I Am (Onir, 2010) 6/10
Four short stories about subjects that were more or less taboo in Indian films at the time as characters fight to hold onto their dignity in a world that is cruel and unsympathetic. A woman (Nandita Das) dumped by her boyfriend decides to have a baby through artificial insemination. Her friend (Juhi Chawla), who argues against the procedure, has problems of her own. She, a Kashmiri Pandit who along with her family was driven away from Kashmir, needs to return after 20 years to sell off the family home. The visit brings back bitter memories as she visits the home of her childhood muslim friend (Manisha Koirala) and her family. The two discover that both families have suffered - one through displacement and the other through vicious treatment of the Indian military. This sequence is fascinating as we get to see Srinagar as a complete military zone under heavy barricades as the two characters walk the streets - the director's camera captures the beautiful Dal lake in all its glory showing "paradise" under lockdown. The third sequence involves the hedonistic lifestyle of a documentarian (Sanjay Suri) which is revealed to be related to sexual abuse during his childhood at the hands of his step-father (Anurag Kashyap). The last sequence deals with the dreaded Section 377 of the Indian penal code and how the police misuse it in order to browbeat victims into paying bribes - a gay Mumbai-based executive (Rahul Bose) is caught in a compromising position with a student. Well acted film with meaningful subjects is awkwardly linked to each other through common characters.
The Night Fighters / A Terrible Beauty (Tay Garnett, 1960) 6/10
Simplistic but atmospheric film set in a small village in Ireland in 1941. War is raging in Europe with Britain engaged with Germany. Nazis smuggle in ammunition for the locals to rise up against the english on their home turf to coincide with their plan of invading Britain. A local IRA outfit, headed by an unstable patriot (Dan O'Herlihy), enlists local boys including the tough but happy-go-lucky Dermott O'Neill (Robert Mitchum). During a raid on an ammunition dump he gets separated from the group and with a wounded colleague (Richard Harris) goes on the run. Later realizing the outfit's rabid and dicey plans do not make sense he decides to get out of the IRA causing the wrath of the group who capture him. Will he reunite with his girlfriend (Anne Heywood), escape and depart for England? Mitchum and a fine cast of Irish character actors - Cyril Cusack, Niall MacGinnis, Marie Kean - make this an interesting watch. Mitchum would go on to play an Irishman again to much acclaim 10-years later in David Lean's "Ryan's Daughter".
The Cakemaker (Ofir Raul Graizer, 2017) 8/10
Sensitive intelligent and well-crafted story moves like a novel with characters that not only feel real but display emotions that seem familiar. The perceptive screenplay uses a gentle tone that neatly explains subtle cultural differences which although seemingly outdated and outrageous to a modern mind are the product of orthodox religious beliefs. I was very surprised to see the similarity between jewish and muslim customs not only about kosher/halaal food but the orthodox rules towards people of different religions which even Hindus display via their caste system. A german pastry chef (Tim Kalkhof) in Berlin starts up a relationship with a married Israeli engineer who periodically visits the city for brief meetings. After a year when there is suddenly no response from his lover in Israel he is told that the man suddenly died in a car accident. Utterly bereft he turns up in Jerusalem and takes up a job at a cafe run by his dead lover's widow (Sarah Adler). Soon her business increases as he introduces cookies and exotic cakes on the menu and also finds himself bonding with her son and other family members. Before the relationship with the widow takes on an expected turn something unexpected also happens which the screenplay neatly concludes without much fanfare but is pleasing nevertheless. The film's exploration of friendship, love, grief and food is packaged without delving deep into the darker recesses of grief or sexuality. It may be a rather simplistic approach but it is sweetly presented with much feeling.
Rob Roy (Michael Caton-Jones, 1995) 8/10
The romance between outlaw and folk hero Rob Roy (Liam Neeson) and his wife Mary (Jessica Lange) is completely dwarfed by the spectacular scenery of the Scottish Highlands where their story is set. As with any story about a power struggle there has to be a good adversary for the gallant hero to fight against. This film has three memorable ones - a sniveling coward (Brian Cox), the Marquess of Montrose (John Hurt) who drips sarcasm with every line of dialogue and the viciously despicable fop played by Tim Roth who was given carte blanche by the director to make the character as over-the-top as he wished. Roth goes beyond expectations and runs off with the film mincing about with a sneer on his face murdering, impregnating and raping his way through the film. His deliciously evil performance won the actor a well deserved Oscar nomination. No swashbuckler is complete without a wink and a wave at Errol Flynn and the movie ends with a great sword fight between Neeson and Roth. Old fashioned story is given new life by director Caton-Jones and his marvelous team of technicians behind the camera - the production and costume designers, the lovely score by Carter Burrell and the breathtaking vistas captured by the camera of Karl Walter Lindenlaub. Great fun.
Firaaq (Nandita Das, 2009) 8/10
Heartrending film chronicles the aftermath of the 2002 Gujrat "sectarian riots" in India which left 900 muslims and 300 hindus dead while hundreds of thousands on both sides were rendered homeless. Rookie director Nandita Das, who also wrote the perceptive screenplay, more than once hints the terror was state devised as a means towards ethnic cleansing. That muslim genocide resonates even more today when the current situation in India more than testifies to this fact as senior government officials openly talk in contempt about their muslim population. The screenplay captures a microcosm of the population left defenceless and petrified as they go about rebuilding their lives after the carnage. A young muslim couple (Nawazuddin Siddiqui & Shahana Goswami) return to find their home burnt and destroyed. An elderly classical vocalist (Naseeruddin Shah) lives in a reverie of the past oblivious to the death and destruction. A wealthy inter-religious couple (Sanjay Suri & Tisca Chopra) plan to leave strife ridden Gujrat and move to Delhi because the husband, who is a muslim, feels insecure. A middle-aged hindu woman (Deepti Naval) is guilt ridden for not having saved the life of a muslim woman banging on her door during the riots while her crooked husband (Paresh Rawal) is trying to bribe the cops to save his brother who was involved in a gang rape. Each vignette is superbly intercut with the pace and tone increasing in dramatic intensity. Das does not spare the audience and presents moments that are sad and horrific but ends each story with a light of hope. Disturbing, thought-provoking and disturbing film.
Underworld U.S.A. (Samuel Fuller, 1961) 6/10
Shadow (Zhang Yimou, 2018) 9/10
Hard Boiled (John Woo, 1992) 8/10
Comes a Horseman (Alan J. Pakula, 1978) 7/10
Pakula's offbeat and revisionist western is set during the waning years of WWII. Deliberately paced film gently recalls classic westerns of the past with familiar tropes of the genre. A land baron (Jason Robards) with delusions of past grandeur takes on two neighbours, a woman and a war veteran, by trying to browbeat both into giving up their land to him. The feisty woman (Jane Fonda), helped by her devoted aging hand (Richard Farnsworth), and the laid back veteran (James Caan) stand their ground against strong-armed tactics by the baron's goons and attacks on their land and cattle. There are additional problems for all the ranchers as they owe big debts to the bank allowing a close friend (George Grizzard) of the baron to manipulate the bank into giving his land to him so he can drill for oil. The evil baron takes matters into his own hands against everyone leading to a fiery finalé. Fonda's presence recalls her dad Henry Fonda, a veteran of classic westerns from Hollywood's golden era while Farnsworth, a veteran stuntman in numerous westerns (including for Henry Fonda), makes his acting debut after numerous unbilled or bit parts (since 1937) as the grizzled old cowpoke (shades of a gentler Walter Brennan) and was rewarded with an Oscar nomination for his sympathetic performance. Both Caan and Fonda have great chemistry as they gently warm up to each other. The spectacular location - Wet Mountain Valley in Colarado, all rolling hills and vast meadows - is captured in all its glory by the superb widescreen cinematography by Gordon Willis.
Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki / When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Mikio Naruse, 1960) 10/10
Naruse never got the same adulation as his contemporary Japanese directors - Yasujirô Ozo, Kenji Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa. This was mainly due to a certain lack of style in comparison although his films show a remarkable sensitivity in depicting the female psyche. Like Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen (in his dramas), Naruse depicts his female characters in a bleak and pessimistic light but shows great sensitivity in exploring their position in a working class milieu. Mama (Hideko Takamine), a 30-something widow always strapped for cash, works as a bar hostess in the Ginza district of Tokyo. At home she is constantly pestered by her aged mother and good-for-nothing brother for money which she provides out of guilt. At work she maintains a conservative and traditional outlook. She dresses in a prim kimono unlike the other girls who wear western attire and while she welcomes and entertains men at the bar she politely refuses to sleep with them. At the bar rumour has it that she made a vow to her dead husband that she would never ever love another man which greatly endears her to the bar manager/pimp (Tatsuya Nakadai). The sharply drawn, almost brutal, screenplay follows the dead-end life of this woman as she struggles to maintain her independance and honour in a society that stinks of the madonna-or-whore paradox dominated by male-centric views of women. Desperate because of her advancing age she has options of either branching out with her own bar for which money is needed or getting married to an eligible man. After three disastrous attempts with men - one proposes but turns out to be a liar and fraud, another with whom she falls in love is married and won't give up his family for her and she rejects her manager who has silently been in love with her. The film ends on a positive note as totally dejected she puts on a brave face and ascends the stairs to the bar to start yet another day at work. Shattering film is exquisitely acted by Hideko Takamine who worked extensively with Naruse in a dozen films throughout the 1950s and early 1960s becoming a top star in Japan playing strong-willed, poverty-stricken women held down by the traditional family system.
Late Autumn (Yasujirô Ozu, 1960) 8/10
Wistful but thoroughly charming comedy-drama is almost a reversal of Ozu's Late Spring (1949). However, instead of a widower trying to get his daughter married in the former film here the young girl has a widowed mother who wishes her daughter would settle down. The leading lady in both films is the luminous
Setsuko Hara who played the young daughter in the previous film and here plays the widowed mother. Concerned that her daughter (Yôko Tsukasa) needs to settle down she takes up the offer from her late husband's three friends (Shin Saburi, Chishû Ryû, Nubuo Nakamura) in finding a suitable husband for the young girl. The film takes on the mantle of a gentle farce - with a jaunty score straight out of an Italian romantic comedy - as the three friends go about suggesting candidates which the girl keeps rejecting. It transpires that she does not want to leave her mother alone. So the three bumbling men decide to take matters further into their own hands to find a suitor for the mother - the candidate being one of them who just happens to be a widower. Needless to say this causes a misunderstanding between the daughter and her mother which happily is resolved by the end. The film has a number of Ozu's signature traits - scenes with impressive spatial compositions, the camera placed at the floor level viewing characters as they sit still and the director's familiar theme of showing post-war changes in the attitudes of the modern young which he contrasts with the traditional older generation. The film is shot in stunning colour with outstanding production design often viewed by the still camera capturing static shots of bedroom interiors, dining areas, hallways and restaurants. The film also glorifies Japanese cuisine making the film a gastronomical delight.
The Greatest Story Ever Told (George Stevens, 1965) 5/10
A repeat viewing after many years. Found out an interesting bit of trivia unknown to me before - the opening sequence between Herod the Great (Claude Rains in his last screen appearance) and Herod Antipas (José Ferrer) was directed by David Lean as a favour to Stevens. This is a long (clocked in at almost 3.5 hrs although the original cut was over 4 hrs), rambling and often boring epic about the life of Christ. Max von Sydow was chosen to play Christ because his face was unfamiliar to Western audiences despite being a star for years in the films of Ingmar Bergman. He brings a strong sense of nobility and dignity in his portrayal and is surrounded by an all-star cast of familiar Hollywood faces, many in tiny wordless cameos, playing assorted characters. Critics at the time found all these faces a distraction but they actually seamlessly fit into the story in a subtle manner. What I found distracting was Stevens' choice of location for the film. Arizona, Nevada and Utah were chosen for most of the outdoor shoot with Christ posing against the grandeur of the Grand Canyon as a backdrop along with familiar Monument Valley from all the John Ford westerns. Out of all the stars the only one who comes off totally unconvincing is John Wayne as a centurion watching the crucifixion and drawling in his familiar voice the hokey dialogue "Truly, this man was the son of God”. Other prominent actors (some in blink-and-you-miss-them parts) appear as John the Baptist (Charlton Heston wearing a hideous wig) whose beheading is not shown, The Virgin Mary (Dorothy McGuire, a great star playing an important role, but who is shockingly just a silent and mostly weepy observer), Barabbas (Richard Conte), Pontius Pilate (Telly Savalas who shaved his head for the role and remained shaven till the end of his career), Satan (Donald Pleasence), Angel at the Tomb (Pat Boone), various jewish priests and Roman guards (Martin Landau, Victor Buono, Michael Ansara), the disciples - Judas (David McCallum who jumps into fire instead of hanging himself), Matthew (Roddy McDowall), Simon (Robert Blake) - Herodias (Marian Seldes), assorted people who were either healed by Jesus or who helped him (Shelley Winters, Ed Wynn, Van Heflin, Carroll Baker, Ina Balin, Angela Lansbury (must have blinked or was on one of my many, many loo trips because I never saw her), Janet Margolin, Sal Mineo, Joseph Schildkraut) and Simon of Cyrene (Sidney Poitier) who helps Jesus carry the cross to his crucifixion. The film's production design, cinematography, costumes, special effects and score received Oscar nominations. The definitive screen version about the life of Christ remains Franco Zeffirelli's all-star television movie.
Downhill (Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, 2020) 1/10
There was really no need for Hollywood to remake the Scandanavian "Force Majeure". It's just an excuse to cast two comedians - Will Ferrell and Julia-Louise Drefuss - in a drama that feels very forced. It also does not help that both play rather unappealing characters stuck in a marriage that appears to be wavering. A family skiing holiday (with two sons in tow) in the Austrian Tirol proves fatal when an avalanche scare becomes the catalyst of doom for their relationship. When danger of being crushed by the moving snow becomes inevitable he makes a run for it leaving behind his terrified wife and sons. So begins their nightmarish holiday with wifey in full snarling mode at guilty hubby. Everyone is miserable and moody throughout despite the spectacular location and even the crude humour of one character falls totally flat. Skip this crappy film.
Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966) 4/10
Quoting Jodie Foster - "Cruelty might be very human, and it might be very cultural, but it's not acceptable". And this is especially true towards animals. Bresson's cruel film charts the life of a donkey from birth to death. A life that starts as a pet to a young girl whose father works on a large estate. The life of the girl runs parallel to the donkey and involves physical violence directed at her. She is loved by the owner's son but they move away after his mother dies. The girl remains at the estate as her father is put in charge to look after it in the absence of the owners. The donkey is given away and as the years pass it is used as a beast of burden for different owners all of whom treat the animal with intense cruelty. Escaping from an owner it finds its way back to the estate and the now grown-up girl. The boy who loved her returns but she now prefers the baker's son, a cruel and insensitive youth given to creating havoc with his buddies. When the donkey is sold to the baker it faces more cruelty at the hands of this young man who lights its tail with fire. It just goes on and on, the cruelty, and in a relentlessly deadpan way by which Bresson appears to be making (maybe?) a spiritual parable to Christ. Life's a bitch and then you die. Which the donkey finally does in a field surrounded by sheep. The only moment of relief this film brings. While the donkey goes through life in a totally passive way, seemingly accepting its fate, all the human characters behave without logic. Pretentious film is frustrating and an ordeal to sit through and its only plus point is the superb cinematography by Ghislain Cloquet.
I Am (Onir, 2010) 6/10
Four short stories about subjects that were more or less taboo in Indian films at the time as characters fight to hold onto their dignity in a world that is cruel and unsympathetic. A woman (Nandita Das) dumped by her boyfriend decides to have a baby through artificial insemination. Her friend (Juhi Chawla), who argues against the procedure, has problems of her own. She, a Kashmiri Pandit who along with her family was driven away from Kashmir, needs to return after 20 years to sell off the family home. The visit brings back bitter memories as she visits the home of her childhood muslim friend (Manisha Koirala) and her family. The two discover that both families have suffered - one through displacement and the other through vicious treatment of the Indian military. This sequence is fascinating as we get to see Srinagar as a complete military zone under heavy barricades as the two characters walk the streets - the director's camera captures the beautiful Dal lake in all its glory showing "paradise" under lockdown. The third sequence involves the hedonistic lifestyle of a documentarian (Sanjay Suri) which is revealed to be related to sexual abuse during his childhood at the hands of his step-father (Anurag Kashyap). The last sequence deals with the dreaded Section 377 of the Indian penal code and how the police misuse it in order to browbeat victims into paying bribes - a gay Mumbai-based executive (Rahul Bose) is caught in a compromising position with a student. Well acted film with meaningful subjects is awkwardly linked to each other through common characters.
The Night Fighters / A Terrible Beauty (Tay Garnett, 1960) 6/10
Simplistic but atmospheric film set in a small village in Ireland in 1941. War is raging in Europe with Britain engaged with Germany. Nazis smuggle in ammunition for the locals to rise up against the english on their home turf to coincide with their plan of invading Britain. A local IRA outfit, headed by an unstable patriot (Dan O'Herlihy), enlists local boys including the tough but happy-go-lucky Dermott O'Neill (Robert Mitchum). During a raid on an ammunition dump he gets separated from the group and with a wounded colleague (Richard Harris) goes on the run. Later realizing the outfit's rabid and dicey plans do not make sense he decides to get out of the IRA causing the wrath of the group who capture him. Will he reunite with his girlfriend (Anne Heywood), escape and depart for England? Mitchum and a fine cast of Irish character actors - Cyril Cusack, Niall MacGinnis, Marie Kean - make this an interesting watch. Mitchum would go on to play an Irishman again to much acclaim 10-years later in David Lean's "Ryan's Daughter".
The Cakemaker (Ofir Raul Graizer, 2017) 8/10
Sensitive intelligent and well-crafted story moves like a novel with characters that not only feel real but display emotions that seem familiar. The perceptive screenplay uses a gentle tone that neatly explains subtle cultural differences which although seemingly outdated and outrageous to a modern mind are the product of orthodox religious beliefs. I was very surprised to see the similarity between jewish and muslim customs not only about kosher/halaal food but the orthodox rules towards people of different religions which even Hindus display via their caste system. A german pastry chef (Tim Kalkhof) in Berlin starts up a relationship with a married Israeli engineer who periodically visits the city for brief meetings. After a year when there is suddenly no response from his lover in Israel he is told that the man suddenly died in a car accident. Utterly bereft he turns up in Jerusalem and takes up a job at a cafe run by his dead lover's widow (Sarah Adler). Soon her business increases as he introduces cookies and exotic cakes on the menu and also finds himself bonding with her son and other family members. Before the relationship with the widow takes on an expected turn something unexpected also happens which the screenplay neatly concludes without much fanfare but is pleasing nevertheless. The film's exploration of friendship, love, grief and food is packaged without delving deep into the darker recesses of grief or sexuality. It may be a rather simplistic approach but it is sweetly presented with much feeling.
Rob Roy (Michael Caton-Jones, 1995) 8/10
The romance between outlaw and folk hero Rob Roy (Liam Neeson) and his wife Mary (Jessica Lange) is completely dwarfed by the spectacular scenery of the Scottish Highlands where their story is set. As with any story about a power struggle there has to be a good adversary for the gallant hero to fight against. This film has three memorable ones - a sniveling coward (Brian Cox), the Marquess of Montrose (John Hurt) who drips sarcasm with every line of dialogue and the viciously despicable fop played by Tim Roth who was given carte blanche by the director to make the character as over-the-top as he wished. Roth goes beyond expectations and runs off with the film mincing about with a sneer on his face murdering, impregnating and raping his way through the film. His deliciously evil performance won the actor a well deserved Oscar nomination. No swashbuckler is complete without a wink and a wave at Errol Flynn and the movie ends with a great sword fight between Neeson and Roth. Old fashioned story is given new life by director Caton-Jones and his marvelous team of technicians behind the camera - the production and costume designers, the lovely score by Carter Burrell and the breathtaking vistas captured by the camera of Karl Walter Lindenlaub. Great fun.
Firaaq (Nandita Das, 2009) 8/10
Heartrending film chronicles the aftermath of the 2002 Gujrat "sectarian riots" in India which left 900 muslims and 300 hindus dead while hundreds of thousands on both sides were rendered homeless. Rookie director Nandita Das, who also wrote the perceptive screenplay, more than once hints the terror was state devised as a means towards ethnic cleansing. That muslim genocide resonates even more today when the current situation in India more than testifies to this fact as senior government officials openly talk in contempt about their muslim population. The screenplay captures a microcosm of the population left defenceless and petrified as they go about rebuilding their lives after the carnage. A young muslim couple (Nawazuddin Siddiqui & Shahana Goswami) return to find their home burnt and destroyed. An elderly classical vocalist (Naseeruddin Shah) lives in a reverie of the past oblivious to the death and destruction. A wealthy inter-religious couple (Sanjay Suri & Tisca Chopra) plan to leave strife ridden Gujrat and move to Delhi because the husband, who is a muslim, feels insecure. A middle-aged hindu woman (Deepti Naval) is guilt ridden for not having saved the life of a muslim woman banging on her door during the riots while her crooked husband (Paresh Rawal) is trying to bribe the cops to save his brother who was involved in a gang rape. Each vignette is superbly intercut with the pace and tone increasing in dramatic intensity. Das does not spare the audience and presents moments that are sad and horrific but ends each story with a light of hope. Disturbing, thought-provoking and disturbing film.