At home this diwali

At home this diwali vacation, carrrying on in high spirits of movie viewing, here are some more comments on the films I saw over the vacation break...

My second of Majid Majidi's films, Baran, turned out to be yet another beautiful and touching story, narrated with the simplicity that is typical to Majidi's work. Although this is only the second of his movies that I have seen, his earlier film Children of Heaven also had the very same gentle appeal to itself. The movie does not have any deep plot as such, its just the simple narrate of a young worker in Tehran, Lateef, who falls in love with the Afghan worker, Baran, when he realises the truth of her identity. Though not professing his love for the pretty Baran, Lateef goes out of the way to ensure the comfort of the girl he has fallen in love. A simple and interesting story told in the backdrop of a pretty countryside, this movie is a good watch!

Children of Heaven, also has the same simplicity about itself. A story of a little boy and his sister, whose shoes he has lost, and the innocence with which the deal with their shoe crisis! :) It is really a very "pretty" movie. The charm of the young children and the decisions they take while trying to figure out a way to manage the lost pair of shoes, is just so touching. The story line is also impressive here, as Majidi brings out some subtle and ironical twists to the tale. Another excellent watch!


Monica Belluci is so beautiful!!!! Thats all I could think of while watching Malena. Really....! :)
Well, I quite liked this film too, and I would recommend it. Quite a sexy film, narrated by a teenage boy who is enchanted by the beauty of the talk-of-the-town Malena Scordia. In the backdrop of Mussolini announcing war, this story is of a town "attacking" the life of the beautiful and helpless woman Malena, turning her from Bride to widow to prostitute, leaving her no other means for survival. Young Renato however, a boy of 12, silently "watches" over Malena and safeguards her innocence until the return of her presumably dead husband. With the war having ended the couple returns to live in their family home and are treated with respect by the locals this time.
Some reviews I had read on this film, had drawn interesting parallels between Malena and Italy itself, in the way both are cherished, mis understood, illtreated and then respected again as they go through a period of war / struggle. Interesting!

Home again!

Had a zillion things that I wanted to blog about......tonnes of ideas and thoughts floating around in my head...but then!!!
Then, came my rescuer of all times, my companions in all moods....my phillums! :)

So, getting back to my healthy movie watching form, I made good use of my weekend break back home and watched some long pending films that I had been carrying around. The movie watching sprint this weekend turned out to be quite a revelation for me on the Chinese cinema front. I m definately looking forward to catching up on more classic/hit Chinese films.

Ba wang bei ji or better known as "Farewell, My Concubine" takes the cake for this weekend. For the fairly long movie that it is, the story telling aspect of this movie is simply remarkable. Its been two days since I watched it and I am still awe struck by bits and pieces of the movie falling into place in my head over and over again. This is one amazing movie that you ought to discover for yourself, but read on if you feel like...

A few things that stand out...leave an impression in my mind.... Douzi's induction into the theatre group with his mother ruthlessly "doing the needful" ... His constant recitation of the lines "I am by nature a 'boy' ", until the day he choses to recite it right ... The line "The Concubine has to die, one way or another" and what followed next ... Its beautiful (I think) how these two episodes sort of bring together the reasons for Douzi living as "the Concubine" throughout his life in the following decades ... the one moment where Juxian wraps Cheng Dieyi (Douzi) with the blankets and holds him close and says "its ok", sometime while he was trying to recover from his opium abuse ... I look at that as one brief but firm moment where even Juxian feels for Cheng Dieyi ... the betrayal felt by Deiyi when Xiao Si replaces him for the concubine ... wow this scene really hurt!, so subtle and so strong ... the constant political turmoil and how it dictates the peoples' emotions and appreciation for the opera / actors ... the scene where all the three (Xiaoluo, Deiyi and Juxian) are publicly questioned about their lives in the "old society"... this was such a dramatic scene, each one slinging out the dirt on each other to save themselves? save the other? and with the consequences of that episode writing their fate for the remainder of their lives...

still pondering over a thing or two, will probably watch the film again after a while....oh! what a beautiful film.... my heart goes out for it....

Surprisingly and coincidently this was my next film "Da hong deng long gao gao gua". I had no idea it was a Chinese film , 'cos the name on the label of my CD was "Raise the Red Lantern". Anyway, not just is the Chinese film part a coincidence, but the opening scene in this movie has just the face of "Li Gong" (Juxian from Farewell, my Concubine :) above) (which I recognised, as against my usual inability to recognises their look-alike faces) and her opening lines delivered were "...marry a rich man... and be his concubine..... I will accept my fate..."

An interesting watch, this film has a nice narrativeness about it, telling you the story of a bunch of wives (mistresses) living in an old and traditional Chinese household. The movie, in accordance with its story line depicts a lot of old fashioned customs, ways of addressing people that would be typical to the plot ("Fouth mistress, pease come and pay a visit to Third Mistress", "Third Mistress had the lanterns lit, so she has chosen the menu today", the house keeper reading out the menu for the meal when the 'fourth mistress' announces that she does not eat meat...etc). Maybe its the influence of the previous watch, but I quite liked the acting performances of the people overall. Each character (of the wives) having a shade of their own, defining the progress of the story therefore. The "ancient-First-mistress', "Buddha-faced-scorpion-hearted-Second-Mistress", "The opera-singer-Third-mistress" and the "university-attending-Fourth-mistress". Finally the movie has a not so great, but quite typical tragic ending. Probably what kept the pace for me was the potrayal of the household's customs and the wives' characters, and moderately the story line.

Coming Next: :)
"Sins"
"Malena"
and...oh! "Baran" (will probably add a few lines on "Children of Heaven" ) :)

Wait up!

About connecting....

Saw the new Nagesh Kukunoor film "Dor" over the weekend...

First of all, for my non hyderabadi friends (read all friends), watching movies at PVR Hyderabad is a totally different experience altogether....so u know what i am hinting at! :)

Anyway.....I dont even know where to begin from.....probably the thing that captivated me first was the g r a n d b e a u t y of Himachal and Rajasthan........I could not stop sighing at some of the really magnificiant shots.....barren deserts to green valleys, kashmiri kurtas to rajashthani wall paintings....Man! there is so much for me to see in this small life!

Talking of visual appeal, the no make up approach on the characters was a good move (except for one thing that did bother me a bit.....Ayesha Takia could have done away with her streaks).....so back to the no make up, some really appealing expressions and looks on not just Ayesha and Gul Panag, but several of the remainder of the cast as well......

I didnt quite think of the movie as a story of "how far would you go to save the one you love".....to me its not Zeenat's love for her husband thats the core emotion that drives the film (which is what i imagine this tag line suggests), rather its the connection that the people establish while they go about seeking what zeenat desires........whats probably the most beautiful thing is the fact that end did not quite matter......there was a sense of stability (or completion) to the characters' emotions even before the plot comes to its formal end.........

While the bonding between Meera and Zeenat brings out the essence of the charatcters of these two women, what I liked about it was also how nicely it contributes to the characters themselves understanding and facing the truth of their lives' choices. The movie also has some good humor thown in with the charater of the behrupiya and his association with Zeenat. Its a good thing that Nagesh Kukunoor kept himself in a small dark corner of the movie screen, while mostly sticking to what he does better....

Well suited soundtracks, consisting of beautiful folk tracks and of course the few "filmy desert songs". The movies is a must watch.......and again for those in doubt, yes...PVR in Hyderabad does show Hindi films when they get released.