Cannes: Vengeance’s secret formula to success
Dear filmmaker (and film lover) friends in India. I have just discovered the secret formula through which you can get your film into Cannes, possibly even the competition section. Get some French investment in the project, sign a big French name (such as music icon Johnny Hallyday) and develop a story which has a French connection – even a remote one will do.
That’s what Hong Kong director Johnnie To, who made that delightful Sparrow just before he made Vengeance (in Cannes competition this time), has done. It’s such a sorry effort in the name of cinema that even Charles Bronson’s no-nonsense Death Wish is a far, far better watching. At least it did not pretend to give you a philosophical lowdown on what revenge means to the fickle human mind.
A revenge drama full of some trademark To choreographed action, and quite well shot, the film’s plot was interesting to start with, with a family of a Chinese man, his French wife and two kids getting massacred by a gang of hitmen. The wife’s father (played by an expressionless Hallyday) comes from Paris to Macau, where the incident happened, seeking revenge. He employs three local hitmen to find the killer in a place alien to him, and the story moves forward. But as the film progresses, it descends from one low to another, finally looking like a B-grade action film with the pretence of seriousness of intent.
Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya is a far, far superior film from the same genre, if one has to give an example. I can immediately recall at least two Indian films from different genres – Shivajee Chandrabhushan’s Frozen and Girish Kasarvalli’s Gulabi Talkies (provided its length is reduced) – that could any day have been in the festival in place of this apology of a film. Talking of length, this year quite a few of the films in the official selection are two-and-a-half-hours or thereabouts in duration, which is quite a departure from the usual international norm of 80-110 minute length of films. Is the world getting inspired by the length of Indian films?
Imagine this film in the same competition that has thrilled viewers with Jacques Audiard’s powerful prison drama Un Prophete (A Prophete), Jane Campion’s Bright Star and un-Ang Lee-like but delightful Taking Woodstock (not talking about the films of Tarantino, Almodovar, Ken Loach, Lars von Trier et al, which are yet to be screened), and you will get the contrast.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Do we have anyone else reporting from Cannes?
BTW have you seen the film Sita sings the blues? it is hilarious and the best part is that it is officially availableon Youtube by the maker!
really?? The trailer did look tacky but when Johnnie To was directing it i had faith in it. Dammit!!!
Have You Reviewed Thirst yet ??