PFC Film-o-meter
Some films that PFC Authors have been watching…
Tushar
Arthur
Dudley Moore is good ol’ 80’s delight. An in-the-right-taste-and-sensibility film, rest is taken care of by John Geilgud and always forever Liza Minnelli.
Ghost Town
Something that starts off very accessible, but moves on(thankfully) to territories which make films like this and In Bruges different from what have you.
Wag the dog
Barry Levinson. De Niro(in that hat and beard and the look that makes you pay for even a shitty De Niro film till date). Hoffman. Political wit at its warmest season.
Bolt
A refreshingly nice and less-smarter-than-your-average-Pixar outing from Disney. Deserves a second watch.
The King
Nice indie, more in the darker realm/genre featuring the talents of Paul Dano, Gael Garcia Bernal & William Hurt. I could relate it to Buffalo 66, for some strange reasons.
Metropolis
Thanks to Mainak for the recco(along with The Unbelievable Truth, Petulia and some other indies), a tough watch if you are not into the mood for posh-pseudo-bitching but stay for the last shot and you won’t regret it. And Criterion is always there to wrap things up.
The International
Surprisingly good, carries the brain of a Revolver, and the cold charm of a Michael Clayton.
Had Anhad
For the love of Kabir, a documentary by Shabnam Virmani(can be caught on 24X7 Sunday Docu section)
The King of Kong
For the love of arcade games, some nice docu-fiction twists, feel-good cinema.
Bottle Rocket
some 5th watch, Vintage Anderson.
Also discovered Shimzi Iwai recently(Hana & Alice, All about Lily Chou Chou) ; so many parallels and references to cinema of similar genre in contemporary context
have the following films lined up -
The Page Turner, Man on Wire, 4 months 3 weeks 2 days..
trying to get hold of -
state of play, adventureland, knowing, sin nombre, the brothers bloom(where was this film all this while!), au revoir les enfants, how to be etc.
some cool new trailers that I liked -
Julia, The great buck howard(Malkowich!), Adam, sam mendes’ road film etc.
Memories of Murder
Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance
Chaser
Milk
Retake – Phir se Ek baar { one of the best B-Grade stuff that I have seen}
This one is a must watch for all the right/wrong reasons. This movie had me in splits every 2 minutes. Awesome! As the name suggests, it is a take on the industry’s casting couch( delicious premise), and a girl’s transition from village belly to sheher ki lily!
Ghost Dog : Way of the Samurai
Jim Jamursch’s take on Samurai..A gangster who lives by the Samurai Code of conduct..brilliant performance by Forest Whitaker
Elephant by Gus Van Sant
On school shootout..last 10 minutes are terribly shocking
Salarie de la peur by Henri Gorges Clouzot
Thrilling tale of mexican lands…How dangerous is it to carry truck load of TNT in bumpy roads? Just that it might burst on a severe shock..
Chi Bi 2 by John Woo
John Woo’s take on the three kingdoms war..
Sex and Fury…I donno who directed it
Kill Bill and Mata Hari mixed together …there is a full frontal sword fight too against 20 odd ninjas..its metal-orgy
El Crimen Del Padre Amaro by Alfredo Ripstein
Gael Garcia Bernal is the Padre who cannot keep his hands off the sheep..irreverent..
Man Without a Past by Aki Kaurismaki
Aki Magik with exceptional performance by lead actors…superb music as well
Lakposhtha Hum Parvaz Mikonand by Bahman Gobadi
Anti-Ware, pro-American, poetic drama…
Wb
Push: Pandora’s bush!
The International: Honest. Forceful. Gratifying.
Aa Dekhen Zara: Naked Raze, Aha!
Sourav Bhuyan
In the valley of elah
saw it after a year..even though it was with me.Tommy Lee Jones is good..it isnt all drama like Crash…restrained Tommy Lee Jones..its a decent watch..I liked it.
Good night and good luck
Good Night and Good Luck is an interesting slow watch..difficult to understand the power struggle that prevailed and to get the context..interesting dope on CBS..the ads..ALCOA…the archaic look..archives.The surprise package was the director..George Clooney. Warners’ indie wing I guess.
Arthi V
The King – Amazing…. Got to know later that this is directed by James Marsh, who’s also directed the docu ‘Man On Wire‘.
My Tutor Friend - Again. Over the top comedy..but it always lightens up my mood…
Unbreakable. MN Shyamalan, whatever box off n crtics say, has a distinct style. I enjoyed this film..
Unfortunately, the fag end of Katha. Deepti Naval, there isnt anyone like her….
Vijay
I loved the raw and realistic style of the film. BUT, there was no connect. I didn’t care for any of the characters, and perhaps the filmmaker intended it that way. It was more journalistic than cinematic, but I am a sucker for cinema. Therefore, as a guy who knew nothing about this organization called the Camorah, I would have loved to find out about it via the film’s narrative and visuals, as opposed to text title cards in the end. So in retrospect, after reading the end cards, it made sense to me how this organization affects so many different people, but the picture was very very incomplete.
On many levels I found myself comparing the film to Traffic, which showcases how the drug trade affects a variety of people from the criminal to the middle to upper middle class suburban American. I felt Gomorrah could have explored beyond its crime-filled, tough neighborhood, keeping in mind its goal of painting the reach of the organization’s effects. Interesting watch, but I don’t see what the fuss is all about.
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
I saw Wild Strawberries too. Initially, the movie was too listless for my liking, but, as it gradually peeled off layers,I started liking it,and fittingly reached its crescendo at the climax. Liked it. Hoping to lap up Bergman;s movies this summer. Barring Seventh Seal, reccos anyone?
P.S: Will do a post on my fav. B Grade movies once I’m done with my exams! :D
Silence and Through a Glass Darkly …Part of Bergman trilogy questioning god and faith…the third one ‘Winter Light’ …I have not seen…Silence is good and TAGD is brilliant…
@Tanul, Bergman recco – Summer Interlude.
Guys check out the Criterion library for some awesome titles-
http://www.criterion.com/library/dvd
@Ram, I ve seen Winter Light. tough watch I must say. I am more of a twisted Bergman fan, not to undermine his forte though.
Tushar…Agreed…Bergman is tough..I found Seventh Seal extremely boring…but watched it..telling ten times to myself..every ten minutes..’This is a classic’..Concepts are good alright…I actually spent more time on the bonus features..those restoration videos…et al..I found the TAGD to be quite interesting…extremely touching and daring at the same time…
he he. I know the feeling man. Special features always help. they help me get across to genres I am not comfortable with.
Liking/disliking a bergman film depends a lot on the mood you are in, this is one director whose films you cant just randomly pickup…..this sounds weird but, his films chose you when the time is right.
Even more than his faith trilogy, seventh seal, persona, wild strawberries..all of which are masterpieces…i prefer cries and whispers. Any one who has seen death, will understand why this is probably the greatest film ever made.
“Seventh Seal” was a boring movie….didn’t like it. “Wild strawberries” was a very good…But one Bergman film i really loved and i think it’s a fantastic film – “Smiles of a Summer Night”
I have to watch GHOST DOG soon.
ELEPHENT is a masterpiece. Gus Van Sant’s best work if you ask me.
BOTTLE ROCKET i highly recommend to everyone. Its the birth of a great team.
Memories of a Murder is something that we have discussed to death on PFC. I think PFC should get some money from its producers. But it is one of the best thrillers ever made.
The most surprising film is IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH. Its Paul Haggis’s redemption after suffering us with CRASH(Its the most rented film on Netflix). It almost felt like he is apologizing to people & also winking at us at the same time saying “I know how to make an honest film”.
Thanks Tushar for featuring me in your post!:)
Finally watched the much recommended “Memories of Murder”and “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance”..killer Korean flicks.
Planning to watch Gomorrah and JCVD next.
thanks for all the recommendations. Would love if you guys could come up with the best murder mysteries/whodunits comprising foreign language ones to..
Best murder mysteries from across the world!!just click on my name…you will get a few..of recent times…
My Recos:
1. Klass [If Elephant is masterpiece so is this]
2. The class [Its all about handling student in a school...awesome acting]
3. Vanaja [awesome!]
4. La Haine [Hard hitting and brutal...one night movie]
5. Amal [Simple and truthful story...I have seen people like Amal]
Thanks a lot ram….zodiac and memories of murder my favourites of the list…have to watch a few others in them..
welcome Balaji…I fell in love with Myrin and Crimson Rivers too…
@had anhad
Man on Wire is like more of a thriller than a documentary. Good watch. There is a cam version of State of Play around. Haven’t tried it.
1.Timecrimes by Nacho Vigalondo
2.Sin Nombre
3. Kurosawa’s rarely seen Dodeskaden.. just released on criterion
Really keen to catch Timecrimes.. here’s the first burst of Nacho Vigalando.. his acclaimed shortfilm 7.35 de la manana.. one of my all time fav. short films.
http://blogbfs.blogspot.com/2009/04/tubetrawlin-3.html
Hana and Alice..I watched this film twice and everytime I wonder how the voice of the boy seems always like in the background. I mean, its got a slow tempo, not exactly drawly but yet it feels like as tho its there hovering somewhere just before disappearing. I loved the ballet sequence at the audition. And I really liked the film.
All about Lily Chou Cho – Guess wasnt in the right frame of mind while watching this. Typing onscreen, great, but nearly dark shots mostly…i left it then…
Before The Brothers Bloom plz do watch the director’s first – Brick, if u havent that is…2nd seems very diff but yet for me I wanna watch the sec bcz of the first…
Anand: Tx for the mentioning Vanaja. I read n then forget at times. This film is one such…Now its back on the ‘to watch’ radar
36 Quai des Orfèvres (2004),MR 73 and Gangster part of Trilogy —-Oliver Marchal
technical brilliance awesome performance …infact 36 Quai des Orfèvres is likely to remind you of Ab thak Chappan
been watching a lot of Bmovies lately,
if you love tarantino then you’ll love these films
Faster Pussycat KILL KILL
and REPO MAN
both of them are absolute classic though might not be to everyone’s taste
I love ‘Arthur’, Sharabi !!!
THESE ARE SOME INTERESTING FILMS FROM ALL AROUND THE GLOBE FROM THE LAST FEW YEARS:
1)CHASER
2)CHRYSALIS
3)JAR CITY
4)THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE WEIRD
5)TRIANGLE
6)BAADER MEINHOFF COMPLEX
7)IL DIVO
8)REPRISE
9)PARIS LOCKDOWN
10)MAD DETECTIVE
11)LA ZONA
12)WARLORDS
13)BLOOD BROTHERS
14)TELL NO ONE
15)NIGHT OF THE SUNFLOWERS
16)REVANCHE
17)12
18)EXILED
19)TULPAN
20)REDLIGHTS
21)KONTROLL
22)PROTEGE
23)MARTYRS
24)CREW
25)ESCAPIST
26)BEAUFORT
27)FEMALE AGENTS
REGARDS,
SANTINO
santosh i like your choice of movies…
btw what is “crew”.. have seen the rest.
I think Der Baader Meinhof Komplex is right up there, one of the best movies. Simply awsome
Though not that extravagant this is what i have on my list.
1) Departures
2) A tale of two sisters
3) Der Baader Meinhof Komplex and chaser (repeat)
4) Lawerence of arabia and battle of algeirs(saw them together for the umpteenth time)
5) Before the rain
6) The limey
7) A bitersweet life (awarapan’s original)
8) Synecdoche, New york
9) The day of the jackel
have not seen – but waiting to see ‘El Topo’.
santosh: I have seen some of them but not all..thanks for the list…gosh I wish someone can pay me for watching the movies…then I can watch all the movies…
Look at prices at criterion. All are $32. Pirated ones are better. Any ideas where I can get pirated DVDs of these movies in Mumbai?
Hi Anurag,
” THE CREW” is a British gangster film from 2008.
Also interesting are
1)CLUBBED
2)RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER
3)CITY RATS
4)JULIA
All the above are brtish films.
5)ONE LAST DANCE
6)12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST
7)I’M A CYBORG
8)TIME
9)LINHA DE PASSE
10)CASS
11)THE MAN FROM LONDON
12)OSS 117 CAIRO NEST OF SPIES
13)HUNGER
14)KATYN
Regards,
Santino
I liked Che part I and part II back to back (Dir. Steven Soderberg; Benicio Del Toro as Che Guevara). The movies were planned and shot as a single movie. However each part makes sense as a standalone film. Must watch for those who in their college days vouched for Communism.