Recent films watched – JSA, Apocalypse Darko etc and Fatih Akin
Recent films watched – JSA, Apocalypse Darko etc and Fatih Akin
yo
Hadn’t been able to blog for some time due to some personal reasons. But now that I’m back in mumbai and in this cybercafe, thought might as well share my 2 paise ke thoughts on some of the recent films I have seen.
Joint Security Area - on of the earlier films of Chan-Who?-OLDBOY-Park. Has shades of rashomon-ish thriller but somewhere the film becomes a sensitive portrayal of soldiers at border without being preachy/stating the obvious (that war is bad). It’s about north korea and south korea border area and what happens when two soldiers from either post befriend each other unknown to their seniors. Manto’s Tetwal da Kutta meets Sai paranjpye, took me by surprise by the ‘lightness’ and humor. Having seen two films of his vengeance trilogy (oldboy – my fav & lady vengeance – lovely till the last 30 min where it drags), was expecting a grim film but was pleasantly surprised by the light hearted banter and touching soldier-bonding scenes. And for fans of korean cinema, one of the soldiers is the actor who played the ‘dumb’ brother in The Host and the ‘dumb’ cop in memories of murder. For a change he plays the intelligent character and does a fabulous job. Need to check out more films of this guy and also Mr Vengeance.
Apocalypse Now –
Had only recently managed to lay my hands on this film. A mad mad mad pagal mind numbing film. A lot has been said on the internet about this film vis-avis how difficult it was for coppola to make it, how a bloated marlon brando came on the shooting sets, the casting changing from harvey keitel to martin sheen and how the film was nicknamed Apocalypse When (come to think of it even Sholay went through such torrid upheavals); but the film makes it all worth the effort. A personal confession is that I never was a big fan of Godfather – the entire Al Pacino in Sicily marrying a local and she dying eventually was boring for me. I always felt everyone around was raving too much about Godfather and not so much about Apocalypse now.
I think Apocalypse is a much greater film for me than Godfather. The bizarrely depressing opening sequence sets the tone of the film.
It’s a journey film and how with every step to reaching Colnel Kurtz, Martin sheen disintegrates step by step and begins to lose it. The eccentric to the point of deranged chief (robert duvaal) harboring surfing ambitions during the coastal village, the vietnamese sympathetic looking village woman throwing the hat in the chopper,the tiger-never-step-out-of-the-boat scene, the playmate sequence eventually becoming soldiers behaving like one of the hormonised out of order students at the cultural festivals in Delhi University, the captain of the boat attempting to kill Sheen as he is dying, the you’re-in-the-asshole-of-the-world scene, it gets madder and madder and of course the scary/spiritual Colnel Kurtz (marlon brando) in the end. A MUST MUST MAST WATCH !!! Watch it if you haven’t seen it (like me till a few days ago).
Now need to lay my hands on The heart of darkness – A filmaker’s Apocalypse
Donnie Darko – Jake gyllenhaall and maggie gyllenhaal in this gem of a film. A more accessible film as compared to Mullholand drive. Time travel, alternate universe, small town USA, abstract, surreal yet non alienating, the scariest/bizzarest rabbit on the screen ever. The beer drinking unpeturbed baseball fan Dad, the caring but misunderstood Mom, the irritating Moral Science teacher, a mentorring English Teacher (drew barrymore) and her boyfriend (the physics teacher), the girlfriend with a estranged parents, a motivational speaker who turns out to be a closet child pornographic guy – all of these in Donnie Darko’s dysfunctional world.
Jake gives an arresting performance in this mysterious film which was reputedly made on a low budget. Somehow he does turn out to be a ’superhero’ as his name suggests, though a very different one. The time when Frank’s mask is removed is a nice twist, and the biggest one is the jet engine falling down on the house with all the characters waking up. Watch the film twice and the read the FAQ.
Update – the trailer of Robert Kelly’s long due to release The Box is here and looks equally mysterious.
Ed wood – Johnny Depp does a dumb-Joey (from Friends) act. Based on the life of the ‘worst director in the world’ Ed Wood, Johnny depp nails the character. He is clearly idiotic and eccentric at times, yet there is an element of relatability & belief to the character.
A window to how hollywood films were made in those times, what hardships Ed had to face despite which, he went onto make films after films with enthusiasm without any critical/commercial acclaim. Could sense an obvious parallel to Ramsays and the underground Indian legend Kanti Shah. The best scene for me was when Ed bumps into Orson Welles in a bar. How despite a zameen-aasmaan-ka-difference in the quality of their films, they were facing similar struggles – from the producers/studio owners. How life is a great leveller, Well everyone deserves equal opportunities, regardless of the films they make. Making a bad film too, is equally challenging perhaps.
Good Will Hunting - A film touching mathematics, with a mention of Srinivas Ramanjuan (one of my earliest idols) and automatically the film sucked me in within minutes. Of course Matt damon, Robin Williams were the incentives too. Dammon rocks in the bar scene when the british girl eventually asks him out. Williams is exceedingly amazing in the long 3 minute lake-with-swans-talk-between-two-men scene. Must have seen that scene 3-4 times. A long single take monologue has matt damon being devoured by the psychologist Williams and all the cockiness/arrogant brilliance of Damon is rendered ineffective. Brilliant writing, sensitive film. The eventual breakdown scene between the two men is equally touching.
A special mention to another of recent fav actor Stellan Skarsgård who holds his own in all his scenes with Williams & Damon.
The man whose eyes say it all, the body language, the casual yet at times serious demeanour reminded me of my college Maths Professor. A very different and true to reality potrayl of a maths professor who are not just geeky but have a comic/lighter side of not taking things too unnecessarily seriously. Stellan carries it off with the same flair with which he had done the role of the guilt ridden cop in The Norwegian Insomnia (brilliant but Nolan’s version is better IMO). Stellan is there in the same league for me as Sean Penn, Irrfan, the chinese father of the deaf-dumb girl in Babel (also the hero in a brilliant serial killer film called Cure) – all are actors who are extra-ordinary and make the ordinary look extra special without any histrionics/deluge of expressions, all whose eyes itself lend magic on the screen. Must watch more of Stellan’s films (barring Pirates -3). Very good film with excellent performances from everyone.
Fatih akin – Saw Short sharp stock, Solino and Head on. (had seen Im July – A german Jab We met road rom-com film quite some time ago. And yet to see edge of Heaven).
Of the aforementioned three, Short sharp stock looks his most personal film. Handful of actors, low budget documentary style slice of life film about 3 turkish friends in germany, their friendships, affairs, families, works, aspirations, shady/underground businesses.
Solino – compelling visuals, brilliant acting by both the brothers, a touching story. ‘Brothers are the best of friends and bitterest of rivals’ says the tag line correctly. A turkish family moves into germany from Solino and start a pizza bar & restaurant. An entire lifetime of success, struggles, aspirations, differences in the family rolled in one brilliant film. The brotherly affection turns into rivalry, backbiting, aspirations, and eventually comes back to square one. A pleasant change to see the elder brother more ‘evil’ of the two (requst you not to mention slumdog please) rather than the younger one being the astray one and the elder being the more responsible.
Head On - could have been the most brilliant love story between a couple with again zameen-aasmaan-ka-difference in their respective personalities. A very very well made bollywoodised love story. As long as the film is set in germany, it works for me. The guy and girl ‘fake’ into a marriage of convenience and eventually develop feelings for one another. And almost meet. But then I have no clue why the director made them separate. Especially when the girl goes to turkey and goes on a self destructive spree.The moment it shifts to turkey, I had lost patience for the film and it felt as if the director was dragging it on. I don’t know what else could have been the story instead but I didn’t like that portion. May be those who say best love stories are ones which are sad and blah blah are correct. May be it works for them, not for me. Last 20 min apart – the film is very good.
Another intresting thing I observed in at least short stuck and solino is that like sudhir mishra, fatih akin likes to play musical chairs with the characters. Even Head on has some traces of the same (the hairdresser lady, hero, heroine). How the aspiring gangster’s girl ends up with Ali in short stuck, and how similar thing happens in Solino. One man’s girlfriend becomes another’s. This trend has been also noticed in some sudhir mishra’s films. Hazaron, Dharavi (Shabana azmi left mushtaaq khan for Om puri, but yet takes care of the crippled khan every now and then), Khoya Khoya Chand (shiny, soha, rajat kapoor & vinay pathak). May be that is something autobiographical which Sudhir mishra tries to weave into his films (Sudhir Mishra, VVC, Renu Saluja).
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Tags: Apocalypse Now, donnie darko, ed wood, Fatih Akin, Good will hunting, Insomnia, Johnny Depp, joint security area, marlo brando, Solino, Stellan Skarsgård, sudhir mishra
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
Karthik, u have touched most of my favs, Apocalypse Now, Goodwill Hunting, Ed Wood, all of them classics.
BTW if ur into Korean cinema, check out Tae Guk Gi, one of the best war movies i have seen, dealing with the emotional impact of the Korean war. Also Shiri, excellent spy thriler from Korea.
will do ratnakar. thanks for the recco
tere ko head on nahin acchi lagi.. tu bilkul kartik krishnan nikla.. pura KuKia
Anurag,
Don’t you think edge of Heaven was better? Head-on was a bit drag. Would love to know more about head-on from you.
-K
It all depends on when you see the film.. you see it after all the hype and talk around it.. you may not like it so much.. you prefer edge of heaven, because there wasn’t so much talk around it.. i love both because i saw them before i read about them… head on i saw before anyone knew about it at the festival..
Theory of Relativity applies to moviewatching too..
Yeah hype totally kills the joy of watching movies. watched full-to entertainer like hangover(forgive me for talking abt hangover on the same page as the other great movies mentioned here) n i did not like it..there was so so much hype created for that movie..
Hangover was awesome. I laughed throughout the film at the theater. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it; not into Galifianakis kind of humor, more into Larry David kind. But Hangover was fun, so was I Love You Man and Role Models. Alright shoot me now, they’ll pay you well for my hide.
“Theory of relativity applies to movie watching too.” EXACTLY my point sirjee
sir remember you used to teach the word “dissent” to RGV. Yaad hai sirjee ?
head on for me was brilliant…yet to see all other films mentioned above…apocalypse now on top of my watch list…
When I had watched ‘Apocalypse Now’. I too searched everrything about it to know as much possible about this movie…One thing I read, Coppola said – ‘My film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam’.Would it be okay to call it surreal?………Sorry jumped directly on AN without reading about other movies.
Negi & rasik – its worth it
I like “The Edge of Heaven” more than Head On by Fatih Akin. Yet to see Solino and joint security area… just a query Kartik apart from the topic that how do you convince (not force) to watch damn good movies like ‘Good Will Hunting’ to a movie goer who is used to watch Akshay Kumar and Govinda filmi stuff. I try hard in my life but fail miserably as bollywood films are like drug addiction and this cinema like recovery programme.. Any suggestion from anybody is alsowelcome
yayaver – i wish i knew. my 2 cents. you can start slowly by introducing them to “Arty/sensible” films with stars. EG: parinda, eeshwar, Saraansh and then may be graduate to the good will huntings
It’s difficult to introduce a casual movie watchers to sensible cinema. Some passion for cinema in him should be there.
Thanks Kartik and Jahanpanh for honest reply. People complain mostly about speed of the movie. they got bored in the movie like “pursuit of happyness”. The awareness about cinema is too diffucult to spread. Its like growing Lotus in the barren land …
again as in your last post.
Every film you have mentioned here deserves a post not just a passing mention.
Am eager to read your individual take on the films than this small serving Gujarati thali.
Anyways good to hear
1 – your back and alls well. Thats great news.
2 – marathon movie watching. Superb. Thats always superb!!!
It would be nicer if you relished them than just hog
Sorry too much gyaan. See you soon.
say no to gujrati thali kk… and welcome bak oye!
Gujarati thali and small serving? bahot na insaafi hai yeh!!
will try and do soon machcha. Coming up is a sugarless strong filter kapi from Mani’s and no Gujju thali from Kamats. Pakka. Will try my best. Its just that a lot of what i would have written for each one might have been redundant. Anyways will try
Hey VB,
I am an avid PFC reader. Also participated in PFC one last year.
Need to talk to you, can you drop me a mail ?
kul[DOT]iitk[AT]gmail[DOT]com is my id.
Thanks
Kuldip
Song Kang Ho-that’s the dumb guys in Host and memories of murder. Can’t wait for his Thirst(directed by Park Chan Wook).
The father of the Japanese dumb/deaf girl is the same guy who played protagonist in oldboy i guess-Choi Min Sik-fantastic actor.
Those are pretty good variety of movies….
waiting for thirst toi.
Btw- sorry to sound a nitpocker, the father of the deaf dumb girl in babel is not cho min sik (hero of Oldboy)
he is koji yakusho
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dji_Yakusho
cho min sik is this guy (another sahi actor)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choi_Min-sik
le padh..
good will hunting ka bindaas scene another take
http://www.avclub.com/articles/good-will-hunting,32047/
rename the article ‘der aaye durust aye’
don’t kill me, kiddin ;)
Every film deserves a separate post…would love to see that…
At last Good Will Hunting dekha.
Ab Closer aur Duplicity & Reader bhi.
Visiting this place after a loooong time … things have changed … nice nice … seems that u too have come back after a break.!
Now that you have seen Apocalypse Now, watch Apocalypse Now Redux, an extended, recut version of the film by Walter Murch himself! If you have become a die hard fan of the original, then you will find Redux hypnotic.
Head-On is a film I can never get enough of.
I love JSA. Especially the last shot!
@Ratnakar, I had reviewed Tae Guk Gi here long time ago. I loved it. If only it wasn’t so overtly melodramatic. Some of the acting is like 80s Hindi cinema at times. But a solid film nonetheless.
Aaaahh..sahee nice list.Donnie Darko was something else.And I guess..sonce you have confessed already..I will add to it..I second you on Godfather v/s Apocalypse Now.I saw Apocalypse Now lot later after I was recommended..thats when I feel bad about watching it late.
@ Kartik
dat day on nat geo i was watching a program wherein they showed how wildlife has flourished in the no man’s land between north and south korea…is the area in the movie JSA the same area? just curious
JSA is kind of set in the no man’s land which is manned by the Swiss army.
thanks you very much…