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Awful Awful Awful.

Beyond terrible.

This is going to be a quick and dirty post.

At 90 mins, the movie feels padded, what with half the movie shot at 48fps.

Kar Wai explores new lows in acting, exposition, storylessness, general wankery, and the ancient philosophy of keys and doors. Also, Jude Law douchebaggery is really explored.

Norah, don’t act. Ever. Again.

Jude Law should only act in movies where someone takes a nice oar to the backside of his head in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Accents up the wazoo. Brit Rachel Weisz phoning in a Cliff’s notes southern accent (that’s all drawl, without consistency or nuance) when she’s supposed to be from Memphis. I think I could see her dialect coach in the corner of the frame, reciting the lines and guiding the inunciation.

Same with Natalie. I will do anything for you love but I won’t do that!
Felt like she walked off the set of …

This Friday evening, I climbed onto the plane to Paris. The take off was so bad that to take off my mind from the uneasy sensation in my stomach and head, I picked up the Air-france magazine. I was turning pages looking at pictures, cursing the pilot and the weather when I stumbled upon advertisements of these two interesting film festivals.

Unfortunately the first one is over by now but I guess there’s no harm in mentioning it:
10th Aisan Fim Festival in Deauville(www.deauvilleasia.com) featuring movies by Im Kwon-Taek, Jiang Wen, Jia Zhang. The small write-up said that the festival was to pay tribute to Chinese, Japanese and South Korean cinema through the works of aforementioned directors.
Where was India? Are we not a part of Asia? A part where the biggest movie industry resides!

Quickly coming to other one. The 19th french film festival is going on in Aurtralia. It started on …

Seems times are changing at last - for the better, and fast. After all these years of scouring the film festivals and pirated DVD shops (unless we have deep pockets to splurge on the highly-priced original DVDs of foreign films), it seems 2008 is bringing some happy tidings for us, the lovers of world cinema (that is, anything that comes from outside the country minus Hollywood).

Suddenly, Indian companies have started taking marketing rights for a large number of world cinema and at least two dedicated channels to telecast cinema of that kind are readying for launch. And, trust the French to do it - more and more French films are being screened, at least in Delhi and Mumbai, screened mostly free of cost through tie ups with multiplex chains, to introduce the casual moviegoer to the variety that rides with their cinema (hope other countries would also have as …

One fine day I noticed that I have around 20-odd films lying with me that I am yet to watch. So, I rummaged through them and randomly started selecting. Hence, over the past three days, I have watched “Turistas’ (USA), followed by ‘Wolf Creek’ (Australia), and “Spoorloos” (Netherlands/France).

Films watched in such a random order almost always entails serendipity. For example, I remember watching ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Basic Instinct’ back to back and I can vouch for it that the change of color of dresses worn by Kim Novak’s character in the former has an eerie similarity to that of Sharon Stone’s character in the latter! Now, can that be true?

This time, the common thread between the aforementioned films was ‘disappearance’. While ‘Turistas’ deals with disappearance of tourists in Brazil; ‘Wolf Creek’ is concerned with the same in the Australian outback. As I was watching those two, I was thinking how …

Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (The Band’s Visit) by Eran Kolirin

Winner of the Best Script Award and Best New Director Award in 2007.

The Band’s Visit is a very simple but sweet story about an Egyptian Police band that travels to Israel in order to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab culture centre, but for some reason they are left stranded at the airport.
The director of the band is too proud to ask for help from the Embassy and he decides they should find the place on their own. And that is how they arrive at a small Israeli town where they interact with some of the locals.

The strength about The Band’s Visit is that, unlike other films, even if you read about the plot or watch the trailer, it won’t spoil it for you, since the charm of the film is not …

The second Rome Film Fest, which runs Oct 18-27, has announced its full programme.

World premieres in the Cinema 2007 programme include:

* La Recta Provincia (Raul Ruiz)
* Youth Without Youth (Francis Ford Coppola)
* August Rush (Kirsten Sheridan)
* Hafez (Abolfazl Jalili)
* L’Abbuffata (Mimmo Calopresti)
* And The Spring Comes (Chang Wei Gu)
* The Three Robbers (Hayo Freitag)
* The Private Man (Emidio Greco)
* Let’s Say (Francoise Maire)
* Have Dreams, Will Travel, (Brad Isaacs)

The festival also announced that Oscar-winning No Man’s Land director Danis Tanovic from Bosnia will serve as head of the jury, which is comprised of 50 international cinema-goers.

FULL LINE-UP

Premiere section
Across The Universe by Julie Taymor (UK/US)
The Dukes by Robert Davi (US)
Elizabeth: The …

Last Night I watched Julian Schnabel’s latest film “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” at a preview screening for SAG at Raleigh Studios. And I was mesmerized by the film. Since its a film that will not get a very wide distribution, I wanted to do my part to spread the word for everyone to watch this amazing piece of film. Before I get into the film I must introduce you Julian Schnabel, who is slowly becoming a very imp filmmaker of our generation.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0773603/

A very good article about him came out in THE INDEPENDENT during Cannes which will give you a very good glimpse of the man
http://arts.independent.co.uk/film/features/article2591477.ece
…

IFFLA 2008 Announces Call for Entries
The Sixth Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) seeks narrative, documentary, music videos, experimental, children’s and animated films of any length and format. IFFLA will run April 22-27, 2008 at ArcLight Hollywood, a state-of-the-art facility located in the heart of Los Angeles. Jury and Audience Choice Prizes will be awarded for Best Feature, Documentary and Short Film.
IFFLA 2007 had over 6,000 attendees and screened 36 films from 8 countries. In addition to the high-quality of presentation of their work, filmmakers in attendance gained access to an eclectic mix of professionals from the Los Angeles film industry.

Check out what our past filmmakers …

In a typical David Dhawan fashion this post does not have any structure and still it makes sense.

Hitch released in India and in no time Partner was announced.
Derailed arrived on Indian screens and soon The Train got signalled.
Cellular got connected to Indian shores and within a month Speed was launched.

I am not talking of all the remakes and copies and inspirations that rocked the Indian masses big time from Fanaa, Rang De Basanti, Black to Kaante.
I am not talking of some obsure,B grade or a turnip of a movie that was recycled with lot of hoopla from Naqaab, Anthony Kaun Hai, Ek Ajnabi to Bheja Fry(which was released without any hype) et al.

My point is not about the copies but the speed with which they are copied. Watching Hitch, Derailed or Cellular I am sure few of wannabe filmmakers like you and me and many commercial directors would have thought …

Ever since SRK has been honoured by French Government with its highest cultural award, my doubts are confirmed that there is French Connection which neither Gene Heckman knew of nor Anees Bazmi could fathom with his stolen French Kiss.

And the connection lies in Bollywood’s association with Marquis De Sade. Yes the same guy who propounded that pain and cruelty enhanced sexual pleasure. Sade’s pervert thesis gave him immortality by listing in dictonary sadism,sadist, sadistic as words that symbolised in generic terms, getting pleasure out of pain–regardless of its nature.

Films churned out from Bollywood production houses in year 2007 uptill now, have inflicted so much pain on the weak and willing audiences that there is no rational explanation except blaming it on genes or supernatural influence like ghost of ‘de Sade.

I am one of those who makes it a point to watch practically every Hindi movie released in a theatre, not …

When Shah Rukh Khan came to France for Veer-Zaara, in 2006, there were 2000 people inside the Virgin Megastor on the Champs Elysées waiting for him. And 2000 more waiting outside. The watchmen had to close the door of the store, because the crowd was so eager to see their beloved star that it became dangerous. Women were fainting and girls crying. At the same time, Tom Cruise was in Paris for M.I III, and he had twice less people standing for him. It might sound very usual for you, but it was a real event for France. Or at least, for me. Shah Rukh Khan is nobody for French people. To my friends, he’s still « the Indian actor you like in Devdas… What’s his name again ? Can’t pronounce it ».
I was surprised and amazed. And more or less angry, actually. I realized …

With this film,Philip Groning has been compared to Vermeer. To Bresson,Trakovsky,Dreyer,Mallik and to the Dardenne bros.Doing away with cinematic trappings to such an extent that the bare soul shines through,he has been able to present the film as the subject itself instead of a ‘representation’.Watching INTO GREAT SILENCE is as good as being physically in the Grande Chartreuse,high in the French Alps.

Having formally studied medicine and psychology, he has worked as a sound assistant, prop master and assistant director before embarking on being a film maker. He has also worked as an actor and screenwriter. Philip Groning is an alumni of the MUNICH FILM SCHOOL [ HFF ]

Coming out of the theatre,Kulsoom,a Pakistani lawyer, said to me “You so totally owe me a treat, a Hindi Film. Make sure it has lots of dances with lots of costume changes!”
On the other hand Amina,a film …

I thought my first post for PFC should be a brief review of a special film. “L’ Enfant” by the Dardenne brothers is that special film.

The story revolves around a young couple, Bruno (Jeremie Renier) and Sonia (Deborah Francois). They’ve just had a baby boy, Jimmy, and the film begins with Sonia looking for Bruno eager to show him his son. While Sonia desperately looks for her boyfriend, Bruno is busy robbing someone. He’s even sublet her apartment to make some cash on the side. The very opening of the film sets the premise of what one might expect from the main characters.

The naïve Sonia thinks that she can settle down with Bruno and bring up her baby whilst a vast portion of the latter’s mind is occupied by “How do I get more money?” Bruno is so desperate that when Sonia leaves Jimmy with him, he …

Received from Worldwide Film Distribution yahoogroup… Please spread the word!

Let me take this opportunity to introduce you about me and social activities of our organization. …

I am working with a government organization, one of the most important & entertainment department called “NATIONAL FILM CIRCLE” is given to me and I am looking for your help to expand the membership.

What is “NATIONAL FILM CIRCLE” ?

The National Film Development Corporation Limited (NFDC) is a Government of India Enterprise set up with the objective of fostering excellence in Indian Cinema. It provides film enthusiasts in Mumbai an opportunity to see good meaningful World-Class Films throughout the year through the “NATIONAL FILM CIRCLE”.

For the past twenty-five years, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has produced/co- produced more than 200 films in 15 languages, including English. Amongst these all several internationally acclaimed films like Gandhi, The Making of Mahatma, Mirch-Masala, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sardar, Parinda and …

For those of you who attended the screening of Pan Nalin’s Valley Of Flowers, we apologize for the cancellation which took place due to an unforseen projector malfunction. Please note that the screening has been rescheduled now, in the same large theater #10 (no glitches this time!) as follows:

Saturday, April 21 - 3:30 p.m.

Please make sure you bring your ticket stub from last night. You do not have to buy a new ticket. They will let you in with the same one. Most of the attendees who caught a sneak peak at the opening were quite awed by the visuals. It is a terrific, visually mesmerizing effort by one of India’s most successful directors of crossover cinema. We look forward to having you all back there. Please help spread the word!

Saturday, April 21 - 3:30 p.m. …

Cinema has become a powerful medium and when it was not there, people used to imagine through the books but cinema brings visuals before them and represents story in such a way that it looks real for the time, scenes are moving on screen. But cinema has after effects also and we the audience treat so many things real, shown in the films and start making a world on that basis. We see a group of people/countries as bad in the films and we imagine they really are bad in real life and our opinion becomes biased. Same way we follow good impressions about places, people and time periods. Not that it happens only with audience, having less intellect but almost every living person suffers somewhere from this syndrome that makes opinion or imagines something which is based on his seeing of the films. Hollywood has been the major brand …

The Film: Innocence
The Cast: Zoé Auclair, Laisson Lalieux, Astrid Homme, Lea Bridarolli
The Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic
2004, Belgium/France/UK

The Plot: It’s the story a 6 year old Iris, who finds herself getting out of a coffin and getting in to a boarding school. Set within a woodland forest, the school itself is simultaneously an idyll and a prison. Bianca, the oldest student, introduces Iris to this strange world where there are neither men nor adults except the old servants and two teachers. Iris quickly discovers the rules of the school where teaching centers on dance, physical education and biology. Obedience is paramount and one can see that the girls are getting prepared for something…

Innocence is based on a late 19th-century novella with the curious title of “Mine-Haha”, or “The Corporal Education of Young Girls”, by the German writer Frank Wedekind. The director creates a world oscillating between realism and fantasy through astute lighting, …

Between being cranky most of the week, recovering from a cold, staying put on the border of irritation and frustration, the Black Friday storm brewing both in front and behind the PFC screen, and tons of other mundane meaningless jobs… I picked up 13 Tzameti as my Wednesday evening movie on my overloaded, praying for a break DVD player.

Getting right into it, 13 Tzameti, is in French with English subtitles and was the winner at Sundance, 2 years ago. It’s made by first time director Géla Babluani, and shot completely in Black and White.

The movie starts slow and you may feel there is a certain amount of amateurishness in the way the movie is progressing… but 20 minutes into the movie, the pace picks up as the director first casually lays out the characters and then unfolds the beginning of …

Lagging quite behind on my movies seen over the last few weeks… I’m still having trouble assorting my iTalkies queue which doesn’t have the movies I wanna see and instead I’m filling it up with movies “I think are good” and in turn end up being crap… for one I’m highly disappointed with Shankar’s “Boys” that I had heard a lot about…

Shift focus to my Netflix queue… listing a few of the “many” I have been watching over the 2 week sick time… some interesting, some experimental… left out the ones I didn’t connect to…

Pirates… Dead Man’s Chest

Umm… not big on the Pirates series… but have to admit it’s fun. Plus seeing Johnny Depp do something which isn’t dark and brooding is a welcome change. Orlando Bloom is just about ok while Keira Knightley jumps, hops, hits, fights, kicks, leaps, swims and all that.

Great fun with kids on …