Tuesday 31 March 2015

March 2015: Films

India's Daughter

In detail here.
Poorly made documentary.

Whiplash



Why was it so celebrated. A tale of abuse. Why was a whole film made to praise abuse.
The director exhibits uncanny finesse in his craft for his age though.

Still Alice 12th March 2015


Loved it. Loved the way old photographs of her with her sister and mother were treated. The movement to a photograph without effort: enchanting.
Again character's POV changing to director's POV done ever so beautifully especially in the scene on the house facing the sea.
How a person breaks down is very important. Done just the right way here.
Brilliant transitions and cut beautifully too.
The abrupt cuts and slow transitions create a great rhythm. Not easily achieved. Great amount of work has gone into the script and has paid off. The simplest example is of how the character is introduced with her talk in the second scene. Later at the speech she gives at the Alzheimer group it is repeated. Words changed. 
Video of one's self later. What craft. What a tool.

Boyhood



Not one thing i liked in the film. The worst part of it i felt was the editing. The way the film portrays a single mother is problematic in my opinion. She is being blamed in one way or the other. Children who hate moving and mother who makes them move. From the beginning of the film till the end this is maintained. Why are all of the woman's choices in life bad? All the times when she is seen entering a new relationship is as POV of the boy. When the restaurant manager tells him 'wow' looking at the mother is another occasion. What was the need for that piece of information at all. The boy watches a mother who is ogled by men? What does that even mean.

Shutter Island.



Liked it. Liked the use of music the best.
Liked it that it is ambiguous as to which story is true.

Kamera Buff



Second time with the film. 
I love this man. I want to do to others what Kieslowsky does to me. Decided to watch him more and more and copy him as much as i can. I now know why they are called masters of craft. It seems unattainable now, that kind of talent, but something in me says that i will be able to attain what i want with years of practice.
Watch the film once again and note down the transitions in detail. Make extensive notes on the director's films. Do the same with Haneke.

Kieslowsky's meta-cinematic narratives are very interesting. A short film about love and this one. Cinema about cinema. This is perhaps the only way to do it and probably the best way too.

Blind Chance



What a train does to a man. Again music. Music is all powerful if used in the way it is designed to be used in cinema. POVs. Lovely transitions from Character's POV to director's POV as always. Need to work on that really hard. That really takes the film to another level.

No End



Even though the concept is something i resent couldn't help but admire the director's craft. The staircase shot has to be viewed again to copy. Again play with POVs. The staircase shot is the best example. The way in which he introduces music and later makes it diegetic is simply marvelous. (In this case with the child playing the piano) Intertextuality. It is as if all Kieslowsky films are parts of a larger film. Love that idea. Need to copy. Start with Gruhapravesham. 

The opening shot with candles in a graveyard. Beautiful.

Janala



Brilliant! About a man who wants to make a window for his old school. In the background are his unemployment, relationship etc. The partner who is pregnant. They decide to get married. Sweeping shots which are to the point. Need to copy a lot from him.

Ore Kadal (The Sea Within)



Not great. The last shot is what touched me the most. Of the girl climbing up the stairs in search of her mother. Great way to end a film. Copy.

Prahar

Didn't like it. Brilliant cinematography though. An old mother and two daughters in a house. Reminded me of Baadiwali. But after a day of watching it i have no memory of what happened in the film. Just remember a parrot eating chillies.

Mirror



Second viewing. Saw the track in the last track shot. The way music is worked into camera movements one has to learn from Tarkovsky (Tarko da, bengalis might call him). Not a fan of Mirror. This time could see the way he replicated a painting. The painting which was stuck on the back of the balcony door back home. [Hunters in the Snow] I realized it when he gave a considerable stay on that frame.

The Colour of Pomengranates



Never understood the point. I want people's stories. Not art made in an unreachable heaven.

Ida



Wow! Felt as if it was a film in which D Jeet and i worked together. Brilliant cinematography. And the use of sound just perfect. When we show characters why do we show the whole face at all. The other half is a replica. Redundant. And death. Always portray death, especially suicide thus. Out of the blue. When you least expect it. Like in Cache. Ida twisting herself in the curtain and falling. Even the fall is so Ida -isque. Lovely film. Lots to copy.

The Imitation Game



Injustice.
Death.
Meaningful death.
Offered nothing craft wise.
One cut alone deserve some appreciation. Christopher's wheels turning to tank wheels turning. That too wasn't done in a good way.


Il Grido.



Revisted. Didn't like it as much as the first time. Not one of the best by Antonioni. The real Antonioni hasn't arrived yet in Il Grido.
Feel the shot in which the dead man and his wife are shown, the last shot could have been avoided.
But yes, has shown in great detail what a rejected man looks like. Masculinity is torn down. He wants to be masculine but realizes his woman is above all that.
Women kill is also another message that is given. Well, i think it's true at least figuratively.

Adaminte Vaariyellu

Only memory was that of Sethuvamma's description of the last shot. Liked the self reflexive nature of it. Also liked it that the women are letting go of their children. The mothers are not perfect. Women insane: the theory behind it. It's done well. The sequence in which Suhasini's father in law comes alive from the photograph in the wall is good. When you think all is lost women get up and run from the shelter home startling even the crew. Their breaking of the fourth wall is also done nicely. The film was much ahead of its time, really. 





No comments:

Post a Comment