Films, September 2022

Philadelphia

Wonderful film. Great direction. The opera scene and Tom Hanks' performance!  

By May be found at the following website: http://www.impawards.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8005206

Ardh Satya

Beautiful film about an honest cop in Bombay. Om Puri's performance is to die for. The dialogues are great, especially the ones by Smita Patil. The casting of Sadashiv Amrapurkar was just perfect!

By https://mobile.twitter.com/DilawarLakhara/status/1063875240030334976, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24583407

I skip watched the acclaimed series 'Chernobyl'. Didn't like the direction - which is why i skipped portions. The history was fascinating and remains a testimony to how ideologies such as communism of USSR can be life threatening. 

Tried watching The Boys - series and failed because i thought it was crap. So many people had recommended the series. I found the acting, script, direction all of it to be pathetic and decided not to subject myself to it after watching two episodes. I will never suggest this as reference to anyone who wishes to write a superhero film. 

The Verdict

It was underwhelming for me. Especially when compared to other Lumet films i watched years ago. It was interesting to note how the medical thriller genre is still hung up on anesthesia problems. It was okay and must have been thrilling in 1982 but i found the same thing in Charlatans by Robin Cook. 

By www.impawards.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6756815

March 2019: Films

Peruvazhiyambalam - P Padmarajan

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32000911

Padmarajan's debut as director. Also Asokan's debut. Watched an extremely bad print but really liked it. About a rapist rowdy returning after serving his term. The film starts with him coming back - people gather around etc. He beats up the person who gave testimony against him. He also intimidates Asokan's sisters. (Wikipedia says he rapes one of them but the print i watched didn't seem to have that part. Also couldn't spot Geeta anywhere even though Wikipedia names her in the cast list) The movie picks up speed when Asokan murders this rowdy. He is lean and only 16 or so. He is forced to run away. Various people offer him shelter. In the end he reaches Gopi and he takes him to a sex worker. Played beautifully by K P A C Lalitha. This could be why she gets sex worker roles from time to time. But this one will remain the best. So lovingly written. So nice. The more i watch Padmarajan, the more i love him. You know after talking to Kani yesterday this is what i am wondering. The script is really good. The dialogues are EXCELLENT. But it is not written in spoken malayalam. Realistic as they are called these days. How is that done? Will i be able to do it? Let's see. Because films should have a language of their own right?

Shalini Ente Koottukaari

Script is by Padmarajan. Based on one of his short stories. Directed by Mohan. The title sequence itself attracted me. I have not seen any other title sequence in Malayalam films where pictures of women are shown in this manner. In Bachelor Party i remember the comics appearing etc. But these title cards are JUST the faces of the women with titles written on them. That sets the mood first.

The opening shot is that of that old fan turning its head. All of our houses have one such fan. It also strangely reminded me of the opening scene of an Antonioni film. Will have to check which. Monica Vitti of course. And her husband having one of those Antonioni problems.

It was shot in Calicut. I remember seeing Alakapuri premises. The college was Guruvaayurappan college.

Frame starting and ending a bit unusual. Starts with the fan, sweeps the entire room, goes to Jalaja as seen below and then zooms in on her face. Not something i liked but it is different for sure.

Salini is introduced as singing 'maadapraave vaa' in the bathroom. Intertextuality.
So Shalini comes from a troubled family. Ummer is her father and Sugumari is her step mother. She has a brother, Venu Nagavalli. Ummer is pissed that Venu doesn't have a job. He wants to send him to gulf. The character of Sugumari is well written and she has done it well too. The step mother is supposed to be a villain but the film makes it clear that she loves all the children. Ummer tries to get Shalini married off to someone much older than her - an alliance she doesn't like. She expects her brother to stop her father but Ummer is adament. He beats Venu Nagavalli up when he intervenes. He commits suicide the next day - his death stops all marriage talks immediately. Shalini becomes depressed after this. The onset of depression and the change in her behaviour is depicted really well. Jalaja and Venu Nagavalli have a small love story going on with Jalaja singing his poem, meeting him under the banyan tree near the temple etc. The song 'Himashaila Saikatha' is when Jalaja sings his poem. It's sweet.



The new professor in her college, Sukumaran is attracted to Shalini. (Just felt that Aruvi is a bit similar to this. Especially the character) They fall in love. After Jalaja gets married, Shalini becomes even more depressed. There is a scene in which Jalaja is leaving for her husband's house after the wedding and seeing the vacant space under the banyan tree. Absence is a very important tool. But i will have to say that Mohan the director completely messed up the script. His storytelling falls flat in many places and is redundant.

Something to copy: the sequence with Jalaja and Shalini on the swing. A narration, we go back to the swing and it is now empty. Shalini gets a disease - the doctor says it is cancer Wikipedia says it is brain tumour. The research is evidently poor. But they did attempt to show a brain surgery with prosthetic brain. Horrible but they tried and thought it necessary to be shown.



However, more than all this, the film introduced me to actor Sobha. She has done a brilliant job in this film. When i looked her up, i was shocked to learn that she was only 17 at the time and committed suicide at the same age. Apparently this film was running successfully when she killed herself. I WhatsApped my mother 'why did Sobha kill herself' because she would know anything that happened to heroines from her time. 'Balu Mahendra killed her' was her immediate reply. This was just the beginning.

I was unaware of these facts and rumours till then so the only thing i remembered about Balu Mahendra was how crappy i felt his film Sadma was. The one with Sridevi and Kamalhasan. People loved it. I felt it was verging on sexual abuse. So imagine my shock when i learned that he made the film as a sort of reply to those who said he was involved in Sobha's suicide! I could not make head or tail of this. Sobha was 17 when she died and married to Balu Mahendra. How can a person have more than one wife? How can a woman get married before the age of 18? I also learned that the K G George film 'Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback' was based on Sobha's suicide. I had watched this film on TV when i was way too little but still remember Nedumudi Venu and a scene with something to do with sex. I need to check it. I also want to find out how K G George handled it as a student of cinema.

Sobha's mother was also a mallu actress. Read that she too committed suicide. She was the one who wrote to the President saying her daughter was murdered. That is when they ordered a probe and found out that Balu Mahendra had faked documents to be an Indian citizen. I found a list of irregularities associated with her suicide. Like the body showing no signs of death by hanging, her body found on the floor and not hanging etc. This was way too much information for me to handle. I got very affected because first, i loved the actor because of her character and performance in a film and then learned that she ended her life. It pains me whenever successful women end their lives. It tells me that people wronged them. I intend to find out all i can about this blessed actor who bagged a National Award at the age of 17. Just look at her face. Just look at her expressions in just this film.

Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback

Watched it as part of research for the Shobha film that's brewing in my mind. I didn't like it as much as the other K G George films. He will have to be interviewed before he dies. It's not a great film. I liked Gopi's acting, as always. And yes, my memory was right. I saw the scene in which Nedumudi Venu asks her to undress. Also remembered another scene in which Shobha says 'temper' instead of temperature. Mammootty was good in the first bit. He forgot his style by the time the porn watching telephone conversation was shot. The film says that Balu Mahendra refusing to leave his wife and child is the reason behind her suicide. It gives Shobha's mother a typical money eating agent of nubile actress role. I don't understand why K G George did not stick to real life and make her an actress. The subservient father all fit into the same tropes. End titles roll on close-up of a photo of Lekha. 

Why on earth is the material on this suicide and actor so scarce!

"The most tragic in this series was the death of Shoba, in 1980, the girl who set a new trend in realistic portrayals through memorable performances in ``Nizhal Nijamakirathu'', ``Pasi,'' (which got her the `Oorvasi' award for acting), ``Enippadigal," ``Moodupani,'' ``Azhiyatha Kolangal'' and so on. The career graph of this promising star was rudely cut short. She was found hanging. Again the police closed the file as a case of suicide. The death actually inspired a Malayalam director to make a film based on this situation but it didn't achieve anything."

says the Hindu report cited in Wikipedia. The report in India Today  gives the irregularities pointed out at the time.

The police's finding of a suicide note only the day after the death has spurred further speculation. Can a fabric like chiffon - a chiffon georgette saree was the instrument of death - snap easily? If she hanged herself, who loosened the noose? What about the Shobha-Mahendra quarrels that took place? Why weren't the eyeballs swollen and the tongue hanging out as normally happens?

The age stated in this report is 19. Balu Mahendra was 45 at the time.

In this interview Jalaja speaks of how Shobha and she watched the film Madanolsavam together. (Yes, John Brittas shall be murdered.) This is supposedly footage of the funeral procession etc. I think the user has inserted shots from films in it. Not sure. This article again from India Today reports a fresh probe that commenced. Balu Mahendra's driver who drove him to and from Shobha's house before and after her death disappeared at this time, it says. The language is deliberately sensational which makes me suspicious about the credibility of the report. But it has some very disturbing details.

Balu Mahendra secured an anticipatory bail in the case
The suicide was staged again for the investigation. When Shobha's weight was hung on the saree, it did not snap. It was concluded that the ligature did not snap but was cut.
Wasn't clear why Shobha used the saree she was wearing for the attempt
The position in which her body was lying did not match with the position it should have been in had it been a suicide by hanging.
Shobha's mother Prema called the relationship between Balu Mahendra and Shobha 'incest' according to the report.

"How could he do it? He kept on telling everyone that Shoba was like his daughter."

She also accused Balu Mahendra of drugging Shobha
According to the report Mahendra said that it was true that he gave her pills and it was 'ovrol' birth control pills.

Thakara

Script by Padmarajan directed by Bharatan. Liked the opening sequence and its craft. Rest is not much. Except when the fishing net prank is done by Subhashini. She reminds me of my college mate Arya and also Archana Padmini. Learned from Wikipedia that it was K P A C Lalitha who dubbed for Subhashini actor. I had indeed felt so while watching. Ha ha.

I didn't like Bharatan much. He was definitely better than Mohan in working on a Padmarajan script but even then he did not have a signature style that was mesmerising. This film, like Rathinirvedam, focuses too much on the female body. I don't know how that works. How is it helping your story when you show men getting aroused by cleavage and bare thighs.

One of the scenes in which Chellappanaasaari eggs Thakara on to have sex with Subhashini

Even then, Thakara is really about consent, love and rules of sex. Chellappanaasaari played by Nedumudi Venu eggs Thakara on to have sex with Subhashini. Both the carpenter and his assistant boy want to have sex with her but thinks humiliating Thakara by egging him on will be a nice idea. Subhashini will shun him, definitely. Why? Because she shunned both of them earlier. Made it clear that she does not want to sleep with them. So these two idiots are shocked when they find out that Thakara and Subhashini are in love and more importantly (for them) they are sleeping with each other. They just don't understand how a woman can say yes to Thakara and no to them.

Thakara on the other hand, is in love. It's clear. Chellappanaasaari tells her father that they are sleeping together, he beats Thakara up, almost kills him. Thakara is rescued by people from the other shore (where Subhashini's mother stays, separated from her father). He vows to kill Subhashini's father as soon as he has money to buy a knife. He will then marry Subhashini - that's his plan.

In love

However after he stabs her father to death, Subhashini refuses to marry him or go with him. Thakara then commits suicide. The suicide is filmed by juxtaposing train shot over Thakara's face but in that case why did Bharatan show the blood on the tracks and the knife with which he killed?

Bharatan's style is not consistent. That, i felt is the biggest problem. Like in between he gets lazy. The opening sequence is good. Thakara sleeping under the bridge, from under the bridge we see the train - the same train that will kill Thakara in the end - things like that. This portion in between when Subhashini pulls a prank on sleeping Thakara - he shows both of them through the fishing net.

The strained relationship between her parents. Mother played by Santadevi. So when they leave four of them are in the frame and we cut to the counter shot of that as well.

People who share a relationship in a frame

And the counter frame to that

Cleo From 9-5

Because Agnes Varda died. Only recently had i watched her 'Gleaners and I'. The card reading sequence is the beginning and it's strange because the cards are in colour and the rest is in black and white.

A woman taxi driver. The year is 1962.

She goes on to narrate how difficult it is for women. People refusing to pay up. But she is not the type who gets scared, she says. In the car, singer Edith Piaf is mentioned. Since the name sounded familiar i looked her up and realised it was that beautiful woman who sang one of my favourites. Life of a Rose film that won the Oscar for best actor, first time best actor went to a French film, i had watched. It should be in one of my notes. Anyway the news was reporting the war in Algiers and also Piaf's operation for some medical condition.

I didn't think the film was great but it's language is so fresh and hard hitting even now. The singer who is awaiting the result of her medical test - that is the time that is shown in the film. She thinks she has cancer. No one takes her seriously because hey, she is a drama queen. The only relief she gets is in the end when a soldier in the war strikes a conversation with her. He goes on to accompany her to the doctor and she promises to see him off to Algiers.

The doctor confirms that she has cancer. In a matter of fact way. It should be alright in two chemotherapy sessions, he says. Before she meets the doctor there is an interesting sequence where the people in the reception say that the doctor is not in. She decides to phone the doctor later at night. That is when he comes driving his car and tells her the news. After knowing that, she says she is finally free.

There is one aspect of the film. This woman is under the impression that her beauty is her strength. She feels everyone looking at her. Many shots of people looking at her. Repulsive things - those that she might consider ugly - like a man swallowing frogs and running a knife through his arm etc. She also feels contempt for the taxi woman and her own friend who poses for nudes for art students. The jump cut of Godard is famous. Wonder if they even noticed it in her film. She uses many. Remember one when is climbing down the stairs. Also - there are cute kittens and a cat mom in her house. It's nice.

There is a sequence in which she sings the tune given to her by her composer. A single shot in which we go closer and closer to her face. It becomes intense. This never fails, i have noticed. He he.

I also learned about the 'Left Bank' of French New Wave that she belonged to. Wikipedia says

The Left Bank, or Rive Gauche, group is a contingent of filmmakers associated with the French New Wave, first identified as such by Richard Roud.^[18] The corresponding "right bank" group is constituted of the more famous and financially successful New Wave directors associated with Cahiers du cinéma (Claude Chabrol, François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard).^[18] Unlike the Cahiers group, these directors were older and less movie-crazed. They tended to see cinema akin to other arts, such as literature. However they were similar to the New Wave directors in that they practiced cinematic modernism. Their emergence also came in the 1950s and they also benefited from the youthful audience.^[19] The two groups, however, were not in opposition; Cahiers du cinéma advocated for Left Bank cinema.^[20]
Left Bank directors include Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, and Agnès Varda.^[18] Roud described a distinctive "fondness for a kind of Bohemian life and an impatience with the conformity of the Right Bank, a high degree of involvement in literature and the plastic arts, and a consequent interest in experimental filmmaking", as well as an identification with the political left.^[18] The filmmakers tended to collaborate with one another.^[20] Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Robbe-Grillet, and Marguerite Duras are also associated with the group.^[21] The nouveau roman movement in literature was also a strong element of the Left Bank style, with authors contributing to many of the films.
Left Bank films include La Pointe Courte, Hiroshima mon amour, La jetée, Last Year at Marienbad, and Trans-Europ-Express.

Roger Ebert review has some interesting observations including sexism in the industry - even in the new wave.  

Varda is sometimes referred to as the godmother of the French New Wave. I have been guilty of that myself. Nothing could be more unfair. Varda is its very soul, and only the fact that she is a woman, I fear, prevented her from being routinely included with Godard, Truffaut, Resnais, Chabrol, Rivette, Rohmer and for that matter her husband Jacques Demy. The passage of time has been kinder to her films than some of theirs, and "Cléo from 5 to 7" plays today as startlingly modern. Released in 1962, it seems as innovative and influential as any New Wave film. 

February 2019 Films

Innale - P Padmarajan

Source: Wikipedia

After Thoovaanathumbikal, i felt like watching more of Padmarajan. I picked 'Innale' the film starring Sobhana, Jayaram, Suresh Gopi and Sreevidya. The first thing i noticed is how beautiful Sreevidya is.

Sreevidya, the beauty

Anyway just into 20 minutes of the film i noticed the following

1. The script is beautiful. Well written. Craft.
2. Padmarajan was too good for Malayalam cinema.
3. He should have been recognized along with Guru Dutt. Is it because he was mallu that it never happened? Adoor made crap films except for one or two and is a more national figure than Padmarajan. I can't understand why. Really, his craft was definitely way ahead of his time, definitely good even now. It's not possible to watch most Malayalam films released now and before without cringing at some dialogues or the entire screenplay. In here, Padmarajan's screenplay is as realistic as what some of the new directors are trying today 'Ee Ma Ou', 'Eeda' for example.
4. The dream sequence in the beginning

When played, for a while, it looks like the camera is tracking in and zooming out to make it look like she is not running. This is something i would like to copy. Usually it is done with close-ups in dramatic moments. This dream sequence - something i like very much in films - is really nicely done. I have not seen such a good dream sequence in Malayalam films actually.

I just realized that i had watched this film while in SRFTI as well. Also Innale and a bunch of other films by Padmarajan. From the earlier entry,

Brilliant.
Allegorical about relationships. Past.
A woman who has relationships with two men.
Sexual jealousy of Jayaram and Suresh Gopi. The reason behind the prolonged kiss in the kitchen.
The dream sequence. No explanation to it. Yet evocative. Past is the protagonist. Aptly titled.
Things to copy: The opening sequence. The site of accident and rescue operations. People being pulled out of an upturned bus. Lit torches. Human power. Police. A good way to begin. Then cut to the whiteness of corpses.

On what basis was Jayaram cast and Sreevidya's son? [Never seen a more beautiful face than hers. May be Sweta Menon's] There is possessiveness for the mother also. It is all woven into the fabric with great care and ease at the same time.

A place where the brilliance of script is seen is with the Innocent, Lalitha episode where the photo Innocent shows is the one we see Jayaram try to take once.

My own observation that 'past is the protagonist' in the film doesn't make any sense to me now. The beginning accident sequence is nicely done but i don't consider it something to be copied now. The dream sequence, however, impressed me this time too. This film is not as good as Thoovaanathumbikal. Script becomes loose half way through the film.

Look at these frames in which the director is showing the isolated woman in a misty past. She can see nothing ahead or behind her and is in an island in the middle of nowhere. Simple and elegant.

Marooned in memory island - Innale Sobhana is almost invisible in this frame

Innale - figures in the fog

Innale - marooned in memory island

Watching and re-watching seeing yourself grow in cinema - that's the only thing worth living for. That and love. 

Prayaanam (1975)

Started watching from the beginning now. The debut of Padmarajan as script writer and also of Bharatan as director - Prayanam. The one in which a young woman is married to an old Brahmin who rapes her every night or so. Then there is a young man who comes back to his illam. His mother was a rebellious woman. She was the first woman to go to college from that areas. Inevitably her marriage is broken and the neglected child goes on to have sex with foreigners who ditch him for other men. He is now on a quest for sex or love which he finds in Lakshmi. The Brahmin husband sees them make out and drops Lakshmi back at her father's place, reminding the father and her that he had married her out of pity - so that Lakshmi's father who was also his teacher would be relieved of one of his female children. Female children in the house is a burden because they have to be married off and one needs to have the required dowry and money for other wedding stuff. But Lakshmi goes back. Promises to be a good girl. The old brahmin stops raping her because he has dignity. He doesn't want to sleep with a woman who slept with another man. Despite the promise, Lakshmi and Aravindan embrace each other when they see each other when the fireworks at the temple festival go off. (This reminded me of a scene from Kodiyetam - will have to watch it again to see how similar it is)

It's not a great film. Nor is the script great. Padmarajan was still in that stage where women wearing sleveless blouses, educated, speaking in English, playing cards with men can only have one meaning - a bad mother.

The mother in sleeveless blouse by Padmarajan

Ignored childhood because of sleeveless card playing english speaking mother

You can see it in these scenes. Have you noticed how there will always be one element in such situations to represent the 'real' culture of Kerala - in most cases, it is a domestic help. You can find him here too. He is for caring for the child ignored by the mother. Also to silently disapprove of what is happening - his helplessness increases the audience's hatred towards the woman who gave up the 'real' culture and tradition.

House help - the true tradition looking at the deplorable state of things in the house with the sleeveless card playing english speaking mother

But what struck me was that the punishment for the woman who cheated on her husband is not that big - was it like that|? You can even see Kaviyoor Ponnamma - one of those roles in which she was young and not the mother of Mohanlal - she kind of acts as a nanny to the young son of the old Brahmin priest. She even tells the priest that it was his fault to begin with! She asks him to bring her back. I was really surprised. Infidelity was common? Or was it inconsequential then? Who knows.

I didn't understand why Bharatan was given a State Award for best Art Direction for this film. 

Itha Ivide Vare 

Had watched this one too earlier and had forgotten. The one where Soman enters and asks Jayan, the boatperson to take him 'itha ivide vare'. This must be the second time Padmarajan wrote for the screen. I V Sasi directed the film. The script itself is not that great. Moreover, it lacked the expertise of Bharatan. Watching this film after 'Prayaanam' will serve well to demonstrate how the director's job can make and break a script.

This is the story in which Soman takes revenge on Madhu, who killed his father (Ummer) and mother (Kaviyoor Ponnamma) when he was just a child. He returns as a painter. A wealthy one. No one knows who is paying to buy his paintings. This is just one of the loose ends in the script. There is an entire story of Madhu and Sarada having an affair resulting in Jayabharati's birth. In birth, the mother dies.

Here too, Padmarajan can be seen nurturing his ridiculous ideas about women, chastity etc. Jayabharati's character is a kind of a rebel at that. So Soman has sex with her, hoping to impregnate her. Because that means that she 'nasikkaled'. Having sex only 'pezhappikkals' (spoil) the woman. Hoping she gets pregnant he tries to hint it to her asking if everything is all right. And she laughs him off. Even the second time, she has sex with him because she likes it. She also asks him to fuck off when he offers to 'protect' her. It was a delight watching her make this man go mad. :D

Wikipedia says this was Padmarajan's first successful script. Which means that 'Prayaanam' was a flop? And why was this film so successful? I liked the song - Entho Etho Enganeyo. Ente Manassiloraalasyam. Nice word aalasyam.  

I am eager to look at the women Padmarajan created.

Rathinirvedam (1978)

Some title cards

First of all, why was this film remade with Swetha Menon?
Again, Padmarajan's script. He also wrote a novel by the same name. Bharatan's direction. If at all someone else had to direct Padmarajan's films, it had to be Bharatan. Not anyone else. I have not watched the one by Sethumadhavan. But still, Bharatan's understanding of Padmarajan's plot, characters etc is the closest it can get, i feel.

Pappu and Rathichechi story is a coming of age film. My only problem is the Rathi dies in the end. Don't see why that was necessary at all. It does have elements that were explicitly meant and filmed to arouse the malayalee male audience. Even then, it is not a bad film. It is not porn. It is not misogynistic. I mean compare this film withe kind of crap that comes to theatres these days in Malayalam - it was really much better then. Jayabharati must have become or been a sex icon with this. Many scenes and shots designed to accentuate her curves and body in general. Those pointy bras of the time...

Even from the trailer it was evident that the remake with Swetha Menon was CRAP.

K P A C Lalitha and Kaviyoor Ponnamma are their young selves. Lalitha married to Soman. Pappu's father is absent. Wikipedia says Director Bharathan had proposed actress K.P.A.C. Lalitha after the shooting of this film.^[5] They remained together till the death of the former. I went 'awww' on this one of course.

The Clovehitch Killer

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59173065

Pretty good one. With son finding out about father. Confronting. Him destroying evidence etc. But felt it lacked something. Don't know what.

Chinatown

Source: wikipedia

When i shared my synopsis (of the screenplay i am working on, right now) my professor from SRFTI asked me if i had watched Chinatown. She was reminded of it, she said. When she narrated the beginning of the film, i remembered that i had watched it. But could not remember what i felt about it. Anyway watched the film again as it is often mentioned in the book i am reading now 'Story'.

So i realised that it's a Polanski film. I am a polanski hater even before i learned about the rape allegations against him. Anyway. It's quite well made and everything and honestly is the best Polanski i have watched. Even then the film didn't affect me much. What was the point of it all i wonder. Also, i was somehow under the impression that it was black and white. Had forgotten that Jack Nicholson had done the lead role too. Maybe i am confusing this film with one of the film noir ones.

So now i will dig up what i wrote 3 years ago when i watched it for the first time.

'Didn't like it. So what happened to the woman who wanted to save her daughter from her rapist father? She dies and the father gets another daughter to rape. Her character has been portrayed 'loose' from the beginning. She herself sort of admits than she can only have short affairs with men. The detective who tries to bring out the scam is also ruined in the same way he is suggested to have been ruined in Chinatown and what's with the Chinese hatred. Was this before Americans made Russia/Muslims their enemies in films? It is a thriller but i can't stand so much violence against women. Jack Nicholson beating the woman up after sleeping with her. She says 'sister' 'daughter' 'sister' 'daughter' and he keeps on slapping her in the way all male abusers do. Terrifying.'

That holds even now, i guess. Really the film just gave that rapist another daughter to rape. What the hell.

Kramer Vs. Kramer

Source: Wikipedia

Part of 'Story' reading. It's a well written, well made film. But i don't understand this. By the mother in the end, letting her son go, isn't it saying that women's liberation - as Mr. Kramer calls it once - is bullshit? But it's not that black and white and that's the beauty of the film too. The mother - the epitome of motherhood decides to leave her child twice in this film. And yet Meryl Streep's character is not one to hate. The film doesn't portray her that way. It also talks about a major problem - the career building man Vs. the woman who has to give up her career for family. Mrs. Kramer is someone who broke out of that. And this is presented as a valid reason. This is why we feel indignant when in court, the lawyer questions her asking if her husband ever beat her or her child, ever cheated on her etc. Trying to say that there was no valid reason for her to leave. In the court, her 'character' is also questioned as always and we get pissed with the lawyer. This is the right way to do things. Love it.

Oh god! I just read what Streep had to say about the shoot. Hoffman, the male lead sexually harassed her during the film. Not just her, see this:

Gail Strickland was first cast as Ted's neighbor Margaret, but departed after a week of filming (according to Columbia Pictures due to "artistic differences") and was replaced by Jane Alexander.^[7] The truth was that Strickland was so intimidated by Hoffman while filming their scenes together that she developed a nervous stammer which made her lines unintelligible.^[5] Strickland herself disputes this account, saying that she couldn't quickly memorize the improvised lines that Hoffman gave her, which agitated him and led to her firing two days later.^[5]

Hoffman has been widely reported in different media to have harassed Streep during the making of the movie, and the two had a contentious working relationship as a result.^[5][8] In a 1979 Time magazine interview, Streep claimed that Hoffman groped her breast on their first meeting.^[9] The two actors battled over their characters, with Streep wanting to portray Joanna as more sympathetic and vulnerable than she was written.^[5] As a famously committed method actor,^[10] Hoffman would also hurl insults and obscenities at Streep, taunting her with the name of her recently deceased fiancé, John Cazale, to draw a better performance out of her.^[11] He famously threw a wine glass against the wall without telling her (although he did inform the cameraman beforehand), which shattered and sent glass shards into her hair. Her response was: "Next time you do that, I'd appreciate you letting me know." ^[5]
In 2018 Streep told the New York Times that Hoffman had slapped her hard without warning while filming a scene: "...this was my first movie, and it was my first take in my first movie, and he just slapped me. And you see it in the movie. It was overstepping."^[12]

Yes, i do remember the wine glass scene. Not the slapping scene though. What bullshit of the 'grief of her fiance's death will help Streep. That too such a fine actor! Hollywood is really full of idiots i guess. Just like Mallu land.

Oh god. I just read Dustin Hoffman's page. After the Harvey Weinstein revelations, he was one of the people who were exposed. Terrifying allegations by many women. God.

Through a Glass Darkly - Bergman

Source: Wikipedia

Was mentioned in 'Story' and i like Bergman anyway so watched. I felt that in the end what he is trying to say is that belief in god is necessary and that god is love, love definitely exists so god does too. I found it cute. Anyway this is the film in which Daughter, Son, Father, Daughter's husband+doctor stay near the sea, camping, fishing, holidayiing. The daughter is out of a mental hospital. Since she was give shock treatment, her hearing is now sharper. She hears more. What she hears is people. They are all waiting for god to come out of the wall. The son wants appreciation from father but he isn't getting any. He is incestuous. He tells his sister not to hug and kiss him. He looks at pictures of naked women. In the end they also have sex, i guess. Anyway the helicopter ambulance arrives in the end, the daughter is taken away and the son and father finally talk. The father is a writer, he wants to write something meaningful or something like that. Him being career oriented is not viewed kindly by the daughter and son. He chronicles his daughter's incurable disease hoping it will help him in his writing. He is ashamed of this because it would look like he was using her. (I don't see how it's bad). Anyway when the daughter finds it out, she is sad.

I felt that the characters of the husband and father are not fully developed. I liked the music. Just learned that it was Bach. I like Bach then. Wikipedia:

Through a Glass Darkly was released to positive reviews, specifically for Andersson's performance, and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was followed by Bergman's thematically related 1963 films Winter Light and The Silence. 

I think i have watched Winter Light. Will have to see.

Minus is somewhat sexually frustrated, and Karin teases him, even more so after she discovers that he hides a men's magazine. Later, on the beach, when Karin sees that a storm is coming, she runs into a wrecked ship and huddles in fear. Minus goes to her and she seduces her brother.  

Corrected this in Wikipedia. Also changed 'men's book' to porn magazine. How can one call porn magazine 'men's magazine'. What the hell that's so disrespectful to men and still they don't understand feminism. *head-hit-wall*

Bergman's relationship with his wife Käbi Laretei influenced the film, which is dedicated to her.

Yeah. How sweet. Had seen the dedication plate in the beginning. And yes, i don't understand why Karen did some sort of sexually suggestive acts during one of her delusional episodes. I didn't understand the point of incest too except that it was the highest point of love between the brother and sister. Karen does tell him that he is the only one who even understands her. I understand that.

The title of the film is taken from the 'love passage' in 1 Corinthians 13 from the bible.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 

The mirror part came from Bergman making notes for this film in his diary. He was planning to meet and reconcile with his parents. Mother's name is Karin, i gather.

He imagined it as a three-act play, where the acts serve as "mirror panels," showing the same thing from different angles.^[13] 

Apparently Bergman regretted saying God is love, love is god through this film. He felt that wasn't true. Faro island, the location was suggested to Bergman by his cinematographer. He used this location for many of his films. They test shot in colour, were unhappy with the result and stuck to black and white.

Some frames

For your lighthouse reference. Spilling of milk is something that does not fail to make an effect. Remember 'A short film about love'

For future memes

Aakaasadoothu

Source: Wikipedia

കണ്ട ചെമ്മാനും ചെരുപ്പുകുത്തിക്കുമൊക്കെ അങ്ങനെ തോന്നും. എന്ന് പറയുന്ന നെടുമുടി വേണു. ജഗതിയുടെ കഥാപാത്രത്തെ അയാള്‍ വിളിക്കുന്നത് തന്നെ ചെമ്മാനെന്നാണ്. അയാള്‍ കള്ള് ഷാപ്പില്‍ നിന്നും അച്ചന്‍ ഇറങ്ങിവരുന്നത് കാണുമ്പോള്‍ മാത്രമാണ് പേടിച്ച് നെടുമുടി വേണു അയാളെ പേര് വിളിക്കുന്നത്. അപ്പോഴാണ് അയാളുടെ പേര് ഗീവര്‍ഗീസ് മാത്യു എന്നാണെന്ന് മനസ്സിലാകുന്നത്. വേറാരും അയാളെ സിനിമയില്‍ പേര് വിളിക്കുന്നില്ല. തട്ടിപ്പ് നടത്തുന്ന ഒരു പള്ളീലച്ചനാണ് അയാള്‍.

Caste slur in Aakaasadoothu

Oh god i watched the whole film and cried and cried and cried. Afraid i'll get a headache because of the crying. It is a very well made film. Not lazy direction. Real effort has gone into making it. Like people paying attention to art direction - effort. Murali performance is just great in this. Really. The best i have seen him do. And this woman Madhavi. From November inte Nashtam i am a fan of her beauty. Nobody can get anymore beautiful.

Madhavi is so beautiful!

The woman gets cancer. In the hospital when the testing of blood shots are shown we get to know that something is up. That should be avoided. Internal conversation with the nurse and doctor does increase anxiety and make it look good but it could have been better. Also since i am reading 'Story' now, noticing that the inciting incident happens really late in this film. At almost one hour.Till then the father's alcoholism is the problem is what audience think. Also unanswered questions - like the subplot of the murder of the father by the man who tries to rape Madhavi - it doesn't go anywhere. Nothing happens to the man who killed him. Sibi Malayil directed.

A frame to copy. The foreground should be made to look like a room. Large depth of field allows us to see everything. Only when camera pulls back do we see that it is a grotto or something else that is small in size.

One more day she pleads to jesus christ but does not get that. I like it that god is portrayed as a villain here. Because i am an atheist and if even if people don't realise that there is no god, believing that the god they think exists is an asshole is an alternative i like. He he.

9

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57082997

The Prithviraj film, Prithviraj productions film. He was seen saying that Ezra was a hit. Why was that film a hit. Whai! It was so stupid. Anyway this is the one in which he is an astro physicist. I was liking it so much thinking it was going to bring a nice science fiction or something. Now i am tempted to write a science fiction script. Anyway this one is mixing a lot of things together and the ending is just like Ezra.

എല്ലാവരും കുമ്പളങ്ങി കാണുന്ന ലോകത്ത് '9' കണ്ടതാണെന്റെ പരാജയം. മോശം സിനിമയൊന്നുമല്ല. എസ്രയുടെ ബാധ ഇതുവരെ പോകാത്തതെന്താണ്? അതൊരു നല്ല സിനിമ പോലുമല്ലായിരുന്നല്ലോ! ഒമ്പത് ദിവസത്തേയ്ക്ക് ഇലക്ട്രിസിറ്റി ഇല്ലാതായാല്‍ വാട്ട്സാപ്പ് ഫേസ്ബുക്കൊക്കെ പോകും അപ്പോള്‍ എല്ലാവരും മനുഷ്യരാകും എന്ന് ഒരു ആസ്ട്രോഫിസിസിറ്റ് അയ്യായിരം പേരുടെ മുമ്പില് നിന്ന് പറയാണ്. ഇങ്ങനെയൊക്കെ എഴുതുമ്പൊ എഴുതുന്നോര്‍ക്ക് നാണാവില്ലേ. അത് പോട്ടെ. പൃഥ്വിരാജിന്റെയല്ലേ പ്രൊഡക്ഷന്‍ ഹൗസ് (ആമിര്‍ ഖാന്‍ ഫാനാണെന്ന് തോന്നുന്നു. ലോഗോ കണ്ടാലങ്ങനെ തോന്നും.) ആ ചെന്നായയെും ആകാശത്തെയുമൊക്കെ പോസ്റ്റില്‍ ടെക്നോളജി ഒന്നുകൊണ്ട് മാത്രം ഒട്ടിച്ച് ചേര്‍ത്തട്ട് ഇങ്ങനെയൊക്കെ പറയാമോ! ആദ്യം ചൈല്‍ഡ് സെക്ഷ്വല്‍ അബ്യൂസിന്റെ വാണിങ്ങ് കണ്ടപ്പൊ ഞാന്‍ വിചാരിച്ചു അതായിരിക്കും സിനിമയുടെ കാതല്‍ എന്ന്. കണ്ട് കഴിഞ്ഞപ്പൊ അത് സെക്ഷ്വല്‍ അബ്യൂസല്ല, മെന്റല്‍ ഇമോഷനല്‍ അബ്യൂസ്, തല്ലുക എന്നതാണെന്ന് മനസ്സിലായി. സംസാരിക്കേണ്ട വിഷയം തന്നെയാണ്. (അച്ഛനല്ല അമ്മയാണ് ഇത് ചെയ്യുന്നതെങ്കില്‍ ആ സ്ത്രീയോട് ആരും പൊറുക്കില്ല.) പക്ഷെ സ്നേഹവും അബ്യൂസും മാനസിക പ്രശ്നങ്ങളും ഒക്കെക്കൂടെ കൂട്ടിക്കുഴച്ചപ്പോള്‍ അതിന്റെ ഗൗരവം പോയ പോലെ തോന്നി. പിന്നെ ഒമ്പത് ദിവസം ഇരു‌ട്ടിലായാല്‍ മനുഷ്യര് കലാപം ഉണ്ടാക്കുന്നതെന്തിനാ? കെടന്നൊറങ്ങാനുള്ളേന്!

Kumbalangi Nights

Source: Wikipedia

It is not a great film. The script is very loose. It gives you laughs so it is not intolerable but there is a weak script hiding behind the humour in there. The character of Fahadh Fazil - Shammi - there is a problem in the design of that character. It could have been in two ways. Shammi - whatever he does is abnormal because it is highly patriarchal and violent - from the beginning. But that was not done. It is shown that the family realize that he is mad when he binds them and physically assaults them. Or, the physical assault should have not been shown and then the family could realise that he is abnormal. Neither happened. But in Malayalam, this film is a hit and i love it because it said SO MUCH about patriarchy and still is a hit. It's not about rape but is about every day patriarchy at homes and that has been shown as ridiculous. Kudos to the writer and director for that. A more detailed write up in Malayalam here

True Story

Source: Wikipedia

The story about a New York Times journalist who loses his job because he did unethical reporting (he clubs stories of many victims and shows it as happened to one victim). The story was that of slavery in Mexico. Then there is this murderer who pretends to be him. Accused of murdering his wife and three children. It starts with this nice image of a suitcase - a little girl sleeping in it her teddy bear drops in slow motion. This suitcase is put in a river. It is followed to the mortuary. The murderer tries to tell 'his story' to the journalist. It's about how killers manipulate and journalists do the same etc. It's not a great film but i liked the image of the girl in a suitcase. 

Awe

Source: Wikipedia

Very bad film but delighted that a friend edited it. People i know are all making films. It's a wonderful feeling. The one about time travel and shit. Nitya Menen is the lover of a woman. Terribly wrong concepts about homosexuality. Sex change operation etc. And it is not even well made or logically correct. It doesn't make any sense at all.

Gully Boy

Source: Wikipedia

Really liked it. Ever since Anand told me what montage in indian films really does, i can't see beyond it. I hate it every time people use unnecessary montages to escape storytelling. I used to do it too and now think i need to rethink. The film is about a rapper from Dharavi. As one of the notes on social media said, it is true that only people with resources like Zoya Akhtar can make films like this the way they want. Documentary filmmakers etc. struggle to find the means. This is why i need to get there.

Yesterday, at the theatre to watch 'Gully Boy', after the national anthem played, from a row behind me, a male voice shouted 'bharat mata ki' which was answered with 'jai'. Then he shouted 'Pakistan' which was answered by 'murdabad'. I have never stood during national anthem in theatres. And every time i sit during the song, i get a tingly feeling - because usually i am the only person sitting and also because i know that there will be 'bharat mata ki jai' folks in the hall. Yesterday they were just a row behind me. I really liked the film for a lot of reasons but i am really worried that movie going experience is changing. For when 'azadi' was sung in the film, when the protagonist offered Muslim prayers, put kohl in his eyes, wore a skull cap, i got that tingly feeling again and i knew it was coming from the awareness of who sat behind me. Modi has pumped a lot of new money into PR campaigns and at least five Modi promotional ads played on screen. During one where he was hailed as the protector of women, i wanted to boo but no sound escaped my throat. Usually in theatres, i only had to be prepared for groping. But yesterday, even in the comfort of a non-Muslim, non-Kashmiri identity, i was scared.

I love Alia Bhatt. Ranveer Singh too acted pretty well. The supporting role actor too.  

Unforgettable

Source: Wikipedia

A very crappy film about a psycho ex wife taking revenge on ex-husband and current girlfriend who is a victim of domestic abuse. Shit i found on Netflix.  

Dangerous Liaisons

Source: Wikipedia

Mentioned in 'Story'. Didn't like it much though. It is stated as an example of how a period film can relate to all generations. You look at the screen and see people having sex left right and centre and go 'oh this is us!' Probably why the film didn't appeal much to me. I mean using sex as a weapon - and Uma Thurman was raped in the film. Have to check and edit wikipedia. Okay they have got it right and it's rape. 

Nice frame - Dangerous Liaisons. The reflection on the ornate mirror looks like a painting

Mississippi Burning

Source: Wikipedia

The film about two FBI agents investigating the murder of three civil rights activists. Two of them were white. One was black and all three were killed by a shoot off of Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. Police officers and plenty of others were involved. The film starts by showing us the murder. The killers including the officer following the car on a highway. The opening shot is telling. We immediately get to know this is about race. 

MIssissippi Burning opening shot

The chase scene is also filmed in a peculiar manner. The mise-en-scene is apt. The car disappears in between for some time because of the geography. And we grow tense. We know something's going to go wrong.

 

 

Many films were made based on this story and this film had faced criticism for being inaccurate. It is true that it could have been better. The film is good though. 

Tender Mercies

Source: Wikipedia

I didn't understand what is so great about this script or film. This one is also from the Story watching list. The tale of a recovering alcoholic marrying a single woman. The wikipedia article on the film is very well written and has a lot of stuff about meaning of the film etc. Like baptism, faith, the concept of family etc. Add to this the place where he says that his wife said she would give up singing after marriage but never did. This wife's daughter is the one who dies. But it didn't move me much. I like country music and listened to Don Williams after a long time after watching the film but other than that...don't know. Liked the part where he sings the song his daughter mentioned and we only see his back. It's really good.