Monday Blues
First break from the shit load of work that flooded my office since morning. Luckily it came after I had wrapped up Suparn’s post on PFC adding all those pictures and uploading those videos. Hope it helps cine-fanatics out there for whom PFC has become a second home.
It’s kind of a going in shell time for the last few days. Too many things, thoughts, ideas, fears shooting around at the same time. Personal, professional and all the rest. As always it’s weird to see one thought troubling me and suddenly the next instant there’s another thought completely tangent from the first, coming out to rattle my cage.
Spent most of the weekend, reading and watching movies at home. Just finished Amrish Puri’s autobiography “The Act of Life”. Those who aspire or are constantly eager to learn acting in cinema, should buy this book. For those who are simply movie viewers, this book may turn out to be a bit on the dry side. The book does have the late Amrish Puri talking in great depth about his life and experiences, but if you are looking for masala and spicy bites… it isn’t there. The book like the actor, is simple, straight forward and focussed on Amrish’s learning experience.
And watched a bunch of movies…
X-Men - The Last Stand… of course I watched it cause it’s the X-Men though I feel the series goes weaker and weaker in it’s knees with every passing movie.
The World’s Fastest Indian - is based on a true life story, starring Anthony Hopkins, as an old New Zealand-er who’s goal in life is to participate at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Simple story and the director tries to keep it simple in the telling part of it. Not many hook points for me. But most of us appreciate the person who wins against all odds… so yeah… this one can be watched on a lazy, slow noon.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is probably the most I enjoyed this weekend. It’s about a Mexican who is mistakenly killed by an officer from the US Border Patrol. Big mistake, cause the deceased Mexican, Melquiades Estrada was a fast friend of cowboy Tommy Lee Jones. And to fulfill his last wish that he be buried in his village in Mexico, Jones kidnaps the Border Patrol officer, digs up Estrada’s body and then with the officer horseback rides to Mexico to fulfill his dead friend’s wish. The pre-climax left me a bit confused and I hope one day Jones (who directed this one) can help clarify some confusion. Neatly shot and simply told… Tommy Lee Jones makes a nice use of playing the story back and forth in the first half of the movie and intelligently binds consecutive scenes with a common background soundtrack to tell the viewer that they are in sequence and related to each other.
I had much expectations from the French movie, Wolves in the Snow, but it just did not take off. Dejected, cause the movie “does” have a nice germ of an idea for a great crime caper, but it just doesn’t go anywhere. It reinforces your belief that great ideas don’t make up a great story, there has to be a way to tell the story too.
Like it or not, but I completely enjoyed the flick Eight Below… a story about eight sled dogs who tragically are left behind at the base camp in Antarctica. The story follows two parallel tracks about how their handler tries hard to get back to the base camp while the dogs fight to survive the biggest storm in 25 years, the camp in Antarctica ever faced. Beautifully told. What more - it’s is based on a true story.
Normally most stories revolving around animals are either designed to be a comedy (over the top) or heroic (over the top). But Frank Marshall (Alive, Congo, Archnophobia), the director keeps this one perfectly balanced.
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The chain of command amongst the dogs, the intelligent communication between them, the bonding et. all is kept subtle yet transparent and projected in a way that it will not be missed.
And then based on many recommendations, ended up watching the Telugu movie (with subtitles) - Godavari by Sekhar Kammula… not impressed.
It’s a fluffy sweet candy story, that I did not understand why it’s been hailed so high. Perhaps, I missed the finer points in the translation and did not feel the true impact. Or perhaps it was one of the better than the rest of the crap movie syndrome that made many hail this movie as one of the best in recent times.
From my view and eyeballs (that read the subtitles) there was an overtly sweet treatment given to this one. It was basic formula. The hero forthright, the egoistic heroine falling for him and holding back, the ex lover confused, the ex lover’s fiancee plain evil with no shades of grey, the oh cho chweet skit of the dog (with ok f/x of the dog that turns horrible in parts) and the oh my heart bleeds for the kid who’s searching for the guy in a red shirt who cut his 500 buck balloons off. And then we had to have the hero saving the day (actually night) by fighting the bad guys and throwing them into the Godavari.
It isn’t a bad movie though. But there are patches of amateurishness and plastic artificiality, hope Kammula realized it.
I just found while watching Godavari, that there’s a major store online. Bhavani DVD, that sells Telugu, Tamil and Kannada DVDs online that have English subtitles. Unfortunately the price they mentioned in their ad on the Godavari DVD - 2 bucks, does not seem to be true as I browse their website. Perhaps I missed the small line at the bottom that mentioned some sale or something.
Are there any Tamil / Telugu rentals available online that have English subtitles?
Oh, by the way I would love to get more recommendations in Telugu / Tamil / Malayalam for new and old flicks.
Time to wrap up… I was feeling a bit low since morning and thought I would write some gut wrenching, heart tearing Desi Souls series… fortunately for all of us, things got a bit busy on my desk.
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November 13th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
~X( didnt like Godavari…arrghhhhhhh… The F/x of dog was done “forcibly”. Sekhar had shot the whole movie with the dog in it..then came in the idiotic Censor board who say…” Nah..No you cannot use animals. But, you can use them if they are not moving.” So, if you observer closely..the Dog is the original one when it is standing still, else they used F/X..Sekhar had to shell a few Lakhs at the dead end of the movie..i guess 10-12 days before the movie release..as the censor wudnt pass it..
Yes it has a run-of-the mill basic formula..But, treatment was unique…Believble is the word i guess i want to use here….lekin..Oz ko khush karna mushkil hi nahi…namumkin hain..Lol!!!
November 13th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
oz bhai,
now you are talking …. i never knew that u watch tamil movies …. i feel the first thing to do is somehow get the dvd of “MAHANADHI” ….and watch it late night without any disturbance …… i guarantee you that you ll never forget this experience …… its one of the hard hitting realistic movies ever made in tamil cinema …… story,screenplay kamalhaasan ….i think also ghost directed by him …… i promise ….u wont be dissapointed ….. waiting for ur review ….
November 13th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
oz, catch this older tamil movie by mani ratnam called “mouna ragam” with revathy, mohan, and karthik (not me :)) ). a simple story beautifully told… a national award winner this one.. italkies has it with subtitles too.
November 13th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
- Silvojax, I watched Mahnadhi when before it was released at a preview theater is Chennai in the early 90s, cause my friend’s dad was one of the financiers of the movie. Actually I used to watch a lot of Tamil cinema in the early 90s cause of my friend, whom I used to visit during the vacations in college. Mahanadhi made me cry out for a couple of hours (specially the scene where Kamal picks his daughter up from that prostitution shit hole) after the movie ended at the drinks table on the bar at the top floor of Chola Sheraton where we went after the movie.
Need more suggestions…
November 13th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
- Striker, watched Mouna Ragam too. It was shown on DD in the 90s with sub titles. That’s the first time I realized there was this brilliant director called Mani Ratnam :-)
November 14th, 2006 at 7:39 am
oz, a couple of malayalam movie recommendations- thaniyavarthanam (complete repetition) and yathra (journey)
both are very haunting movies- the story and acting are the two areas that excels most here.
thaniyavarthanam was the first script of an excellent writer - lohithadas, and yatra is directed by balu mahendra - a famous director from tamil movies (for the hindi readers remember- sadma)
i can’t stop myself from recommending some works of another famous malayalam director -padmarajan - his movies were those that may be called - poems on celluloid, but i guess i shall not overdo my recommendations :-D
i need to catch up with some of the titles people have mentioned here and in pfc — phew, one more to the list of guys who are giving too much money to movie libraries!
November 16th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
Oz, Godavari… it’s my favorite movie these days.
Did I say movie?
Mea culpa.
Godavari is not a movie.
It’s a journey - into the hearts of native Andhra where you see things in pure black and white deviod of any grey shades. It’s a river - with the waters as sweet as the Telugu poem of Adavi Bapiraju. It’s a story - of the lush greens and the blessed lands surrounding the river (known as pattiseema) which will disappear soon, thanks to stupid, evil politics.
It’s Kammula’s poignant (self confessed) homage to Bapu-Ramana’s Andala Ramudu.
Each one of these things play a role - and takes its toll - on you when you watch this movie - more so, if you have heard of and/or watched Andala Ramudu and loved it!
Fluffy sweet candy story? Yes. For sure. But so were Amelie and Pretty Girl and umpteen other super hits. But, each one had its USP - unique and appealing.
In case of Godavari, it’s the nativity - the natural dialogues uttered by all the characters, especially by Seetha and Sri Ram - the sadness mindful of the fact all these vistas would soon be lost under waters, and the sense of belongingness associated with it - the nostalgia of travelling by boat from Rajahmundry to Bhadrachalam, it was the only means of travel available to junta in old days.
Did I say Godavari is not a movie?
My bad!
It IS a movie - a pure Telugu movie - meant for Telugu audience. Period.
November 16th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
@WB =d>=d>