Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Movie Roundup ...

Saw some pretty good movies during this summer, would like to mention some of them here.

English:
CUBE - low budget movie which tries to explore facets of the human psyche especially those of helplessness and despair when survival is an impossibility. Of special note is the first feeling when confronted with a harsh reality is that of rejection of such a possibility and acceptance of an alternate state of conciousness (dream/delusion). Although the acting is not that great, the concept is pretty intriguing.

Hitchcock classics - Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, Birds - Must watch!!

Jacob's ladder - A thriller/horror movie about a vietnam war veteran. A scary plot about the delusions he has after he returns from war, and he is not the only one... A good movie which might unsettle some.

Sergio Leone's classic Wester movies - Fistful of dollars, For a Few Dollars more, The good the bad and the ugly.

Japanese:
Akira Kurosawa - Seven Samurai(shinchin no samurai)

Grave of the fireflies - A beautiful animation movie concerning 2 orphans after the world war II bombings. Must watch!!

Malayalam:
Kadhavasheshan - Directed by T.V. Chandran, backed by some good acting by Dileep is the story of a person disaffected with his surroundings especially concerning the popular culture (Senseless idolatry) viz. cricket, bollywood and some that touched his life those of poverty, riots and starts losing his faith in humanity and life as a whole and commits suicide. The direction is good and for the most part the feelings echoed are subtle but some of the coincidences shown in the movie are ridiculous. I guess that was just a way to get the point across. But, I digress.

Kireedam(The crown) - A brilliant movie involving a father(Thilakan) and son(Mohanlal). The plot is brilliant and to top it the acting by both Thilakan and Mohanlal is outstanding. After seeing this movie I realized how multidimensional and versatile actor Mohanlal is. The last scene where he portrays multiple emotions of sorrow, anger, despair is plain brilliant. Haven't seen any actor do it with such ease.

Another slew of good malayalam movies that I've seen are Nadodikaatu, Bharatham, Nizhalkuttu, Vellanugalude Naadu.

Movies in the pipeline,
Vana Espuma(Idle Mist) - Low Budget spanish movie. Supposed to be really good. Unfortunately am not able to find it.

Vaanaprastham - National Award winning movie with a great performance by Mohanlal as a Kathakali artist.

Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam (Chapter One: A wail) - Brilliant movie by T.V. Chandran about the life of a poor muslim girl who gets married at an early age.

Yojimbo,Rashomon - Kurosawa's classic movies. Sergio Leone(Dollars Trilogy fame) was inspired by his movies and did some remakes.

Books in the Pipeline:
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Gulag archipelago - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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