1.Sex and Philosophy
Director : Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Cast : Daler Nazarov ,Mariam Gaibova ,Farzana Beknazarov,Tahmineh Ebrahimova ,Malohat Abdulloeva.
Synopsis : First thing first, title is exciting ,intriguing and definitely sets a curiosity in the minds of viewers and I was also got charmed away by the title. Mohsen is a world renowned Iranian film maker and deserves to be seen by all movie-lovers across the world. SAP is rich in content, a lyrical beauty , very subtle but thought provoking story of a dance teacher , who revolts against himself on his 40th birthday and invites all his four gorgeous girlfriends at his place to reveal , what value each of them has added in his choreography and life at different juncture of this journey.Do watch the opening scene attached below to relish a master-work.
Movie explores the life (basically thought process) of John , a touch philosopher and carefree choreographer, who is open to life , its mysteries and beauty. He falls in love with four different women , under different circumstances and enriches his experiences on love and life . Its a very simple story ,laced with a very complex thread of love and life, yet has been dealt with utmost fineness by the auteur.Climax is very clever and culminates the film at perfect note . Every single frame is a poetry on celluloid in literal terms and is fertile with awesome emotion . Its a serene piece of film done aesthetically in full control , like a symphony of Mozart and yes I am not exaggerating. You got to see it to believe it.
2. Whatever Works
Cast : Larry David,Evan Rachel Wood,Patricia Clarkson.
Synopsis : I had seen Woody (His oscar winner Annie hall) a few years back but couldn't appreciate him . This year I had some time to spare and ran through all his films , yes, almost all his films and became a hug fan of Woody, the man and the auteur. A narcissistic ,septuagenarian neurotic who produces at the rate of a movie per year is in full form in 2009 released "Whatever Works" , featuring another comedian Larry David.
Story starts with Larry ,a man with IQ of 200 ,who was once 'almost' (haha) nominated for Nobel prize in physics and now an imbecile ,ekes out his living by teaching young children chess,lambasting the society and failed human species.Oh ya, he has in his CV a failed suicide attempt and now spending out his rest of the life in a posse . But life is not going to be peaceful and one late night he stumbles upon a young nubile run away girl and ends up giving her shelter at his place.Girls falls for her , they get married and then one after one typical Woody Allen characters keep on pouring in their life with their typical antics giving impetus to the humour in story. Like all his films Woody is again into nihilism , subverting the orthodox principles and establishing the philosophy of "Whatever works" to filch whatever happiness one can find out from this depressing life.
3. Frida
Cast : Salma Hayek,Alfred Molina,Ashley Judd
Synopsis : I am fond of bio-graphical movies and frida is the latest addition in that list. Aviator tops the chart , which I have watched umpteen times. Frida Kahlo was the most influential Mexican painter of mid twenties.
I always loved Salma Hayek for her tempting buxom but here I fell in love with the actress Salma for her sensitive and unflinching portrayal of Frida, displaying enormous range and blazing intense depth. Like I said earlier Sex and philosophy was a POETRY on celluloid, Frida is a PAINTING on celluloid. I have never seen such a mind-blowing and meticulous art-direction, every set is erected like a painting and color scheme adapts to the mood of the film.Its a well researched film and has used original paintings of Frida Kahlo in the film.
Frida is a talented, young, charming student of art , when she meets a dangerously fatal trolly accident and is saved by a miracle in medical terms. Its on her bed , that she picks up the brush and paints out her pain. She shows her paintings to another top painter Diego Rivera and both fall in love and get married. But then they go through a rough marriage life and finally separates. Frida looses her child in a miscarriage, indulges in adultry,smoking and lesbian and is diagnosed with a gangrene only to get her leg amputated. All this suffering brings out best from her and she paints innumerable murals & paintings depicting suffering and pain in a never before seen abstract concept.
Director Julie selects a very touching ,difficult and complex subject, but man , she does full justice in bringing out the life of an artist of calibre of Frida Kahlo. Its a must watch to see the suffering of Frida and to savour a delight in story telling.
See the classic picturization of trolly accident scene of Frida !! Sheer beauty.
4.Achanak
Cast : Vinod Khanna, Om Shivpuri, Asrani, Fareeda Jallal.
Synopsis : I was looking for this one for long time and luckily one fine day was surprised to find it on torrent, lucky me.
Its one of the earliest films of Gulzar saab, but still has that gulzarish stamp and shades of an emerging director. Also ,its one of the sincere acts by Vinod khanna, who had earlier worked in Gulzar saab's debut Mere Apne, another masterpiece.
Achanak was based on a short story by noted writer Khwaja Ahmed Abbas,and had no songs.
Ranjeet Khanna (Vinod khanna) Gallantary medal winner Army soldier , convicted of murder of his wife and friend ,is brought to an hospital in dying conditions , injured with bullets he received while trying to escape from custody. Doctor, played by Om shivpuri is hopeless and predicts he will not survive more than a few hours, but there is a miracle and major survives more than a day. This gives doctor a ray of hope and his teams toils hard to save major. After months of medication and efforts by the doctors , Major is cured and declared perfectly healthy. But there lies a twist, and policemen come to take him back to execute his death sentence. Doctor is shattered and devastated to learn that the dying patient , his team has saved by so much effort will again meet the death. Ah.
Do catch it when you have some time to spare and if can get hold of its dvd !
Climax scene of the film:
5.Amadeus:
Cast : F. Murray Abraham,Tom Hulce.
Synopsis : Another biography , this time the genius musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Its based on so called rivalry between court composer of Vienna, Antonio Salieri, who legend says had planned the murder of Mozart and later turned into lunatic. I had no idea of this film , before I saw its opening scene in Pune and was totally taken aback .I searched for its DVD which turned out to be a classic film.
Though it deals with the rivalry of Mozart and Salieri, treatment is entirely different.Sallieri is passionate about music and through is talent and hard work reaches to the level of top composer of Vienna.His life is perfect until the entry of jovial , musketeer , charming and amazingly talented Amadeus. Envy contaminates the soul of poor Sallieri and slowly he is exposed to the genius of Mozart . Film is about the Mozart but its the character of Sallieri which has got great meat , depth and range. You can't help but feel sympathetic to Sallieri, his actions, his hoplessnes and his encounters with the GOD are the high point of the film.
Amadeus had dominatd 1984 Oscar awards and there is no doubt F.Murray won the Best Actor's Oscar for his brilliant portrayal of Sallieri.
Catch the scene below to see Sallieri's hopelessness before Mozart:
6. Songs of Spaarrow
Cast : Reza Naji
Synopsis : Another Iranian and Oscar award winner film-maker. They call him master of children film and his filmography speaks for that. Most of his films revolves around children and are simple tale of human emotions.
Songs of Sparrow is his latest film and is full of aesthetic beauty , what I like most about Iranian film-makers is their shot composition and framing. Mohsen, Gobadi Majid are the pioneers of cinema in Iran. SOS is very simple tale of Kareem, a keeper at an Ostirch farm in a village in Iran, blessed with a young enterprising son and a beautiful daughter, who uses hearing aids.
Story unfolds when one fine day , one of the ostriches runs away from the fence and goes missing. Kareem looses his job , somewhere her daughter has also lost her hearing aid and her exams are apporaching. If Kareem can find the lost ostrich , he can go back to the job and buy heaing aid for her daughter.
Watch out for the scenes ,when Kareem is searching for lost ostrich in open fields disuguising himself as a female ostrich. Alas, he fails to find ostrich, and then story moves to Tehran and pictures the struggle of Kareem to earn his livings in a monstrous metro city .its a true humanistic story and is bound to bring tears in your soul.
Watch the promo of the film
7. Paanch (Unreleased)
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Cast : K.K. Menon, Aditya Srivastava, Joy Frenandez,Vijay Maurya, Tejaswini Kholapure.
Synopsis : The new angry young man of Indian cinema, not as an actor , but an auteur. It was his début movie with KK and what a film !! What a film. It was banned by censor board way back in 2003 and is yet to get an official release. But somehow, 15 days back it was leaked on the internet . Whoa !! lucky I, immediately downloaded and watched in tandem. To be frank , I was blown away by sheer honesty and energy of the film.
"Rhuthless,Rough, Blunt, Naked, Sinister, High octane, Gripping , Enticing & Dangerous" , this were my first reactions after finishing the film. And yes it definetly deserved a ban way back in 2003, because society wasn't ready for such a brutal viewing. It had everything adultery, crime, psychotics, vulgarity, drugs,sex and narciccism of highest order.
Story is different , a gang of five struggling rockers comes up with a perfect and safe plan to filch enough money required to produce their album and make it big in the world. Alas, crime never pays and the whole gang find themselves involved in a murdur, how story moves from thereon is PAANCH. Wont reveal much about it, its a high voltage psychodelic film and dont miss it !! KK playes LUKE and man what a performance he has given, by far his best !! . So what are you waiting for, go to torrent and downlaod the film before it goes off the net again.
And dont forget to watch the introduction scene of KK in film Paanch.
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