Cinema Cinema

My 11th of July Vow restrained me from writing anything related to Cinema and I am proud to declare that I have maintained my pledge. Yes! it has been two months (1 more than I hoped to) since i wrote about movies and the kind, instead concentrating on issues ranging from the Iraq war to the 'Conversations with a theologian'. I should admit though that I have been less prolific during this period, being occupied with research. In celebration, let me write about some of the movies I have watched in this period.

1. Maria Full of Grace

A movie so simple yet so complex, it was powerful. A riveting tale of a small-town Colombian girl's 'mule' run in to the States. The turmoil of a pregnant girl in a mor(t)al crisis is a fertile ground for story-tellers, remember our own Santosh Sivan's 'Terrorists' which dwelved on the psyche of a pregnant human-bomb. The highlight of the movie are the credible characters and the straightforward sensiblity exhibited by the director throughout. The poverty, the lure of easy money, the dream of 'America', the innocence, the hope, the despair, Maria Full of Grace is all that and more - a must see.


2. Sin City

When you have Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino in the directorial credits, you just don't not see the movie. I simply loved the dark nature of the movie accentuated by the 'Black and White' cinematography (with colour to punctuate), the sheer strength and savageness of the characters, the comic strip kind (my personal favourite is Marv), the best ass-whipping dialogues I have ever heard (heres one for sample: "And when his eyes go dead, the hell I send him to will seem like heaven after what I've done to him"), the cast (including big names Bruce Willis, Elijah Wood, Jessica Alba, Clive Owen) - everything about the movie was different.I must admit though that I was left wondering, "What the... ?" when I left the movie hall. A bit abstruse for a Sunday afternoon.
Oops I almost did not mention the babes, the scantily clad kind!

3. War of the Worlds

Not the best Spielberg movie I have seen. A story of the effect of Alien invasion on the dynamics of a family. It wasn't bad but I enjoyed Manoj Night Shyamalan's 'Signs' better. However, Dakota Fanning was awesome.

4. The Interpreter

Again not the best Sydney Pollack movie but had a decent storyline and passable performances by Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman.

5. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Haven't read the books yet, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The movie is full of clever and comical science fiction theories. From hitchhiking in spaceships to the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything, Hitchhikers Guide is a riot.

6. La Mala Educacion

A very clever movie that was compared to a Russian Doll by the maker (it has layers within layers). It was griping and disorienting and a bit like being on a rollercoaster.

7. Ong Bak

A Thai movie which is very close to our Dharani's 'Dhool'. A village boy, a village diety, a city don who steals it, a journey to the city, a breathtaking display of martial arts (hhhheeee Vikram not that much) and a happy ending. Formula movie of high calibre. (The semblance was uncanny, almost eerie when the village lad comes to the 'young age play-mate presently in the city' comedian's house for help)

More on Indian movies watched during this period later.