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Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s ‘Salaam Cinema’ is not just an ode to the medium but also a reflection of it
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/mohsen-makhmalbafs-salaam-cinema-is-not-just-an-ode-to-the-medium-but-also-a-reflection-of-it-7015861.html In 1895, the Lumière brothers, in Paris, held the first paid public screening of 10 short films, including the now-famous Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory. A hundred years later, Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf dreamed up a novel way to celebrate the centenary of this new medium. Salaam […]
Posted in: Cinema: Foreign, Firstpost Column
FC Recco – ‘Directors’ Diaries: The Road to Their First Film’
July 18, 2019
A weekly series where I recommend a film-based book, a foreign film or an Indian movie. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Ym39kMJD0 Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
“Super 30.”… A smashingly effective story of a determined educator and his underprivileged wards
July 18, 2019
Spoilers ahead… After a long time, or maybe for the first time ever, Hrithik Roshan comes across like a non-Greek non-God – a normal human, in other words. He’s thinner, darker, unmuscled. His unironed shirts and tees don’t cling to him. In Super 30, he plays Anand Kumar, the son of a postal worker and […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi
Interview: Amala Paul / Rathna Kumar (Aadai)
July 16, 2019
For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Readers Write In #87: Why nepotism might be good for Indian cinema… and Kangana Ranaut (?)
July 14, 2019
(by Sairam Yadavilli) It was the summer of 2016 and Paul Pogba had just moved back to Manchester United for a then world record fee of just under 90 million pounds. And it was the just the beginning of skyrocketing prices for half decent players. Now considered a steal, it was looked at with much […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi, Readers Write In
Forty years on, Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’ remains a great example of movie-poetry, easier to experience than explain
July 11, 2019
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/forty-years-on-tarkovskys-stalker-remains-a-great-example-of-movie-poetry-easier-to-experience-than-explain-6973641.html In 1972, the brothers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky published a Russian sci-fi novel titled Roadside Picnic, which centres on an extraterrestrial event called Visitation. This event results in “Zones”, mysterious (possibly supernatural) areas that have been cordoned off by the respective Governments. Instead of a single exposition […]
FC Flashback: Sankarabharanam
July 11, 2019
What is a “classic”? The most perfect, flawless film ever made? Um… I’d rather define it as something I keep returning to, flaws and all. Something that makes me think, regard it in a new light each time. Flashback is a monthly feature on a film I consider a… classic. For more, subscribe to FILM […]
Posted in: Cinema: Telugu, FC Flashback
Readers Write In #86: Fedal – An immortal rivalry
July 11, 2019
(by Vivek MV ) Rafael Nadal was one set up and the second set was going on serves. At 4-4, millions of Roger Federer fans across the globe knew where this was heading. A glimmer of hope was all they had. “Let’s watch something else,” my boss, a Federer fan, declared at work. “Federer is […]
Posted in: Readers Write In, Sports
Interview: Pa Ranjith (on his cinema)
July 10, 2019
For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Books that changed you
July 9, 2019
Jeevan R asked this question in the K Balachander #AskBR thread. I think it deserves a separate thread, especially if readers can chip in. What books have challenged your perception of world.. can you suggest few Good ones?
#AskBR – Happy birthday, K Balachander
July 9, 2019
In which I answer a few questions on an older film… or a new one… or talk about actors and directors… or take on a few YouTube comments… For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Readers Write In #85: The Dancer Upstairs, and the Actor Beneath….
July 7, 2019
(by An Jo) An engineering back-ground warrants me to put in certain key pre-conditions: I understand, read, and write [write to varying degrees] only 4 languages: Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, English, Urdu. I can speak some broken Punjabi and understand it. 2. I do not understand languages of Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. [In other words, apart […]
Readers Write In #84: My first ever Balamuralikrishna concert
July 6, 2019
(by Jayram Sataluri) To remember and celebrate the life of Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna whose birthday falls today (July 6th), I would like to share my reminiscences of the first time I ever saw him live in the US. Let’s hop into a time machine and travel back to June 4th 2006. This was held in […]
Posted in: Music: Classical, Readers Write In
“Raatchasi”… Jyotika lectures her way through a patience-testing drama on education
July 5, 2019
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/raatchasi-movie-review-jyothika-baradwaj-rangan-education/ Spoilers ahead… The opening of Raatchasi, written and directed by Sy. Gowthamraj, shows the students of a government school being herded away from school, in a lorry, by goons affiliated to a political party. When a male teacher runs out and questions them, he’s slapped. The […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
Luchino Visconti’s ‘Senso’, which heralded the slow opening-up of Italian neorealism
July 4, 2019
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/how-luchino-viscontis-senso-heralded-the-slow-opening-up-of-italian-neorealism-6935251.html When we think of Italian neorealism, the films that spring to mind are all of a certain kind. We think of films about the poor or the working class. We think of non-professional actors and shooting on location. The movement shot to fame when Rome, Open City […]
FC Recco – ‘Reel World: On location in Kollywood’
July 4, 2019
A weekly series where I recommend a film-based book, a foreign film or an Indian movie. For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Ym39kMJD0 Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Interview: Pa Ranjith (on his life)
July 2, 2019
For more, subscribe to FILM COMPANION SOUTH: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
“Article 15.”… A well-intentioned, well-crafted drama about caste that needed to dig deeper
July 2, 2019
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/article-15-movie-review-ayushmann-khurrana-baradwaj-rangan Spoilers ahead… O ne of the biggest challenges of writing for our cinema is in crafting the interval block, which should cap off everything that came earlier (it should be a mini-climax, so to speak), and also leave you with enough emotion to tide you across […]
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi
“Luca”… An artfully designed movie that’s middling but not without merit
July 1, 2019
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/luca-movie-review-tovino-thomas-ahaana-krishnakumar-baradwaj-rangan Spoilers ahead… Arun Bose’s Luca is a carefully (some might say “artily”) designed film, and we see this care, this art, right from the opening, which is a jumble of images. A woman rises after sleep. A man roams the streets on his bike, in the […]
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam
“Jiivi”… This existential thriller may not be good cinema, but it’s a decent watch
July 1, 2019
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/jiivi-movie-review-vetri-vj-gopinath-baradwaj-rangan Spoilers ahead… VJ Gopinath’s Jiivi opens with a scene of Saravanan (Vettri, the leading man of 8 Thottakkal) staring at a plastic water bottle being tossed on the road from a car window. The bottle gets smashed by oncoming traffic. “That’s my life,” he feels. He’s […]
Posted in: Cinema: Tamil
July 18, 2019
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