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Browsing All Posts filed under »Cinema: English«
Luchino Visconti’s ‘Senso’, which heralded the slow opening-up of Italian neorealism
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 […]
On Carlos Reygadas’s ‘Japón’, and unilateral vs. bilateral cinema
June 27, 2019
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/on-carlos-reygadas-japon-and-the-concept-of-unilateral-vs-bilateral-cinema-6890371.html This June, Film Comment published an interview with Carlos Reygadas, the Mexican filmmaker widely regarded as one of the leading proponents of Slow Cinema. (The term means exactly what you think it does. Think, for instance, of the cinema of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Albert Serra, Lav Diaz and […]
“The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir”… A sincere Dhanush is let down by this bland fantasy-drama
June 21, 2019
Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/the-extraordinary-journey-of-the-fakir-movie-review-dhanush-baradwaj-rangan How many Indian stars have gone on to play the lead in a non-Indian film? This isn’t about Indian-origin actors like Dev Patel. This isn’t about actors like Shabana Azmi, primarily identified with art-house cinema and invited to play character roles in dramas like […]
On World Music Day, a salute to Jacques Demy, who made two of the greatest musicals outside the Hollywood system
June 20, 2019
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/on-world-music-day-a-salute-to-jacques-demy-who-made-two-of-the-greatest-musicals-outside-hollywood-6852881.html In 1964, the French filmmaker Jacques Demy (aka Agnès Varda’s husband) made one of the most original musicals of all time: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. The film was top-lined by Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo, who — along with the other characters — sang not just the […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – Two best friends grapple with desire in Xavier Dolan’s halfway interesting ‘Matthias & Maxime’
May 25, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-2019-matthias-and-maxime-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan/ Plus Marco Bellocchio’s ‘The Traitor’. And Abdellatif Kechiche’s ‘Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo’. In Xavier Dolan’s Matthias & Maxime, the director — playing the latter half of the title — sports a wine-red birthmark that pools over the right side of his face. From the outside, this […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Parasite’ is a sensationally effective take on the class divide
May 24, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/bong-joon-ho-parasite-movie-review-class-divide-sensationally-effective-baradwaj-rangan/ Plus, Shahrbanoo Sadat’s ‘The Orphanage’, which worships Bachchan. And Arnaud Desplechin’s cop drama, ‘Oh Mercy’. The Holy Grail of a festival film is that which ticks off all the important boxes (it is by an auteur; it is about a big issue; it’s a work of […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – Ira Sachs’s ‘Frankie’, with Isabelle Huppert, is an underwhelming family-reunion tale
May 23, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-isabelle-huppert-frankie-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan/ Plus, ‘The Invisible Life Of Eurídice Gusmão’, by Karim Aïnouz. And ‘La belle époque’, by Nicolas Bedos. After the amazing Little Men, the featherweight drama of Frankie must count as a disappointment from Ira Sachs. Hearing about it, you’d think… But what’s not to like! The […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – Quentin Tarantino’s pleasurable ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ catches the filmmaker in a mellow mood
May 22, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-quentin-tarantino-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-movie-review-brad-pitt-baradwaj-rangan What is a “mellow” Tarantino? For one, the swearing isn’t creatively colourful. There’s no nudity… On the evidence of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — a studio-backlot story set in 1969 — Quentin Tarantino is mellowing nicely. We’ve already had an “uncharacteristic” film in Hateful […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a super-strong award contender
May 22, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-celine-sciamma-portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-review-baradwaj-rangan/ This isn’t so much about a same-sex relationship as the first time we lose our heart to someone. It’s about that intensity. Two female members of the Competition jury have weighed in strongly about the gender debate at Cannes, which argues for the inclusion of more […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – ‘Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut’ is the definitive version Coppola wants you to see
May 21, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-apocalypse-now-the-final-cut-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan/ Plus, Kantemir Balagov’s ‘Beanpole’, about women during wartime. And Corneliu Porumboiu’s ‘The Whistlers’. On the 40th anniversary of APOCALYPSE NOW, director Francis Ford Coppola unveiled a version of the film he called “The Final Cut”. Speaking through a video recording before the screening, he said he was […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – In the affecting ‘A Hidden Life’, Terrence Malick’s style finds a worthy subject
May 20, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-2019-a-hidden-life-terrence-malick-review-baradwaj-rangan/ Where another filmmaker might have focused on the dramatic twists of a life, Malick composes a hymn about suffering. For those who’ve been frustrated by Terrence Malick’s plotless, ruminative, meandering post-Tree of Life films, A Hidden Life comes as a relief. Oh, it’s still Malickian. This […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – AR Rahman’s ‘Scent of a Song’ is a VR film that spritzes you with smells
May 20, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-a-r-rahman-scent-of-a-song-review-baradwaj-rangan/ The idea came from Rahman’s wife, Saira, who loves perfumes. And a movie with scents made sense, because — why not? One of the Virtual Reality attractions at Cannes 2019 was a teaser for Scent of a Song, “a musical sensory experience by AR Rahman”. Here’s […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – Ken Loach’s superb ‘Sorry We Missed You’ is especially important in our Amazon age
May 20, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-ken-loach-sorry-we-missed-you-review-baradwaj-rangan/ We feel we are living these working-class lives, not just getting a set of artfully curated moments. Ken Loach’s latest masterwork is titled Sorry We Missed You, which refers to the card left behind by FedEx-type package deliverers when the addressee is unavailable. The film opens […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – Despite clichés, the earnestness of the Taliban-era ‘Swallows of Kabul’ is affecting
May 20, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-the-swallows-of-kabul-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan/ When we see the world through the mesh screen on the burqa, it’s like looking out through prison bars. And we realise how heavy the garment is. The Swallows of Kabul is an animated feature about life under the Taliban (based on a book by Yasmina […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – Almodóvar’s exquisite ‘Pain and Glory’, plus ‘Little Joe’
May 19, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/almodovar-pain-and-glory-little-joe-movie-reviews-cannes-film-festival-2019-baradwaj-rangan/ The first half plants the seeds that bloom beautifully in the second, which contains one astonishing scene after another. An early scene in Pedro Almodóvar’s exquisite Pain and Glory shows a gay filmmaker named Salvador (Antonio Banderas) reminiscing about his childhood. His mother (Penélope Cruz) and […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – The ho-hum ‘Rocketman’, plus Mati Diop’s haunting ‘Atlantique’
May 18, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-rocketman-movie-review-mati-diop-haunting-atlantique/ Instead of focusing on one track, this biopic wants it all. The man is blotted out by all the bling. I was a bit bummed when I found myself in a nosebleed seat for Dexter Fletcher’s Elton John biopic, Rocketman — Piano Man would have been […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – A Parisian incarnation of Pa. Ranjith, plus ‘A Brother’s Love’
May 17, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-pa-ranjith-les-miserables-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan/ Clashes between police and public aren’t new, but like in Pa. Ranjith’s films, the divide is also that of class and what passes for a caste hierarchy. Before talking about Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables, it may be necessary to talk about Ladj Ly himself. I hadn’t […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – Jim Jarmusch makes a zombie movie, plus fighting words from the jury president
May 16, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-jim-jarmusch-the-dead-dont-die-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan/ Despite the George Romero name-drop and the genre trappings, this is not exactly a genre film. It’s more a wry meditation on death. With every movie, even in a Marvel movie, Tilda Swinton keeps making you think: “This is the most quintessentially Tilda Swinton role.” With […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – A piquant problem of plenty
May 15, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-what-to-watch-baradwaj-rangan/ In which I try to explain what it’s like to pick odd little films from emails and the festival brochure. I’ve landed in Cannes at an odd time, the end of Day 1. So I’ve missed the opening film, Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die. I’ll […]
FC @ Cannes 2019 – Ten films by not-so-famous filmmakers
May 13, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/cannes-film-festival-2019-10-films-by-not-so-famous-filmmakers Cinephiles will recognise these names, but these filmmakers deserve to be known in the circles beyond. Here’s my list of hotly anticipated less-than-mega films. See Keep the Lights On and Love is Strange and especially Little Men, and you’ll see the exquisite, low-key textures Ira Sachs […]
July 4, 2019
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