Browsing All Posts filed under »Cinema: Foreign«

The aesthetics of Pedro Costa, whose ‘Vitalina Varela’ will be screened at the Sundance Film Festival

January 23, 2020

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/the-aesthetics-of-portuguese-auteur-pedro-costa-whose-vitalina-verala-will-be-screened-at-sundance-film-festival-2020-7945111.html “I finally watched a Pedro Costa on the big screen” is a real thing for some film lovers. This happened to me last year at the Dharamsala International Film Festival, where I saw the Portuguese auteur’s latest film, Vitalina Varela. (It was also screened at the JIO […]

Readers Write In #133: Parasite and The White Tiger: Doing what it takes

January 22, 2020

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(by Adhithya K R) The White Tiger was one of the darkest books that I’ve read. The book started with a former driver explaining that he had murdered his employer. It hadn’t been very difficult because his master had trusted him. For a while, after reading it, I was puzzled by how people trusted others […]

Sam Mendes’s ‘1917’, Hitchcock, long takes and why a technical achievement isn’t the same as a truly immersive movie

January 22, 2020

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/sam-mendes-1917-and-why-a-technical-achievement-is-not-the-same-as-a-truly-immersive-movie The more you try to convince me that something is really happening on screen – through, say, the single take – the more I am convinced that it is “unreal”. Because the craft is too obvious. Spoilers ahead… I mean no disrespect to Sam Mendes when […]

Almodóvar’s Oscar-nominated ‘Pain and Glory’ looks a lot like autobiography, but then, so does ‘Bad Education’

January 16, 2020

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/pedro-almodovars-oscar-nominated-pain-and-glory-looks-a-lot-like-autobiography-but-then-so-does-bad-education-7907881.html/ In the face of the Parasite juggernaut, no one, realistically, gives Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory a chance at winning the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. But I’m glad it’s up there in the list, and I’m glad Antonio Banderas has also been nominated for his […]

Revisiting ‘Memories of Murder’, which put the Golden Globe-winning ‘Parasite’ director, Bong Joon-ho, on the map

January 9, 2020

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/revisiting-memories-of-murder-which-put-the-golden-globe-winning-parasite-director-bong-joon-ho-on-the-map-7877411.html It’s practically a crime to have to choose one of the following films as the Best Foreign Film of the year: Parasite, Les Misérables, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and Pain and Glory. I’m talking about the Golden Globes, of course, where the fifth nominee was […]

‘V1 – Murder Case’, ‘Parasite’, ‘Knives Out’… Our message movies versus their message movies

January 8, 2020

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/message-movies-v1-murder-case-pavel-navegeethan-parasite-knives-out-baradwaj-rangan All I’m saying is don’t make a movie in order to deliver a message. Make the message – even if it is explicit – an organic part of your movie. Spoilers ahead… In Pavel Navageethan’s V1 – Murder Case, a young woman is murdered in the […]

Lulu Wang’s Golden Globe-nominated ‘The Farewell’ will ring many bells for those of us trapped between two cultures

January 4, 2020

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/lulu-wangs-golden-globe-nominated-the-farewell-will-ring-many-bells-for-those-trapped-between-two-cultures-7859151.html In Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet, a Caucasian/Chinese gay couple in Manhattan pretends to be straight for the benefit of the parents of the Chinese man, who are visiting. Lulu Wang’s The Farewell is a sort of spiritual successor, and it travels in the other direction of […]

The rousing ‘1987: When the Day Comes’ is the perfect political mirror for this season of activism and protest

December 26, 2019

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/south-korean-film-1987-when-the-day-comes-is-the-perfect-political-mirror-for-this-season-of-activism-and-protest-7825181.html As I write this, a German student has been asked to leave India after attending a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He’d carried a poster that made a reference to the Nazi rule in his own country: “1933 to […]

Remembering Anna Karina in one of her most notable non-Godard films, Jacques Rivette’s ‘The Nun’

December 19, 2019

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/remembering-anna-karina-in-one-of-her-most-notable-non-godard-films-jacques-rivettes-the-nun-7798351.html Anna Karina died last Saturday. That the star was most famous for her work with one particular French New Wave filmmaker was evident from the obituaries. Here’s Agence France-Presse: “Karina was best known for the string of films she made with Jean-Luc Godard, including A Woman Is […]

Arturo Ripstein’s ‘Devil Between the Legs’, screened at IFFI, deals subversively with sex and jealously and aging

December 12, 2019

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/arturo-ripsteins-devil-between-the-legs-screened-at-iffi-deals-subversively-with-sex-jealously-and-aging-7773291.html In 1975, when Chantal Akerman came out with Jeanne Dielman 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, some viewers were perplexed. Why was the filmmaker devoting so much time to the protagonist cleaning the kitchen or peeling potatoes, when there is more sensational stuff to show – like […]

‘Queen of Hearts’, Denmark’s Oscar submission that played at IFFI, is a cold take on incest and shattered lives

December 5, 2019

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/queen-of-hearts-denmarks-oscar-submission-that-played-at-iffi-is-a-cold-take-on-incest-and-shattered-lives-7743441.html Like Section 375, Queen of Hearts – which played at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), and is the Danish submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar – toys with a provocative question: What if a man is the victim? Anne (Trine Dyrholm) is the most […]

The debate over Dhanush’s voiceovers in Gautham Menon’s ‘Enai Noki Paayum Thota’

December 2, 2019

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/enai-noki-paayum-thota-gautham-vasudev-menon-dhanush-voiceover-debate-baradwaj-rangan/ Every time someone tries something new, audiences are amused. Take Mani Ratnam’s dialogues. People used to laugh: “Mani Ratnam padam hero maadhiri pesaadhe.” (As in, don’t speak in those clipped tones.) Spoilers ahead… For the past couple of days, I’ve been getting memes based on Enai […]

‘Head Burst’, which had its Asian premiere at IFFI, is a sympathetic look at the plight of a paedophile

November 28, 2019

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/head-burst-which-had-asian-premiere-at-iffi-is-a-sympathetic-look-at-the-plight-of-a-paedophile-7713271.html Looking at Markus — the protagonist of Savas Ceviz’s Head Burst (Kopfplatzen in German) — you’d think he’s a nice, normal guy. One day, entering the building he lives in, he sees a woman, Jessica, struggling with some boxes. She’s moving into an apartment near his, and he […]

Adil Hussain on bonsai and Bachchan and the art of acting, at the Dharamsala International Film Festival

November 25, 2019

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here:https://www.filmcompanion.in/adil-hussain-on-bonsai-and-bachchan-and-the-art-of-acting-at-the-dharamsala-international-film-festival/ Plus, brief thoughts on ‘Birha’, ‘Oh That’s Bhanu’, ‘Eeb Allay Ooo!’, ‘For Sama’, and why close-ups are necessary. Spoilers ahead… At a film festival, everyone wants to see the next Parasite. I do, too. But that’s the kind of film that is going to be everywhere, at […]

‘The Piano Teacher’ may be the definitive movie of Isabelle Huppert, recipient of IFFI’s Lifetime Achievement Award

November 21, 2019

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/the-piano-teacher-may-be-the-definitive-film-of-isabelle-huppert-recipient-of-iffis-lifetime-achievement-award-7682841.html At Cannes, this year, I caught the new Ira Sachs film, Frankie. It has Isabelle Huppert in the titular role, and she opens the movie by taking her swimsuit top off at the pool of a resort and diving in. Her disapproving step-granddaughter (it’s  a complicated family […]

Kazuhiro Soda and his Ten Commandments of documentary-making, at Dharamsala International Film Festival

November 14, 2019

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/diff-2019-japanese-director-kazuhiro-soda-explains-his-ten-commandments-of-documentary-filmmaking-7643921.html/ One of the masterclasses at this year’s Dharamsala International Film Festival was by the Japanese documentary filmmaker and author, Kazuhiro Soda. He broke through on the international festival circuit with his debut, Campaign (2007), which followed the election campaign — in Kawasaki, Japan — of a candidate […]

The non-dramatic drama in Pawel Pawlikowski’s ‘Ida’ and what it means for a film style to be “transcendent”

November 7, 2019

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/pawel-pawlikowskis-ida-and-its-non-dramatic-drama-what-it-means-for-a-film-style-to-be-transcendental-7615861.html In last week’s column about Robert Bresson, I referred to Paul Schrader’s 1971 book, Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer. It was republished in 2018, with a new introduction titled “Rethinking Transcendental Style”. A lot of what I quote here is from this introduction, and we […]

Getting into Robert Bresson through ‘Lancelot du Lac’, aka making it easier to enter art cinema

October 31, 2019

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/getting-into-robert-bresson-through-lancelot-du-lac-aka-making-it-easier-to-enter-art-cinema-7580311.html For three years now, I have been conducting the Young Critics Lab for the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, with Star, and one of the questions that comes from every batch is how to get into foreign cinema, especially the really arty kind. It’s not easy, because […]

Readers Write In #105: Dear Coppola, Marvel movies are not despicable, but are mediocrities we can’t do away with

October 27, 2019

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(by Alex John) “Some films are slices of cake. Mine are slices of cake” Hitchcock once famously said. He was elucidating the fact that even his classics were of the most elementary fashion, cheerfully pulpy and crowd pleasing. Have we seen any film that is subtly dumber that North by northwest? Hitchcock knew inducing too […]

Knowing the plot can help you enjoy and experience a movie in a far richer way

October 24, 2019

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/how-a-viewer-benefits-from-knowing-the-plot-of-a-film-through-the-lens-of-two-titles-at-mami-2019-7546731.html Oliver Laxe is at the Jio MAMI 21st Mumbai Film Festival with Star, with O Que Arde (Fire Will Come). The Spanish drama premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes this year, and it won the Jury Prize. This is exactly how the film was […]

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