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Browsing All Posts filed under »Cinema: Foreign«
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
In Pride Month, a look at ‘Kanarie’, a South African coming-of-age (and coming-out) drama
June 13, 2019
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/in-pride-month-a-look-at-kanarie-a-south-african-coming-of-age-and-coming-out-drama-6805701.html Among other things, Christiaan Olwagen’s South African drama Kanarie is about the importance of role models. The people around us — family, friends, teachers — they’re all good. But it’s something else when a public figure, especially one you adore, legitimises what you are. Johan adores Boy […]
‘Ode to My Father’ is an important reminder that sentimental, manipulative mainstream cinema isn’t just our thing
June 7, 2019
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/korean-film-ode-to-my-father-is-an-important-reminder-that-manipulative-mainstream-cinema-just-isnt-our-thing-6772451.html You should watch Ode to My Father, the 2014 South Korean melodrama which is the basis of the Salman Khan-starrer, Bharat. When we talk about films from other countries, there’s usually a strain of “Look, even <insert name of country> makes such great films. But we keep […]
FC Recco: ‘Parasite’
May 30, 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: http://bit.ly/2xoNult Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
With the end of Cannes 2019, here’s looking back at Palme d’Or winners down the years
May 30, 2019
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/with-the-end-of-cannes-2019-heres-looking-back-at-palme-dor-winners-over-the-years-6725551.html/ Now that Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite has won the Palme d’Or, let’s look back down the years and see if we can settle on the one Palme d’Or winner to beat all others. Let’s exclude the most recent winners like Shoplifters, The Square and I, Daniel Blake. They’re […]
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 […]
Abdellatif Kechiche’s unique achievement, with Part One in Venice, Part Two at Cannes
May 23, 2019
Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/cannes-2019-after-venice-adbellatif-kechiche-takes-his-series-mektoub-my-love-to-the-french-riviera-6686971.html/ In terms of pedigree, Abdellatif Kechiche’s Mektoub, My Love series may be unprecedented. The first part (subtitled Canto Uno), adapted from François Bégaudeau’s French novel La Blessure, la vraie (The Real Wound), was screened in the main competition section of the 2017 Venice International Film Festival. And […]
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 […]
July 18, 2019
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