Browsing All Posts filed under »Film Festivals«

“Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum”… A deeply moving dissection of the lives of three women across three time periods

December 8, 2018

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Spoilers ahead… This film played at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star and will play at the International Film Festival of Kerala next week… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/sivaranjiniyum-innum-sila-pengalum-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan-vasanth-parvathy/ The number three appears to have gripped Vasanth. His last feature film, Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal, narrated three love stories […]

Kosovo’s submission for the Foreign Language Film Oscar is an LGBTQIA-themed drama, and a big hit

November 29, 2018

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/kosovos-submission-for-best-foreign-language-film-oscar-is-an-lgbtq-themed-drama-and-a-big-hit-5631551.html Kosovo is a small country of 1.8 million inhabitants. It now produces up to three or four feature films a year. The source of this information is Blerta Zeqiri, the  Kosovar director/scriptwriter, whose Martesa (The Marriage), is Kosovo’s candidate for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Zeqiri […]

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘At Eternity’s Gate’, and how familiarity can influence how we view biopics

November 24, 2018

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/bohemian-rhapsody-at-eternitys-gate-and-how-familiarity-can-influence-how-we-view-biopics-5609411.html The Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, made me recall many dramas about singers, but for different reasons. I enjoyed this film flaws and all. It didn’t bother me much that Freddie’s decision to pursue a solo career is treated by his fellow band mates with the kind […]

“Bulbul Can Sing”…. A languid, beautiful, understated tale of a girl who learns to be herself

October 30, 2018

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Spoilers ahead… Read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/bulbul-can-sing-movie-review-rima-das/ What if the protagonist of Village Rockstars were a few years older? What if she wasn’t driven by major ambition (becoming a musician)? What if she simply wanted to loll around in her village in Assam? Bulbul Can Sing, Rima Das’s follow-up to her […]

The long gaps between the films of David Lean, Terrence Malick and Ildikó Enyedi, whose ‘On Body and Soul’ is on Netflix

October 25, 2018

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/david-lean-terrence-malick-ildiko-enyedi-and-the-long-gaps-between-their-films-5443691.html The Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi is part of a unique trivia list of filmmakers: the release dates of at least two of their films were separated by more than a decade. Stanley Kubrick belongs in this list, with a 12-year gap between Full Metal Jacket (1987) and […]

My world cinema picks at MAMI

October 19, 2018

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Read the full story on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/top-10-world-cinema-titles-mumbai-film-festival-mami-baradwaj-rangan/ Baradwaj Rangan lists his ten picks from the World Cinema lineup at India’s most happening film festival. So most of you are going to line up for Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot. Because it’s by Gus van Sant. Because it’s got Joaquin Phoenix. […]

‘The Godfather’, ‘Citizen Kane’, ‘Son of Saul’, and the philosophy behind cinematography

October 18, 2018

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/the-godfather-citizen-kane-son-of-saul-and-the-philosophy-behind-cinematography-5400201.html​ One of my favourite anecdotes about cinematography comes from Francis Ford Coppola’s DVD commentary track of The Godfather. He says that they decided to be very “classical” about how the film was going to be shot, the camera always about four-and-a-half feet off the ground. “It never […]

The Pingyao Film Festival and how the “boutique” model can help arthouse cinema in India

October 4, 2018

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/the-pingyao-film-festival-and-how-the-boutique-model-can-help-arthouse-cinema-in-india-5313881.html/​ I’ve received an invitation to attend the 2nd Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival, in China. I know about the festival, of course. It was initiated by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke (Pingyao is in the Shanxi province, which is his home, and where he shot […]

Kenji Mizoguchi’s ‘Street of Shame’, restored and shown at the Venice film festival, pits sex workers against an unforgiving society

September 27, 2018

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/kenji-mizoguchis-street-of-shame-restored-and-shown-at-venice-film-festival-pits-sex-workers-against-unforgiving-society-5271131.html/​ The Venezia Classici section of the Venice Film Festival features two kinds of films — documentaries about cinema (the prize, this year, went to Peter Bogdanovich’s documentary on Buster Keaton, titled The Great Buster) and the world premieres of classics restored by film libraries and cultural institutions. […]

Running between films at Venice, Cannes, Berlin… Why put yourself through the festival grind?

September 13, 2018

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/running-between-films-at-venice-cannes-berlin-why-put-yourself-through-the-festival-grind-5175061.html​ At the Venice Film Festival, this year, I ran into Peter Bradshaw, chief film critic at The Guardian. We were in line for a press screening, and we were generally chatting about the films we liked and disliked. The topic shifted to the nature of film festivals, […]

FC @ Venice 11: New films from Zhang Yimou and ‘The Babadook’ director, plus ‘Soni’, a terrific Indian drama

September 8, 2018

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/fc-at-venice-2018-zhang-yimou-ying-jennifer-kent-the-nightingale-ivan-ayr-soni/ Zhang Yimou’s Ying (Shadow; Chinese) plays like an all-action, zero-psychology take on Kurosawa’s Kagemusha (which shared the Palme d’Or with Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival). The latter film was about a shadow warrior, a lookalike used as a body double […]

FC @ Venice 10: New films from the makers of ‘The Lives of Others’ and ‘Son of Saul’, plus ‘The Summer House’

September 7, 2018

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/fc-at-venice-2018-new-films-from-the-makers-of-the-lives-of-others-and-son-of-saul/ While talking about Vox Lux, director Brady Corbet presented an interesting view on the biopic. He said that imagining fictional characters as eyewitnesses of crucial events in history — or placing real-life personages in altered historical settings — is more useful than the traditional historical biography. […]

On the 20th death anniversary of Kurosawa, remembering his Golden Lion winner ‘Rashōmon’, and his only female-centric film

September 6, 2018

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/on-kurosawas-20th-death-anniversary-remembering-rashomon-and-his-only-female-centric-film-5128341.html/​ You’re lucky if you get one solid peg for an article. This one, about Akira Kurosawa, has two. First, it’s the 20th death anniversary of the great filmmaker – he died on September 6, 1998. Second, the Venice film festival is underway, and it’s a good time […]

FC @ Venice 9: Willem Dafoe as van Gogh, Natalie Portman in ‘Vox Lux’, plus ‘Acusada’

September 6, 2018

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/fc-at-venice-2018-willem-dafoe-as-van-gogh-natalie-portman-in-vox-lux-plus-acusada/ How many versions of the same story do we need? I saw Utøya 22.juli (U – July 22) at the Berlin Film Festival. The nerve-shredding thriller, directed by Erik Poppe, depicts a terrible chapter in Norway’s history, when a right-wing extremist set off bombs in the […]

FC @ Venice 8: Joaquin Phoenix in ‘The Sisters Brothers’, ‘Charlie Says’, ‘La Quietud’

September 5, 2018

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/fc-at-venice-2018-joaquin-phoenix-in-the-sisters-brothers-charlie-says-la-quietud/ Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is reportedly centered on the Manson Family murders. Mary Harron’s Charlie Says is less about the murders, more about Manson’s family, especially the women. The film’s title is a manifestation of how brainwashed this bunch was, how absurdly […]

FC @ Venice 7: Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in ‘A Star is Born’, plus ‘Close Enemies’

September 4, 2018

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/fc-at-venice-2018-bradley-cooper-and-lady-gaga-in-a-star-is-born-plus-close-enemies/ Forget the original, the 1937 A Star is Born, and consider only the remakes, all of them musicals. The 1954 version starred Judy Garland. The 1976 remake had Barbra Streisand. And this latest reincarnation, tenderly directed by Bradley Cooper, is toplined by Lady Gaga. The similarities […]

Recalling ‘Raise the Red Lantern’ by Zhang Yimou, this year’s recipient of the Jaeger-LeCoultre award at Venice

September 3, 2018

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Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/recalling-raise-the-red-lantern-by-zhang-yimou-this-years-recipient-of-jaeger-lecoultre-award-at-venice-5103761.html This year, Chinese director Zhang Yimou will receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker award of the Venice Film Festival. This is the recognition (dedicated to personalities who have made a significant contribution to contemporary cinema) that went to Mani Ratnam in 2010, and other recipients include […]

FC @ Venice 6: Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Suspiria’ and Mike Leigh’s ‘Peterloo’

September 3, 2018

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/fc-at-venice-2018-luca-guadagninos-suspiria-and-mike-leighs-peterloo/ Luca Guadagnino’s reworking of Dario Argento’s most famous giallo work, Suspiria, is similarly set in West Germany, in the late 1970s. But unlike the earlier film, which blew off this time- and place-setting information with a bit of on-screen text, this version takes pains to situate […]

FC @ Venice 5: Yorgos Lanthimos’s ‘The Favourite’, plus Orson Welles’s last work

September 2, 2018

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/fc-at-venice-2018-yorgos-lanthimoss-the-favourite-plus-orson-welless-last-work/ Early 18th century. England is at war with the French. Nevertheless, duck racing and pineapple eating are thriving.” If you guessed these opening lines from the press notes are about the new Yorgos Lanthimos movie, it’s a testament to how bizarre, how surreal, how unique and […]

FC @ Venice 4: Alfonso Cuarón’s magnificent ‘Roma,’ plus the other awards at the festival

September 1, 2018

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Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/fc-at-venice-2018-alfonso-cuarons-magnificent-roma-plus-the-other-awards-at-the-festival/” With the premiere of Alfonso Cuarón’s Netflix-acquired Roma, the Venice film festival effectively told Cannes: “Stop fussing about the format. Focus on the film.” For if this isn’t CINEMA, then what is? The press booklet called Roma “[Cuarón’s] most personal project to date.” I don’t know […]

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