Scribbles and Ramblings

The Films of José Giovanni

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 18:21:00 +0000

Previously, I knew José Giovanni as the writer of Jacques Becker’s stellar prison break film, Le Trou, which I first saw more than two decades ago. The detailed aspects of the day-to-day prison life shown in Le Trou were unlike anything I had seen in a film. At the time, I wasn’t aware that the film was based on Giovanni’s novel of his real-life experience in prison. The realistic scenes portrayed in the film made sense.

Recently, I found out that that José Giovanni directed many films, some of which have gotten a proper re-release. This spotlight is based on these 5 viewed films:

Birds of Prey (1968)

Last Known Address (1970)

Hit Man (La Scoumoune, 1972)

Two Men in Town (1973)

Boomerang (1976)

The films hold up nicely across 5-6 decades and are superior to majority of contemporary films. A few common elements emerge across the films:

Gritty Realistic storytelling: the films have a lived in experience and come from a place of experience and not scripted fiction. There is more emphasis on day-to-day details, procedures, routines over dramatic action sequences.
Codes of honour: characters, on either side of the law, follow a code of honour and respect those that do even if they are an opponent. Friendships are often tested by betrayal, violence, and passage of time.
Confinement and escape: Le Trou was about an actual prison escape and Giovanni has used that aspect to depict other characters in prisons, wanting to escape or adjusting to life after prison. Giovanni’s films also highlight that once a character leaves a physical prison, they struggle for freedom psychologically.
Fatalism and moral ambiguity: there is an inevitability to events that unfold around characters and that is due to how society perceives people, especially those who have served time. The films show characters who strive for dignity in society that refuses to give them a second chance.

Birds of Prey – Latin American coup

Coups are long associated with Latin American history and covered amply in books, films. While each coup is different based on the Latin American country, a few commonalities emerge. Someone within the country is tired of the existing ruler (or dictator) and wants to be in power and they hire outsiders to mount an assassination. Then there are the shadow groups in the background who are really running the country, fund the assassination and decide who they want in power. All of these aspects are covered nicely in José Giovanni’s Birds of Prey, with the variation that the assassin is a lone wolf (played by Lino Ventura) which gives the film a spaghetti western feel: outsider vs locals. Birds of Prey is an engrossing film that mixes elements of political thriller, spaghetti western action with some romance thrown in the mix. Like all of José Giovanni’s films, this one feels like it is coming from a place of personal experience.

Last Known Address – in search for justice

Giovanni’s films depict society with unflinching brutal honest reality. That is true in Last Known Address which shows the price one has to pay for honesty and justice. The film is a thriller where two police officers try to find a witness to bring down a criminal. The searching, moving from one location to another, highlights the difficult job of piecing together clues to find someone. The film also shows the brutal truth about the price for justice and the role of law in protecting innocent people. Such honest depictions are rarely found in Hollywood films which often romanticize similar themes to often arrive a tidy conclusion. Giovanni’s film only offers up cold brutal truth.

Hit Man – friendship, rival gangs, war time efforts

With a title like Hit Man, one expects an assassin for hire film. Yet, José Giovanni’s film is much more than that. It covers an entire world of rival gangs, prison rules, war time efforts and enduring friendship over the decades. In terms of scope, the closest are the films of Kinji Fukasaku which often depicted how gangs, war and society mixed together. Giovanni’s film is further enriched by the presence of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Michel Constantin.

Two Men in Town – two heavyweight French actors, redemption and Newton’s third law

Two Men in Town is a brilliant story about morality, redemption, rehabilitation, reintegration in society and consequences. The film stars Jean Gabin as a social worker (Germain) who ensures that prisoners and criminals get a second chance in society. Germain puts his word on the line for Gino (Alain Delon) and is convinced that Gino will never go back to jail. Yet, what Germain doesn’t count on is the arrival of a police officer who is convinced that criminals never change. There isn’t a film like Two Men in Town out there and it showcases the unique perspective that Giovanni brought to his films in covering topics that other writers, directors never touched.

Boomerang – continues dialogue with Two Men in Town

Boomerang continues with themes of justice and morality that Two Men in Town ended with. In the case of this film, Alain Delon players a father whose teenage son is accused of murdering a cop. The film, in conjunction with Two Men in Town, shows that killing a cop carries grave consequence vs killing another person in society and explores how the law is treated differently for police vs others. Giovanni again covers topics and perspective that other directors don’t highlight.

Conclusion

When it comes to French cinema, José Giovanni’s isn’t as well known as that of Jacques Becker or other action/noir directors. The 1993 revelation that Giovanni had links with Nazi occupiers of France during WWII likely also played a part in his works being distanced. However, the recent re-release of his films by Kino Lorber ensures that at least his films will get another chance to be viewed and not be lost. The themes of guilt, moral ambiguity and redemption in his films hint at aspects that preoccupied him and his depiction of such themes have implications in our contemporary world.

Bi Gan's Cinema

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 16:19:00 +0000

Spotlight on Bi Gan

Kaili Blues (2015)

Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018)

Resurrection (2025)

Very few directors can make their mark in international cinema with just a handful of films. In Bi Gan’s case, he was able to establish himself after just 2 features. Bi Gan got plenty of film festival love with his debut feature Kaili Blues but it was Long Day’s Journey Into Night that led to analysis of his technical style and visual wizardry. Resurrection has just increased those discussion and analysis points. Safe to say, the next Bi Gan film will have a much higher anticipation level.

The Bi Gan Long take

Any discussion about Bi Gan’s cinema will invariably feature his usage of long takes. Kaili Blues has a virtuoso 41-minute handheld sequence, Long Day’s Journey Into Night has a 50+ minute 3D shot and Resurrection has a 30-minute-long sequence. This has become his cinematic signature and his usage is different in each film. In Kaili Blues, the long take provides a thrilling immersive technical wonder while the long take in Long Day’s Journey provides an emotional mesmerizing experience. Resurrection combines both sentiments as the long starts off as a technical flourish before depicting passage of time, a melancholic aspect that is applicable to both the characters and to the overall film arc.

In Dennis Lim’s excellent interview, Bi Gan explains his usage of long take in all 3 films:

The long take has become a signature of yours. Would you say it is used to different effect in each of your films?

I was not planning to use a long take in this movie. But it’s like an alcoholic who says they’re going to quit drinking. When things become difficult, you fall back on what you know. When we started on the doomsday chapter, we didn’t have many resources left, so I decided to go back to my familiar way of shooting with long takes.

In Kaili Blues, what I wanted was to convey the perception of time, not in a scientific way, but as normal people perceive it. For Long Day’s Journey, I used the long take to portray memory, which has a spatial aspect to it—going downward into memory. For this chapter about doomsday in Resurrection, I wanted to film from night through to the next morning. But we didn’t have the resources, so we used the time-lapse technique. For Kaili Blues and Long Day’s Journey, I had more time to build up the atmosphere in the long takes. Here it’s only 30 minutes long, so I tried other devices, like moving into a character’s point of view, and color coding. – Dennis Lim, Film Comment, Oct 2025

Memory, Time and Space

Bi Gan’s first two films, Kaili Blues and Long Day’s Journey Into Night, blended both past and present in depicting its events. Resurrection adds an imagined future to proceedings and thereby completes a time loop where the past and future are linked. Memories have always played a part in Bi Gan’s films but they take on a much more central role in Resurrection as the film imagines a future where dreaming no long exists and therefore, memories become a vital currency.

The budget and production quality has increased with each film but that has been inversely proportional to the story, meaning the story and narrative structure has decreased with each film. Kaili Blues is the closest to an actual story framework (even though it meshes past-present) while Long Day’s Journey Into Night has a much more fluid narrative framework and Resurrection has different chapters to outline events with a thread connecting all the chapters. Of course, it goes without saying that Bi Gan’s films are not traditional story driven films. His films are powered by the combination of stories with technical flourishes that result in an immersive cinematic experience.

Ranking Bi Gan’s films by cinematic experience

I have been fortunate to have seen all 3 films in an actual cinema. So I can rank them based on actual cinematic experience.

1. Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018)

A hypnotic mesmerizing experience enhanced by the switch from 2D to 3D. This was also the first film that I have seen which required a switch from 2D to 3D, cleverly timed with a character putting on 3D glasses in the film. Once the character puts on his 3D glasses, that was a cue for the audience to put on their own 3D glasses.

2. Kaili Blues (2015)

The technical wonder of the 41-minute unbroken sequence was a joy to witness. Going into the film, I was aware of this sequence but it was impactful to view different ways to depict a sequence without cutting.

3. Resurrection (2025)

Resurrection, Courtesy Janus Films

Lovely to see a journey through cinema, especially the inclusion of silent cinema sequence which paid homage to German expressionist cinema. The final sequence of a changing China reminded me of Jia Zhang-ke’s cinema, especially Still Life (2006).

Other Reading

1. Dennis Lim, Film Comment

2. Shelly Kraicer on Kaili Blues, Cinema Scope

3. Nick Schager on Kaili Blues, Variety

The Films of Kleber Mendonça Filho

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 01:42:00 +0000

Spotlight on the films of Kleber Mendonça Filho

Neighboring Sounds (O som ao redor) (2012)

Aquarius (2016)

Bacurau (2019, Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles)

Pictures of Ghosts (2023)

The Secret Agent (2025)

It is an enriching experience to view a director’s collected works and understand their cinematic style. In the case of Kleber Mendonça, I was fortunate to view his first feature film Neighboring Sounds in a cinema and watch all subsequent films in order. I was a fan of the social commentary in that first film but there was a lingering sense of dread the film evoked. I wasn’t able to pin down that sense of dread and what style it was evoking. Mendonça’s second film Aquarius confirmed what that underlying layer was. Just to hammer home the point, Kleber Mendonça’s third film Bacurau spelled things out. Mendonça was a fan of genre films and layered his works with reworkings of horror, thriller elements. This sense of genre has a delicious presence in his recent film The Secret Agent, a film about real and imagined monsters. In The Secret Agent, the real monsters hide in the shadow but in a very creative homage to genre films of old, a terror emerges from the shadow to cause havoc on innocent people. This terror has political implications but in the newspaper columns, radio programs and people’s imagination, the fear of this terror takes hold displaying the real monsters. The genre homage is played upon by the film’s Indian release poster:

Once Upon a time in Recife

Recife forms a core unifying thread in Kleber Mendonça’s cinema as the director’s birth city is featured prominently in 4 of his 5 features to date and multiple short films. The exception is Bacurau but that film is shot in the state of Pernambuco, a state whose capital is Recife. Via these 5 features, Recife and the state of Pernambuco showcase monsters and terrors that haunt both urban and rural settings.

In Neighbouring Sounds, the film shows the fear that grips residents across the poverty divide when urban anxieties are heightened by outsiders, perhaps those arriving from rural parts or other urban centers. Aquarius shows the world of rapid development where the past is always in danger of being demolished for a shiny new future. In this case, the villains are land developers who are constantly looking for new avenues to increase their profit. Bacurau takes the fight for land, water and survival to extremes where the rich wealthy foreigners hunt the locals for fun. Interestingly, contemporary events around the world mean Bacurau feels an allegory of our current times. Pictures of Ghosts is the only documentary out of these 5 films and showcases a past where cinema played a vital part in people’s weekly social and cultural outings. The Secret Agent goes back to Brazil’s political past but this film’s look and feel would not have been possible without Pictures of Ghosts. Indeed, some frames of The Secret Agent look like those archived footage shown in Pictures of Ghosts.

Ranking of these 5 Kleber Mendonça Filho films:

1. Neighboring Sounds (2012)

Aided by a rich sound design & visuals, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s debut feature film ensures an immersive cinematic experience. A viewer gets a ringside seat in one of Recife’s neighbourhoods to witness the daily activities of the residents, including their morning and nightly routines. Depicting the everyday reality would have been good enough, but Kleber Mendonça Filho enhances the experience by adding layers of memories and nightmares with a few smart cuts. As a result, the multi-layered film contains a subtle sense of dread but in a much subtler note than Michael Haneke's Caché. This means that even when viewers witness harmless events in and around an apartment complex, there is a sense that something sinister is going to happen. The viewer can't be passive and is instead forced to examine each frame and its accompanying sound to know what the characters are up to.

2. The Secret Agent (2025)

The Secret Agent is easily the most accessible and cohesive of all Kleber Mendonça’s features to date. The smart decision to incorporate present times while depicting the past allows one to see the consequences of events over the course of a few decades. The film also shows how cinemas, once a vital part of society, become different spaces to heal people.

3. Bacurau (2019, Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles)

In the near future, the small, isolated town of Bacurau becomes a setting for an epic battle for the ages. The inhabitants of the town are already struggling with lack of water and feel they are forgotten, a fact confirmed when they discover that their town is erased from the internet. The arrival of a few strangers jolts them into a heightened state of alert and soon they find themselves under attack from an international group of killers led by the experienced killer Micheal (Udo Kier). The killers are expecting easy prey but they aren’t aware of the town’s history or the residents’ usage of psychotropic drugs. The locals, led by Domingas (the legendary Sônia Braga), dig in and prepare for a bloody carnage.

Winner of a Jury Prize at Cannes, Bacurau is a scrumptious cocktail of an end of the world battle dipped in blood-soaked Spaghetti Westerns and garnished with political and sci-fi elements. This smart multi-layered political allegory is dressed in an exciting range of genres with references to Sergio Leone and John Carpenter’s films.

4. Aquarius (2016)

Even though the film is localized to a Brazilian apartment building, the events echo our current world of rapid development where the past is always in danger of being demolished for a shiny new future. In a way, the core message of this film has taken on more urgency in the decade since this film was released as fight for land has only intensified.

5. Pictures of Ghosts (2023)

A beautiful ode to Recife and cinemas of the past. The film shows how Recife has changed over the decades and once a city that teemed with cinemas now only has a few such operational cinemas. Many are abandoned or redone into other spaces. This is a scenario that is taking place across countless other cities across the world over the last few decades.

György Fehér's Twilight

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 04:01:00 +0000

Twilight (Szürkület, 1990, György Fehér)

Courtesy: Arbelos Films

György Fehér's Twilight looks and feels like Béla Tarr's Damnation. Twilight's black and white visuals, bleak surroundings, creative & measured camera movements, pace of proceedings, rain and the presence of dogs recalls Tarr's extraordinary film. This visual similarity is fascinating especially since the source material for Twilight is the 1958 feature It Happened in Broad Daylight written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. This indicates that a visual framework can be reproduced even though the source material is different.

Courtesy: Arbelos Films

Twilight was released two years after Béla Tarr's Damnation(1988) which makes it easy to conclude that Tarr's visual style influenced György Fehér. However, these words by László Nemes give pause:

György Fehér, who was Béla Tarr’s mentor. Even though he’s at the heart of Béla Tarr’s work — and had a major influence on Bela’s stylistic shift in the ’80s — he has always remained in the shadows. He made two films, Szürkület and Szenvedély. They are incredible films, masterpieces. -- Filmmaker Magazine, Shevaun Mizrahi

Twilight, Courtesy Arbelos Films

Like the investigation at the heart of Twilight, it feels like the case of who influenced whom must be investigated further.

The Films of Nina Menkes

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 18:50:00 +0000

Spotlight on Nina Menkes

A long overdue spotlight on Nina Menkes focuses on 5 of her 6 directed features to date plus her second short film.

The Great Sadness of Zohara (1983, 38 min short)

Magdalena Viraga (1986)

Queen of Diamonds (1990)

The Bloody Child (1996)

Phantom Love (2007)

Dissolution (2010)

Note: This spotlight is missing her recent feature Brainwashed (2022), which would have completed 6/6 of her feature films directed to date (this doesn’t include Massacre, her co-directed 2005 doc).

The word ‘Visionary’ is so often used to describe the works of a director that it feels overused and misrepresented. However, this word is apt in the case of Nina Menkes as her distinctive style is uncompromising and stands apart from her contemporaries. So far, she has only directed 6 feature films over the span of 36 years. That works out to an average of 1 film per 6 years. Although, there is a significant gap of 12 years between Dissolution and Brainwashed. Each film is unique on its own, but some common threads/elements emerge over these 6 films in this spotlight.

Isolation, Alienation and a Female Perspective

Cinema is full of examples of isolated and alienated male characters who are then driven to violence or self-destruction as a means of coping with their situation. Nina Menkes offers a differing perspective by focusing on isolated female characters. In her films, the female characters are observed as they navigate their challenging environments and try to cope with their lives. The films are stripped of any overdramatic moments or violence but instead layered with dreams (such as Phantom Love), symbolism (Phantom Love, Queen of Diamonds, Magdalena Viraga) which allows an insight into the character’s emotional and mental state. Interestingly, the only film from these 6 to feature an outright male lead (Dissolution) does feature a violent act but that is kept off screen with the film instead focusing on the daily boredom, isolation of the male character.

Experimental Narrative, Surrealism, Fantasy

Nina Menkes’ films are non-linear and don’t follow regular conventions of a narrative structure. One won’t find a three-act structure in any of these films. In addition, some of the films use dreams and symbolism to blur the boundaries between reality and fantasy which helps give an insight into the character’s mental state.

The Bloody Child is a perfect example to contrast her style with that of other directors. The film is based on a real-life event where a young US Marine killed his wife after his return from the Gulf War. Many films have dealt with the violent aftermath of returning soldiers, yet Menkes doesn’t present events in a straightforward narrative. Instead, the film uses repeated scenes which emphasize the constant abuse of power and violence that is drilled into the soldiers in their day-to-day operations, which seeps into their core.

Collaboration with Tinka Menkes

A notable aspect of Menkes’s filmmaking is her immensely creative collaboration with her sister, Tinka Menkes. Tinka acted in 5 of Nina’s films: A Soft Warrior (Nina’s debut short), The Great Sadness of Zohara, Magdalena Viraga, Queen of Diamonds, The Bloody Child. In addition, the two sisters co-edited Queen of Diamonds and The Bloody Child.

Ranking the films of Nina Menkes in order of preference:

1. Phantom Love (2007)

Phantom Love, Courtesy Arbelos Films

A hypnotic mesmerizing film that echoes shades of Béla Tarr and David Lynch yet is clearly Menkes' distinct style. The usage of black and white works perfectly as it helps give the illusion of events taking place in the same location. Yet, it is still very hard to hide the distinctive look of Rishikesh (India). The film contains many memorable images, one of them being snakes in the hallway.

2. Magdalena Viraga (1986)

Nina’s debut feature film helps set the tone for her style: non-linear structure, symbolism, minimal dialogue, use of repeated scenes to emphasize mental state of characters.

3. Queen of Diamonds (1990)

Queen of Diamonds, Courtesy Arbelos Films

Las Vegas has never looked so different in a film! Majority of the films set in Vegas glamorize the gambling and constant lights of the city, yet Nina & Tinka Menkes showcase the dullness and repetitive aspect of being a card dealer. Plus, the film contains many stellar images such as that of the burning palm tree.

4. Dissolution (2010)

Loosely based on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Dissolution is the first of Nina Menkes’ films to feature a male lead. Yet her style of using repeated images highlights the isolation of the male character leading to his violent act.

5. The Great Sadness of Zohara (1983)

The film starts and ends in Jerusalem with a trip to North Africa in the middle. It is hard to believe that this was Nina Menken’s student film made on a shoe-string budget. The North African sequences reminded me of Oliver Laxe’s North African set films such as You All Are Captains (2010), Mimosas (2016) even though Menkes shot her film almost three decades before Laxe made his debut.

6. The Bloody Child (1996)

The Bloody Child, Courtesy Arbelos Films

The non-linear structure made me recall the experience of Harun Farocki’s “Images of War” exhibition (2011-12). In Farocki’s installation, a loop repeated images of a simulated war and it didn’t matter at which point one started to see the film as one could get the intent behind the simulation. Similarly, Menkes’ film showcases repeated images and one can get the sense of proceedings based on just a few sequences.

The Films of Béla Tarr

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 06:07:00 +0000

Béla Tarr’s Contemplative Cinema

Jan 6, 2026. Béla Tarr’s camera has stopped. No more pans, no more movements. Tarr announced his retirement from filmmaking after the release of The Turin Horse (2011) but I foolishly held on to the hope that he was secretly working on another film. The news of his death puts that hope to rest.

As a means of remembering the great Béla Tarr, I am gathering notes on his 9 feature films and even attempting a ranking.

Note: I haven’t seen his 1982 TV movie Hamlet which would have made this a Top 10 list.

These 9 features can be split into two distinct stylistic and thematic phases:

Béla Tarr 1.0: Social commentary, documentary style realistic depiction of characters / events

Films in this phase include Family Nest (1979), The Outsider (1981), The Prefab People (1982), Almanac of Fall (1984).

Béla Tarr 2.0: Controlled Camera movements, long takes, minimal dialogue

Films in this phase include Damnation (1988), Satantango (1994), Werckmeister Harmonies (2000), The Man From London (2007), The Turin Horse (2011).

All 5 films in this phase include Tarr’s collaboration with László Krasznahorkai. Tarr adapted 2 of Krasznahorkai’s novels (Satantango, Werckmeister Harmonies) and Krasznahorkai wrote the screenplay for 3 of Tarr’s features (The Man from London, The Turin Horse and Damnation).

Ranking Béla Tarr’s films in order of preference:

1. Sátántangó (1994)

Béla Tarr’s almost 7.5 hour Sátántangó is a cinematic wonder. The film is hypnotic and an immersive experience which showcases the best elements of Tarr’s cinema: long takes, sweeping camera movements, harsh realism, artistic compositions and unforgettable sounds (howling winds, relentless rain).

2. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000, Béla Tarr / Agnes Hranitzky)

Werckmeister Harmonies: Criterion

The 2^nd of Béla Tarr’s collaboration with novelist László Krasznahorkai’s haunts with music and stunning visuals.

A town's beautiful harmonical balance is disturbed when a mysterious circus arrives in town -- the presence of a giant whale and a character called "the prince" causes unrest and anxiety in the town. An evil force takes over and ordinary people riot causing havoc. The army is called in and special "lists" are made to capture certain people.

The gorgeous rich black and white visuals combined with long takes makes for an absorbing foray into a bizarre world crafted by Béla Tarr. Plenty of political under-tones can be found in this film which presents a look at how people can take advantages of certain situations and assume power. But are the ones in power the crazy ones or the people causing the riots? In that sense, the film's ending has shades of the Czech film Lunacy which raised an interesting question about whether the insane people are not the ones in the hospital but the ones in charge of running the asylum.

The beautiful music is over. Discord tunes fill the air waves. And once again, after a long period of peace, chaos returns.

3. Damnation (1988)

Damnation: Arbelos Films

This remarkable film is the first of Tarr’s collaboration of László Krasznahorkai and is the closest Tarr came to a film-noir. There is an affair between a lonely man and a femme fatale, but the film has elements associated with Tarr’s cinema: stunning black and white visuals, long takes, thoughtful camera movements, limited dialogue, plenty of rain. And plenty of dogs. Dogs don’t feature in Tarr’s other films as much as in this hypnotic film.

4. The Prefab People (1982)

The Prefab People starts with infectious gypsy band music and depicts a husband walking out on his wife and kid. She is upset at him wanting to leave just like that. As it is, he does no work around the house and just wants to spend time with his friends, read the paper, watch tv and drink. Eventually, the two of them patch up and go on. And then a job opportunity in Romania comes up. That coupled with his unhappiness is enough reason for the husband to leave again.

Although Béla Tarr's The Prefab People is about a couple's relationship problems, it features the concept of leaving one's home to earn a living abroad. In the movie, the husband wants to work on a two-year contract in Romania because he will earn more money. The wife does not want him to leave because she needs him to help with their two children. But the husband points out that if he does not leave, then they won't be able to afford the basic luxuries of life (car, washing machine). The husband assures his wife that he will only go for two years and will return back.

5. The Turin Horse (2011, Béla Tarr / Ágnes Hranitzky)

Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky craft their unique end of the world scenario with a few bare essentials: an old man, obedient daughter, rebel horse, untrustworthy visitors, an angry wind, potato, bucket, well, table, chair and a window. The film features an array of reverse and sideway shots that manage to open up space in a confined house setting.

6. Family Nest (1979)

Tarr’s debut feature is a realistic depiction of a couple’s struggles to make ends meet including their efforts to get housing. The film’s style is a stark contrast to Tarr’s later films. There are plenty of close-ups and dialogue as the film feels like a documentary instead of scripted cinema.

7. The Man From London (2007)

Béla Tarr's The Man from London is a stylish black and white film with a touch of noirish elements. The film is too gorgeous to remove one eye's from even for a minute and the leisurely moving camera ensures we soak up every element within the frame. The unfolding of events in this film are in contrast to those in Werckmeister Harmonies where the tension keeps mounting throughout the film until a chaotic climax. However, the clock starts ticking down very early in The Man from London towards an expected climax after a man recovers a mysterious brief case of money.

8. The Outsider (1981)

Isolation can occur for various reasons -- society can ignore certain members because of religion, race or whatever reason they can come up with. Sometimes, a simple reason such a person's attitude is cause enough for isolation. András (András Szabó), the lead character in Tarr's The Outsider, finds himself at odds with his local Hungarian society. András is a 20 something youngster who loves music, drifts from job to job, does not want to be committed in a relationship. What's wrong with that? Everything! Especially if society wants people to work for the common national good, then one person's indifference won't be tolerated. In Tarr's Budapest, men meet in cafes after a long day's hard work and discuss politics. If people in a factory are too efficient, they are asked to adhere to the normal working pace so that everyone gets paid the same. That is equivalent to asking a fast soccer player to slow down to keep in sync with his team's slow passes. Such a system can work for some people but for others, it is a problem. The only positive in András' life is the love for his music which keeps him happy.

9. Almanac of Fall (Autumn Almanac, 1984)

This film focuses on the lives of tenants in an apartment building and in contrast to Tarr’s other films, this is the only one shot in colour. This was Tarr’s 4^th feature and is stylistically different from his next 5 features which contained controlled camera movements, long takes and minimal dialogue.

Spotlight on African Cinema

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 06:04:00 +0000

The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) kicked off on Sun, Dec 21 and is a reminder of a time when I did film spotlights for the different soccer tournaments (World Cup, Euros, Copa America, AFCON). It has been almost a decade since the last such soccer film spotlight. It was tough to do such soccer film spotlights a few decades ago due to limited legal access to many international films. Over the last two decades, streaming access to international films has gotten better although it is still difficult to view films from some nations due to variety of reasons (limited film industry/film distribution). There is where co-productions have helped and allowed selection of a film from a country with limited film resources.

As a means of nostalgia, here is a proposed AFCON 2025 Film Spotlight including a Top 11 list. The only country from which I couldn’t get a proper feature was Comoros. The island nation doesn’t have a thriving film industry but recently, there have been a few Comoros short films shown at international film festivals. I couldn’t get hold of these short films and instead opted to select a documentary about Comoros.

The 24 films are listed as per the groups in AFCON 2025.

Group A: Morocco, Mali, Zambia, Comoros

Morocco: Le Grand Voyage (2004, Ismaël Ferroukhi)

The host nation’s film selection features an emotional and life changing journey.

In Le Grand Voyage, a father wants to undertake a holy pilgrimage to Mecca so he asks his son to drive all the way from France to Saudi Arabia. The son is initially not happy with his father’s decision but gradually gains a better understanding of his father as the journey progresses. The film manages to stand out from a traditional road feature by incorporating some engaging elements, such as the mysterious Eastern European woman the duo pick up. The woman’s mysterious disappearance and reappearance fits in perfectly as does the predictable actions of the Turkish man who the son befriends. The journey ends up becoming a metaphor for life and each experience helps broaden the son’s mind. The end point of the journey at Mecca features the film’s strongest and most emotional moment.

Mali: Yeelen (1987, Souleymane Cissé)

Souleymane Cissé's Yeelen beautifully depicts an ancient Malian myth about a battle between father and son (Nianankoro). Set in the 13th century Mali Empire, Nianankoro must tackle an entire cult group along with his wizard father while trying to restore his family name. The folk story is peppered with elements of magic and witchcraft in depicting the family battle. Because Nianankoro holds the power of magic, he is equally feared and respected.

Zambia: I Am Not a Witch (2017, Rungano Nyoni)

Rungano Nyoni’s creative debut feature is a sharp satire about societal expectations and beliefs. The focus is Africa and witchcraft but the core of the story is applicable to all corners of the world where women are marginalized by one label or another.

Note: I Am Not a Witch was UK’s submission to the Academy Awards Foreign Language category but this film is selected due to its Zambia co-production.

Comoros: The Grand Marriage (2013, Faisal Al Otaibi)

This Al Jazeera documentary depicts the tradition of Grand Marriage in Comoros society. The Grand Marriage is a separate event from the actual marriage, which is a tiny affair limited to family-friends. However, the Grand Marriage is a traditional concept undertaken to emphasize one’s standing in society.

Group B: South Africa, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Angola

South Africa: Son of Man (2006, Mark Dornford-May)

Son of Man is a contemporary interpretation of Jesus living in the slums and streets of Africa during a time when gangs, religion, politics and corruption reign. Religion, politics and corruption have caused rife for over a thousand years so in that regard, aspects of the Biblical times are still relevant. The few contemporary changes as per the film show how tv and radio can transmit news of miracles and tragedies faster than ancient times. In the last two decades, smart phones and social media have increased speed of that news transmission. The film also shows how guns are readily available to those who need to kill people easily, an aspect that still plagues our world today.

Egypt: Al-mummia (The Mummy/The Night of Counting the Years, 1969, Chadi Abdel Salam)

A film that is often cited as a vital Egyptian and Arab film. Based on real life events of tomb looting, the film raises relevant questions about who should benefit from ancient Egyptian treasures: the locals or a central government. Questions raised in this 1969 film still linger in our contemporary times when tomb looting has increased in frequency.

Zimbabwe: Neria (1991, Godwin Mawuru)

This classic Zimbabwean film is based on a short-story by award winning novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga. The story depicts the struggles of Neria, who is widowed after the death of her husband and is left to fend for herself and her children after her in-laws cut her out of her husband’s money.

Angola: Air Conditioner (2020, Fradique)

This refreshing new addition to Angolan cinema has a beautiful soundtrack and lovely visuals which heighten the contemplative nature of the film. The intriguing story has a simple entry point: air conditioners in the capital city of Luanda have started to mysteriously fall from the buildings. A security guard has to go about the city and find one such fallen air conditioner for his boss who cannot withstand the city’s scorching heat. The security guard’s journey raises relevant socio-economic questions about residents of the city and who can afford an air conditioner.

Air Conditioner debuted at the 2020 Rotterdam Film Festival and got lost after the world shut down in March 2020. The film did surface and showed at other festivals once things opened up, but I imagine its trajectory would have been different if 2020 was a regular film circuit year.

Group C: Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania

Nigeria: Without Shame (2005, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen)

Without Shame, a Nollywood soap opera packaged in two parts, is true to its title in depicting a father-son duo who exhibit no morals or shame.

Steve rebels against his father's (Ben) second wife Jenny and refuses to accept her as a mother. Steve's flirting activities bring him in conflict with Jenny leading her to leave the house. After Jenny’s departure, her sister Nina comes for a visit but she tries to leave when she learns that Jenny is no longer at the house. However, Ben calmly and causally asks Nina to stay because he does not have anyone to cook and clean the house. Things get worse for Nina as both father and son rape her every night. When Jenny returns, Nina is too ashamed to admit anything and continues living in the household. The film ends with both father and son escaping from getting caught with their pants down. Without Shame 2 extends the plot from the first film by showing a second affair for Ben leading to three pregnancies before everything is resolved albeit in deadly fashion.

Tunisia: Beauty and the Dogs (2017, Kaouther Ben Hania)

Based on a true story, this powerful film details the lack of justice that exists in a corrupt society where men are allowed to abuse their power and get away with anything. In the film, Mariam (Mariam Al Ferjani) is a young girl who is raped by police causing her to undergo a nightmarish Kafkaesque sequence of events. Miriam tries to report the rape but she is unsure who to trust and is hounded by the police members who committed the crime. She can’t even turn to her family for help as they would judge her more harshly than the police hounding her. At times, the film is tough to view given the never-ending psychological torture that Miriam is forced to undergo. However, that harshness is precisely the point because no matter how hard it is to view these scenarios, it is nowhere near as the painful struggle that women like Miriam have to undergo.

Uganda: The Boda Boda Thieves (2016, Donald Mugisha / James Tayler)

The film depicts the struggles of a family to make ends meet when the father is injured and unable to bring in money. His teenage son takes on the responsibility to earn money by driving the father’s body boda (motorcycle). However, the young boy falls in bad company and uses the boda boda as a means to earn quick money such as everyday purse snatching and other local thefts. When the boda boda is stolen, the young son learns of the debt that his family owes and he tries to make things right.

Tanzania: The Empty Grave (2024, Cece Mlay / Agnes Lisa Wagner)

Dahomey, another entry in this AFCON film spotlight, shows the return of African artefacts from its former colonial nation. On the other hand, The Empty Grave is about another kind of return altogether, something not mentioned in North American media. The film is about the return of human remains of Tanzanians whose bodies (and head in one case) were dug up and taken to Germany. Many Tanzanian families continue to ask Germany to return the remains of their loves ones so they can do a proper burial/send-off and seek closure. In many cases, the Tanzanian families have many family members unaccounted for.

This is a highly relevant film about a topic that is applicable not only to Tanzania but many other nations around the world where colonists treated the bodies of the locals as prized possessions to claim and showcase. The film also depicts lost treasures and artefacts tucked away in Berlin but those artefacts are a subset of the story.

Group D: Senegal, DR Congo, Benin, Botswana

Senegal: Touki Bouki (1973, Djibril Diop Mambéty)

Djibril Diop Mambéty’s landmark film Touki Bouki gives a good slice into an emerging African nation complete with street shots dripping with poverty, heated arguments at the market, youths looking for jobs and trouble, a young couple dreaming of a better future, corruption and payback lurking around the corner with a club in hand and unflinching slaughter shots. The relaxed lingering shots, mixed with carefully spliced scenes give this movie a surreal feel. In addition, plenty of symbolism in the movie with a cow's capture and slaughter being the most commonly used symbol to echo the mental and physical entrapment of the citizens. An incredible film that was ahead of its time.

DR Congo: Viva Riva! (2010, Djo Munga)

Viva Riva! molds elements of oil trafficking, corruption, violence and sex into an enjoyable film. In the fashion of Nollywood films, the villain is sinister and over the top while the hero, Riva, is a charming intelligent man who can have any woman he wants. Of course, Riva falls for the one woman who will lead him in trouble but Nora is too seductive to resist. The camera ensures that Nora's beauty and Kinshasa's buzzing street life are captured nicely.

Benin: Dahomey (2024, Mati Diop)

This highly relevant film focuses on the specific return of 26 artifacts to Benin but opens up what should be a universal debate about the fate of looted property across Latin America, Africa and Asia. This film was also released in 2024, the same year as the Tanzania co-production The Empty Grave, a cosmic double billing.

Botswana: The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980, Jamie Uys)

The Gods Must be Crazy is a humorous allegory for topics of globalization and clash of cultures, something that has become more common place since the 1990s as Western cultural elements starting expanding to all corners of the globe. The events are amusing but I am not a fan of the narration, which is understanding given the film’s 1980 release. However, if the film was made in the last 2-3 decades, or from the 1920-40s, we could have enjoyed the humour without a narrator explaining every aspect.

Group E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan

Algeria: Chronicles of the Years of Fire (1975, Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina)

Image courtesy: Criterion

An epic film that is ambitious in scope and charts a timeline from WWII to Algerian freedom. The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes 1975 and it is easy to see why.

The film starts off by depicting hardships of village life made worse due to a combination of the harsh weather and lack of water (rain coupled with a dam reducing access). This results in locals migrating from the village to the city for a better life by leaving their land, family and roots behind. Once in the city, the villagers are exposed to political ideas as topics of revolution, independence and World War occupy their thoughts. The film depicts that as WWII spreads, Algerians are forced to join France’s fight. The locals are tired of the French, which leads to some cheering for Germany, but they find themselves dragged into alliances and a war they want no part of. The film’s final segments show the emergence of Algeria’s quest for independence post-WWII and how revolutionaries are forced to hide in the mountains to carry out their attacks against the French.

Burkina Faso: Tilaï / The Law (1990, Idrissa Ouedraogo)

The air of inevitability that hovers over Idrissa Ouedraogo’s Tilaï is similar to that in Sissako’s Timbuktu. The reason for the similarity is due to human’s need to maintain their honour and traditions. The film’s alternate title ‘A Question of Honour’ emphasizes that as well. The need to maintain this honour comes at all costs and including killing of family as shown in the film or the taking of one’s life.

Equatorial Guinea: Where the Road Runs Out (2014, Rudolf Buitendach)

As per the film’s title, the story is set in a house where no paved roads lead to. After the sudden death of his friend, George (Isaach De Bankolé) returns home to Equatorial Guinea to continue the work of his friend. Goerge hires a taxi to take him to his friend’s house but the driver drops George in the middle of a town square and says the address is at a location where no cars can go. George makes his way to the house where he gets to work and rekindles old memories of his youth. As always, Isaach De Bankolé is a delight and he lights up the screen with his performance.

Sudan: You Will Die at Twenty (2019, Amjad Abu Alala)

An air of inevitability hangs over this lovely contemporary feature which is a blend of myth and tradition.

Group F: Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique

Ivory Coast: Adanggaman (2000, Roger Gnoan M’Bala)

Adanggaman blends fact and fiction in its depiction of slavery from an African perspective in the 1600s. The film starts off with Ossei's clash with his parents over his refusal to marry as per tradition and their wishes. But after an attack on his village, Ossei finds himself on the run and is eventually captured to be sold as a slave.

Cameroon: A Trip to the Country (2000, Jean-Marie Téno)

Jean-Marie Téno travels from the capital Yaoundé to the Cameroonian country side to highlight some concerns relevant to the local economy such as the decline in agriculture and lack of infrastructure and also examines attitudes related to the desire for westernization and emulation of the west.

The film's ending gives a perfect example about the infrastructural and organizational problems in African soccer and brings to mind an incident when in the mid 1990's the Cameroonian soccer team almost walked out of the tournament due to a dispute about payment/bonuses. Similarly, in the ending of A Trip to the Country a local soccer championship game is almost disrupted due to money issues. As narrated in the film, all local teams had to pay increased registration fees to enter the tournament whose winner would get a trophy and prize money. However, moments before the final's kick-off, the finalists are informed there's going to be no trophy nor any prize money handed out. The players are not happy but are told by the officials to play. When the game eventually starts, the players have to play on a terrible pitch with the ball occasionally getting lost in the tall grass.

If organizational and infrastructure problems can plague the national team, then it is not surprizing to see these problems taking place at the root level of the game. Although such problems are not confined just to Cameroon but inflict many other African nations as well, thereby making it hard for an African team to mount a serious World cup challenge.

Gabon: Dôlè (2000, Imunga Ivanga)

The film’s title refers to a lottery game which promises to make someone an instant millionaire. That allure of overnight riches is promising to locals struggling to make ends meet, especially some of the unemployed young boys who make a living by stealing parts from cars or whatever else they can nab. The film starts off with their attempts to rob car wheels before giving us a glimpse of their lives. The lottery game Dôlè enters the story in the film’s final third and offers another chance for the boys to steal but things don’t go as planned.

Mozambique: Mueda, Memória e Massacre (1979, Ruy Guerra)

Ruy Guerra’s docu-drama hybrid film is a recreation of the June 1960 massacre in Mueda where the Portuguese army executed 600 unarmed inhabitants. The film shows locals re-enacting the day of the massacre but also provides narration of events leading up to the fateful day in Mueda when locals attempted to engage in peaceful dialogue with the Portuguese administration related to independence and self-governance. The Portuguese administration doesn’t take the local’s request fir dialogue well as was common with the old colonial powers back in the day. History is packed with many instances of colonists massacring locals and many of these incidents are lost in time and memory as colonists omit such accounts from their historical recounts.

Top 11 AFCON 2025 Titles:

1. Touki Bouki (1973, Senegal, Djibril Diop Mambéty)

2. Chronicles of the Years of Fire (1975, Algeria, Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina)

3. Al-mummia (The Mummy, 1969, Egypt, Chadi Abdel Salam)

4. Le Grand Voyage (2004, Morocco co-production, Ismaël Ferroukhi)

5. Beauty and the Dogs (2017, Tunisia co-production, Kaouther Ben Hania)

6. You Will Die at Twenty (2019, Sudan co-production, Amjad Abu Alala)

7. I Am Not a Witch (2017, Zambia co-production, Rungano Nyoni)

8. Dahomey (2024, Benin co-production, Mati Diop)

9. Yeelen (1987, Mali, Souleymane Cissé)

10. Tilaï / The Law (1990, Burkina Faso co-production, Idrissa Ouedraogo)

11. The Empty Grave (2024, Tanzania co-production, Cece Mlay / Agnes Lisa Wagner)

The Fast and Furious Movies

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 23:27:00 +0000

Spotlight on the Fast and Furious movies

The idea of jotting down notes and ranking the Fast and Furious movies came after reading Barry Hertz’s fast-paced engaging “Welcome to the Family”, a behind the scenes story of how this franchise came to be.

Hertz’s book isn’t a critical analysis of the movies nor is an authorized studio book but instead is based on “more than 170 interviews, both attributed and on background, conducted between January 2024 and June 2025” as stated in the Author’s note at the start of the book. Welcome to the Family gives insights into the preproduction, filming and post-production of all 10 movies to-date and also to many other potential scripts, ideas left out of the final cut. The focus is naturally the Fast movies but the book also gives a perspective on how studio films are made and how many never see the light of day. The countless script re-writes, the multiple takes, production challenges and the many egos (actors, studio execs) illustrate that making a studio film is not every film director’s cup of tea, in a similar manner to how managing Real Madrid is not every soccer manager’s forte. These boardroom decisions and schedule changes help shed a light on why the final version of the movies look as good/bad as they do. Still, incredibly studio movies are released mostly on time and some of them end up being good. The same can’t be said of all the 10 films in the Fast and Furious franchise and Barry Hertz’s book describes why some of them fail to work and why some characters keep coming back. Now, even though I think many films in this franchise don’t work, the movies have made a lot of money and that is part of the reason this franchise has gone on for so long. But the end of the road is surely near with 10 films in the books, 11 including one spinoff movie.

All 10 Feature Films in order of release:

The Fast and the Furious (2001, Rob Cohen)

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003, John Singleton)

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006, Justin Lin)

Fast & Furious (2009, Justin Lin)

Fast Five (2011, Justin Lin)

Fast & Furious 6 (2013, Justin Lin)

Furious 7 (2015, James Wan)

The Fate of the Furious (2017, F. Gary Gray)

F9 (2021, Justin Lin)

Fast X (2023, Louis Leterrier)

There was also the spinoff movie Hobbs & Shaw released in 2019 (David Leitch). There were 2 additional short films made as preludes in between the movies as well.

In terms of sequence, the 10 feature films are in the following chronological order:

F1, F2, F4, F5, F6, F3, F7, F8, F9, F10.

Justin Lin has clearly helped give direction to the franchise directing a total of 5 films and he started the 10^th film as well before leaving.

Ranking of all 10 Feature films in order of preference:

1. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006, Justin Lin)

At first, this film stood in its own separate universe but was ultimately tied to the larger Fast universe by 2 things: Han’s character (played by Sung Kang) and a late cameo by Vin Diesel. In some aspects, this film shares the underground car racing culture and youth sensibilities of Rob Cohen’s first film The Fast and the Furious. Yet, Tokyo Drift is elevated due to the ridiculously jaw-dropping drift sequences. The film was the first in the franchise to leave the US and highlighted the global appeal of the franchise. As per Barry Hertz’s book, this film made more money internationally than at the domestic box office impacting the fate of future movies in the franchise.

2. The Fast and the Furious (2001, Rob Cohen)

The original film feels like a breath of fresh air now considering the larger than life production of the later films in the franchise. Fast 1 feels like an indie movie made by a studio as opposed to a traditional studio film. Hertz’s book emphasizes this as well that the studio didn’t keep a close eye on this film and that allowed Rob Cohen far more creative control than what John Singleton had for the 2^nd movie.

3. Fast Five (2011, Justin Lin)

The 5th movie feels like the first tentpole franchise of Fast and Furious and assembles key characters from all past films while introducing Dwayne Johnson to the mix.

4. Fast & Furious 6 (2013, Justin Lin)

The global journey of the Fast and Furious movies continued with this film adding another villain to the mix.

5. Furious 7 (2015, James Wan)

This film was clearly overshadowed by the real-life death of Paul Walker but the film also added Jason Statham to the series although Statham’s character was introduced in the end-credits of F6. This really should have been the last film in the franchise as it provided a natural offramp but the franchise raced on ahead.

6. 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003, John Singleton)

This is the only film in the series not to feature Vin Diesel at all and feels like a throwback to the old Hollywood studio films of the 1980-90s. The 2nd movie feels completely different in tone from the first movie and comes across as a mob movie with cars as opposed to the car-centric first movie. F2 is also one of the earliest movies of Eva Mendes’ career.

7. Fast & Furious (2009, Justin Lin)

The 4^th film in the series is also the first where larger-than-life stunts start appearing. The film also warps the timeline of the series with Han’s character making an appearance after he was killed in the 3^rd film which immediately signaled the film follows the 2^nd movie.

8. F9 (2021, Justin Lin)

By this point, the globe trotting and stunts had become too large for the overall framework. That point depicted by a car going into space. John Cena was added to the franchise as Dom’s long-lost brother.

9. The Fate of the Furious (2017, F. Gary Gray)

The 8^th film is really fighting for last place. Charlize Theron Cipher villain character is shown to be a criminal mastermind, but her character is in the wrong franchise and feels like someone who operates in the Bond universe.

10. Fast X (2023, Louis Leterrier)

Awful. Plain awful. That is not entirely down to director Louis Leterrier (The Transporter, Transporter 2, Now You See Me) but to an awful script and hasty production decisions even by the franchise’s fast-paced standards. Leterrier wasn't the original director tied to the movie and came on only after Justin Lin departed.

Not everything is a throw away in the film. Jason Momoa does liven things up as the supervillain son of Fast Five's villain. Unfortunately, any shred of good that exists in the movie is wasted by an un-needed cliffhanger but even that decision predates Fast X. It is anybody’s guess if the film's finale will ever be made but given the money at stake, it may finally emerge from the assembly line.

The Films of Nagisa Oshima

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 20:30:00 +0000

Spotlight on Nagisa Oshima

If one had to describe the cinematic style of Nagisa Oshima, the words “radical”, “provocative”, “bold”, “pushing the envelope”, “political” would often be used. These words are apt description for two of his most well-known films, In the Realm of the Senses (1976) and Night and Fog in Japan (1960). However, after seeing the films as part of this spotlight, I can add the words “experimental” and “avant-garde” to describe his films.

There are 17 films as part of this spotlight, with 14 of the films being first-time views. A little over two decades ago, the first Oshima film I saw was his last film Taboo (1999). Then I jumped to his most well-known film, In the Realm of the Senses and then moved onto Night and Fog in Japan. That is not an ideal order and one that left me ill prepared to appreciate his cinema. This spotlight allowed me to view his films in order and that allowed a better understanding of his style and his tackling of political topics.

The 17 Nagisa Oshima films part of this spotlight:

Tale of Love and Hope (1959)

Cruel Story of Youth (1960)

Night and Fog in Japan (1960)

The Pleasures of the Flesh (1965)

Violence at Noon (1966)

Sing a Song of Sex (1967)

Double Suicide: Japanese Summer (1967)

Death by Hanging (1968)

Three Resurrected Drunkards (1968)

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1969)

Boy (1969)

The Man Who Left His Will on Film (1970)

The Ceremony (1971)

In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

Empire of Passion (1978)

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)

Taboo (1999)

1.0 Crime & Punishment

Majority of Oshima’s films depict crime of one sort or another. Murder and rape are the more common depictions in his films but he has also tackled war crimes, frauds/scams, robberies, embezzlement, blackmail and crimes of passion. The criminal acts in his films aren’t shown in isolation as his films examine the social and economic scenarios that lead the characters to go down the path of crime. Characters who commit murder are shown to undergo guilt and a moral crisis before they ultimately meet their fate. In majority of his films, punishment is duly handed out to the characters and a criminal is caught or apprehended by police even if they are caught off camera and audience is informed via a radio commentary (such as in Violence at Noon).

1.1 Fraud & Scams

Multiple Oshima films tackle the concept of fraud or breaking the law to make ends meet. We see a simple example of this in his first film, Tale of Love and Hope, where a boy sells his pet pigeons repeatedly. This is because once he sells his pigeons, they fly back to his home, and he then proceeds to sell them again. No one is forcing the boy to sell the pigeons but he does this to ensure their family has much-needed money. The film shows the harshness of life for those on the street with barely enough money to feed themselves.

Fraud or scams plays a pivotal part in Boy, a film where a family claims fake injuries by jumping in front of a vehicle to extract money from a shook-up driver. In the film, the father starts the scam by getting his wife to jump in front of cars. When she is unable to continue with this, he gets his older son to take her place. The film was inspired by a true story in Japan.

1.2 Murder and Assault

Murder and sexual assault are two of the more common criminal acts found in many Oshima films. In films such as The Pleasures of the Flesh, Double Suicide, Violence at Noon, the male characters don’t start out as cold-blooded criminals as they are initially shown before they commit their first murder. After the initial shock and guilt of that first murder wears off, we see the same person commit the 2^nd murder with ease. Violence at Noon (based on a true story) depicts a serial killer but before he killed frequently, he robbed houses and assaulted women. Rape is frequently shown in his films such as in Cruel Story of Youth, Violence at Noon, Sing a Song of Sex, Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, The Man Who Left His Will on Film, Empire of Passion. Death by Hanging doesn’t show the crime but the man sentenced to death is guilty of that crime.

Crime of passion also plays a part in Oshima’s films with the most famous such crime depicted In the Realm of the Senses where the woman cuts off the member of her lover (again based on a true story).

Murder, blackmail and embezzlement are featured in The Pleasures of the Flesh which is also about the moral collapse of a human being. In the film, Atsushi is blackmailed by a man who comes to his house and asks Atsushi to keep a suitcase full of his money safe until the man serves his prison sentence. The money is gotten through embezzlement and the man calculated that if he served his prison sentence and the police didn’t find the money, he could live a life of luxury after he got out. This plot sounds like something out of Hugo Fregnese’s Apenas un Delincuente (Hardly a Criminal), which later inspired The Delinquents (2023). However, Oshima’s film is a completely different beast and goes into a different direction altogether.

1.3 Justice and Punishment

Atoning for one’s crimes and seeking punishment are highlighted in multiple films but Death by Hanging stands out in debating the ethics of justice and how to punish a criminal. In the film, a man is sentenced to be killed by hanging but somehow he doesn’t die after being hung. The police, jail officials and priest do not know how to handle this scenario, especially after the man loses his memory. The film descends into satire and surrealism as everyone around the man try to act out his crime in the hope that his memory comes back and they can hang him again.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is a rare Oshima film in this spotlight that highlights war but it is not a conventional war film. Instead, it raises topics of war crimes and how prisoners of war should be treated or punished. The film also raises cultural differences between Japan and the West in how captured soldiers are perceived. There are some sentiments in the film that echo what Martin Scorsese tried to highlight decades later with Silence (2016, based on a Japanese novel by Shūsaku Endō).

2.0 Political ideas

Nagisa Oshima packed his films with dizzying political ideas, in a manner that recalls Miklós Jancsó especially since both directors’ spliced political ideas with songs such as Oshima did with Sing a Song of Sex. Jancsó and Oshima tackled politics almost at the same time in the 1960s but their topics highlighted the changes their nations were going through. In Jancsó’s case, the topic was capitalism vs socialism illustrating the differing ways of life in the West vs Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Oshima depicted leftist ideology as a failed movement against the backdrop of the US-Japanese Security Treaty of 1960.

Night and Fog in Japan is the most political Oshima film where a wedding sequence results in past discussions about failed political movements and examination of guilt. The sentiments of failed ideologies and what people could do better spills over into his other films as well such as Double Suicide: Japanese Summer which shows how a grassroots revolution can ignite and then be extinguished.

Oshima didn’t only tackle internal Japanese political sides (left vs right) but he also tackled external politics. He wasn’t shy to depict Japanese sentiments towards Koreans as highlighted in Death by Hanging and Three Resurrected Drunkards. In Death by Hanging, he takes a Korean side of things by turning an individual crime into a cause-effect about national guilt. In Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Oshima depicts a humanist side to the British in how they deal with prisoners of war and their willingness to show compassion. This is completely opposite to how Hollywood and many other film industries of the world show the opposing side. There is no rallying cry to show a superior Japanese in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and instead the Japanese look like the more brutal side. This ignoring of marching towards the war is also shown in just a single scene In The Realm of the Senses, which focuses on the sexual relationship indoors but the film shows the male in the film is shutting out the world and making love because he doesn’t want to go to war. It is his choice to ignore the drums of war and in a similar manner, it is Oshima’s choice in how he depicts politics in his films.

3.0 Pushing the Envelope

Jonathan Rosenbaum mentioned that “..no two Oshima films are alike.”

OSHIMA’S CINEMA CONSISTS of particular interventions in Japan’s internal political debates, and freely draws on forms as well as styles that seem to come from everywhere, including Japan. Some would call this disconcertingly voracious trait “very Japanese,” and it helps to account for the truism that no two Oshima films are alike. Jonathan Rosenbaum, ArtForum

Rosenbaum’s words are certainly true in that even though many Oshima films share common elements, traits, plots, they are still different in how they portray the characters or take a path towards a different outcome. One consistent thread in his films is his ability to push the envelope and shatter boundaries. These boundaries could either be cultural, political, social, societal, economic or religious. For example, The Ceremony savagely shatters the norms of a Japanese family as one has seen in other Japanese films. The Ceremony can be called an anti-Ozu film. If one’s notion of Japanese society has come from Ozu or Kurosawa films, then The Ceremony shatters that.

Oshima wasn’t satisfied with challenging the aspect of a society but even took aim at the form of cinema itself. His films can’t be classified to fit neatly in any single genre. On first glance, Empire of Passion feels like a successor to In the Realm of the Senses but Empire of Passion turns into a ghost story; Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is not a war film but is in fact anti-war or even a love story; The Ceremony is about weddings and funerals but it isn’t a typical family relationship film. The Man Who Left his Will on Camera completely deconstructs the form of cinema. It is an experimental, avant-garde film that is unclassifiable and its style echoes Godard and Oshima’s contemporary Yoshishige Yoshida (Eros + Massacre, 1969).

Sex and nudity are sprinkled in Oshima’s films but they reach peak form In the Realm of the Senses, a film whose honest naked depiction of lovemaking has few parallels in Cinema, even to this day. Almost all his films show a male-female relationship, but he broke this boundary with his last film Taboo, which shows strong samurai infatuated with a young male warrior. However, this isn’t the first Oshima film to showcase homoeroticism. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence has a hint of homoeroticism throughout but it only comes to the surface via a tiny kiss. That subtle layer is shattered and explored more in Taboo.

Top 10 films of Nagisa Oshima:

Ranking Oshima’s films isn’t an easy task. None of his films are comfortable viewing. All the films forced me to grapple with multiple topics (ethics, political ideas) or with the character’s personalities. There are no traditional heroes or easily identifiable good characters. I couldn’t even finish any of these films in one sitting. However, watching the films in order allowed a proper appreciation of his cinematic style and topics. It is clear he is a radical filmmaker, both in terms of form and content.

1. The Boy (1969)

Blends social depiction with realism. The rare Oshima film with an emotional beating heart.

2. In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

Oshima’s most well-known film is still in a category of its own. There really is nothing like this out there!

3. The Pleasures of the Flesh (1965)

Murder, Blackmail, embezzlement, debauchery, sex, gangsters, violence. This film encapsulates the essence of Oshima’s cinematic style, topics.

4. Cruel Story of Youth (1960)

A rebellious character depicted in a bright palette channels the energy of James Dean and 1950s American cinema.

5. Death by Hanging (1968)

Starts off in documentary style before descending into a surrealistic satire.

6. The Man Who Left his Will on Camera (1970)

Experimental film which deconstructs what cinema means.

7. The Ceremony (1971)

Savage depiction of a Japanese family.

8. Night and Fog in Japan (1960)

Wears its political heart on its sleeve.

9. Violence at Noon (1966)

A serial killer film that defies form as its progresses.

10. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)

The most emotional ending of any Oshima film.

Extra reading:

Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Tony Rayns.

Q&A with James Quandt.

Matt Crawford's ranking of Oshima's films.

The Films of Paul Thomas Anderson

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 05:55:00 +0000

Every new Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA) film is treated as a major event and like Quentin Tarantino, his film counts are part of the marketing release such as the recent One Battle After Another marketed as the 10^th PTA film. With 10 PTA films in the books, it feels like an appropriate time to collect my notes and ranking of his films. The 10 films in order of release are:

Hard Eight (1996)

Boogie Nights (1997)

Magnolia (1999)

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

There Will be Blood (2007)

The Master (2012)

Inherent Vice (2014)

Phantom Thread (2017)

Licorice Pizza (2021)

One Battle After Another (2025)

The contemporary nature of PTA means I have seen all but his debut film, Hard Eight, in order and majority of them in a cinema. Boogie Night was seen via VHA tape as that didn’t play long in cinemas around me and Hard Eight and Licorice Pizza were via streaming.

10 films over a span of 29 years is approximately 1 film every 3 years. At the start of his career, PTA was more prolific with his first three feature films released over a three-year span (1996-99) but the gap increased after that. There were two 5-year gaps in between his films and not coincidentally, those 5-year gaps were prior to the release of There Will be Blood and The Master. Considering that both There Will be Blood and The Master create such an intense universe, the extra time prior to their releases makes sense.

Character Studies & Location

Paul Thomas Anderson’s films are brilliant character studies where we are introduced to memorable characters who stay long in the memory. In that regard, his films are an actor’s dream because their work will get noticed. Every single actor in his films has given a stellar performance, no matter how small their role was. This means all the roles are brilliantly casted but also PTA's attention to detail means that actors are given a platform to showcase their talents.

Location is another vital aspect of PTA’s films. This applies to both location in time and space, meaning his films capture the essence of a particular location across a time period. Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Licorice Pizza highlight the energy and sentiments of San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles) across different decades; Phantom Thread has an impressive eye for detail related to fashion and food in 1950s London; There Will be Blood captures the ruthless greedy world of 1920-30s oil rush; Hard Eight showcases the transactions and rules of a casino; One Battle After Another exudes the essence of a revolutionary life and the drugs and paranoia associated with it.

Ranking all 10 PTA films in order of preference:

1. There Will be Blood (2007)

The first hour is pure cinematic excellence but it is the finale that draws blood and ends with a thud. A simple dialogue about "drinking your milkshake" underlines the problem with greed. Someone is always carrying a bigger straw.

2. Phantom Thread (2017)

Sumptuous, seductive film with an eye for detail. The fabric and cut of cloth were what I recall most but as it turns out, I missed the focus on food. Phantom Thread is now included by some on their best food films of all time.

3. One Battle After Another (2025)

This brilliant stoner political comedy is a lot funnier than I expected. The second PTA-Thomas Pynchon effort is a home run!

4. The Master (2012)

Long before our world was overrun by crazy delusional men with no principals, virtues or ethics, PTA crafted this devastating case study depicting people who can easily be manipulated by impressive speakers. In this regard, The Master is a film whose message is much more universal and not grounded to just a single religion or ideology.

5. Boogie Nights (1997)

PTA’s 2^nd film became a cult sensation and was one of those films whose popularity was spread by word of month long before the internet and social media made that task easier.

6. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

After the weighty Magnolia, PTA changed gears and surprised with Punch-Drunk Love which showed a completely different side of Adam Sandler. There are many layers to Sandler’s performance and the film balances tender romance with release of anger.

7. Inherent Vice (2014)

The first PTA-Thomas Pynchon test run is a stoner comedy that sets the ground for One Battle for Another. Inherent Vice contains an impressive cast of actors with many memorable cameos.

8. Magnolia (1999)

Magnolia came out long before social media and memes went viral. The film has many scenes (yes including that frog scene) that felt like they were talked about everywhere, on radio, in newspapers, around the office and among friends. Magnolia was released just before 1999 ended and there was already some anxiety about what 2000 (Y2K) would bring so perhaps that frog rain scene played into an end of the world sentiment. The film was also highly divisive. Looking back, it is impressive to think that this was just PTA’s 3^rd feature and one packed with some risky decisions.

Note: 1999 also saw the release of American Beauty, Fight Club, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, Being John Malkovich so there were a handful of Hollywood films showcasing reality in a different light.

9. Hard Eight (1996)

PTA’s impressive debut takes a hard turn from the initial first few scenes. At first, it feels like we will be seeing a master-student relationship in the art of gambling, but the film has other ideas.

10. Licorice Pizza (2021)

The refreshing acting of Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman ensures their on-screen characters exude an easy flowing chemistry.

Best Films of the 2010s

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 05:42:00 +0000

The 2010s (2010-2019) continued the streak of stellar global films from the 2000s. The cinematic trajectory was firmly on the way up and in the last year of the decade we had the first truly global crossover film in Parasite (2019), which went all the way from winning the Palme d’Or (Cannes 2019) to top of the Academy Awards in Feb 2020. The success of Parasite gave hope that global cinema would continue to soar in the 2020s. But alas, March 2020 arrived and the world shut down. Cinemas struggled to stay afloat, film festivals had to scale back and the already fragile film distribution broke down. It took a few years for some form of global film output to resume but it was clear the world had drastically changed. Time will tell where the 2020s stand in terms of cinematic quality. Was 2019 the highpoint for global cinema and film festivals? Currently, it appears so. Looking from the vantage point of 2025, it does feel that the 2010s may be the last great decade for cinema for a long time. The next 5 years may prove me wrong. But this post is about celebrating the beautiful films of the 2010s.

Top 30 films of the 2010s (2010-19):

1. Dil Dhadakne Do (2015, India, Zoya Akhtar)

Sholay (1975) was #1 in my 1970s film list and is still considered to be the greatest Hindi language film of all time. Dil Dhadakne Do arrived 4 decades later, directed by Zoya Akhtar and co-written by her brother Farhan Akhtar (who also stars in the film). Both Zoya and Farhan are the children of Javed Akhtar, one of the brilliant co-writers of Sholay (the other being Salim Khan, the duo often known as Salim-Javed). The two films, Sholay and Dil Dhadakne Do, couldn’t be more different yet in their own way capture a sentiment of the times.

Sholay captured the anger, angst and fear of the 1970s while Dil Dhadakne Do captures sentiments of an evolving India, one where women are fighting for their dreams/careers/identity against a highly patriarchal society; where families rarely discuss their problems and where children don’t want to blindly follow their parents wishes. Dil Dhadakne Do depicts many hard-hitting realities but in an entertaining way. The film is packed with stars, catchy songs (yes there is dancing) and beautiful locales like many Bollywood films but unlike most Bollywood films, Dil Dhadakne Do has a brain and a heart.

2. Zama (2017, Argentina co-production, Lucrecia Martel)

3. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

4. Certified Copy (2010, France/Iran/Italy, Abbas Kiarostami)

5. Timbuktu (2014, Mauritania/France, Abderrahmane Sissako)

6. Holy Motors (2012, France, Leos Carax)

7. Transit (2018, Germany/France, Christian Petzold)

8. Jauja (2014, Argentina co-production, Lisandro Alonso)

9. Like Father, Like Son (2013, Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda)

10. This is Not a Film (2011, Iran, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb/Jafar Panahi)

11. The Treasure (2015, Romania/France, Corneliu Porumboiu)

12. Carlos (2010, France, Olivier Assayas)

13. Burning (2018, South Korea, Lee Chang-dong)

14. Parasite (2019, South Korea, Bong Joon-ho)

15. Neighboring Sounds (2012, Brazil, Kleber Mendonça Filho)

16. Embrace of the Serpent (2015, Colombia co-production, Ciro Guerra)

17. Right Now, Wrong Then (2015, South Korea, Hong Sang-soo)

18. The Pearl Button (2015, Chile/France/Spain/Switzerland, Patricio Guzmán)

19. A Man of Integrity (2017, Iran, Mohammad Rasoulof)

20. Shin Godzilla (2016, Japan, Hideaki Anno/Shinji Higuchi)

21. Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018, China, Bi Gan)

22. A Gentle Creature (2017, France/Russia/Ukraine co-production, Sergei Loznitsa)

23. One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk (2019, Canada, Zacharias Kunuk)

24. Faces Places (2017, France, JR/Agnès Varda)

25. The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019, Canada/Norway, Kathleen Hepburn, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers)

26. The Turin Horse (2011, Hungary co-production, Béla Tarr/Ágnes Hranitzky)

27. An Elephant Sitting Still (2018, China, Hu Bo)

28. Ash is Purest White (2018, China co-production, Jia Zhang-ke)

29. Get Out (2017, USA/Japan, Jordan Peele)

30. Under the Skin (2013, UK/Switzerland/USA, Jonathan Glazer)

Honourable mentions (in no particular order):

Vitalina Varela (2019, Portugal, Pedro Costa)

The Master (2012, USA, Paul Thomas Anderson)

The Social Network (2010, USA, David Fincher)

Cocote (2017, Dominican Republic co-production, Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias)

A Separation (2011, Iran/France/Australia, Asghar Farhadi)

45 Years (2015, UK, Andrew Haigh)

Phantom Thread (2017, USA/China, Paul Thomas Anderson)

Closeness (2017, Russia, Kantemir Balagov)

Varda by Agnès (2019, France, Agnès Varda)

The Nothing Factory (2017, Portugal, Pedro Pinho)

Happy Hour (2015, Japan, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

Pain and Glory (2019, Spain/France, Pedro Almodovar)

La Flor (2018, Argentina, Mariano Llinás)

Ship of Theseus (2012, India/Holland, Anand Gandhi)

Kaili Blues (2015, China, Bi Gan)

Li’l Quinquin (2014, France, Bruno Dumont)

The Tribe (2014, Ukraine/Netherlands, Miroslav Slaboshpitsky)

The Strange Case of Angelica (2010, Portugal co-production, Manoel de Oliveira)

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Thailand co-production, Apichatpong)

Drive (2011, USA, Nicolas Winding Refn)

The Great Beauty (2013, Italy/France, Paolo Sorrentino)

Jafar Panahi's Cinema

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 19:35:00 +0000

Notes and Ranking of all 11 features of Jafar Panahi to date:

The White Balloon (1995)

The Mirror (1997)

The Circle (2000)

Crimson Gold (2003)

Offside (2006)

This Is Not a Film (2011)

Closed Curtain (2013)

Taxi (2015)

3 Faces (2018)

No Bears (2022)

It Was Just an Accident (2025)

Jafar Panahi’s 2025 Palme d’Or win at Cannes for It Was Just an Accident means he is only one of four directors (Robert Altman, Michelangelo Antonioni and Henri-Georges Clouzot being the other 3) to have won top awards at Berlin, Cannes and Venice. Panahi won the Golden Bear at Berlin with Taxi in 2015 and the Golden Lion at Venice in 2000 with The Circle. The fact that two of have these awards have come in the last decade is incredible especially after Panahi’s 2010 sentence in Iran which raised fears that he may never direct a film again. However, he and his entire film crew and cast have shown incredible courage and creativity to not only get films made but also getting them released out of Iran.

Jafar Panahi started running into problems with authorities from his earlier films two decades ago. The reason for that stems from Panahi depicting social topics and plight of characters (especially women) who don’t have a voice. In this brilliant interview with Doug Saunders (from back in 2007) Panahi mentions reveals the following:

Doug Saunders: Has censorship been a constant through your filmmaking career, or is it more intense today?

Jafar Panahi: I started my career making children’s films, and while doing that I had no problems with censors. As soon as I started making feature films, it all started and I had problems.

Really, making children’s films was a way of saying what we wanted to say in adult films. But because of the circumstances, we chose that format because it was less prone to censorship at the time.

It just got worse and worse as time went on, and one could say that the past year or year and a half have been the darkest age for filmmaking in Iran.

Since I make a film once every 3 years, I haven’t had a chance to present the current administration with a project. But everyone around me, my friends, has had experiences that are quite awful.

Panahi goes on to mention:

In 2003 I was arrested by the information ministry; they kept me and interrogated me for four hours. In the end their question was: ‘Why don’t you just leave this country and work outside of Iran, given that the core of your supporters live there?’

Panahi’s stand back then and even now is staying in Iran and making films. His films are some of the finest made in the history of cinema despite working with barriers and restrictions other filmmakers may never encounter.

Ranking his films feels inappropriate. All 11 of his features are remarkable works of art. Each of them present fascinating ideas to ponder upon and highlight perspective that one may not think of. So this ranking is a personal preference, one that has shifted over the years and will likely still change.

Ranking all 11 of Jafar Panahi’s films:

1. Crimson Gold (2003, Director Jafar Panahi, Writer Abbas Kiarostami)

This brilliant film about class difference is also one of the most incredible cinematic collaborations in history with Panahi directing a story written by maestro Abbas Kiarostami.

Ali and Hussein are average men who go about making an honest living by working as pizza delivery men. When Ali finds an expensive purse, he comes across a receipt for an Italian necklace which costs 75 million Tomans. The two are shocked that someone could spend so much on a necklace and decide to visit the jewellery store and look at what such an expensive necklace looks like. But the jeweler refuses to let the two in because of how they are dressed. Therefore, a few days later, Hussein dresses smartly and returns to the store with his fiancée and Ali. But even then, the same jeweler manages to find a way to get the message across that store is not for people like them. This insult eats at Hussein and results in him going over the edge.

Besides this class difference, the film manages to cover other aspects of Iranian society such as how police perceive younger people in enforcing law. The film also alludes to a time when women didn't have to cover up in Iran while also depicting attitude difference of Iranians who live abroad and return to Iran.

2. The Circle (2000)

After his first two children themed films, Panahi changed gears completely with this insightful powerful film which depicts the treatment of women in Iranian society. This ranges from the inability of women to travel without the permission (or presence) of a male figure to women not being able to speak freely or live on their own terms. Any infringements against the patriarchal society means that women find themselves thrown into prison. This film completes a circle with Panahi’s recent film It Was Just an Accident which discusses the harsh treatment that both women and men get in prison. It is safe to assume that after The Circle, Panahi put himself on the Iranian authorities list.

3. This Is Not a Film (2011, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb/Jafar Panahi)

The first film that Panahi made after his filmmaking ban is the next evolution in his cinema as this film shows that in the hands of a talented filmmaker even a tiny, confined space can be a liberating cinematic experience. The final moments capture those magical moments that Werner Herzog has claimed happen only when the camera is left recording just a little bit longer.

4. Taxi (2015)

Taxi is the third film Jafar Panahi crafted after he was banned from making films by the Iranian Government in 2010. Like This Is Not a film, the first film Panahi made under the ban, Taxi does not appear to be a scripted film and hence, not a film also.

Taxi features Jafar Panahi driving a taxi around the streets of Tehran, picking up passengers and dropping them off at different locations. All the interactions with passengers are recorded from a camera on his dashboard, so technically, Panahi is not directing anything. However, the inclusion of smart dialogues, shift in camera angles and the presence of a few memorable passengers reveals Panahi’s brilliance. Pushed into a corner by the government, Panahi has tapped into the same creative energy as The White Balloon and Crimson Gold; films he directed before the ban. He uses a taxi as a medium to bring forth relevant discussions about society, freedom, censorship, public vs private space and even film distribution while also paying a tribute towards Abbas Kiarostami’s Ten (2002), which featured a female driver.

5. The White Balloon (1995, co-written by Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi and Parviz Shahbazi)

6. The Mirror (1997)

Jafar Panahi’s first two features The White Balloon and The Mirror are the purest examples of the exciting Iranian New Wave cinema that started making waves in the 1990s.

Both films are presented from a little child’s perspective, much like Abbas Kiarostami’s earlier films. In fact, The White Balloon is co-written by Kiarostami. In many aspects, The White Balloon and The Mirror are similar but diverge when the 4^th wall is shattered half-way through The Mirror. After that point onwards, The Mirror becomes a meta film about filmmaking echoing some aspects of Kiarostami’s Close Up.

7. It Was Just an Accident (2025)

The topic of justice and retribution feels more like that of a Mohammad Rasoulof’s film, especially The Seed of the Sacred Fig and There Is No Evil, but Panahi has mentioned in interviews the story came from the experience he heard of other prisoners and also from his own experience in prison. The film sheds a light on trauma and suffering that individuals face under an oppressive system that feels like a living breathing example of The Stanford Prison Experiment, an experiment that many Latin, Asian and African countries started facing from the 1970s onward. Panahi’s film shows that the experiment isn’t over yet and even if it were over tomorrow, it would take decades (or generations) for citizens to heal.

8. No Bears (2022)

Panahi travels to the Iranian border and shows how a film can be potentially directed remotely, an appropriate nod to our times where remote work has become a lot more commonplace across the globe.

9. 3 Faces (2018)

3 Faces is the fourth film Panahi made since his filmmaking ban and was the first since that ban where he left Tehran for the countryside. This travel allows some cultural and political conversations to enter the frame and the end result is one of Panahi’s strongest works, one that even has a nod to the late master Abbas Kiarostami’s films.

10. Offside (2006)

This film is an extension of The Circle in depicting the restrictions women face in Iranian society. In Offside, Panahi shows how female soccer fans are not allowed to watch games in the stadium alongside men. The film contains plenty of magical moments such as the nervous expression on one of the girl's face as she tries to sneak into the stadium, the passion with which the guard narrates a running commentary for the girls who are held in custody and the mesmerizing moment when we finally see the beautiful green soccer field. The best part of the film unfold in the last 15-20 minutes where the camera highlights the emotions and expressions of fans who are delighted at Iran's qualification for the 2006 World Cup -- there is very little dialogue, and we can see unscripted human emotion on display.

11. Closed Curtain (2013)

Following This Is Not a Film, Panahi shows another creative way to make a film despite his ban. As per the title, the film takes place in a house with the curtains shut. What at first appears to be a tranquil setting turns out to be anything but that.

YRF Spy Universe

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 23:26:00 +0000

Here are the six films so far part of the YRF Spy Universe:

Ek Tha Tiger (2012, Kabir Khan)

Tiger Zinda Hai (2017, Ali Abbas Zafar)

War (2019, Siddharth Anand)

Pathaan (2023, Siddharth Anand)

Tiger 3 (2023, Maneesh Sharma)

War 2 (2025, Ayan Mukerji)

Blame it on the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Once MCU showed everyone the financial benefits of having a multi-film, multi-year plan, others naturally followed with their own cinematic universe tie-ins. The thinking was multiple films with crossover characters/storylines, bigger stars, bigger budgets would lead to larger revenues. Ultimately, revenue is the long-term goal of these cinematic universes, which ensure a longer duration for characters thereby building or maintaining fanbase loyalty in turn leading to long-term financial growth. Of course, not all these cinematic universes have faired as well as Marvel. DCU (DC Universe) hasn’t worked out and is now in the process of a reboot. Indian Cinema alone has multiple such cinematic universes on the go, with Rohit Shetty Cop Universe, Lokesh Cinematic Universe, Maddock Horror Comedy Universe, Astraverse (unsure of its future status) and YRF Spy Universe.

YRF Spy Universe, like majority of the Indian Cinematic Universes, was conceived only after the first initial films were released. YRF Spy Universe only started with the 4^th of the 6 films thus far. The first three films, Ek Tha Tiger, Tiger Zinda Hai, War, were standalone films. The idea to create this YRF Spy Universe was likely conceived after the huge success of War. Pathaan then was the first out of these 6 films to reap the benefits of the Cinematic Universe framework.

Action, Dance and Romance

All the six films involve Indian agents part of the RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) agency trying to save the nation and/or its citizens from both internal-external threats, which not surprisingly involves Pakistani ISI agents. The main RAW agents are: Tiger (Salman Khan, all 3 Tiger films), Kabir (Hrithik Roshan, War, War 2), Khalid (Tiger Shroff, War), Pathaan (Shah Rukh Khan), Vikram (N.T. Rama Rao Jr. , War 2), Kavya (Kiara Advani, War 2). The main ISI female agents are Zoya (Katrina Kaif, Tiger films), Rubai (Deepika Padukone, Pathaan).

The films are set in global locations. Even though India is under threat, the Indian agents hop across countries faster than it would take to be beamed via Star Trek’s teleportation device. Tiger Zinda Hai is one exception in that the film is set exclusively outside of India (in Iraq) and involves Tiger saving Indian nurses from a terrorist organization (plot based on a real-life 2014 incident).

In order to ensure the films have a global appeal and don’t alienate Muslim viewers, ISI isn’t the main villain anymore but has provided a bit of romance in the form of double agents. A hilarious line from Pathaan has a character musing if ISI is running a dating service with Tiger, Pathaan falling for ISI agents Zoya, Rubai respectively. With ISI no longer the main villain, the last few films have featured rogue ex-RAW agents or mercenaries for hire working for a global crime syndicate as the main foes. The stakes for saving the nation have grown with each film with the nation on the verge of destruction with each passing minute. However, it doesn’t matter how dire the situation is, all the agents find time to dance for a few songs, show off their six-pack abs and even have a romantic fling with female agents that look like swimsuit models (casting criteria for female actors clearly requires looking good in a bikini).

Ranking the films in order of preference:

It feels unfair to rank or even rate these films. That is because half the films can be disregarded as having any cinematic merit because the three Tiger films feature Salman Khan who cannot act, despite being one of the largest box-office stars in the country.

1. War (2019)

Easily the best film in the franchise. The action scenes are nicely done with good acting, direction and story.

2. Pathaan (2023)

The film marked the long return of Shah Rukh Khan and was a huge box-office success. SRK is good in his role but the film is bloated with needless plot twists and action sequences. The film was also the first in the franchise to feature a crossover character from the YRF Spy Universe (Tiger making an appearance).

3. Tiger 3 (2023)

The only real merit in the film is the appearance of Pathaan.

4. War 2 (2025)

This awful film undoes any of the good work of the first War film. The first segment of the film feels like the director trying to channel John Wick with a splash of Tarantino but that isn’t anything compared to the absurd middle segment which rehashes the worst aspect of 1980s Hindi cinema plot (long lost childhood friends). That awful middle segment introduces melodrama which isn’t as commonplace in Bollywood as it once used to be and destroys any narrative momentum before a final third which feels like it will never end as the characters keep fighting and fighting.

5. Tiger Zinda Hai (2017)

This is mostly watchable in scenes when the camera doesn’t feature Tiger (Salman Khan) but instead focuses on Zoya (Katrina Kaif).

6. Ek Tha Tiger (2012)

Unwatchable. The movie features the worst masala aspects of Indian cinema, where comedy, action, drama and songs are all mixed and thereby weaken the overall content.

Next Steps

The run rate of this YRF Spy Universe isn’t that great. I would only qualify one of these six films as good (War), with another one as decent (Pathaan) and 0 points for the others (in fairness, I should have negative points for the others). That leaves 1.5/6 which is 25%. Of course, my personal rating has no bearing on anything and the financial returns of the films ensure this franchise will continue.

The 7^th film in this franchise arrives on Dec 25, 2025 with Alpha and the post-credits of War 2 depicted the main antagonist (Bobby Doel, who seems to be every where now, be it Cinema or Streaming TV). Pathaan 2 is in the works and a future Tiger-Pathaan film as well.

Best Films of 2024

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 03:06:00 +0000

This is an update to the previous Best Films of 2024 list. I finally now have 10 films!

Best Films of 2024

1. No Other Land (Palestine co-production, Yuval Abraham/Basel Adra/Hamdan Ballal/Rachel Szor)

Easily the most relevant film of 2024! It is amazing that this film exists at all. This isn’t the first time theft of Palestinian land is shown on camera. Pomegranates and Myrrh (2008) showed how the Israeli army uses a pretext of security to annex a Palestinian family’s home. That 2008 fictional film, albeit based on real-life scenarios, was ignored. No Other Land shows this very topic in a documentary format and it has gotten some attention. The Academy Award for Best Documentary also helped gain distribution but people will see the film and nothing will change. In fact, the land grab and stealing has been increasing after this film came out. At least, this film documents what happens and in the future, it will be evidence that the world did nothing and watched it all happen.

2. Santosh (UK/Germany/India/France, Sandhya Suri)

The core topic of the film isn’t new as many films have depicted how corruption and abuse of power allows crimes against girls/women to go unchecked. Yet, since this isn’t an Indian production, it lends an outsider observational perspective that is focused on tiny details often neglected by Indian films. Director Sandhya Suri’s previous work on documentaries is also another reason those details help in giving this film a realistic feel. In addition, there is a new angle to observe the events from women. The film is shown from the perspective of a female police officer who is wearing the uniform but who is still a civilian at heart, due to how she got the job in the first place. That allows her to straddle the line between the two worlds while still maintaining her humanity.

The two performances by Shahana Goswami and Sunita Rajwar are top-notch.

3. Soundtrack for a Coup D’état (Belgium/France/Holland, Johan Grimonprez)

Another film that takes a topic covered before but adds a new entry point which allows things to be considered in a new light. The assassination of Patrice Lumumba has been shown on film before but the association with jazz music and the incorporation of Khrushchev’s words give plenty of food for thought. This film will always be relevant because the cycle of events that this assassination started is still impacting our world.

4. Dahomey (France/Senegal/Benin/Singapore, Mati Diop)

The film focuses on the specific return of 26 artifacts to Benin but opens up what should be a universal debate about the fate of looted property across Latin America, Africa and Asia. Highly relevant and essential viewing.

5. Cloud (Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Cloud is a gripping thriller that seamlessly weaves horror, dark humour, gangsters, crime and a social commentary of our contemporary world.

6. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong/China, Soi Cheang)

Perfect illustration of that brilliant Hong Cinema of old: incredible choregraphed fights, larger than life characters, socially relevant topic, a touch of supernatural and mythology.

7. Grand Tour (Portugal/Italy/France/Germany/Japan/China, Miguel Gomes)

The film lives up to the title yet being playful. A woman is abandoned by her fiancée who runs away yet she doesn’t give up. She follows him around the world, picking up on clues. A leisurely chase.

8. Misericordia (France/Spain/Portugal, Alain Guiraudie)

One of the most creative murder investigation films that plays with genre and expectations. There is a very subtle deadpan layer to the film which becomes apparent once the strangeness of the scenarios increases.

9. Sister Midnight (UK/India/Sweden, Karan Kandhari)

Like many films in this list, another one that creatively blends many genres together. Even though the different references and genres are admirable in their own right, not everything adds up to a coherent whole. Still, the film stands out for many stunning flourishes.

10. Universal Language (Canada, Matthew Rankin)

Matthew Rankin showed his creative talent with The 20^th Century. This time he raises the creativity bar a few more notches with a reimagined version of Canada where Farsi-French are the two official languages and people confuse Manitoba with Alberta (entirely believable from a Toronto perspective).

Honourable Mention:

Caught by the Tides (China/France/Japan, Jia Zhang-ke)

The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 20:33:00 +0000

Notes on all 18 Features of Hou Hsiao-hsien and a Top 10 list:

Cute Girl (1980)

Cheerful Wind (1981)

The Green, Green Grass of Home (1982)

The Boys from Fengkuei (1983)

A Summer at Grandpa's (1984)

A Time to Live, A Time to Die (1985)

Dust in the Wind (1986)

Daughter of the Nile (1987)

A City of Sadness (1989)

The Puppetmaster (1993)

Good Men, Good Women (1995)

Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996)

Flowers of Shanghai (1998)

Millennium Mambo (2001)

Café Lumière (2003)

Three Times (2005)

Flight of the Red Balloon (2008)

The Assassin (2015)

This spotlight started with the Early films of Hou Hsiao-hsien(HHH) and then was completed by viewing the half-dozen missing films from his output. A few patterns emerged and I am going to arrange his films in the following phases.

HHH 1.0: light-hearted romantic films

The first three films of Hou Hsiao-hsien films fall in this category: Cute Girl (1980), Cheerful Wind (1981), The Green, Green Grass of Home (1982).

The Boys from Fengkuei (1983) stands apart from these three and can be considered HHH 1.5.

HHH 2.0: autobiographical, memories, coming-of-age

The three films in this phase are: A Summer at Grandpa's (1984), A Time to Live, A Time to Die (1985), Dust in the Wind (1986).

Two of the three films are part of Hou’s Coming-of-age trilogy: A Summer at Grandpa's (1984), A Time to Live, A Time to Die (1985), Daughter of the Nile (1987).

The style we associate with Hou Hsiao-hsien are present in these films: long takes, static camera, realistic settings. There are sprinkles of Ozu flourishes in Dust in the Wind, which features images of the village, sky and landscape.

A Summer at Grandpa's, A Time to Live, A Time to Die and Dust in the Wind have such a lived-in feel that they don’t feel like scripted cinema. The realism of the settings, the character’s behaviours are so well outlined that it feels like we watching a camera capture everyday occurrences of the town folk. In addition, Dust in the Wind nicely sets up the urban lifestyle challenges in the next phase.

HHH 2.5: contemporary / urban portrayals

The contemporary / urban portrayal can be its own phase, but I am putting it at 2.5 because stylistically it is an extension of the 2.0 coming-of-age phase except the main characters are in the next age category (young adults in early 20s) compared to the teenagers from the 2.0 phase.

The first film in this phase is Daughter of the Nile (1987) with the next few films separated by decades: Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996), Millennium Mambo (2001) plus the third segment of Three Times.

Daughter of the Nile is closely aligned with Millennium Mambo in showing the isolated alienated life of a young woman in a city. Daughter of the Nile is the first pure city set film of Hou’s career.

Goodbye South, Goodbye is the first film dealing with crime and gangsters even though earlier Hou films featured those elements on the fringes. The film is also a contemporary look at youth in Taiwan, something explored in Daughter of Nile and subsequently in Millennium Mambo.

The final segment of Three Times (2005, A Time For Youth) forms a connective thread along with Millennium Mambo in depicting the isolation and alienation of characters in urban centers.

HHH 3.0: political topics as background, remembrance of a time past

The political past serves as fodder for A City of Sadness (1989), The Puppetmaster (1993), half of Good Men, Good Women (1995) and also for two segments of Three Times (2005). In addition, A City of Sadness, The Puppetmaster form Hou’s Taiwan trilogy along with Dust in the Wind.

It is in this phase that HHH got plenty of universal acclaim and it is easy to see why. A City of Sadness and The Puppetmaster are two of his strongest films that intelligently use historical aspects to craft personal tales of everyday people.

HHH 4.0: films set outside of Taiwan

The films in this phase are Flowers of Shanghai (1998), Café Lumière (2003), Flight of the Red Balloon (2008), The Assassin (2015).

Flowers of Shanghai and The Assassin are set in earlier periods of China, which sets them apart from his other Taiwan based films. Café Lumière is set in Japan (primarily Tokyo) and is HHH’s tribute to Ozu while Flight of the Red Balloon is set in Paris and uses the 1956 French film The Red Balloon as a reference point.

Top 10 HHH films

With the exception Hou Hsiao-hsien’s first 3 features (the trio of romantic comedies), his remaining films are all excellent. It is tough to leave out many films from this 10.

1. Flowers of Shanghai (1998)

This stunning visual feast is the high-point of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s cinematic style! The story centers around brothels in 1880’s China where games are played and the losers have to drink up. Food is served and then someone leaves with a girl of their choice. Problems arise when love comes into the equation. A man wants to buy a woman’s freedom but that does not go as per plan. Jealousy and doubts set in, and in the end, heartbreak follows.

2. Three Times (2005)

This film is the perfect encapsulation of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s filmography as it deals with the director’s past and contemporary themes, as indicated by the title. The titles of the segments are a nod towards the director’s previous film A Time to Live and a Time to Die. In Three Times, the three segments are called “A Time for Love” (1966 love story), “A Time for Freedom (1911 segment nod towards his The Flower of Shanghai) while “A Time for Youth” is an extension of the urban characters Hou covered later in his career.

Each segment has a different colour palette with the first 1966 segment in simple colours (not too bright), the middle 1911 segment in bright colours while the final 2005 segment as grayish tones. One connecting element of the three stories in Three Times is the usage of text messages as a form of communication. All the characters use one form of the written word to express their feelings, be it via letters, scrolls or SMS text messages. The audience is brought in the loop as we get to read the messages itself in the 1911 via title cards.

3. A City of Sadness (1989)

An emotional powerful film that highlights the period of “White Terror” in late 1940s Taiwan (1945-49) by depicting the plight of the Lin family. This film marked a departure from Hou’s previous coming-of-age / rural portrayals by directly depicting the impact of political changes on Taiwanese lives.

4. The Puppetmaster (1993)

This is the second in Hou’s political films after A City of Sadness but the time period is earlier than A City of Sadness. The Puppetmaster covers the time period from 1909 to 1945 and depicts Taiwanese life under Japanese occupation. Based on the memoirs of Li Tian-lu, a real-life Taiwanese puppeteer, the film creatively depicts puppet performances spliced with snippets of Li Tian-lu’s life. As a result, the puppet performances fill a narrative gap by showing key historical events and also highlighting the Japanese propaganda that the puppet plays were meant to depict.

5. Dust in the Wind (1985)

An emotional yet beautiful love story that straddles the rural-urban divide that Hou Hsiao-hsien covered in his films. In that regard, this film is the precursor to the alienated urban life portrayed in HHH’s 2.5 phase.

6. The Assassin (2015)

The Assassin shows that in the hands of an auteur a wuxia genre can be transformed into a work of breath-taking art. Hou Hsiao-Hsien references his earlier films but also dives into a political landscape with a razor-sharp eye for detail.

7. The Boys from Fengkuei (1983)

The Boys from Fengkuei observes the characters in their moments of mischief, fights, joy, sadness without adding any emotional musical cues. The film even features a motorcycle tracking shot, a sequence found in many subsequent Hou Hsiao-hsien films especially Goodbye South, Goodbye.

8. Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996)

Gangsters go through their complicated lives trying to etch out a better deal and a better future for themselves. At times the movie has shades of Hong Kong gangster/Japanese Yakuza movies but this one stands completely on its own. The film gives a glimpse into the lowest rungs of gangster business, a tier where negotiations are made over the kind of chickens to be traded, gambling rackets, family inheritances and other back-room deals. The camera just waits patiently and allows us to observe what the characters will do next, how they will react and how they will cope.

9. Millennium Mambo (2001)

With Millennium Mambo, Hou changes gears completely and portrays the club hopping life of Taiwanese youth. The film is basked in cool bluish visuals mixed with some bright neon lights as the main character Vicky (Shu Qi) alternates from clubs and bars while her boyfriend gets into fights. Shu Qi carries this film on her shoulders and the camera leisurely hovers over her as she changes clothes, walks around half-naked, makes love, gets into fights with her boyfriend and attempts to run away from him.

10. Café Lumière (2003)

The movie is HHH’s tribute to Ozu’s Tokyo and I hadn’t appreciated this movie when I first saw it because I hadn’t seen too many Ozu films. Café Lumière is a lovingly nod towards Ozu but also shows the tender restraint in Hou’s style. This film is a rarity now because it shows us a Tokyo that isn’t overrun with tourists like our current times. In a way, this film is a memory of the charm and beauty one could find in Tokyo decades ago.

Other Reading:

1. David Bordwell on Early Hou films.

2. Yvonne Ng on The Puppetmaster (note: this downloads a pdf).

3. Kent Jones on HHH in Film Comment.

4. J. Hoberman on The Puppetmaster.

5. Jonathan Rosenbaum on HHH.

Best Films of the 2000s

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 02:52:00 +0000

The clock ticked from 1999 into 2000 and surprise! The World didn’t end! In order to celebrate the planet’s survival, the year 2000 ushered in some incredible films. But wait, there was more to follow. Each subsequent year in this decade resulted in even more stellar films from all corners of the world. New Waves from South Korea and Romania washed up on all corners of the globe, first via Film festival reports and then word of mouth. In addition, South East Asian cinema announced itself on the world stage led by emerging works from Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines. This decade saw the arrival of Apichatpong Weerasethakul and even the Cannes Jury led by Quentin Tarantino was lost for words over the poetic brilliance of Apichatpong’s Tropical Malady. The advent of digital camera certainly made filmmaking more accessible to many nations and Philippine cinema took advantage of that: Brillante Mendoza and Lav Diaz took very different approaches to cinema but both made waves at film festivals. Latin American cinema had many new brilliant voices in this decade: the Argentine New Wave started in the 1990s but auteurs such as Lisandro Alonso, Lucretia Martel released their films in this decade; Brazilian cinema was a force to be reckoned with again led by City of God, which shocked audience and became a buzz worthy must-see film.

If the 1960s was a Golden age of cinema, then the 2000s was a New Golden Age of Cinema and featured many more new nations releasing films that topped critics/cinephiles list. The 2000s have way too many good films to narrow down to just 30. This list has changed quite a bit over the years due to my changing perspective with re-watches. I expect this list will change again in the future.

Top 30 Films of 2000s:

1. In the Mood for Love (2000, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)

2. Black Friday (2004, India, Anurag Kashyap)

3. L’Intrus (2004, France, Claire Denis)

4. Yi Yi: A One and a Two (2000, Taiwan, Edward Yang)

5. Mulholland Drive (2001, USA, David Lynch)

6. Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006, India, Dibakar Banerjee)

7. The Time That Remains (2009, Palestine co-production, Elia Sulieman)

8. Crimson Gold (2003, Iran, Jafar Panahi)

9. Children of Men (2006, UK/USA/Japan, Alfonso Cuarón)

10. Tropical Malady (2004, Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

11. Liverpool (2008, Argentina, Lisandro Alonso)

12. Police, Adjective (2009, Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu)

13. The Motorcycle Diaries (2004, Argentina/Brazil co-production, Walter Salles)

14. Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (2005, Brazil, Marcelo Gomes)

15. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002, India, Aparna Sen)

16. Election (2005, Hong Kong, Johnnie To)

17. Infernal Affairs (2002, Hong Kong, Andrew Lau/Alan Mak)

18. Slingshot (2007, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)

19. In the City of Sylvia (2007, Spain, José Luis Guerín)

20. Volver (2006, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)

21. Donnie Darko (2001, USA, Richard Kelly)

22. Extraordinary Stories (2008, Argentina, Mariano Llinás)

23. Bend it Like Beckham (2002, UK/Germany/USA, Gurinder Chadha)

24. Colossal Youth (2006, Portugal, Pedro Costa)

25. Memories of Murder (2003, South Korea, Bong Joon Ho)

26. Evolution of a Filipino Family (2004, Philippines, Lav Diaz)

27. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005, Romania, Cristi Puiu)

28. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000, Hungary, Béla Tarr/Ágnes Hranitzky)

29. Platform (2000, China, Jia Zhang-ke)

30. What Time is It There? (2001, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)

Honourable mentions (in no particular order):

West of the Tracks (2002, China, Wang Bing)

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006, France/Iceland,Douglas Gordon/Philippe Parreno)

Breathless (2008, South Korea, Yang Ik-joon)

Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008, India, Dibakar Banerjee)

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007, Romania, Cristian Mungiu)

District 9 (2009, South Africa co-production, Neill Blomkamp)

Amélie (2001, France/Germany, Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Bad Education (2004, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)

Our Beloved Month of August (2008, Portugal, Miguel Gomes)

The Referees (2009, Belgium, Y.Hinant/E.Cardot/L.Delphine)

Kontroll (2003, Hungary, Nimród Antal)

Amores Perros (2000, Mexico, Alejandro G. Iñárritu)

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Mexico/Spain, Guillermo del Toro)

Devils on the Doorstep (2000, China, Wen Jiang)

The Barbarian Invasions (2003, Canada, Denys Arcand)

Nine Queens (2000, Argentina, Fabián Bielinsky)

Salt of This Sea (2007, Palestine co-production, Annemarie Jacir)

City of God (2002, Brazil, Fernando Meirelles/Kátia Lund)

Moolaade (2004, Senegal co-production, Ousmane Sembene)

Be Calm and Count to Seven (2008, Iran, Ramtin Lavafipour)

Iron Island (2005, Iran, Mohammad Rasoulof)

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002, South Korea, Park Chan-wook)

Best Films of the 1990s

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 04:15:00 +0000

The 1990s started an upward trend in Cinema led by the emergence of New Waves of Independent Cinema throughout the world. USA, India, Argentina and Iran are just a few example nations that had notable surges of quality cinema. Many celebrated directors made their feature debut in this 1990s such as Jafar Panahi, Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Sang-soo, Park Chan-wook, Tsai Ming-liang, Bruno Dumont, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, David Fincher, Richard Linklater to name just a few. In addition, the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 meant that cinema from Eastern Europe started to re-emerge.

The 1990s also saw an increase in usage of special effects in Hollywood films which coupled with the increase of multiplex cinemas changed cinema and theatrical experience forever. As an example, the decade is book-ended by Terminator 2 (1991) and The Matrix (1999), two films whose special effects helped pave the way for current Comic book films. Almost two decades after Jaws, Steven Spielberg raised the stakes for summer blockbusters with Jurassic Park (1993). Interestingly, The Phantom (1996) and Blade (1998) came out in this decade long before the multiplexes regularly showed Comic book movies. Then there were the animated Disney movies Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994) and Pixar’s Toy Story (1995) which opened the floodgates for more animated films to follow. In terms of both commercial and artistic cinema, the 1990s laid the groundwork for even better cinema to emerge in the 2000s. In that sense, the 1990s mirrored the 1950s. The 1950s had some brilliant films leading into a stellar 1960s.

Top 30 Films of the 1990s

1. Taste of Cherry (1997, Iran/France, Abbas Kiarostami)

2. Chungking Express (1994, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)

3. The Stranger (1991, India, Satyajit Ray)

4. Beau Travail (1999, Claire Denis)

5. Flowers of Shanghai (1998, Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-Hsien)

6. Satantango (1994, Hungary, Béla Tarr)

7. Dharavi (1992, India, Sudhir Mishra)

8. Maachis (1996, India, Gulzar)

9. The Big Lebowski (1998, USA/UK, Joel Coen/Ethan Coen)

10. A Summer in La Goulette (1996, Tunisia co-production, Férid Boughedir)

11. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992, India, Mansoor Khan)

12. A Brighter Summer Day (1991, Taiwan, Edward Yang)

13. The Wind Will Carry Us (1999, Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)

14. The White Balloon (1995, Iran, Jafar Panahi)

15. Underground (1995, Yugoslavia, Emir Kusturica)

16. Central Station (1998, Brazil/France, Walter Salles)

17. Eat Drink Man Woman (1994, Taiwan, Ang Lee)

18. Dark City (1998, Australia/USA, Alex Proyas)

19. Is Raat ki Subah Nahin (1996, India, Sudhir Mishra)

20. Open Your Eyes (1997, Spain/France/Italy. Alejandro Amenábar)

21. Sarfarosh (1999, India, John Mathew Matthan)

22. Cure (1997, Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

23. Close-Up (1990, Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)

24. Hyenas (1992, Senegal, Djibril Diop Mambéty)

25. Bolivia (1999, Argentina/Holland, Israel Adrián Caetano)

26. Rebels of the Neon God (1992, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)

27. Eyes Wide Shut (1999, UK/USA, Stanley Kubrick)

28. The Matrix (1999, USA/Australia, Lana Wachowski/Lilly Wachowski)

29. Fight Club (1999, USA, David Fincher)

30. All About my Mother (1999, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)

Honourable Mentions:

Casa De Lava (1994, Portugal/France/Germany, Pedro Costa)

Satya (1998, India, Ram Gopal Varma)

Crane World (1999, Argentina, PabloTrapero)

My Cousin Vinny (1992, USA, Jonathan Lynn)

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999, USA co-production, Jim Jarmusch)

Delicatessen (1991, France, Marc Caro/Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Rudaali (1993, India, Kalpana Lajmi)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994, USA, Frank Darabont)

Good Will Hunting (1997, USA, Gus Van Sant)

The Game (1997, USA, David Fincher)

12 Monkeys (1995, USA, Terry Gilliam)

Pulp Fiction (1994, USA, Quentin Tarantino)

The Films of Alonso Ruizpalacios

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 23:25:00 +0000

Spotlight on Alonso Ruizpalacios:

Güeros (2014)

Museo (2018)

A Cop Movie (2021)

La Cocina (2024)

The four films cover teenager/college life, a museum heist, police force and restaurant kitchen service respectively. On the surface, all these four films cover different topics but all four are united by their depiction of an institution as an insider. All four also have a layer of humour, subtle in the first three and outright absurd in La Cocina.

An Insider’s view

Güeros shows a slacker kind of life with the main characters (initially three male but joined by a female later on) drifting around the city in their car in search of an old Mexican singer (the singer’s music cassettes changed the lives of two characters) while stopping off at the university amidst the student protests taking place. The college sequences offer that insider view of youth and ideology packed with snippets of conversation about revolution, changing the world and some heated arguments.

Museo is incredibly based on a real story and is one of those films which highlight that “fact is stranger than fiction”. The film shows a highly unorthodox museum heist committed by two friends Juan (Gael García Bernal) and Benjamín Wilson (Leonardo Ortizgris). The humour in the film is muted at first but increases after Juan and Benjamín make their way across Mexico trying to sell the stolen museum artefacts. The entire scenarios around the post-heist defy believe but it also speaks to the fact the two friends aren’t professional thieves. They are ordinary citizens who are aware of crossing the morality line and their nervousness feeds into the humorous aspect of the film. The film isn’t just a recreation of real events but illustrates the inner workings of a museum and the art-world: museum security, different exhibits layout, how art is procured, the trading and underground selling/buying of artefacts, evaluation of art. The film shows how taste is created and what goes into making a cultural institution.

A Cop Movie is a docu-drama that depicts the hard life of police force from the intense training they undertake to the dangers that await officers on the beat. In the first half, A Cop Movie follows two police officers going about their daily shifts and then in the second half, the film shows the training the duo underwent. There is a deliberate blurring of lines between documentary and fiction and that is part of the film’s overall film-within-film framework. The meta reference also has something to say about acting and what it takes to prepare for a role. In this regard, the film highlights the rules, hierarchy, training and expected behaviour that comes with being part of law enforcement and actor.

La Cocina depicts the intense stressful environment of a kitchen struggling to keep the food assembly line moving. The film is not cinema verité but more of a theatrical piece, which is highlighted by the dance like precision required to get the dishes out. The theatrical elements truly unfold in the film’s final third when any semblance to drama is thrown out while the absurdity, satire and soda gushes out from all corners. The restaurant in the film is high-end or mid-tier pretending to be high-end. Either way, the film takes pleasure in poking at the inner workings of such a kitchen and the eccentric personalities that can withstand the constant pressure cooker environment. Anthony Bourdain would have approved of many aspects of the film.

Contemporary Mexican Life

Three of the films look at Mexican society from different angles / professions. Güeros looks at teenagers & college students, with protests / revolution & music thrown in for good measure; Museo is about young adults trying to make a living, middle class life and the expensive world of art; A Cop Movie is about the tough law enforcement life including people from multiple financial backgrounds. La Cocina is set in New York but the kitchen has plenty of Mexican & Latin staff, once again confirming what Anthony Bourdain wrote about back in the day in Kitchen Confidential. In that sense, La Cocina shows that job some Mexicans find when they make their way to the US.

Each film is piece of the larger Mexican society jigsaw puzzle that Alonso Ruizpalacios is putting together. Law Enforcement is covered in A Cop Movie but none of the films are about drug cartels, gang violence or sex, topics that are normally covered in many other films set in Mexico. It is commendable that Ruizpalacios has focused on other aspects of Mexican life.

All four films are presented with a layer of humour that is a few notches above a deadpan style like that in an Aki Kaurismäki film. The exception is the final third of La Cocina when the humour reaches a frenzied chaos. This light comedic style works nicely in Museo as this keeps the film in harmony with the entire absurdity of the heist and proceeding events. However, in the case of Güeros, A Cop Movie and La Cocina, the style coupled with the extra-baggage of these films (story segments, treatment) takes away from the film’s core focus and results in a muddled tone. In addition, this style along with the film topics means that none of the films have a piercing emotional impact like those of other contemporary Mexican directors such as Alejandro González Iñárritu, Amat Escalante, Carlos Reygadas, Michel Franco.

Early Stanley Kubrick Films

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Sun, 07 Sep 2025 05:07:00 +0000

Spotlight on these early shorts and features of Stanley Kubrick:

Flying Padre (1951, 9 min doc short)

Day of Fight (1951, 16 min doc short)

Fear and Desire (1952)

Killer’s Kiss (1955)

The Killing (1957)

Paths of Glory (1958)

Stanley Kubrick directed 13 films over his career with the 1950s and 1960s being the most prolific decade with 4 films each decade:

1960s films: Spartacus (1960), Lolita (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

The 1970s and 1980s brought 2 films per decade: A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), The Shining (1980), Full Metal Jacket (1987).

And then there was the final film, Eyes Wide Shut, released in the summer of 1999, a few months after Kubrick passed away at the age of 70.

War and Noir

The 1950s are book-ended by two War films and two Noir films in the middle. This pattern makes sense as the end of WWII meant that War films started emerging in 1950s while Noir was still thriving in the 1950s following their emergence in 1940s. However, neither of the two war films are conventional ones, although budget played a part in one of the film’s decisions.

Kubrick’s debut feature Fear and Desire is a war film set in an unnamed country. The film shows four soldiers navigating a forest after their plane was shot down. It is very clear from the outset that the forest isn’t in Europe or Latin America but it is a park in USA. Clearly, budget played a part in that decision. The location impacts believability of events although not for lack of effort on the part of Kubrick and the film crew. It is clear the film is made by someone who has a keen understanding of cinema techniques from the variety of camera angles (close-ups when needed) and the usage of music to heighten emotions.

Killer’s Kiss, The Killing and Paths of Glory are technically miles ahead of Fear and Desire and depict what a talented director can do with more production budget and better script. Incredibly, all 3 films were released over a 6-year period following Kubrick’s debut feature. Killer’s Kiss and The Killing are solid noir films enhanced with some brilliant technical flourishes. One of the best sequences in Killer’s Kiss is the boxing fight sequence which has some creative camera angles. This sequence has shots that build on Kubrick’s work from his documentary short Day of Fight (1951). The documentary showed the prep that goes before a fight and features a shot that depicts the other boxer via the legs of his opponent. This same shot is incorporated in Killer’s Kiss which also shows realism in the fight sequence. The black and white boxing ring fight scenes are a precursor to those incredible images in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980). Both noir films also feature voice-over narration by the main character, an aspect that was found in Kubrick’s first two documentary shorts (Day of Fight, Flying Padre).

Paths of Glory highlights Kubrick’s progress as a director and can still be rightly considered as one of the best war films made. Or anti-war movie to be exact. The film shows the egos, rules and regulations, hierarchy of the military and is a perfect illustration of the phrase “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Paths of Glory depicts events that unfold when an egoistical general puts the lives of his soldiers at risk by sending them on a suicide mission. Not all the soldiers comply, and the loyal Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) defends his men in a court-martial trial. There are some realistic war trenches scenes, but the power of the film is from sequences which question blind orders.

Ranking all Four Features in order of preference:

1. Paths of Glory (1958)

2. The Killing (1957)

3. Killer’s Kiss (1955)

4. Fear and Desire (1952)

The preference order is inverse of the film’s release date, which highlights Kubrick’s growth as a director. That strength of his directorial abilities flourished further in the 1960s which feature two of the best films ever made, Dr. Strangelove and 2001.

Best Films of the 1980s

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 22:11:00 +0000

For the longest time, I felt that the 1980s were a transition year for cinema. The stellar quality of World Cinema from the 1960s were absent in the 1980s and only a handful of films from this decade have featured in my all time Best film lists. However, revisiting films from this decade has made me think that I have been harsh on this decade. This decade saw the emergence of many new directors, such as Pedro Costa and many notable names from Asia such as Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wong Kar-wai. Béla Tarr directed his first feature in 1978 but he gained world wide attention in the 1980s. New films from Brazil, Argentina started to emerge in the 1980s as well after those nations were freed of military dictatorships. However, the world was still undergoing massive political changes and that surely played a part in the lack of cinema from this decade: the revolution in Iran and Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan took place in 1979 but their impacts were felt throughout the 1980s; the Iraq-Iran war; the shift in government stance in US, UK and the impact of US interference in Latin America. Of course, one of the bigger events took place in the final months of the decade when the Berlin Wall fell on Nov 9, 1989.

Top 30 films from the 1980s

1. Cinema Paradiso (1988, Italy/France, Giuseppe Tornatore)

2. Amma Ariyan (Report to Mother, 1986, India, John Abraham)

3. Tampopo (1985, Japan, Jûzô Itami)

4. The Shining (1980, UK/USA, Stanley Kubrick)

5. Kalyug (1981, India, Shyam Benegal)

6. L'Argent (1983, France/Switzerland, Robert Bresson)

7. Three Crowns of the Sailor (1982, France, Raúl Ruiz)

8. Where is the Friend's House? (1987, Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)

9. The Decalogue (1989, Poland/West Germany, Krzysztof Kieslowski)

10. Boat People (1982, Hong Kong, Ann Hui)

11. Videodrome (1983, Canada, David Cronenberg)

12. Arth (1982, India, Mahesh Bhatt)

13. Come and See (1985, Soviet Union, Elem Klimov)

14. Taipei Story (1985, Taiwan, Edward Yang)

15. Do the Right Thing (1989, USA, Spike Lee)

16. Jaane Bhi do Yaaron (1983, India, Kundan Shah)

17. Wings of Desire (1987, West Germany/France, Wim Wenders)

18. Dead Poets Society (1989, USA, Peter Weir)

19. Masoom (1983, India, Shekhar Kapur)

20. O Sangue (1989, Portugal, Pedro Costa)

21. Babette’s Feast (1987, Denmark, Gabriel Axel)

22. Mandi (1983, India, Shyam Benegal)

23. Ghare Baire (1984, India, Satyajit Ray)

24. Terrorizers (1986, Taiwan, Edward Yang)

25. Revenge (1989, Soviet Union, Ermek Shinarbaev)

26. Om Dar-B-Dar (1988, India, Kamal Swaroop)

27. Sans Soleil (1983, France, Chris Marker)

28. My Brother's Wedding (1983, USA, Charles Burnett)

29. Damnation (1988, Hungary, Béla Tarr)

30. Raakh (1989, India, Aditya Bhattacharya)

Honourable mentions:

Pixote (1980, Brazil, Hector Babenco)

Mephisto (1981, Hungary/West Germany/Austria, István Szabó)

A Time to Live and A Time to Die (1985, Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-hsien)

The Vanishing (1988, Holland, George Sluizer)

Katha (1983, India, Sai Paranjpye)

The Official Story (1985, Argentina, Luis Puenzo)

Blow Out (1981, USA, Brian De Palma)

My Neighbour Totoro (1988, Japan, Hayao Miyazaki)

Early Hou Hsiao-hsien Cinema

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 03:55:00 +0000

Spotlight on the first four feature films of Hou Hsiao-hsien:

Cute Girl (1980)

Cheerful Wind (1981)

The Green, Green Grass of Home (1982)

The Boys from Fengkuei (1983)

It has been 10 years since Hou Hsiao-hsien’s last film The Assassin (2015). While I await his new film (which I hope will still be made), I decided to address my cinematic gap by seeing his first four features.

Romance, music, mischief and laughter

If one didn’t see Hou Hsiao-hsien’s name on the credits, one would never know the master filmmaker has directed these films. The four films don’t bear his trademark of long takes nor are they contemplative dramas exploring historical / political episodes. Instead, the first three films, Cute Girl, Cheerful Wind, The Green, Green Grass of Home are playful lighthearted romantic films with songs featuring prominently in the first two films. All three films also highlight the innocence and calm countryside life unlike the city life depicted in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s later films. The Green, Green Grass of Home is also a coming-of-age film while The Boys from Fengkuei explores the life of teenagers/young adults and is an extension of a coming-of-age template. The Boys from Fengkuei is the first film out of this quartet that shows signs of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s directorial touch and can actually be considered a transition film leading to his subsequent auteur style.

Cute Girl is a romantic film, where the young couple’s romance is not approved by her family as they have plans for her to get married elsewhere. The film’s plot is much more commonplace of that was shown in numerous Hindi language films from the 1970-80s. In addition, the film’s execution with laidback scenarios with no villains and quiet simple countryside or city life recalls the style of Indian master directors Basu Chatterjee, Hrishikesh Mukherjee whose films featured middle-class Indians trying to navigate love and career. The presence of songs in Cute Girl also ties the film to that of those by Chatterjee and Mukherjee.

Cheerful Wind features the same acting duo of Kenny Bee and Fong Fei-fei as Cute Girl but in a slightly different setting. The plot isn’t far off from that seen in most Indian films of 1980-90s, where a couple’s love is tested after a character regains their vision. In the film, Fong Fei-fei plays a photographer (Hsing-hui) who takes a liking to Kenny Bee’s innocent blindman character (Chin-tai). Later in the film, after an operation, Chin-tai regains his sight and learns that Hsing-hui is already slated to be married off to someone else. Chin-tai doesn’t give up and tries to show his true worth to her, including rushing to the airport before she leaves off for Europe. The airport scene has been used countless times in many romantic films but it may not have been as common back in 1981 as it was post 1990s.

Kenny Bee also stars in The Green, Green Grass of Home but romance is only a small part of the film. Instead, the film is mostly a coming-of-age film where Bee’s character plays a teacher sent to teach at a school in the countryside. The overall sentiment of the film is still lighthearted with humour. Although, the songs are missing like the previous two films and the background music is much more limited than the earlier films.

The Boys from Fengkuei mutes the background score even more than The Green, Green Grass of Home and observes the characters in their moments of mischief, fights, joy, sadness without adding any emotional musical cues. The film even features a motorcycle tracking shot, a sequence found in many subsequent Hou Hsiao-hsien films. Although, there are no long takes in the film and events move at a brisk pace. The film came out in 1983 and the sequences of village life feel like those found in Jia Zhang-ke’s films from 1990s-early 2000s and that of Heng Yang's Binglang (2006).

Ranking all 4 films in order of preference:

1. The Boys from Fengkuei (1983)

2. The Green, Green Grass of Home (1982)

3. Cute Girl (1980)

4. Cheerful Wind (1981)

DEFA's Sci-fi films

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 17:12:00 +0000

Spotlight on 4 DEFA Sci-Fi Films

The Silent Star (1960, Kurt Maetzig)

Signals (1970, Gottfried Kolditz)

Eolomea (1972, Herrmann Zschoche)

In the Dust of the Stars (1976, Gottfried Kolditz)

The recent release of these four sci-fi films produced by DEFA (Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft) , East Germany’s film studio, is a significant recalibration of sci-fi film lists. When it comes to sci-fi movies set in space, the lists are dominated by American studio productions with the few exceptions being Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972), the Czech Ikarie XB-1 (1963) and the French film Fantastic Planet (1973). These four films provide a significantly different viewpoint from the American entries and highlight the differing thought around space exploration race between East and West.

The Silent Star shows an international team of men and women from different parts of the world who travel to Venus to make sense of a message they uncovered on Earth. The crew features scientists from Europe, Africa, Asia (China, India) and includes an American, who joins the crew despite having no support from his American counterparts. The film is far more inclusive of different cultures than the average Hollywood film is even today. The Silent Star was released before Star Trek (1966), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and even Ikarie XB-1 (1963). Therefore, it deserves credit as showcasing the space deck and crews working on their stations long before Star Trek and Ikarie XB-1 made it commonplace. The film is based on Stanislaw Lem’s novel The Astronauts so like with many things associated in sci-fi, Lem set the stage for our perception of things. The special effects are impressive for what one would expect of a 1960 film, and especially at a time when alien monsters weren’t regularly depicted on screen. The only reference point for this film would have been Forbidden Planet (1956).

As the title indicates, Signals is about radio messages received from space. This film stands apart from others in this four-film set and is more focused on theory than action. It is akin to seeing a cinematic version of a Carl Sagan book bursting with ideas. Signals came out after 2001 and one can see the influence of Kubrick’s film on this.

Eolomea is about space expedition and some of the space travel sequences shown is echoed by Interstellar. The film features an exploration mission to determine the multiple spaceships that have gone missing. The film continues the theoretical debate about space travel, ethics that Signals featured, and even highlights a scientist’s efforts to fund projects in an unorthodox manner.

In the Dust of the Stars is more closely aligned to what we now expect from space films: battle between humans and aliens, although in the film the aliens are in human form. In the film, a crew goes to an alien planet to respond to a distress call they receive. When they arrive on the planet, the aliens that live there mention the call was likely a mistake as everything is fine and they don’t need any help. Instead, the crew is invited to a feast and alien dance party that Captain Kirk would have loved (the alluring female aliens clearly a nod to Kirk and Star Trek). However, the crew eventually realize something isn’t right. The core story features captured locals who are slaving away to mine rare minerals. The crew then has to decide to help the locals fight the aliens. The rare minerals and planetary struggle has echoes of Dune which was written in 1965. If Dune wasn’t the reference, then the other obvious inspiration could be the capitalist / imperialist model of exploiting locals for resources.

Vital Sci-fi films

The four films in this set aren’t going to change the top Sci-fi films canon lists nor will they change my Top10. However, the films are vital to the overall sci-fi films discussion not only in terms of content but also context. The film features far more theoretical discussion about space travel than Hollywood films do as Hollywood is more interested in explosions and fights with aliens. Aliens are featured in The Silent Star and In the Dust of Stars but in a much different manner than Hollywood cinema. In terms of context, the films highlight the space race between East (USSR) and West (America). The messaging in the film shows far more collaboration than what one expects from American films. The multi-national crew in The Silent Star have a sense of unity and working together to save the planet. Given the film’s origin in East Germany, such messages would be dismissed as socialist propaganda. However, in our current divisive world, such words are actually refreshing instead of the isolationist messages and hatred towards foreigners that is taking hold across the planet.

Soi Cheang Spotlight

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 20:33:00 +0000

Spotlight on the following 5 films of Soi Cheang:

Accident (2009)

Motorway (2012)

Kill Zone 2 (2015)

Limbo (2021)

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024)

I have to thank Filipe Furtado in inspiring me to finally do a spotlight on Soi Cheang. I often saw Filipe mention films of Soi Cheang in his end of the year film lists yet I hadn’t seen any of Soi Cheang’s films. I finally decided to address my cinematic gap after seeing both Filipe place Twilight of the Warriors #8 in his top 100 of 2024 and also seeing Srikanth place the same film at #2 in his list.

Hong Kong Nostalgia

Seeing Soi Cheang’s films reminded me of a time when Hong King cinema felt top of the world. This was two decades ago when I looked forward to seeing the newest crime, thriller or romantic comedies from Hong Kong. It wasn’t just the newest Johnnie To film (PTU, Breaking News, Election, Election 2, Exiled) or the Infernal Affairs Trilogy because there was plenty of discoveries to be had on a weekly/monthly basis. These discoveries happened shortly after I came across David Bordwell’s essential Planet Hong Kong book which emphasized the need to keep up with Hong Kong cinema.

My task to keep up with Hong Kong cinema was easier in those days. A local video shop carried the newest DVDs/VCDs of Hong Kong films. I just had to show on a weekly and bi-weekly basis and select what seemed to catch my eye. Once that video store closed, then my struggles to keep up with Hong Kong started and I was down to only seeing a few films from Hong Kong per year. The last decade has resulted in many blind spots for Hong Kong cinema for me and this is around the time when many of Soi Cheang’s films were released. Watching his films took me instantly back in time to when my regular viewing consisted of watching crime, gangster, police and action thrillers from Hong Kong.

Planning, Speeding, Chasing and Fighting

Hong Kong Cinema has shown many police procedural films but Accident shows planning and procedures from a group of criminals who make their murders look like accidents. The early stages of the film show them planning out their execution strategy and with a few trial runs. However, when things don’t go as per their plan, the leader begins to doubt if they were setup and starts questioning everything including the loyalty of his group. The film shows that wafer thin line between trust and paranoia, which isn’t surprising since the group goes to great lengths to make their plans look like chance. The surveillance and scenes of waiting echo Coppola’s The Conversation. Of interest is that this is the first Soi Cheang film produced by Johnnie To’s MilkyWay production.That makes sense as this film compliments the police films of Johnnie To such as PTU.

As the title indicates, Motorway involves fast cars. Fast police cars against those driven by criminals, or specifically one cop with an aching need for speed vs a criminal with similar need. The film echoes Fast and Furious films. Importantly, Motorway came out a few years after The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006). Tokyo Drift featured those remarkable drift sequences but Motorway has its own unique car movements, a near impossible side-way turn through a narrow street. The trick for such a turn? 8000 rpm, 2 km/hr and a steady hand as per the advice given out by veteran cop Lo Fung (Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, a regular in Johnnie To films) to the young Chan Cheung (Shawn Yue), mentor to trainee. The film also features a backstory which shows the chase for the speedy criminal goes back decades. On a separate note, the enhancing of the car to add more speed also foreshadows the recent Lost Bullet trilogy.

A cop’s missing gun is a big component of Johnnie To’s PTU (2003) but that missing gun plays a minor part in Limbo which is a serial killer hunt film. The black and white depiction of the film is an excellent choice as it enhances the darkness and filth of the surroundings. The film has a separate thread, featuring an experienced cop Cham Lau (Ka-Tung Lam), seeking revenge from the young girl who killed his wife in an accident. That separate thread is weaved into the main serial thread segment resulting in an emotional conclusion.

Emotions are also notched up near the end of Kill Zone 2 even though majority of the film focuses on fights in confined areas. Given the presence of Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak), one expects such fights and on that note, the film delivers. The story is not as refined and instead layered with plenty of melodrama, similar to that of 1980-90s Hindi language cinema. Still, Kill Zone 2 has some merit in showcasing fights that Soi Cheang would hone to perfection in Twilight of the Warriors.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is easily the most accomplished of the 5 films in this spotlight and a perfect distillation of what one expects from Hong Cinema: incredible choregraphed fights, larger than life characters, social relevant topic, a touch of supernatural and mythology. The film recreates the demolished Kowloon Walled City and has a strong story which matches the visual language. The success of the film means that Soi Cheang is working on both a prequel and sequel, both of which will be shot back-to-back.

Ranking of these 5 Soi Cheang films in order of preference:

1. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024)

2. Motorway (2012)

3. Accident (2009)

4. Limbo (2021)

5. Kill Zone 2 (2015)

Best Films of the 1970s

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 00:07:00 +0000

After the rich global cinematic feast dished out by the 1960s, one would have expected that the 1970s would have increased that output. However, the 1970s pushed cinema in different directions. A few political events, some starting from the 1960s, easily played a part. To name a few global events: increasing American involvement in the Vietnam War from the mid 1960s, the May 1968 French protests, the toppling of Salvador Allende in Chile (Sept 11, 1973) violent military dictatorships in Brazil, Argentina and their disappearance of citizens, Emergency in India from 1975-77, Canada’s October crisis in 1970 and the OPEC Oil Embargo. This is not a comprehensive list but shows that cinema couldn’t have been top of people’s minds. Interestingly, this likely also played a part in the escapist summer blockbuster that came out in 1975: Jaws. This was followed 2 years later by Star Wars. Recently, Sight and Sound magazine labeled 1975 as the “year that changed cinema forever”. They picked Jaws in one corner and Jeanne Dielman in the other. One started the summer blockbuster trend, the other a path towards a new variation of artistic cinema. The 1970s also saw a handful of post-Vietnam American films and the war’s impact played a direct and indirect part in many violent and crime films. It wasn’t all doom and gloom violence in 1970s cinema. In India, the continued Parallel Cinema movement ushered in new socially charged films from the 1970s-1980s that examined rural life and also the plight of the growing middle class in urban areas.

It is tough to limit this list down to 30 films especially with the diverse range of cinematic genres and style.

Top 30 films of the 1970s:

1. Sholay (1975, India, Ramesh Sippy)

2. The Godfather (1972, USA, Francis Ford Coppola)

3. Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972, West Germany/Mexico/Peru, Werner Herzog)

4. Ankur (1974, India, Shyam Benegal)

5. Stalker (1979, Russia, Andrei Tarkovsky)

6. The Battle of Chile (1975, Venezuela/France/Cuba, Patricio Guzmán)

7. Network (1976, USA, Sidney Lumet)

8. Manila in the Claws of Light (1975, Philippines, Lino Brocka)

9. The Last Picture Show (1971, USA, Peter Bogdanovich)

10. Touki Bouki (1973, Senegal, Djibril Diop Mambéty)

11. Scenes from a Marriage (1973, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)

12. Solaris (1972, Russia, Andrei Tarkovsky)

13. The Conversation (1974, USA, Francis Ford Coppola)

14. The Godfather Part II (1974, USA, Francis Ford Coppola)

15. Uski Roti (1970, India, Mani Kaul)

16. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974, West Germany, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

17. Les Orders (1974, Canada, Michel Brault)

18. Adoption (1975, Hungary, Márta Mészáros)

19. Montreal Main (1972, Canada, Frank Vitale)

20. Chess of the Wind (1976, Iran, Mohammad Reza Aslani)

21. Titas Ekti Nodir Naam (A River Called Titas, 1973, India, Ritwik Ghatak)

22. Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Belgium, Chantal Akerman)

23. Insiang (1976, Philippines, Lino Brocka)

24. The Emigrants / The New Land (1971/1972, Sweden, Jan Troell)

25. The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Spain, Victor Erice)

26. The Devil, Probably (1977, France, Robert Bresson)

27. Taxi Driver (1976, USA, Martin Scorsese)

28. Days of Heaven (1978, USA, Terrence Malick)

29. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972, France/Italy/Spain, Luis Buñuel)

30. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, UK, Terry Gilliam/Terry Jones)

Honourable mentions (in no particular order):

Killer of Sheep (1977, USA, Charles Burnett)

Le Cercle Rouge (1970, France/Italy, Jean-Pierre Melville)

The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972, West Germany/Austria, Wim Wenders)

The Conspirators (1972, Brazil, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade)

Cuadecuc, vampir (1971, Spain, Pere Portebella)

Garm Hava (Hot Winds, 1974, India, M.S. Sathyu)

The Conformist (1970, Italy/France/Germany, Bernardo Bertolucci)

A Clockwork Orange (1971, UK, Stanley Kubrick)

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971, USA, Monte Hellman)

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976, USA, John Cassavetes)

A Woman Under the Influence (1974, USA, John Cassavetes)

Ek Din Pratidin (And Quiet Rolls the Dawn, 1979, India, Mrinal Sen)

Chronicles of the Years of Fire (1975, Algeria, Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina)

The Mother and the Whore (1973, France, Jean Eustache)

Claire’s Knee (1970, France, Eric Rohmer)

Note: Fassbinder’s World on a Wire is a TV serial but if I considered it as a film, it would be on this list.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cloud

noreply@blogger.com (Sachin) — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 12:19:00 +0000

Cloud (2024, Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Cloud continues the multi-genre style associated with Kurosawa’s films and fits nicely within Kurosawa’s body of work. The style and themes identified in this earlier Spotlight still apply to Cloud. In addition, Cloud is a worthy extension to ideas first explored in Pulse.

Pulse (2001) was released just as the internet was becoming commonplace. The horror in the film is transmitted to anyone whose computer is connected to the internet via a dial-up modem. In Pulse, people are starting to form connections only virtually and losing face-to-face social connections. An observation from a character in the film is that everyone is sitting lifelessly in front of their computer and she notes that it is hard to tell if those people are already dead or still alive. In a way, Pulse was decades ahead of its time and came out long before smart phones, laptops and other devices allowed people to be constantly connected on the internet. The loneliness and erosion of community that Pulse raises has increased substantially over the last two decades and truly accelerated since 2020.

Cloud picks up from Pulse and continues exploration of the internet in our contemporary times when people order anything and everything over the internet. Rare items, every day items, illegal items, legal items, all are snapped up online especially if people can save a few dollars. Cloud looks at an internet reseller Yoshii (Masaki Suda) who earns a living by buying items on the cheap and selling them for a hefty profit. As the film shows, Yoshii is savvy in sniffing out deals and often buys well below the market price. He identifies situations where people are desperate and takes advantage of their needs. All is fine until Yoshii moves out of Tokyo into the countryside where his ways catch the attention of locals including the police. Meanwhile, angry online users want revenge for faulty purchases from Yoshii and band together to teach Yoshii a lesson.

The revenge unfolds in a manner reminiscent of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s style albeit with a few cinematic homages (a touch of Michael Haneke to name one). Cloud is a gripping thriller that seamlessly weaves horror, dark humour, gangsters and crime with a social commentary of our contemporary world. It is easily one of the best films of 2024!