This is one of those years which is ending profoundly better than the way it began. After enduring half a dozen disappointing blockbusters (Civil War is an exception), we found a silver lining in Marvel’s Doctor Strange. Now, the most anticipated movie of the year, the first of the new ‘prequel’ franchise to the global ...
This is one of those years which is ending profoundly better than the way it ...
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Award-winning screenwriter, veteran producer, and former CEO of Focus Features James Schamus’ directorial debut Indignation (2016) made me think that it will instill warmth like John Crowley’s Brooklyn (2015). The very opposite happened. Unlike Crowley’s clear-sighted coming-of-age tale, Indignation is about a boy reflecting on the limited paths he can choose from. The film is set in 1951. The ...
Award-winning screenwriter, veteran producer, and former CEO of Focus Features James Schamus’ directorial debut Indignation ...
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Christopher Nolan’s Inception was extensively raved for its concept and twisted ending. However, one of its awe-inducing scenes stole the limelight. In Marvel’s 14th offspring, which kickstarts the Phase III of Marvel Cinematic Universe, one particular scene is magnificently manoeuvred. From the beginning to the end. The gravity-defying hallway fight scene is a source of inspiration ...
Christopher Nolan’s Inception was extensively raved for its concept and twisted ending. However, one of ...
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TV drama biopics have boomed recently. You get the chance to let yourselves into the lives of personalities you’ve never heard of. Most of them are traditional subjects – political activists, scientists, sportsmen, etc. Rarely do we see filmmakers sidestep the standard biopic themes. Julian Farino’s Marvellous (2014) tells the story of one such unique individual ...
TV drama biopics have boomed recently. You get the chance to let yourselves into the ...
KEEP READINGIf there’s one Indian director whose films seem straight out of a novel, it has to be the man who’s won us over with gems like Iqbal and Dor. It isn’t just because of Nagesh Kukunoor’s storytelling skills but his eye for the tiniest of detail. He weaves them so beautifully in his stories. There’s something ...
If there’s one Indian director whose films seem straight out of a novel, it has to ...
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The challenge with films that tell real-life stories (of public figures) is that the audience already has a broader picture of the narrative. The director’s ability to pull it off then is in the telling. And there are few storytellers in Hindi cinema like Neeraj Pandey. His debut A Wednesday still stays his best work ...
The challenge with films that tell real-life stories (of public figures) is that the audience ...
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This is not a man’s world. It’s a world where women are in charge. Welcome to Oppressed Majority! Written and directed by Eléonore Pourriat, Majorité Opprimée is a refreshing and nuanced take on gender role reversal. Now, this isn’t your typical short film. It’s a thought-provoking, eye-opening piece that flips societal norms on their head ...
This is not a man’s world. It’s a world where women are in charge. Welcome ...
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Raam Reddy’s excellent debut feature Thithi is a rare Indian film. There’s great interest in providing textures (ingrained with realism) to the frame and imbuing character details rather than chasing greater narrative aspirations. The film does have a central familial turmoil and a string of conflicts, but what Raam wants us to witness is simplicity ...
Raam Reddy’s excellent debut feature Thithi is a rare Indian film. There’s great interest in ...
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Fate brings together strangers Shiv Kumar (Naseeruddin Shah) and Tara Deshpande (Kalki Koechlin) when their respective spouses end up in the same hospital. Shiv and Tara are oblivion to what life has in store but learn to embrace hope and wait. Endlessly! Despite the dark premise, the film is sprinkled with generous doses of humour ...
Fate brings together strangers Shiv Kumar (Naseeruddin Shah) and Tara Deshpande (Kalki Koechlin) when their ...
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Noted critic Roger Ebert’s words “Movies are like a machine that generates empathy” resonate strongly when we watch works like Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh. Set in the monumental Indian city Aligarh, the film empathetically visualizes the hypocritical treatment meted to Shrinivas Ramachandra Siras by one of nation’s most renowned universities. Professor Siras was suspended from his ...
Noted critic Roger Ebert’s words “Movies are like a machine that generates empathy” resonate strongly ...
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One of the most tragic events in the history of India and Pakistan, the Partition of 1947 is fraught with stories of grief, pain, horror, disbelief. Several Indian filmmakers have explored this theme. Few such films, however, are known of, from across the border. A lot of these stories have gone unspoken, unheard. Exploring one ...
One of the most tragic events in the history of India and Pakistan, the Partition ...
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Kipling’s Jungle Book is a work of art and the most recent cinematic adaptation takes care to stay in the background and simply provide a platform for Kipling to reach out and tell us his timeless story. “Imagine that you are seated before a fire. You are in a glade of a great forest; towering ...
Kipling’s Jungle Book is a work of art and the most recent cinematic adaptation takes ...
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There’s an understated ease in how the characters play out and the screenplay unfolds. Kapoor and Sons isn’t your staple mainstream Bollywood. The characters are unerringly drawn, real and relatable. The director (Shakun Batra) doesn’t start defining them as soon as he introduces them to us. He lets them be. They mold along the way ...
There’s an understated ease in how the characters play out and the screenplay unfolds. Kapoor ...
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French/Turkish filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s poignant début Mustang, is about the socially mandated sexualization of women. It opens with a premonitory voice-over: “Everything changed in the blink of an eye. One minute we were quiet. The next we all danced.” Set in a small Turkish coastal village by the Black Sea, Mustang is narrated by a ...
French/Turkish filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s poignant début Mustang, is about the socially mandated sexualization of ...
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There are two types of people who dive (whether voluntarily or not) into a Quentin Tarantino movie. The first are those who brace themselves for the blood and gore and violence about to come, half-gritting their teeth; and the other are those who look forward to it, who realize that these very signature elements of ...
There are two types of people who dive (whether voluntarily or not) into a Quentin ...
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Dipankar Sarkar
