His Master's Toys » films

How far would you push others for your dream?

soum — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:51:39 +0000

Burden of Dreams, a film by Les Blank is the behind-the-scenes documentation of how Herzog ended up making his reputed film Fitzcarraldo. Similar to Hearts of Darkness: A filmmaker’s Apocalypse, this film captures the trauma after trauma Herzog went through before he could turn his film into reality. If you thought that the pursuit of Fitzcarraldo himself was insane, then try Herzog’s quest for making that film.

To quote him from the film:

Kinski always says it’s (the jungle) full of erotic elements. I don’t see it so much erotic. I see it more full of obscenity. It’s just – Nature here is vile and base. I wouldn’t see anything erotical here. I would see fornication and asphyxiation and choking and fighting for survival and… growing and… just rotting away. Of course, there’s a lot of misery. But it is the same misery that is all around us. The trees here are in misery, and the birds are in misery. I don’t think they – they sing. They just screech in pain. It’s an unfinished country. It’s still prehistorical. The only thing that is lacking is – is the dinosaurs here. It’s like a curse weighing on an entire landscape. And whoever… goes too deep into this has his share of this curse. So we are cursed with what we are doing here. It’s a land that God, if he exists has – has created in anger. It’s the only land where – where creation is unfinished yet. Taking a close look at – at what’s around us there – there is some sort of a harmony. It is the harmony of… overwhelming and collective murder. And we in comparison to the articulate vileness and baseness and obscenity of all this jungle – Uh, we in comparison to that enormous articulation – we only sound and look like badly pronounced and half-finished sentences out of a stupid suburban… novel… a cheap novel. We have to become humble in front of this overwhelming misery and overwhelming fornication… overwhelming growth and overwhelming lack of order. Even the – the stars up here in the – in the sky look like a mess. There is no harmony in the universe. We have to get acquainted to this idea that there is no real harmony as we have conceived it. But when I say this, I say this all full of admiration for the jungle. It is not that I hate it, I love it. I love it very much. But I love it against my better judgment.

Highly memorable, and not just for the brilliant characters.

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Man On Wire & Gran Torino

soum — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:05:05 +0000

I love Saturdays. First a jamming session with a couple of musicians, (where I realized that not touching an instrument like Tabla for thirteen years can make you pretty pathetic at it, no matter how well you knew it before), followed by experiments with spinach, potato, yellow split lentils, and red wine, and eventually concluded with a couple of film viewings along with the experimental dinner.

I tend to repeat myself a lot – people complain that I praise every film I see. However, I choose my viewing list very very carefully after extensive research, and that helps keepign the trash away. Today they were ‘Man On Wire’ and ‘Gran Torino’.

Man On Wire is an exquisite film, a documentary about Philip Petit, the tight-rope walker who performed his class act by doing a high-wire walk between the Twin Towers in NYC back in 1974.

The filmmakers must have had quite a few challenges – especially since remarkable documentaries are made of stark truth, however easy or difficult that might be. Furthermore, a documentary about an (literally high-wire) act such as this, itself needs to be complex enough to stand up to the task that its trying to portray… or else, it falls flat very easily.

And yet, James Marsh proves himself in this one. Starting from outstanding storytelling to classy cinematography, from slick yet arty editing, to extreme honesty about every single detail, this film had everything. I especially loved the build up to the act, from the point they smuggle in the gear into the Twin Towers to the actual act.

However, the best part of the film of course is the man himself, a character whose mesmeric tone and passion for the insane act carries so much force, so much vehemence, that you find yourself wondering about this world — why do we have to have a why for everything?

Next up was Gran Torino, the Clint Eastwood film thats been playing foever in the theaters in the US, the man whose name they sing in the same breath as Hollywood approaching the peak of his talent as he gets older. This wasn’t a Million Dollar Baby, but it is definitely worth a watch due to its classic character reversal narrative and Dirty Harry elements.

Watched Inside Man by Spike Lee last night. Great twist to the… Watched Inside Man by Spike Lee last night. Great twist...

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The Baader Meinhof Complex

soum — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:06:23 +0000

Between 1968-1977, West Germany’s socio-political structure went through its most tumultuous era. Born as an antithesis of the Nazi era, the student protests in Germany against the spread of American imperialism began a period of chaos that would end with the infamous hijack of the Lufthansa aircraft, turning it into one of the most ironical acts in German history. Uli Edel’s brilliant film ‘The Baader Mienhof Complex‘ details the beginning, middle and end of that movement, bringing to life Stefan Aust’s work “The Baader-Meinhof Group”.

The film begins with a pleasant day at a German beach in 1967, introducing us to the gorgeous Ulrike Meinhof who was then a very well known journalist working for a left wing magazine. As the police atrocities begin against the student protesters, she finds herself empathizing with their cause, writing the following lines after assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke.:

Protest is when I say this does not please me.
Resistance is when I ensure what does not please me occurs no more

The film the picks up a raging pace that left me at the edge of the seat till the very end, shifting constantly between the key characters of the RAF and the devolution of their entire belief structure from high idealism to rioting and terrorism. Amongst the characters, Mienhof’s story is the most fascinating, her intelligence and natural empathy constantly in conflict with the hard-hitting nature of the group. Played by Martina Gedeck, Mienhof’s beliefs and sacrifices provides an immediate contrast to the rebellious madness of the hardliner Andreas Baader, who was one of the first members of the RAF.

As I walked out of the theater after two and half hours, I realized that RAF’s tale has many parallels. Naxalite groups that originated from Bengal, for instance. (Sudhir Mishra’s ‘Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi‘ is a must-watch for anyone who is interested in similar story based in an Indian setting.) Outstanding direction, great acting, and superb screenplay all make for a very compelling watch for anyone who has the stomach for the aggressive violence that’s rampant throughout the film.

Rating: 4.5/5

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Bruce Lee in Hong Kong

soum — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:20:12 +0000

A little bit of self-publicity never hurts. Just another photograph from my photo.net photography portfolio.

Watched Inside Man by Spike Lee last night. Great twist to the… Watched Inside Man by Spike Lee last night. Great twist...

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