The Other Side of Hell (1978)

Sometimes when you dig old grounds you find gold. Based on nonfiction book called “The Shoe Leather Treatment” by Bill Thomas, 1978 TV film The Other Side of Hell is one such gem. Set in a mental institution, this is as realistic as one can get about the subject of actual functioning of such establishments in the 70s. The film features a brilliant lead turn by the gifted actor Alan Arkin who is known to the 90s audience as a character actor through films such as Glengarry Glen Ross and Slums of Beverly Hills. The film is also about the fierce will of a mentally unstable man fighting his way through adversities of all kinds. This American film is directed by Hungarian director Jan Kadar whose brilliant film Adrift we used to watch in the film institute. Just be aware that though not explicit, the film is brutal and disturbing. Highly recommended.

Directed by Jan Kadar/Cast: Alan Arkin, Roger E. Mosley, Morgan Woodward/Cinematography by Adam Holender/Editing by Ralph E. Winters/Sound Mixing by Jack F. Lilly/Music by Leonard Rosenman/Produced by Ronald Lyon, Jim Milio

Pola X (1999)

 

Pola X , what a mesmerising and intense film by Leos Carax. Its a French adaptation of an American novel by Herman Melville, written in 1852. The film sucks you into its bizarre universe and doesn’t let you go till the end. You feel as if you are living among these characters and experiencing their nightmarish life. Carax created strange cinematic spaces in the film which feel inhabitable but people live in them. Be it the palatial house or the jungle (where a very long scene happens which follows the characters endlessly and one character narrates her story, perhaps the most important scene of the film), or the huge warehouse on the outskirts of Paris where an orchestra plays a strange mournful metal music and there are makeshift rooms above with rusty iron doors. The film also feature some good performances from Catherine Deneuve, Guillaume Depardieu and the late Katerina Golubeva, a Russian actress. At the time, the film was classified under the ‘New French Extremity’ by the critics and the X in the title stands for the 10th draft of the screenplay on which the film is based upon.

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Pola X, Language: French, Premiere: 13 May 1999 (Cannes Film Festival), Directed by Leos Carax, Produced by Bruno Pésery, Based on a novel by Herman Melville, Screenplay by Leos Carax and Jean-Pol Fargeau, Music by Scott Walker, Cinematography Eric Gautier, Edited by Nelly Quettier, Production company: Canal+, France 2 Cinéma, La Sept-Arte, Pandora Filmproduktion, Distributed by AMLF

Once upon a time in Tarantinoland…

 

Cliff Booth of Tarantino’s supposedly penultimate film, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood (2019), is in many ways like Jules Winnfield of Pulp Fiction (1994). The path of the righteous man… there we go again! Some may ask, what’s the point of the film? The long drawn recreated scenes of movies and TV series’ of golden age of Hollywood take much of the screen time. That’s precisely the point! It’s a celebration of Hollywood and its movies and it captures a very important period of Hollywood history, when dominant studio system was giving way to auteurism and that’s why Polanski was the hottest director in the town and Rick  Dalton was fading away. A time of transitions of all kinds, with the hippie culture and killer cults around. Here, Tarantino returns to the form where fictional characters meet real historical ones, a form which he employed previously in Inglourious Basterds (2009). Sure, ’Hollywood’ doesn’t feature the ‘Tarantino’ dialogue every step of the way and drama is much too linear but that’s because film favors ‘character’ more than anything else. Last time Tarantino favored character study over other elements was in Jackie Brown (1997), albeit in a different way. Towards the end, the old boy Tarantino kicks in with absurdist violence and smooth lines. The twist to the Sharon Tate incident is brilliant. One Upon a Time … in Hollywood. Tarantino gives us the fantasy again like ‘Basterds’, not the real incident but what people wish would have happened and lastly, the acid dipped cigarette and its repercussions is a nice touch.

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Upon a Time … in Hollywood (2019). Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino. A Heyday Films Production. Cinematography by Robert Richardson. Film Editing by Fred Raskin. Production Design by Barbara Ling. Chief Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.

 

Starring Rita Hayworth

Starring Rita Hayworth in Bicycle Thieves (1948) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Occurred to me that in a way, both films are centered on a poster of Rita Hayworth. In Thieves, Antonio’s ordeal begins when he is pasting a poster of Heyworth on a wall while it’s the poster which ultimately sets Andy free in Shawshank.

Ozu | Antonioni

“Although I may seem the same to other people, to me each thing I produce is a new expression and I always make each work from a new interest. It’s like a painter who always paints same rose.”

– Yasujiro Ozu

“My work is like digging, it’s archaeological research among the arid materials of our times.”

– Michelangelo Antonioni

L’Avventura (1960) | Tokyo Story (1953)

 

An Autumn Afternoon (1962) | Red Desert (1964)

 

L’Avventura (1960) | Tokyo Story (1953)

 

Tokyo Story (1953) | La Notte (1961)

 

L’Eclisse (1962) | Tokyo Story (1953)

 

La Notte (1961)| Tokyo Story (1953)

 

The Only Son (1936) | La Notte (1961)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 MILE (2002)

Set in the hip-hop scene of 1995 Detroit, a young rapper, B-Rabbit from the wrong side of the 8 mile road tries to keep it together. The odds…a troubled mother…wasters as friends…a rival rap group called ‘Free World’ up his ass and his ethnicity…a white man trying to make it in a predominantly ‘black’ art form.

This tale of a young rapper’s struggle is a semi-autobiographical account of Marshall Mathers A.K.A Eminem’s own real life story. The film is very well realized at the expert hands of Curtis Hanson. Hanson landed a unique humanistic flavor to this otherwise ‘set in decadence’ premise. Eminem’s casting helped the film to access the actual emotional going-on’s inside the protagonist as the film progresses. The film loosely follows the narrative progression similar to that of a sports film in which the underdog has his day at the end; else the film hardly relies on the ‘plot’, surprisingly the film doesn’t relies heavily on the rap music either, in terms of its soundtrack.

Finally, it’s a damn good insight into a subculture which thrives on aggression, relentlessness and popularity.

Quentin Tarantino was considered to direct but thank god he didn’t as this film required a certain ground-realism which was very well integrated into the film by Hanson.  Second good thing about QT not directing is that we are possibly saved from watching another odd cameo by the master himself 🙂

Directed by Curtis Hanson Produced by Curtis Hanson Brian Grazer Jimmy Iovine Written by Scott Silver Starring Eminem Kim Basinger Brittany Murphy Mekhi Phifer Music by Proof Cinematography Rodrigo Prieto Production Design by Philip Messina Editing by Craig Kitson Jay Rabinowitz Studio Imagine Entertainment

SONNY (2002)

Sonny is a film which touches you in an offbeat manner. Franco’s Sonny is a guy who’s been ‘gainfully employed’ by his mother since he was 12. Cage has chosen to set his characters around a life of prostitution to talk about the themes of identity, love, family, hope, control and so on. The film plays in New Orleans in early 80’s where a 26 years old Sonny Phillips, just discharged from the Army, returns home. Back in the real world, he struggles to break away from his past as a prostitute but eventually resigns to his fate along with discovering his real father, losing out his love and coming to terms with demands and ‘traditionalism’ of his mother. Cage succeeds in telling this complex tale with simplicity and clarity and yet enriching it by adding psychological undertones of his characters. Another one of his success lies in the extraction of honest and believable performance from his cast, especially Franco, Suvari and Harry Dean Stanton. This is a modest-budget independent film by a Hollywood star which attempts for clarity, honesty and integrity.

The film was shot primarily in a French Quarter building that Mr. Cage happened upon, purchased and now does not know what to do with. Cage first read the script many years ago, intending to play the part of Sonny, finally the film went from ‘green light’ to ‘in the can’ in 9 weeks.

Directed by Nicolas Cage.Produced by Paul Brooks Nicolas Cage Norman Golightly.Written by John Carlen.Music by Clint Mansell.Cinematography Barry Markowitz.Editing by Howard E. Smith.Actors James Franco Brenda Blethyn Harry Dean Stanton Mena Suvari Josie Davis Nicolas Cage.Studio Gold Circle Films Saturn Films.Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films.Release date September 2, 2002.Running time 110 minutes.Country United States.Language English

TEKKEN (2010)

The year is 2039. Much of civilization has been destroyed by world wars. Regions are no longer run by governments, but by corporations; the mightiest of which is the Tekken Corporation, which controls North America. In order to placate the seething masses of this dystopia, the corporation’s Chairman, Heihachi Mishima, sponsors the King of Iron Fist Tournament, or Iron Fist – in which fighters battle until one is left standing, who in turn will receive a lifetime of stardom and wealth.

In Tekken’s universe, the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ are kept separately in marked territories. One such ‘have not’ Jin Kazama, who is trained as a fighter by his mother Jun, witnesses her death by Tekken in the slums known as Anvil. After finding a Tekken ID he decides to seek out vengeance for his mother’s death by entering the Iron Fist Tournament.

The film is based on the video game series Tekken (1995). The film has successfully combined the elements of video game, show fights, future shock genre and classic revenge tale to enthrall the action fans. The strength of this B film lies in its all-out- trash-appeal and well executed fight choreography.

[TEKKEN/2010/Japan-US/Directed by Dwight H. Little/Produced by Steven Paul, Benedict Carver, Iddo Lampton Enochs/Screenplay by   Michael Colleary, Alan B. McElroy, Mike Werb/Story by Namco/Narrated by Jon Foo, Kelly Overton/Starring Jon Foo, Kelly Overton, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Ian Anthony Dale, Tamlyn Tomita, Candice Hillebrand, Luke Goss, Gary Daniels, Mircea Monroe/Music by John Hunter/Cinematography Brian J. Reynolds/Editing by David Checel/Studio Crystal Sky Pictures/Distributed by Warner Bros. (Japan), Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA)/Release date(s) November 5, 2009 (AFM), March 20, 2010 (Japan)/Running time 92 minutes/Language Mandarin, Japanese, English/Budget $35 million/Gross revenue $967,369]

RAJA HARISHCHANDRA (1913): India’s First Feature Film

India's first feature film

Raja Harishchandra (राजा हरिश्चंद्र), is a 1913 silent, black and white Indian film directed and produced by Dadasaheb Phalke, and is India’s first full-length feature film.The film was based on the legend of King Harishchandra, recounted in our mythological epics Ramayan and Mahabharat.

The film opens with a tableau showing Harishchandra, his wife Taramati and his young son, to whom he is teaching archery and goes on to tell the story of this noble and righteous king, who first sacrifices his kingdom, followed by his wife and eventually his children to honor his promise to the sage Vishwamitra. Though, in the end, pleased by his high morals, the Gods restore his former glory, and further bestow him with divine blessings.

India's first feature film poster

The film was first shown on 3^rd May 1913 at Bombay’s Coronation Cinema at Girgaon, where people crowded in large numbers on the roads outside the hall, as it marked the beginning of the Indian film industry. The film was so successful that Phalke had to make more prints to show the film in other areas as well. The film was a grand success and soon established Phalke as a producer and paved the way for the Indian film industry. Phalke’s wife Saraswatibai cooked food alone, without any help, for the whole cast and crew, which were more than 500 people. She also washed the clothes and costumes, helped in the posters and production of the film, and co-operated with the cast.

A still from the film

Phalke was greatly influenced by the style of painter Raja Ravi Verma in terms of visual aesthetics which reflects in the film. The film had an all-male cast, as no woman was available for playing female leads in the film, so the men played all the roles. The film reel was 3700 feet long, roughly amounting to 40 minutes.

Another still from the film

Phalke made 95 feature films and 26 short films in his career span of 19 years (till 1937). His most noted works are Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), Satyavan Savitri (1914), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918), Kaliya Mardan (1919), Setu Bandhan (1923) and Gangavataran (1937).

Dadasaheb Phalke (1870-1944)

[Raja Harishchandra/India/1913/Director Dadasaheb Phalke/Producer Dadasaheb Phalke for Phalke Films/Written by Dadasaheb Phalke, Ranchhodbai Udayram(story)/Cinematography Trymbak B. Telang/ Actors D.D. Dabhke, P.G. Sane, Bhalchandra D. Phalke, G.V. Sane, Dattatreya Kshirsagar, Dattatreya Telang, Ganpat G. Shinde, Vishnu Hari Aundhkar, Anna Salunke, Nath T. Telang]

The World’s First Film Poster

The world's first film poster, for 1895's L'Arroseur Arrosé by Auguste Lumière and Louis Lumière

 

The poster realised as a sand sculpture

 

The Lumière brothers of France, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas (1862-1954) and Louis Jean (1864-1948), were among the earliest filmmakers in history. Appropriately, "lumière" translates as "light" in English.