Oye Lucky Lucky Oye

I personally have a deep fascination for thievery, one day I'll steal something precious. This was a movie about a thief. Yes, in movies, all thieves are like-able. The thief in this movie was love-able only because he was- I cant put my finger on it.

This movie, along with Abhay Deol, deserves a shady place somewhere in the garden.

(As of now, I've spent 10 grueling minutes, justifying every one of them, with this movie named "Wake up Sid". They could have just named the movie and just the name would've sufficed.)

Birra Birra Birra (Beera Beera Beera)

The new Mani Ratnam film's lyrics sounded like an Italian beer ad- only more poignant. The lyricist spent 20,000 years and came up with the most meaningful lyrics- one word -"Beera".

Review of the film À bout de souffle aka Breathless

Breathless, Band of outsiders(Bande à part) and Pierrot le Fou are the godard movies that I think are highly metaphorical or symbolic.

In spite of Godard's and Breathless' popularity, I have never read an appreciation that looks past the superficial elements of that film. It is not my intention to suggest that the superficial is in anyway inferior to deeper layers. The mere non-existence of such an appreciation is the question.

Breathless is not the story of Michel Poiccard, instead the story is about Patricia. Michel is just a representation her adventurous side. The side of her that animalistic, full of life and beyond morality. Michel goes anti-social, he is hunted and killed by the society. I viewed it as a metaphorical expression of how we are all forced to conform. Patricia being the young girl she is, is forced to hide her animalistic, pre-moral self to conform to the rules of the society. Her repressed side gave birth to the character Michel, who sadly, gets killed in the end. leaving Patricia to now say good bye to her adventurous self. It also marks the end of youthfulness in her in a way. It is time she grew up, matured, so to speak. Michel's death marks the beginning of a more ordered life that focuses on leading "a successful life" for her.

Pierrot Le Fou was about a married man eloping with an old time lover. To me it represented an artist's need for following his art. But peril and pain awaits one who tries to truly follow his art.

In Band of Outsiders, a man's dual nature, the animal and the social being are portrayed by two characters- Franz and Arthur. As expected, the animal gets killed in the end, leaving Odile with the gentler poetic Franz. Love and passion are triggered by danger and the dangerous. Yet when it comes to a relationship, one must kill one's dangerous side.

Koyaanisqatsi | Do you want to star in a movie? | *******(7/5)

If you like to star in a movie, this is one should top your list. Most movies are so tightly bound,  that there really is no space for the viewer to fit in. Some films create a lot of space and freedom in them, the viewer is invited to join the film, to influence the film and be influenced by the film. This film is made up of sets of evocative scenes of landscapes and city-scapes set against a grandesque score by Philip Glass. There are no dialogues, no actors and there is no story. Talk about space! My uncle, who used to be a helicopter mechanic in the Indian army, said, they were taught that "there was no room for error"! It is funny that when it comes to art, the more room you create for error, the more involved you get the viewer. In other words, there is no error, only different interpretations or experiences.

The actions that happen in the scenes cannot and are not intented to exactly match the rhythm of the music. The music suits the scenes well, but, they are not precisely aligned as in the case of more commercial background scores. The music cannot precisely match the actions as the actions are not choreographed and are sometimes the clouds or the waves or an explosion! This creates a space between the music and the visuals for the viewer to get in! Overall, it is a majestic film that makes you think. 

As the attractive waitress once stated, "I have thoughts." You can have them too!

Man on Wire | ***** (5/5)

Man on Wire gets your attention from the get go to the very last scene like a heist movie. Its one of those movies that could inspire you to let go of the handle bar doing 70 or try doing a stoppie at the next red light, if you happen to ride a motorcyle to the theatre. But, Man of Wire was not just about a man wanting to walk between the twin towers. It was also a character study of the man, Philippe Petit, the man on wire, and the few people surrounding him in his Twin Towers "heist". The relationship between Philippe and his girlfriend was certainly typical of a relationship between a dreamy charismatic person and the girl who wants to weave her life around him. Such relationships prove to be the very core, the very support system for these people to pursue their dreams. The friendship between Philippe and his partner in crime, Jean-Louis Blondeau, also seem to suggest this kind of an unusual productive relationship. It was an assymetric partnership where Philippe's mind was set only on walking between the Twin Towers on a wire and Jean-Louis found satisifaction in helping Philippe achieve his dream. There would have been no man, nor a wire between the two buildings without any one of the two. The other relationships in the film are less intriguing. We want the society to keep us busy, or we will find weird ways to keep ourselves busy. The other two characters in the heist were in it for the adventure!

Theres the visionary, then there are followers who are are drawn towards the visionary, more than his vision. The documentary surprisingly brings this idea out, when Jean-Louis breaks down into tears when he talks about how the smile on Philippe's face, midway between the two towers, told him that Philippe was alright. People were drawn towards Buddhism not by virtue of what Buddha said, but by Buddha's beautiful serene smiling face! Philippe Petit spent 45 minutes on the wire and did almost eight walks between the two towers before he was forced to end it by the police. The people, half a kilometer below, could only see a small speck of a man, dressed in black, walking in the clouds!

"It's impossible, that's sure. So let's start working."

Vicky Cristina Barcelona | At last, a Woody Allen movie with a closure! | ***(3/5)

How many Woody Allen movies have you seen? How many of them can you distinguish based on the story line? The man has made over 40 movies, I paid my respects and walked into the shrine of Vicky Cristina Barcelona at a theatre somewhere in the distant suburbs of LA. A must watch for Allen virgins (If the man has left any!). A decent watch, certainly not a must watch for Woody Allen usuals. 

Certain aspects of the film were refreshing, certain boring for Allen usuals. The story definitely seemed to conclude very meaningfully for me. Vicky and Cristina, both realize that relationships are not made of something that's generally deemed of them to be made of. Lasting relationships are characterized by a certain fatal attraction for each other that may not always lead to constant happiness. In fact, the old(or new) adage, if everything seems to go well, then its not going well, could be used to describe the passionate relationships between Allenesque artsy souls! The secret ingredient in lasting relationships is infact the missing ingredient, the lack of which creates a certain continued fascination about the relationship and it's strangeness. 

"Who did they say was a genius in art school?"

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson | ****(4/5)

If you had to watch this, there's few other places better than San Francisco, just so that you feel you are part of something important. I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary from the very first scene to the very last. Well made, riveting and entertaining. My introduction to Hunter S Thompson, was a very late one, coming from India. But being in San Francisco, it was an inevitable one, I should say. I was glad to lay my hands on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas shortly after Gonzo.