sid-47 Reviews

Mountain of the Moon (2013)

A wonderful movie

[30 December 2013]

After the brilliant Meghey Dhaka Tara, director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee has pulled off another masterpiece. At this point in time, I regard him as the best current Bengali director, a couple of notches above Srijit Mukherjee.

I know this is not a fashionable opinion I hold. I almost did not watch this movie after reading some reviews on certain Bengali movie websites. I realize now that I should not have taken those reviews seriously, since they reflected a typically strange attitude - that Dev cannot act. First of all, I think Dev acted wonderfully in this movie. Second, this movie is not only about Dev - that would make it more like a 3rd class Hindi movie which has no substance but the cheap pull of its leading man. That would be a insult to a director of Mukherjee's calibre.

I don't want to reveal too much about this movie - so I wont go into details. I would request people to watch this movie - and make up their own minds. Let me put it simply, without revealing too much.

I will compare it to 2 recent movies which received better reviews - Satyanweshi by Rituparno Ghosh and Mishar Rahashyo by Srijit. In both those movies, I fell asleep at various points - especially in the turgid effort by Srijit with its high faluting moralizing and lack of pace and punch. In this movie, I was drawn to the action from start to end - the pace never slackened, the next event never became apparent, and the story never dulled.

Proloy was another great movie made recently - but this is the best Bengali movie of 2013.

Jodi Ekdin (2010)

A nice effort from a young director

[15 January 2011]

I was pleasantly surprised to see this movie, as I did it not expecting something more than a run-of-the-mill social. It has one of those rare things in movies, which without revealing to the reader I cannot describe in much detail except to say that it surprises you almost half way into the movie ( when most movies pack the major moments into the first quarter or the last ).

There is also some great music in this movie, of a kind rarely seen in Bangla films, including a live concert with violins, flute and piano.

Great acting by Priyanka Sarkar in a difficult role ( difficult because it did not have any great dramatic moments or demands ). Supporting cast was competent though I felt Indraneil Dasgupta could have portrayed his sense of absurdity and otherworld-ness a bit better.

Camera work in widescreen was top class for a Bangla film, and the director must be recommended for not allowing the story to slip, though at times it could have.

All in all, a very nice movie which many people may stop watching somewhere in the first 20 minutes as I almost did. It will reward you after that.

Joi Baba Felunath: The Elephant God (1979)

Feluda goes to Varanasi

[30 April 2008]

The movie is about a idol theft from the house of a old-time Benares family. Feluda, who is in Benares on holiday with his cousin and assistant Topshe and the inimitable Jatayu, is asked to help find the thief. The story moves along at a fast clip from the opening scenes when we see the holidaying trio arrive in rickshaws, with Jatayu having to constantly raise his folded hands to his forehead as they pass one temple after another. Ray is a master at showing the timeless beauty of this ancient city with its ghats, bazaars, havelis and gallis, and leverages this to the fullest to transform a mundane whodunit with a twist into a moody, sensuous, intensely funny and hauntingly musical piece of cinema which transcends its humble subject matter, but still delivers a darkly dreadful murder scene!

The Expedition (1962)

A pastoral romance

[28 April 2008]

I saw this movie a long time ago but it still sticks with me. It is one of those movies you don't forget once you have seen it, and also don't think too much about. Its a simple pastoral romance written by one of the greatest Bengali writers, Tarashankar. Ray always knew the importance of the story, and he chose wisely from writers like Bibhutibhushan, Tagore and others. In this movie, made in a retro sepia tone which promotes a feeling of otherworldliness and decrepitude at the same time, Ray sticks to the storyline and elicits some great performances from Soumitra, Waheeda Rahman, Robi Ghosh and the magnificent Charuprakash Ghosh, a Ray favorite, who nails the difficult role of the seedy bania as counterpoint to Soumitra's ramrod Punjabi taxi driver. The strange admixture of the arid rural landscapes, ramshackle Chevrolet cabs, drunken depot operators, nepotist petty officials, prostitutes, smugglers and Christians comes together in a sweeping narrative that never rests for a moment in its grand mission - to tell a story to a spellbound audience.

Kalpurush (2005)

Where is the story?

[27 April 2008]

The movie is ostensibly about a father and son and the parallelism in their lives. In reality, there is much too little substance in the story to merit a two hour movie. The director seems enamored with certain visual and musical metaphors. It will not be unkind to say that he does not spare a thought for the poor viewer who has taken two hours out of his life to watch his movie. The acting is uniformly poor, and the fact that none of the protagonists can speak the language unaccented makes it worse. But in the end, leaving aside the overindulgence in metaphors and camera angles and the poor movement, there is just nothing in the story or the dialog to hold an intelligent viewer's attention for longer than 30 minutes. A poor effort.

The Cloud-Capped Star (1960)

Flighty take on the mundane

[25 December 2004]

For someone who is not quite in the know, the subject matter of the story is to us who grew up in that time and place quite mundane. I know exactly the kind of girl Ghatak is talking about here, even a decade ago there were many of them I could see while commuting in Kolkata. Things have changed, though, and it is nice to have such a compelling piece of art to retain those memories.

But of course Ghatak is working on two planes in this movie. Ostensibly about the hapless girl driven by circumstance, the poor, gentle, tough, dreamy girl who is laid bare by the vicissitudes of existence may as well be that other great love of the director's life, mother Bengal.

Hard Times (1975)

Absolutely brilliant

[27 July 2003]

Along with Glengarry Glenn Ross, my favorite American movie.

From someone who despises Hollywood stuff ... watch it if you can.

La spagnola (2001)

Not much apart from Lola

[27 May 2002]

The plot is tenuous, the action is repetitive, the cinematography is gawky industrial, the obsession with cars is cute, the multiple languages is interesting, the performances are adequate, the overall effect is "if you are tired watching Hollywood stuff you may want to check it out but then maybe not, just curl up in bed with a good book".

And if you are male, you may want to see it just for the blatant pleasure of ogling Lola Marceli in glorious 35 mm color.

Kanchenjungha (I) (1962)

Immature

[21 March 2002]

As a Ray fan, I thought I liked Kanchenjungha. Actually, I had liked it when I saw it long time ago, in college. But then I recently got to see it again when my wife rented a dvd. It appeared trite, simplistic. The characters hold no wonder or empathy for me any more. I know these characters too well ( not these particular characters, the type of people they are ). Its difficult to explain. The small screen also does damage to the camera-work. But I have seen many other movies in even worse print condition and on smaller screens which I liked, so thats probably not the reason. So the conclusion I come to now is that this is Ray's worst movie. And not just Ray's. It is a bad movie. Unless you are young or curious, avoid it.

The Goddess (1960)

Passable

[27 September 1999]

The direction is taut, but the plot is thin on the ground, and the ending leaves something to be desired. Best part of the movie is undoubtedly the couple of Shyama sangeets thrown in.

The Stranger (1991)

Letdown

[20 September 1999]

A disappointing movie from the master, I believe he was in some hurry to finish this and it shows. Apart from Utpal Dutta, the acting is horrendous. The movie is short on theme, plot and pace, and would, if it had been directed by someone else, been summarily dismissed as ordinary.

Jana Aranya (1975)

Astonishing

[20 September 1999]

Quite probably the greatest Calcutta movie ever made, this is an astonishing work, especially to someone who has lived in that city before the current period of television and "modernism". How it will appeal to a non-Calcuttan is difficult to judge, and I am not bothered about it anyway, but I thank the master for this masterpiece.