deepakahlu Reviews

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)

An Ode to 1969

[8/10 · 19 August 2019]

I went in to watch Once Upon a Time in Hollywood thinking it was going to be Tarantino's ode to the movie about movies. After all, he's a past master at paying homage to the gangster film, the western, the martial arts flick, the nazi film, et al.

But after watching it, I'm pretty much convinced it's his ode to 1969! Simply brilliant how he captures the era...the LA boulevards, the signboards, the Vietnam war, the hippies, acid tipped cigarettes, spaghetti westerns, Bruce Lee, the Manson cult, radio commercials, and yeah the music. Definitely the music.

The Salesman (2016)

Farhadi, part of an elite club now

[7/10 · 22 March 2017]

Finally got around to watching Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman, the film which won the best foreign film Oscar last month. It's well trodden Farhadi territory — contemporary middle class Teheran, with apartments and streets that look and feel so familiar, and the oh so subtly captured human relationships. The world we've seen before in A Separation and Fireworks Wednesday. This time around the focus is on the shifting dynamics between a couple after the wife is assaulted by an unknown intruder. My take: very competently done with the usual Farhadi refinement. But somewhere along the way I thought the plot sagged just that wee bit. Not among his best, but still very good

But hey, the guy won his second Oscar for it, after the one for A Separation in 2011. And that don't happen too often in the Best Foreign Film category. Far as I can see, the only others to have been there before are Vittorio Di Sica, Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman. And that, folks, is a very rarefied club indeed.

Spotlight (I) (2015)

There's a reason it got the Best Picture Oscar...

[8/10 · 1 March 2016]

Many people, judging by media reports, still seem to be a bit shell shocked that Spotlight hopped over The Revenant to win the Best Picture Oscar yesterday. The bookies as we know had Revenant ahead. But so did lots of other commentators.

I was glad Spotlight won. Always thought it was a better overall film. At first hearing it may not seem much like a movie that would be of wide interest. A bunch of investigative journalists uncovering a story of widespread child molestation by the clergy in Boston. Yup, sounds interesting conceptually but perhaps too serious a subject matter for an afternoon's entertainment?

Actually, try it out. The team of journalists at the Boston Globe, all have fleshed out characters, look vibrant and engaged in what they are doing, and act well as an ensemble. No one big dominating hero here. It's the team in focus.

Remember All the Presidents Men? That 1976 Redford, Hoffman movie about the uncovering of the Watergate scandal by The Washington Post? Well, Spotlight is in that genre of films. You will not be bored

Amy (III) (2015)

A documentary that soars...

[7/10 · 14 February 2016]

I approach documentaries with a great deal of apprehension. And when the documentary in question runs for two hours the misgiving and alarm grows. So even while I'd become increasingly aware of the glowing reviews and awards that 'Amy' has been gathering over the past year or so since premiering at Cannes, my innate resistance to watching documentaries kept me away from it. In any event, I had never listened much to Amy Winehouse when she was alive, and was unlikely to start now. Right?

Wrong. I finally gave in to the film couple of days ago, and am glad I did. At least, I can now understand why it's being talked about so much. It's a gripping story of extraordinary talent, the inevitable pressures that accompany so much fame so soon, and the potent self-destruction that ensues. Even though you know the ending, the thriller in it remains.

No mean feat for a documentary. Take a bow Asif Kapadia.

Just to add I've since been obsessively hooked to listening to Amy Winehouse and am going to need Rehab soon….

Theeb (2014)

Takes a while to get into, but the effort is worth it

[7/10 · 12 February 2016]

A Jordanian/ Arabic film from a debuting director as one of the five nominees for this years' Oscar (and BAFTA) for best foreign film. Enough to pique curiosity, but would you actually want to invest an hour and a half in a tale with the following IMDb tag line: "In the Ottoman province of Hijaz during World War I, a young Bedouin boy experiences a greatly hastened coming-of-age as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to his secret destination."

Well I just did, and the result was surprisingly gratifying.

Surprising, because some way into the film I was already wearying of the desert survival saga that seemed to be in store. Seen enough of survival stuff this season in The Revenant.

Gratifying, because the saga held up so well. The pace is deliberate, nothing much happens for long periods, but the backgrounds are rugged, the men are rough,..….and the boy is mesmerizing after a while. You just want to see what happens to him next….

Naji Abu Nowar is a name to watch out for.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Glorious madness...

[9/10 · 27 January 2016]

Shooting the breeze with some close friends and fellow film enthusiasts a few evenings ago, talk turned to the cinema of Stanley Kubrick. Due obeisance was paid to 2001 A Space Odyssey, the possible long term psychological trauma induced by watching A Clockwork Orange at the age of 14 (as my son claims to have done) was chewed over, and 'what the hell went wrong' with Eyes Wide Shut was debated.

My personal favorite from the Kubrick stable — the sharply intelligent and insanely hilarious 1964 cold war spoof — Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Three Peter Sellers, one George C. Scott, a loony general obsessed with contamination of bodily fluids to kick off the glorious madness, and the most hysterically funny phone conversation you will ever hear between the President of the United States and the Premier of USSR.

The film is rated #49 in the top 250 films of all time on IMDb, so I'm not kidding!

A Short Film About Love (1988)

An absolute gem...

[9/10 · 25 January 2016]

Before he stormed world cinema consciousness in the 1990s with the Three Colors trilogy (Blue, White, Red), the Polish genius Krzysztof Kieslowski directed a series of 10 short films for Polish TV collectively known as Dekalog.

Based loosely on the ten commandments, two of these short films were later expanded to full length features. A Short Film About Love is one of them.

A tale about a boy spying on and falling obsessively in love with an attractive older woman living across the street is compelling viewing. What, in lesser hands could well have been a ho-hum peeping tom movie, is turned by Kieslowski's sensitivity and understanding into a thing of beauty and radiance. An absolute gem. Watch it if you can — it will be an hour and a half well spent!

White Heat (1949)

What's not to like....??

[8/10 · 24 January 2016]

Some films age well, some don't. Bit like people I guess.

This one from 1949 is still a beauty --- racy, witty, edgy.

The screenplay alone, I reckon, would give any of the thrillers doing the rounds today a run for their money.

Okay, its black and white and the technology is not what we are used to today, but after a while you stop caring because you want to see who says what next, does what next, who double crosses whom.....the pace is relentless

Cagney as a psychotic gang leader with a mother complex, what's not to like...??

The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)

The music makes the movie soar....

[8/10 · 21 January 2016]

Been hopelessly hooked, for the past several days now, to the captivating selection of 1970s pop that forms the music soundtrack of The Diary of a Teenage Girl.

The film itself, about a teenage girl discovering and embracing sex amidst the Bohemian surroundings of 1970s San Francisco, impressed me for its rare honesty, its vibrancy, and the wonderful music soundtrack that accompanies the film's moods. Phoebe Gloeckner's searing and much acclaimed 2002 graphic novel comes to screen with a careful selection of eclectic tracks from the 1960s-70s that make the film soar at times. The film is not for the prudish and easily shocked though. And that includes the nannies at the Academy who have completely shut out this indie from this years Oscar nominations!

Carry on Jatta (2012)

Kang's best effort till now

[8/10 · 4 January 2015]

Sumeep Kang directed one film before this (Chakk de Phatte) and has done three more since. But 'Carry on Jatta' remains, by far, his best work to date. Witty dialogues, great comic timing from a cast of Kang regulars, and a story line that retains its silliness till the end makes for a couple of hours of good laughter. In his later films (Lucky di Unlucky Story, Bhaji in Problem, Double di Trouble) Kang allowed the screeching and mayhem to get somewhat out of hand, but this remains the gold standard for the mistaken identities plots that Kang seems to specialise in. If he tops this one in the future, that will be one heck of a funny film....

Distant (2002)

What happens when a recently divorced man withdraws from the world

[8/10 · 30 November 2014]

You discover solitariness, but not quite...

Measured and majestic in its observation

Ceylan has a camera in-built in his brain masterfully capturing moods against raw landscapes just as much as dark TV lit rooms, a foray into the chill of the heart….

It moves leisurely, yes, but never do you take your eyes off the screen or want to fast forward..

This film could so easily have been dark and forgetful, or grinding art-house, instead it is is uplifted by the incandescent sense of cinema in it — the grace and fluidity with which relationships play out, their cinematic element meant to pleasure our sensibilities against vast canvases..

Ceylan is a serious player today, with Winter Sleep winning the Palme d'Or in 2014 at Cannes…...this 2002 work shows why….

Beyond Innocence (1986)

Good film released at the wrong time...

[7/10 · 29 August 2014]

I recall this Australian film being shown at the Delhi International Film Festival in January 1987 under its original title "Devil in the Flesh". Subsequently it also had a successful commercial run in India. Globally, though, it suffered from comparisons with Italian director Marco Bellochio's "Diavolo in corpo" (also Devil in the Flesh) which was released internationally around the same time.

The common title owed to the fact that both films were adapted from Raymond Radiguet's 1923 novel "Le Diable au corps" about an affair between a young married woman and a sixteen-year-old boy while the husband is away.

In the commercial face off between the two films competing around the same time, Bellochio came out ahead. With the smoldering Dutch beauty Maruschka Detmers, and a controversial on-screen fellatio performed by Detmers (a mainstream actress) the Italian version gained wide publicity and audience footfall. By contrast, the Australian director Scott Murray despite having the delectable Katia Caballero just could not woo enough of an audience (apart from India perhaps, which is about the only place I think this film is remembered).

For my money the Australian film has much to commend it -- less flashy, more sensitive, and truer to the book. Katia is sensual and alluring as the lonely young married woman faced with adoration and temptation, the sixteen year old boy is charmingly naive and awkward (unlike as in the Italian version), and Murray directs with a steady hand. But the film unfortunately simply did not get the exposure it deserved. A feeble late attempt at resuscitating fortunes by changing the title to "Beyond Innocence" did not work either. Over time, Murray faded away from directing cinema and Katia went off to TV.

I really wonder if the timing of this film had not clashed with the Italian one whether things would have worked out differently... We shall never know, shall we? I have been unsuccessfully trying to find a copy of this film for years -- if someone comes across it please do let me know. I would very much like to see it again.