Run Analysis

Run (2020)

Directed by: Aneesh Chaganty

Written by: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian

Spoilers Alert. It's an engaging thriller, made by the makers of Searching. Watch the film before you read it. 

It's a survival thriller. 2 characters. Primarily 1 location. Good twists and turns. The writing also has depth, it doesn't feel like a plastic puzzle solving murder mystery. Though, it had generic characterization - of an underdog protagonist, who fights an antagonist - it has well defined emotional journeys of the characters. Especially Chloe. She's a curious girl. She wants to live. We feel empathized towards her because of her simple aspirations - to go to college, to have fun, to have a normal life. When she realizes that her entire life has been grabbed off of her by the mother - I could feel how she'd have felt. It's nice that the mother was kept a little mysterious even till the ending of the film - they didn't have her talk her version of the story - like we generally see.

The underlying theme of the film, that I interpreted, was about how insanely people try to control others' lives and have the audacity to think that it's for their good. I think that's what the film talks about - how would that turn out if it goes to an extreme. I think this is an interesting way of writing horror/thriller films. Take something problematic that's existing in the real world, and exaggerate it creatively, and make a thriller/ a horror film out of it. Get Out, Us, Kumbalangi Nights, The Platform and this film. The ending felt like a tit for tat - I'd have preferred something else. I'd have wanted to see her quietly move on, probably after getting some closure - instead of doing the same thing in return to her. I think this is a difference of opinion in the way we look at Crime and Punishment in general.

Soul Analysis

Soul (2020)

Directed by: Pete Doctor

Streaming on Disney+Hotstar. 

It's an interesting idea, although for me the movie started only after the souls got swapped. We saw something like this in Bogan. Although there, things were superficial - here they explore how it would be if you could do things a little different. How would it be if you could muster up some courage and talk to your parents? How would it be if you talk about something different too, with your friends? Joe looks at all these and introspects. It's brilliant, how he has a bittersweet feeling after his first gig - about how he expects it to be different, and it doesn't turn out to be that. He doesn't realise that he's always been pursuing music, and already playing at his home. If you choose to do something, you do it - how "successful" you become doesn't change the way you feel about it - it just makes other things easy. You're a writer, if you write. How well know you are, how much you get paid - don't matter.

It's beautiful how PIXAR makes popular films and yet makes us introspect and reflect all the time - which is a little rare in the blockbuster era. Joe realizes the little joys of life, after looking at 22 - by the end of the film. He's always been wrapped up about his dream, that he forgets to embrace the small things - which would help him make music as well. The things that he disregards to not be purposes, are what he learns to be important parts of life. For me, the scenes in the pre-birth and the post-death worlds didn't work for me - they weren't as fun. But I could let go of them, because they build the plot to get to the part on the Earth. Also, to tell this story - I was wondering why they choose the protagonist to be a passionate jazz player - he could've been anything to realize what he did in the film.

Another Round Analysis

Another Round (2020)

Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg

Starring:  Mads Mikkelsen

Official Selection - Cannes 2020.

Four friends read a theory that having a blood alcohol content of 0.05 keeps us more relaxed and creative - and they decide to experiment by start drinking. They end up drinking more, and more. The film was initially meant to be a celebration of drinking, based on the thesis that world history would've been different without alcohol - for example: people like Winston Churchill, Ernst Hemingway would drink a lot, and Hitler wouldn't. But one week into filming, Thomas Vinterberg's daughter died in a car accident - who was initially  the one who pushed Thomas to make this into a movie. After this incident, they apparently reworked the script to make it more life affirming. The film is dedicated to her.

The filmmaking is top notch, the way it's shot and cut - it exactly captures the state of mind of the characters. Especially the last song, and the scenes where they are confronted by their families after going home drunk - the way they act and behave is one thing, but the camera movements also convey the feeling of being high - the handheld movement, and the edit is also strange at certain parts. The text on the screen is an interesting tool, they use. At the starting, it felt like a film about alcohol addiction - it is to an extent, but the film says that despite of the bad things alcohol does - it's fun. That's the worldview here. Despite of their friend dying, they have some hesitations - but they move on and still have fun drinking. It falls in the optimistic nihilism zone, where anything we do doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things - so we might as well have some fun.

AK vs AK Analysis

AK vs AK (2020)

Directed by: Vikramaditya Motwane

Streaming on Netflix.

It's a kick-ass idea. Right from the trailers, and the marketing campaign - it got me super psyched. AK and AK playing an exaggerated version of the image each of them have, and that along with the premise of a survival thriller - it's bang on. The form has a lot of scope for doing weird, funky stuff. With this film, they still didn't go to inaccessible zones - probably because the form in itself is experimental.

I was laughing at a lot of instances, wherever Anil Kapoor was giving a dramatic performance - like how he begs the cops at the police station, it's making fun of the overdramatic acting we generally have in films. Anurag Kashyap's worry is if they've got a shot, when he knows that a car hit him. I'm sure that's how he would've made his initial films. 

The ending twist felt like they wanted to balance, the AK vs AK thing. I would've loved it, if there was a new turn from there. I would've loved if they addressed that this is a film made by Vikramaditya Motwane for Netflix, and that he added these elements without Anurag Kashyap knowing. Improvisation. "Fuck the script". That would've been another level of meta.

The Disciple Analysis

 The Disciple (2020)

Written and Directed by: Chaitanya Tamhane
Executive Producer: Alfonso Cuaron
Won the Best Screenplay at Venice Film Festival. 

The Disciple is a story of a young man who is in the pursuit of excellence. It's a heavy film, it's highly reflective - especially if you are an artist. It is set in the world of Indian classical music. The film has such strong imagery that after watching 5 mins of the film, I remember feeling that I know every shot till then, in the exact order. Every scene has on an average 2-3 shots in it. These shots are shot in deep focus, hence portraying the world more than focusing on one particular character. I remember one of the shots in the first scene, where the camera slowly tracks into the disciple being in awe of his guru. That shot was equivalent of a 10 min introduction of the character. I could see Cuaron's words coming through the film, about how even with small setups and budget - we can create cinematic imagery. 

It had a Moonlight sort of a coming-of-age vibe to it, which I absolutely loved. The film doesn't avoid truth, for the sake of being reverent - we see the guy jerking off to porn. There is a line said by the woman in the tapes - "technique can be taught, what can't be taught is truth and it needs bravery to look within oneself with unflinching honesty". This line stuck with me. The film succeeds in doing so. By seeing Sharad jerking off, we see his loneliness. My favorite parts of the film was, where he rides his bike in slow motion and there is transcendental sound and voice over of the woman - speaking truths of being a purist form of an artist. I was wondering about the kind of worldview the film was trying to present. It doesn't operate from a prejudiced worldview, where we select what falls within our theme. It neither says that purism works, nor do they say that it doesn't work. They present us with the truth, and capture it. What we take out of it, is up to us - if we want to be in the pursuit of excellence, or be content with what we are.  

Paava Kadhaigal Analysis

Paava Kadhaigal (2020)

Streaming on Netflix.

Sudha Kongara's Segment: It worked emotionally, the way Sathaar sacrifices his love and helps the both of them to get together - falls in the Aarya-2 space. That worked, but for me - the way they were portraying Sathaar - it was evident for me that Sathaar will die. Although the heartbreaking aspect was the mother asking Sathaar to go die. Apart from the little predictability, and the way the flashback is narrated - it worked for me.

Vignesh Sivan's Segment: It's an interesting tone that he arrived at, I'm sure it would have felt so risky. But apart from that, the twists and turns fell apart. They didn't work me. I was expecting something on the lines of the dead sister, actually being alive and she'd be the one filming the people in the ending. Kalki was not utilized to her potential. 

GVM's Segment: It's interesting how he tells stories of young people getting into trouble, I was reminded of a short film that he produced - Maa. This was in similar lines, except here it's rape and there's a lot of trauma. The sad part of the world of honor killings is that the focus isn't on the girl facing the trauma, it's the family facing the trauma of their honor being at stake - the way the mother finds her daughter to be disgusting, which otherwise would be some random injuries.

Vetrimaran's Segment: I think this is one of the best piece of cinema I've seen this year. It's the way Sai Pallavi performs the entire stretch of going through various ranges of emotions - from discomfort initially, to disbelief, trying to convince him by talking some sense, begging him, cursing him, and finally crying it out realizing that nothing could be done. It's phenomenal. 

Y Tu Mama Tambien Analysis

Y tu mama tambien (2001)

Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron

Cinematography: Emannuel Lubezki

Nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars.

The film starts with a sex scene. It's a long take. The camera is handheld and lingering. Raw and intimate. Sometime later, there is another scene where the two guys are jerking off by laying on two diving boards on a swimming pool, each - and they cum into the water, which is captured by an underwater shot. These scenes show us the way they treat sex to be very casual and open in the film. All of this punk tone, makes sense with the contrast they bring through the last scene where they are almost grown ups and are ready to finally face life.

It's a road film, where these two guys meet this women and travel with her. The way she ends up having sex with the both of them to not upset the other person, is funny. Especially, the guys end up fighting about infidelity all the time but they themselves can't resist themselves when they see a beautiful woman. The sex scenes are more effective because of the long takes. The camera feels so intrusive into their personal space. We can feel the motivation behind the camera.

The film uses an excellent editing technique, which practically any film can use to alter the film on the edit table - of course, it's an intimate and a personal film. The frame suddenly gets completely silent, we don't even hear the ambiance and then the voice over starts. We only hear the voice over, and after it's done - we go back to the scene. Something like this could be done with any film on the edit table. 

Irrational Man Analysis

Irrational Man (2015)

Written and Directed by: Woody Allen

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone

Premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2015.

This film is a creative cocktail of Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, and the classic Woody Allen - it's a blend of philosophy, infidelity, crime, morality set in a funny, light hearted world. The film has a difference in the way the characters emote, behave; and the way it's intended for us to feel. In a lot of scenes, the characters are going through a lot of conflict, and intense drama - for example: the revelation of a partner cheating on them, the revelation of a partner being a murderer, break ups, etc. But we never feel the intensity of these scenes, they are all shown from a very large perspective, about how all of this generally happens in life - the absurdity of life. The light hearted treatment of heavy scenes, puts the filmmaker on a higher stance. The way the scenes cut from an intense scene, abruptly - to a light hearted scene with jazz music, with poetic voice over - is what makes the transition to be seamless, between both the tones.

Woody Allen's way of portraying women - though he portrays them in his zone, free spirited, promiscuous, liberated, open to life - the depth and layers that he adds beyond this, makes every woman and every character in his film so unique and different from each other. The unique aspect is that he doesn't judge his characters, he sort of plays god and presents everyone with some honesty. He establishes characters with simple tools like, body language and dialogue. The ending of this film sort of surprised me because of the way it brings everything to normalcy, and this whole thing is just a phase in her life.

Andhagaaram Analysis

Andhagaaram (2020)

Written and Directed by: V. Vignarajan

Streaming on Netflix.

It's a psychological, supernatural thriller. My only complaint against this genre of films is that - they present a riveting mystery - we have no clue how things would happen that way and they answer the mystery by saying that it was done by a ghost. Even The Wailing (2016) had the same issue. I'm also generally not a fan of watching visuals like a bottle following a man walking, a cell phone hanging in the air - these visuals seem unconvincing and hence they don't look as scary. The shot where the man in the chair gets up - though I expected it - that scared the shit out of me, because it's not an unconvincing shot. They've to be sparingly used.

Having said that, the film grabs us into its world and keeps us in it. With the intercutting between different scenes, between a hypnotic manipulation and an exorcism - there's a certain sense of eeriness that's maintained throughout the film. The intercutting between scenes which are supposed to be in chronological order - was interesting. But the film being boiled down to revenge plots by the end - that was a little underwhelming, because of the generic pay off and for the lack of a theme. With such psychological thrillers, there is a hope that things will fall into place and that we'd see pay offs for every question asked and for everything that's been set - but when the answers are disappointing, then the experience feels underwhelming.

Tenet Analysis

Tenet (2020)

Written and Directed by: Christopher Nolan

This film definitely deserves a theatrical viewing, it's a visual spectacle - and the usage of music in this film is unapologetically riveting. I can only imagine how complex it would've been - writing this film. It has a couple of characters in a scene, and then they return from the future in reverse - and the scene keeps intercutting between different perspectives. What to show, and what to hide - would be the crucial choice to make at every stage. The dialogue felt like it went through a lot of trimming, and it was back to back all the time. This film is high on tension throughout, we hardly get a moment to relax. The plot, and the rules of the world being spoken out has become a trade off for him to try out new stuff.

The sequence on the road was my favourite among the spectacles, and I loved how we see some random people during the sequences and later realize that they're the same people from the future - these twists (aha moments) have satisfying pay offs, because the set up was clear initially. The ending twist wasn't exciting for me, because there weren't pieces to join, or I couldn't find them. I couldn't figure out everything that was happening in the film - I just had a sense of what was going on and even the film says it - 'don't try to understand it, just feel it'. 

Mank Analysis

Mank (2020)

Directed by: David Fincher

Written by: Jack Fincher

Streaming on Netflix.

In this day and age of franchises and big tentpole films Netflix has been the only studio to be so generous to auteurs. It gives them money, and let's them make whatever they want to make - Alfonso Cuaron's Roma, Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things and now David Fincher's Mank. These films are dream projects and they wouldn't be possible to make, at least in the way they want - if it was not for Netflix.

This film immediately plunges us into the world of Hollywood in the 1930s. With the opening titles, and the images that follow - we don't see pristine g that we usually see in a David Fincher film, it sort of replicates the look of the films made back then. This is unlike Cuaron's interpretation of capturing the past - I liked that more - because a film made in 2020 capturing the 1930s will be different from a film made in 1950 capturing the same world. This variation could also be artistic in a sense, how Roma was made.

I'm not a person who would take sides of either Welles or Mank, I respect both of them and with this film - I understood that they had certain differences and I have respect for the both of them now. After knowing that Mank had written that script, while going through troubles himself - it makes it a more personal story. I loved how the way, the film kicks off - 'there are millions to be made, and your only competition is a bunch of idiots'. It feels like Mank has a time blur throughout the time he's writing the screenplay, and only after writing it does he realize - that it's the best thing he's ever written.

It also captures how some things don't matter anymore, like the screenwriting credit here - though he fights for it, after a point he lets it go. He knows that he's done it and he's good at it, this only makes me wonder how many legendary artists, creators and sportspersons in the world are unheard of, because of bad luck or circumstances. Citizen Kane is a film that represents the megalomania that humans feel, and this film, Mank, about the story of Citizen Kane - is no lesser in representing the same.

Obvious Child Analysis

Obvious Child (2014)

Written and Directed by: Gillian Robespierre

A struggling comedian, who has a recent break up and an unwanted pregnancy - must navigates through the murky waters of adulthood.

The simplicity of the film is endearing, it's about a woman who's struggling through her career, who's been recently dumped by her boyfriend for her best friend. The entire film flows seamlessly from one point to another, the scenes are designed in a simple way too - the camera is static, the drama isn't high-key and there's nothing that's spectacular about the film - which works for the casual tone of the film. It reminds me of a micro budget indie film - Vanilla, which also has a style which is very simple and blends it with the tone of the film. Coming-of-age is interesting because in spite of the story that happens externally, there's a deep sense of story internally too - and when they blend thematically, then they work like wonders.

This film visually captures her state of mind very well - the way she goes home and behaves after she is dumped. The film mostly deals with abortion, and the guilt that prevails the choice. When she isn't able to deal with things - she goes to her mother, cries and simply asks for help and that's all was what she had to do. She finds an answer, something which won't make her feel so bad. They apparently marketed the film as an 'abortion comedy'. 

Ludo Analysis

Ludo (2020)

Direction, Cinematography, Production Design, Writing: Anurag Basu

Streaming on Netflix.

Hyperlink narratives are exciting irrespective of how good the individual narratives are, because of the sheer joy they elicit when they put pieces together. The last scene is high on drama, just because they bring pieces together - just like how they bring in the TV from the sky into Samantha's part. But this film has good depth in all the narratives, even in standalone. I felt that each story could've been a quirky feature film.

It's not only the black comedy, and the treatment that makes this film engaging - it's also the unpredictability of it. We can't guess what'll happen next, which subplot will come next - by the time we're thinking, a truck suddenly comes out of nowhere and kills one of the characters.

The color palettes are pretty evident and obvious from the concept of Ludo. They use those colors in props, costumes, the background and everywhere possible. The thematic statement - from their trivial way of dealing with death, heartbreak and the way they talk about the pointlessness of life - it reminded me of Super Deluxe. It goes towards optimistic nihilism. 

Unrequited love is explored very well in this film, it elicits such bittersweet emotions - bitter because it's unrequited and sweet because of the selflessness. It's also bitter because it mimics the harsh realities of life - we generally watch films and appreciate the rags to riches stories, where the rich guys are the villains - but what if the rich people are the nice guys and they win over the poor people? It felt bittersweet for me because the film finally ended on a happy note, betraying me.

Middle Class Melodies Analysis

Middle Class Melodies (2020)

Directed by: Vinod Anantoju

Starring: Anand Deverakonda, Varsha Bollamna

Streaming on Amazon Prime.

My initial impression of the film was not so good, mainly because of the presence of Anand Deverakonda - it's probably the voice resemblance with Vijay Deverakonda and his acting too felt all over the place initially. Even the editing felt like it was self aware of this, they weren't cutting much to Anand - there were either wide shots or suggestions of Anand's. But as the film progressed, things fell into place and he felt better. I've no idea why this happened to me, but this is my experience with the film.

The filmmaking is top notch, especially the cinematography - the camera movements always compliment the emotions of the scene, and they also use B-rolls to convey emotions - especially in the scene where a man jumps in the river, the following shots are of monsoons - and the sad music juxtaposed with those shots, it worked so well. The scenes in real locations were very well shot, I've no clue how they pulled them off. 

Usually when it's budding actors, we tend to appreciate them playing underdogs - this entire film being set in the middle class world, everyone plays underdogs here. This film does a great job of creating a world, and making a film about the entire world and not just about the protagonist - this also helps in covering the weaknesses of the actor. I fell in love with the world. Issues like people forgoing debts, the world of marriage alliances and the problems people face when starting a business - all were portrayed so well.

The tonality suddenly shifts in the last half an hour, and it became a hyperlink narrative suddenly - I enjoyed that entire episode, but it was a slight jerk in the tonality. Till then, it was a breezy slice-of-life film and with that episode - it was high on drama. This film is an example of how we can make films about an entire world (here, the middle class world of Guntur) instead of just focusing on the protagonists.

Soorarai Pottru: Analysis

Soorarai Pottru (2020)

Directed by: Sudha Kongara

Starring: Suriya, Aparna Balamurali, Paresh Rawal, Mohan Babu

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Initially I was a little hesitant towards this film, because this film is again about a man who changes the society and it's such an overly done thing - but I loved the writing and the execution of the film. This film reminds me of Mersal - both of these films inspired me to feel and think at least for a while, from a socialist perspective and coincidentally both the films have protagonists named 'Maaran'. Usually I'm resistant towards people who pity themselves, cry and play victims - but I realized how privileged a notion this is after watching films like this. A person like me, who's selfish and all for individualism - even I got slightly moved after watching some scenes in the film. The subplot of Maaran's father works even in solidarity, and it also directly adds to the main plot. The unresolved tiff between them, and the father thinking that his son thinks of him as a loser - acts like an inner void for Maaran. The scene where he cries and reads his father's writings, that inspires him to pursue and solve this problem. 

The filmmaking is top notch, especially the way they shoot scenes with a lot of extras - they felt so real and I wondered what kind of efforts would've gone into making them seem so effortless - the scenes in the roads, near their house, and many more. The editing is so fluid, each scene cuts into one another and after a while I didn't even realize I had seen 30 mins of the film - and this is surprising because the film is a heavy drama for the most part. One screenwriting principle is to torture the hero as much as possible, so that the audience would root for them - and this film it is done beyond that, even I felt exhausted watching him suffer so much and this being a real story - it makes it heartbreaking, and when he finally does it - it's inspiring.

Although I've some issues with the blatant socialism in the film - in a scenario where people help him by giving him all their life savings - they've to realize that it's for a business and it doesn't make sense - because then they emotionally blackmail him to "win" and it isn't always in his hands - there's also luck factor which could either favor him or fuck him up. That would only put more pressure on him, the feeling that he's probably gambling with others' entire life savings. The villain, is one dimensional - the way he plots and goes against Maaran is interesting - especially the interval block, but his characterisation is too generic.

Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story Analysis

Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020)

Directed by: Hansal Mehta

Starring: Pratik Gandhi, Shreya Dhanwanthary

Streaming on Sony LIV.

This is one of most riveting series I've seen in a long time. The show is set in the 80-90s and it authentically portrays the world of trading, and the stock markets. Stock markets is a world of ambition, success, greed, failure and it's a place which tests your mental strength everyday, especially in day trading. It's a place to go to, for self exploration. You'll definitely understand your strengths, and weaknesses.

Harshad Mehta is inspiring - not because he went against the system - that even a person jumping a signal, does. He is inspiring because he did the unthinkable, unimaginable and the way he capitalised on every opportunity he got. Of course, he got carried away by the money, the adrenaline and the power and he risked everything at a lot of points - but I'm sure he'd be a great trader and probably one of the wealthiest people in the world, if he was alive today. 

Pratik Gandhi was so good as Harshad, the way he carries the angst, in a subtle way throughout the later part of the show - that depicts the character's mental strength. The lingo is so authentic (I can say that with my trading experience) - 'market paisa kha gaya' and phrases like that are very commonly used in the pit, of course along with a lot of creative profanity.

Sucheta Dalal - she tries to bring order in the system. My understanding of crime and punishment isn't so deep, but I was wondering if bringing order in this scenario did well or harm in the larger scheme of things. I think it's the same case as the vigilante hero, where in spite of breaking rules - their intentions aren't malicious. Although in this case, it's a little dicey because there is a lot of self interest involved - profit for himself (apart from the booming of the market). Also he's trading with people's money without their consent, and a trader like Harshad (with such insane risk taking abilities) could have lost a lot of money.

The way they balance perspectives of both Harshad and Sucheta is interesting - because at times we're rooting for Sucheta to find some information, because of the amount of work she puts and when she finds out some news - we feel good as well. With Harshad, empathy is created purely because of the underdog - rags to riches angle. The show never shies away from using trading jargon, and at times even when you don't exactly understand what they're referring to - we only get more curious (as opposed to feeling small and eventually losing interest).

We see a lot of tube lights in the frame, this contributes to the lighting as well as to get the vibe of the 90s. The show has the tonality of a docu-series and this is so tough to achieve when you're recreating everything and without using real footage, which is why the intercutting in the ending just blew my mind.

Sideways Analysis

Sideways (2004)

Directed and Co-Written by: Alexander Payne

Won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and nominated for 4 more.

It's about two 40-year-old friends who go on a road trip through a wine country, to celebrate one of their wedding - and they have different encounters on the way, which make them introspect their inner voids and flaws. 

One of them is an unsuccessful writer, a wine aficionado - and he is divorced, depressed and probably is also going through mid-life crisis. It's very moving, what happens to him by the end of the film - his book gets passed on, by every publishing house and he loses hope on life, he thinks that he's not good enough. By the end of the film, when he recieves the voice note by Maya - that she enjoyed reading the book and she acknowledges what he went through in life. I felt so good for him in that moment - this is what he wanted to hear from somebody, someone acknowledging him putting out all his deep vulnerabilities. I thought he'd cry listening to that.

Some jokes land very well, my favorite one was the title of his book and Maya's reaction to it. Moments like these set up the mood for a large chunk of the film. The film is not only funny in the literal sense, but it's also the tonality which keeps a smile on our face even when there are no jokes - like Little Things does. The hopeful, laidback music too adds to the tone of the film. This is a film that I really enjoyed, in spite of not getting to think much about what the film wanted to say - of course it talks about a lot of things, but I was just in the moment while watching the film.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin Analysis

The 40-Year-Old-Virgin (2005)

Directed and Co-Written by: Judd Apatow

Starring: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen

I've come across this title a lot of times in screenwriting books, because it is structurally solid - it has one protagonist, (arguably) with a flaw - who is trying to overcome it. This film was also often praised for how it doesn't beat around the bush and is written to the point, and also how the title of the film tells you all you need to know about the film before watching it. The film sets up the protagonist right from the opening scene - he's awake before the alarm rings and he's alone, telling us about him. The film is sweet, funny at times and though I can't recall laughing out loud - it felt like I had a nice time watching the film.But, I've some problems/questions about the film.

One is that, suddenly at times - Andy has game and he talks to women super confidently, like the way he talks to Beth - that felt out of character. It felt like he has game, but he didn't have sex purely because of the circumstances, like how it happens with Trish's kids walking on them. This is not convincing because he's 40, and if he had game, then it wouldn't be the circumstances all the time. But yeah, he says that he stopped trying after a point. I liked that the encounters he has, are always risky and they push him to let go off his inhibitions and fears - and they make the film not only about sex, but also about letting ourselves loose.

I liked that they show us at the end that there's nothing wrong with Andy, and that he should accept himself - and that him being a virgin was probably even good because he will have meaningful sex from now. They actually show him to have better sex because they're in love, through the song. It's all good. But, it's quite apparent that the filmmakers chose the other worldview throughout the film to incite humor, and the they pick this righteous worldview at the end to give the film a politically correct ending. The Hangover doesn't do that, it shows the same quirk and madness in the ending too. Shankar's 2.0 also did that, they make fun of the birds when the robot is fighting against Akshay Kumar and then they give us a "message" to save birds.

Mighty Aphrodite Analysis

Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

Written & Directed by: Woody Allen

Starring: Woody Allen, Mira Sorvino (who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress - though I think that she's the actress in the leading role in this film).

It is rare that I crack up after reading the logline of a film. This film is about a man, Lenny, and his search for his genius adopted son's biological mother - although she turns out to be a dim-witted prostitute named Linda. The logline itself has the structure of a joke - the setup and the punchline. Although the film builds on this, it's not entirely about this aspect. The film deals with Lenny's relationship with Linda - where his intention is to get her married and "settled" so that when his son grows up and if he seeks to find his biological mother - he won't be "disappointed". As usual, all the characters are multifaceted and contradictory. The film talks about choice - should we let people be who they're or try to change them according to our understanding of what's good or bad? Lenny is always advicing her "for her good" - to quit prostitution, and to even quit her dreams of acting because it's tough and he essentially thinks that she won't be able to do it.

When Lenny finds out about his wife's (obvious) affair, he looks at Linda as an option - or he doesn't. They just have sex that day, for the first time and I thought that this is the classical Woody Allen pro-infidelity, counter culture worldview. But in the next scene, both Lenny and his wife go back to each other and realize that they love each other. It felt forced, but until they build on this and ultimately pay off. Now, Linda has Lenny's kid and Lenny has Linda's kid - and both of them don't know about it and it's all even now. This was a genius and probably the best possible pay off the film could have with that premise. This film doesn't deal with the existentialism, and the philosophy that he usually explores within the world of the story. This film is funny, right at the one-liner stage, and this doesn't rely on jokes in between the scenes (we also have these). 

Children of Men Analysis

Children of Men (2006)

Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron

Cinematography: Emanuel Lubezki

Streaming on Netflix.

It's a science fiction dystopian thriller - it's a world where fertility has stopped and it's a warzone everywhere. Miraculously, when a woman gets pregnant - Theo must ensure her safety.

At the core, this film is a survival thriller - it works on primitive levels. People trying to save a pregnant woman amidst war zones - it's an accessible story. But what Cuaron does masterfully is, he convincingly builds up the world - it feels so real and immersive. A simple story masterfully executed is always better than a complex, layered story executed in a substandard way. 

Cuaron uses every filmmaking tool to tell the story, to convince us of the world - most of the camera movements have a realistic, handheld vibe - it gives an unsettling effect. The long takes are unbelievably beautiful, and if long takes aren't executed or utilized to their best - then is when people find them gimmicky. There is a scene in the car, where they are attacked by people - that scene was breathtaking, because of the spontaneity of the events on screen. The camera finds multiple subjects within the scene and moves towards them, and every camera move is motivated and not random in this long take. 

The imagery of the world is so strong, we see navy blue and brown a lot and the look has an unsaturated vibe to it. The production design and costumes plays a key role in bringing in this kind of a look to the film, because the costumes, the entire roads and the walls are in a certain color a lot of times. 

One technique Cuaron uses in a lot of his films is, he never calls attention to the "scale" or the "budget" of the film. For example- the way they use extras in this film is so clever, they never show us the 100 extras walking beside - the extras just pass by behind the wall and we can only see them when the handheld camera moves a little away from the subject. This makes us believe that they're not extras and that people are all around, they're behind the walls and they're behind the camera and they're everywhere. It's not a film anymore. It's real. That's Alfonso Cuaron for you.

Aha Na Pellanta Analysis

Aha Na Pellanta (1987)

Adapted and Directed by: Jandhyala

Starring: Rajendra Prasad, Rajani, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Brahmanandam's debut role.

This is a super fun film, and I think this film has the structure which Srinu Vaitla has loosely adapted throughout his films - in the first half, the hero meets the girl and in the second half, he goes to a completely different world and plays a con man to convince the girl's family to get them married. Usually the first half and the second half are set in completely different worlds in this genre, including Baadshah, Ready, etc - I think part of this comes from the filmmakers wanting to show the same star actor in different settings.

This kind of storytelling is close to our Indian epics - where there are a lot of subplots which don't directly add to the core plot, and the story keeps moving from one point to another - and the whole universe is thematically connected. The risk of doing these kinds of stories is that, the thematic connection can get lost and the film might end up like a compilation of random subplots and jokes.

This film doesn't end up like that, Satyanarayana - the father wants his son to get married into a traditional family, with values and they show us the reason for this as well, him and his wife suffering when they were young and his promise to his wife. Hence, Lakshmipathy comes into play. There's no other choice here, they've to get along with him and in that process Krishnamurthy plays a con man. The subplot of Sita and Lakshmipathy's son is used to explore Lakshmipathy's character arc - after this is when everyone start rebelling against him, including the servant Govindu. The climax is like the cherry on the cake, where all grooms come together to marry Padma - that's when he realises his mistake.

Govindu aka Aragundu's track is hilarious - I think the scenes of his inner voice is the origin for the art form of memes, with the freeze frame and us reading the lines in their voice. Lakshmipathy fantasizing chicken by looking at a dead chicken hung - I thought this was a famous proverb, for the kind of a cultural phenomenon it is, this being written by a screenwriter is just mind blowing! I absolutely enjoyed this film, and the complexity of the screenplay never comes in the way of the comedy - it actually adds to it.

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet Analysis

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)

Streaming on Netflix.

When it's a 93-year-old man speaking about the problems for the coming 100 years, it's clearly a selfless motive. David Attenborough has spent all of his life exploring the planet and its diversity - and this film is his witness statement of the deterioration of the planet. He also shares some actionable insights. I've never explored the topic of climate change, but this film got me thinking about it. It's the juxtaposition of heartbreaking music and breathtaking visuals, that evokes a feeling - that things are not right. I haven't seen any of David Attenborough's work, but after watching this film - I trust him that he knows what it takes to paint a portrait of the world.

The sheer scale and beauty of the images shown in the film, got me thinking about the purpose of life. It got me thinking if what we do even matters, if we've to destroy all of that beauty to be able to do it. When he talks about the problem of over population - it got me thinking about why people have kids like everyone is supposed to. The rate at which our population is increasing, the kids that our generation is giving birth to - there wouldn't be enough resources for them and why would people want to create a life, even if they knew that, that would only lead to more suffering?

Documentaries always have had a strong impact on me, they've influenced my worldview. I was ignorant about the environment before, because the change is not always so obvious to us - but now I've got my eyes opened to this problem and I'll definitely educate myself more about it.

Eddie the Eagle Analysis

Eddie the Eagle (2016)

Directed by: Dexter Fletcher

Starring: Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman

Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

It's a sports film. The story of an underdog. A person who is constantly told that he's not good enough, by everyone around. His dream of being an Olympic athlete is looked as a joke. It's the biopic of Michael Edwards, a British skier who in 1988 became the first person to represent the Great Britain in Olympics ski jumping since 1928.

Apart from the conventional underdog story, what excited me was the world of skiing, because skiing is a visual sport and the film was like a nice peek into that world. 

The coach in this film is also an underdog, he used to be a talented player but he doesn't do good because of his drinking habits. This reminded me of Chakde India where both the players and the coach are underdogs for different reasons, and when they win it gives a closure to both the coach, and the players.

Eddie's father represents all the naysayers and it tells us no matter how thick skinned you are - sometimes it gets to you, like how Eddie is reminded of it all before the 90m jump. Eddie's dad has little scope for redemption in this story, with respect to Eddie - him being proud of Eddie being his kid after he's successful tells us that he's not proud of the efforts, he's proud of the result.

This film's worldview and thematic statement is to give it our best shot and not to worry about the result. There's a wonderful conversation in the elevator to the 90m hill, between the best player and Eddie.

I Lost My Body Analysis

I Lost My Body (2019)

Directed by: Jeremy Clapin

Premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2019

Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.

It's the story of a severed hand which escapes from a laboratory and is trying to go back to it's body, reminiscing it's life when it was with the young man it was attached to. This hand goes through different hurdles in Paris, and this film present Paris from a bleak perspective and I haven't seen much of Paris in this tone. All we've seen is the glamour and the romance, whether it's Ratatouille, Midnight in Paris, etc. There's an inherent intimacy in the storytelling, especially the scene where Naoufel meets Gabrielle for the first time. The intercutting of the hand's story and the coming-of-age story of Naoufel was interesting, especially in the scene where the hand is cut.

This film certainly has a lot of depth, on the physical level it has a fun, and a visual conflict which probably a live action film can't pull off - a hand trying to get back to it's body. A conflict like this need not be and probably can't be explained anyway but visually. On an internal level, it's Naoufel's coming-of-age story, this comes through both - the writing and through the visuals. On a philosophal level it talks about complex themes like fate, destiny, free will vs determinism; which mostly comes through the writing. In the scenes of conversation, there's not much happening visually - they're shown from behind and the frame and even the subjects are almost static. I think having a lot of motion, just for the sake of it in these kind of intimate conversations, takes us away from the mood of the scene - just like the 20-min brilliant episode in Anomalisa. 

I'm still getting used to this form, I definitely had really good experiences watching Pixar films, Anomalisa, Mary and Max, Spirited Away and I think channeling creativity with the lack of limitations is the challenge in making animated films.

The Pixar Story Analysis

The Pixar Story (2007)

Written, Directed and Produced by: Leslie Iwerks

Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

It's a documentary about the history of Pixar Animation Studios. It's always inspiring to see artists who break new grounds and open new avenues. It explores the struggle behind making the world's first computer animated feature film, Toy Story. The documentary captures the spirit of Pixar so well, their strive for excellence - especially when John Lasseter looks at the rushes of Toy Story 2 and they aren't happy with it, they decide to scrap most of it and make it all again. This doesn't make much sense from a business standpoint, a decision like this could only be taken when one thinks of the purpose of art, in the larger scheme of things. By putting out something substandard, it won't harm anyone - but it will definitely decrease a person's willingness to surrender to films in general, it might be by a small amount - but it matters.

We've heard stories about the Pixar Braintrust where they keep trying several times, till they are happy with the script - a lot of their films now seem perfect, and I think it's their quest for excellence that comes through. There's one line in the film that says that they don't make films for kids or for adults, they make films for that inner child in everyone that the world makes us forget, that the movies can remind us of. Rajamouli's video on their struggles with Eega gave me the same level of inspiration, about how he'll go to any extent and do anything - but not put something substandard. No matter what our worldview is, even if we want to convey to people to be content with what they have - we as artists, shouldn't be.

Colour Photo Analysis

Colour Photo (2020)

Directed by: Sandeep Raj
Starring: Suhas, Chandini Chowdary, Harsha, Sunil
Streaming on Aha.

I'm in absolute awe of Suhas after watching this film. He is someone who we can easily cry for, his innocence and his relatable charm are used very well by director Sandeep Raj. Having said this, I'm sure Suhas can also pull off a rugged gangster with a lot of ease. I really hope he gets scripts in a way that he can explore his range, as an actor. Suhas' strength is the way he can talk about his feelings, usually male actors struggle with scenes where they talk about their feelings - Suhas goes them effortlessly, in the bus stop scene, in the scene where he tells Deepthi that his friends tell him, 'ne range ki thagga ammayini chuskunte help chesevallam ra' and in the ending scene where he is just talking his heart out. Chandini and Harsha also acted really well, the way Chandini reacts to the shirt hanging, and the helplessness Harsha portrays in the ending. The cut backs to those particular shots of Suhas, after Deepthi looks at the shirt and is reminded of him - the selection of those shots is really crucial - it had a strong effect.

The film works well in parts that in totality, for example: the ending 30 mins was the best part of the film - every scene (including Krishna's father's backstory) worked well. And the scene where the foreigner comes to their college. The film just starts too late, it felt like the film couldn't stop beginning and introducing the world - the core story, only starts in the last 45-50 mins from the scene where Krishna and Deepthi are locked in a room. I would've definitely been more invested, if the film wouldn't have taken so long to introduce and set the world. I'm not saying "lag", it's that the film doesn't start. The dialogue at a few places, felt a little conventional. Although, the ending being so cathartic - I had to let go of all the minor complaints I had, and I ended up feeling good about the film. It's tough to not like a film like this - the subject matter, the slice of life treatment, the actors, the music, the inspiring team who we've all seen grow up.

Bad Boy Billionaires: India Analysis

Bad Boy Billionaires: India (2020)

A 3-episode docu-series, each about Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi & Subrata Roy.
Streaming on Netflix.

This whole docu-series tells stories which are too good to be true. The show captures the largeness of life, through the lens of wealth, power and megalomania - it reinforces our nihilistic outlook on the world reminding us of how inconsequential we are in the larger scheme of things. We could look at it in another way, nobody is free of problems - everyone is trying to solve problems in life, no matter how wealthy they are - so we might as well create problems which we'd love solving - pursuing what we love. Although I wished this show explored more into the psychology of these people, I had questions like - if given a chance would they do it all over again? Would they change anything? Do they have regrets? Vijay Mallya celebrating his birthday lavishly even after not paying his employees, tells us about his brutally unapologetic attitude.

This series falls into a territory which has a worldview that there are no shortcuts in life, and that playing slow and steady wins the race. Telling stories of a few billionaires who went wrong, is pro-socialist worldview. We should definitely not feel good about rich people going to jail, and feel good about ourselves - I'm sure a lot of people would trade lives with them if given a chance. This show is important, it tells us a lot of things - to not put all our eggs in one basket, to be ready to face a life where all of our savings are turned into ash - this is what a lot of people faced when things went wrong. This show explores the human condition, about how people gain trust and how much people can trust, blindly. The way they gain people's trust is intense - they brainwash you to an extent where you'd defy everyone around you and believe that, that's the only person or that's the only scheme that'd get you out of your misery. It feels like life is giving you one shot. 

After watching this, and having faced bad experiences myself - I still believe that unless you are risking your whole life into something, you should definitely take chances in life and experience things. Whether they'll work or not, we'll at least have rich life experiences and these experiences will help us in ways we won't even think about. Having said this, if something feels too good to be true - it probably is.

Ramaraju for Bheem - RRR Teaser

Ramaraju for Bheem - RRR Teaser

I generally don't write about trailers and teasers, but some of my strongest responses to cinema have been in trailers and teasers. Whether it's the Gangs of Wasseypur - 2 trailer cut, Super Deluxe's trailer cut or a lot of S. S. Rajamouli's trailers and teasers. This teaser has been haunting me from the moment I saw it, I watched it a lot of times. There are only few filmmakers who completely take control of me, as an audience when I'm watching something. I become a kid, when I'm watching Rajamouli's work - it's because I know that he will deliver for sure and no matter how huge my expectations are - he will reach them all the time.

Rajamouli says that he's more of a storyteller than a director, but the images he creates - is one of the reasons his films are universal. The teaser released in all languages, and the one of the strongest response has been towards the 6th shot in the teaser - the shot of the wave. Of course, the stories he tells are strongly rooted in our culture and the conflicts are mostly primal - but the curiosity of the audience is to see what kind of images he'd have created. I remember feeling the same when I watched Baahubali: The Conclusion's trailer. Even with his dream project - my curiosity is about the kind of images that he'd create. 

The underlying emotion that he carves out of Ram Charan (and even Prabhas) is that of honesty and integrity - we saw that in Magadheera and in Baahubali. That's their strength. The underlying emotion that he carves out of NTR is Roudram - we saw that in Simhadri and this emotion is like home territory to NTR - he does this seamlessly. So now in the teaser, it's evident that there's going to be a lot of Roudram from Bheem, I'm curious to see how Ramaraju's character is developed. When Rajamouli puts out something, it's a reminder of how achieving excellence could make us feel and why we should pursue it. 

The Trial of the Chicago 7 Analysis

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Written and Directed by: Aaron Sorkin
Streaming on Netflix.

A courtroom drama is like the home ground of Aaron Sorkin, who is a master of writing punchy, witty, conflicting dialogue. I could appreciate Social Network, Molly's Game and Steve Jobs better than this film - because all the three of those films are about people playing the capitalism game in America, people making it big with money - that's something that could be appreciated without much understanding of the context. This film is about a trial against seven people for inciting riots at a protest, where they say that the police got violent first. I had to pause the film, and read about why they were protesting and come back to watch it. Then  when I figured that it's a protest against the U. S. government for participating in the Vietnam war, the ending scene made sense to me. Abbie Hoffman, one of the defendants wrote a book called 'Steal This Book' - a book which exemplified the counter culture of the 60s.

The dramatic aspect which anyone can appreciate is the judge in this case being clearly biased - it's such oppression. Aaron Sorkin's intercutting is done in the film too, and it works very well - a lot of scenes are intercut between three scenes - and they work very well because of his effective use of dialogue. Usually he intercuts, with voice overs but this film doesn't use a lot of voice overs. They instead use one of the defendants narrating some parts of the incident to some people and use it as some sort of a voice over. There is a lot of Sorkin-ish dialogue here - for example, 'what's the other word for trapped' 'that's a contradictory instruction' - in Aaron Sorkin's world, he presents some characters to be a little more witty, he makes them observe and talk about things which we usually don't. Is it a good thing that he does this with a lot of his characters? I don't know - but it surely makes for interesting drama.

Nirbhandam Analysis

 Nirbandham (2020)

Written, Directed, Edited, Produced, Shot, Color, Music, Stunts, Production Design by: Bandi Saroj Kumar
Available on YouTube in the Pay What You Wish model.

It's an anthology depicting different stories set during the lockdown. The film follows a gang, who are rapists, and criminals. This film has one of the most authentic depictions of criminal gangs and rapists in India. It's horrifying. They don't use any visuals, or gore - all of it comes through the dialogue. The usage of slang is so powerful and so dominating, because in Telugu - we have a lot of slang and cuss words that people use in real life, which we don't use in pop culture and cinema. Whereas in english films, I think they casually use slang in pop culture. The authentic portrayal of the criminals comes through in every detail - the dialogue they use, the way they talk, think and react to different things and people. The cinematography is raw, and it matches the tone of the film. There are a few very interesting shots, one is the shot of a cracked glass of the car, and another horrifying shot, is the shot of rods at the rape scene - the shot subtly reminds us of what humans are capable of, reminding us of the horrifying incidents in India. 

The character arc was also convincing - he doesn't change overnight with a speech, he changes gradually - when he is proved wrong multiple times. Something happens inside and the feeling of disgust and hatred towards what he did, and his past self is visible. The stories of migrant laborers is also made in an empathetic way, and not in a sympathetic way. The girl who is trying to go on a cycle all by herself - her dialogue is so authentic. She isn't being a victim when she's going through all that hardship, she is being proud and she is fighting with all her spirit. It's interesting how everything comes together at the end. Some people are complaining about the subject matter being so dark, and the same people happily watch Mindhunter and Ted Bundy on Netflix. They can complain about the craft, or stuff like that - but the film is supposed to make us feel uncomfortable and it does. This being a tough film to watch, with the subject matter - the ending lifts our spirits. The film is cut so tightly and with the music being used at almost every scene - the film flows so well. I was reminded of Raatsasan for the pacing.

Halal Love Story Analysis

Halal Love Story (2020)

Directed by: Zakariya
Written by: Muhsin Parari, Zakariya
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

There are very few films that welcome us to reconsider our worldview. A lot of films are made with angst against a certain worldview, against conservatism or liberalism. This film is made with love, this film isn't against any worldview - it just made me realize that just because someone has a conservative worldview, or strong religious beliefs - it doesn't mean that they're regressive - we need not judge them or label them, we can agree to disagree on certain beliefs and move on. This film has a very endearing premise, a conservation Muslim organization wants to make a film - abiding by their religious norms, somewhat like how Iranian cinema is made. They only want to cast a married couple in real life, as a couple on screen and they don't want to capture any sorts of intimacy - even hugging. They struggle to find a couple both of whom, can act.

Zakariya's previous film 'Sudani from Nigeria' also is made with a lot of love and it's so inspiring to watch films which are so endearing and entertaining too - we have a notion that films about bad guys, grey characters are intriguing, and of course in both of these films we see layered, multi-dimensional characters - but these films inspire us to be more humane. It also explores the dynamics between the married couple very well, a love story doesn't necessarily have to be about the uncertainty of getting married, or getting into a relationship - it can also be about the uncertainty of happiness in a relationship - because in this case, they won't get divorced most likely and it's just a question of whether they'll be happy or not. This film being a meta film was a lot of fun to me, Soubin Shahir was hilarious as the sound recordist - it is an interesting take on how film sets operate. After an intense day of shoot, when there are heated arguments going on, the silence which they go through for the sound designer to record room tone - feels like an important minute of silence everyone should go through in their lives. This film does a lot of things, and yet it never feels heavy - all of them blend seamlessly into each other.

Our Sunhi Analysis

Our Sunhi (2013)

Written and Directed by: Hong Sang-soo

Hong Sang-soo's films are mostly set in the world of film festivals, filmmakers, film students and film critics and he makes his films by writing from 4-9 am in the mornings, on the days of shoot. There are long conversations in cafe bars where the characters are drinking, eating - he adds some conflict by having interesting relationship conflicts between them. 

This film is about Sunhi, a recent film school graduate who is looking to get a letter of recommendation from her film professor for her Masters in Film in the US. He is trying to convince her to start making films instead, and stresses the importance of practical experience - and I was getting a lot of advice there. She later confronts her ex-boyfriend who makes a film about their failed relationship. She meets another filmmaker too, and all the three men are falling for her.

The best part about the film is that, it never tries to look down on any of the men for falling for her - it respects the identity of everyone. Usually in films where more than two people are falling for one person, they tend to show some of them as stupid - just because it's tough to empathise with a lot of people. But this film respects the identity of every character - however quirky they might be.

Hong Sang-soo's films, I think, are the pinnacle of the Personal Film Movement (a term which I'm coining, haha) because Hong's process is so light where he lets conversations flow instead of forcing them. I think Hong tries to focus on getting more life experiences, so that he can effortlessly make films about them, and I think he sees himself in a lot of characters in his films. His films inspire me to be more brave while writing.

Putham Pudhu Kaalai Analysis

Putham Pudhu Kaalai (2020)

Directed by: Sudha Kongara, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Suhasini Maniratnam, Rajiv Menon and Karthik Subbaraj.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The filmmakers were saying that every story is about hope, but some of these shorts only loosely interpret that theme. It's because the anthologies that we've seen in Indian cinema - Bombay Talkies, Lust Stories and Ghost Stories - have similar tonal or thematic elements. I absolutely loved Karthik Subbaraj's short and GVM's short - the remaining were good too. It was interesting that except for Karthik Subbaraj's short - every short was set in upper class houses, with great interiors - probably because that's one of the only few production values that they can get in, in the conditions that they shot.

Karthik Subbaraj's short: This had a stark contrast from the other shorts in terms of tonality - and this short worked very well - both in writing and in the execution. I was laughing out loud throughout. It's the absurdity that he captures on screen, which creates the dark humor. This short felt more respectable towards the form of shorts more than the others - the other shorts felt more like segments of a feature film and this worked - as a standalone piece of art. I would love to see more of Karthik's shorts!

Gautham Vasudev Menon's: I think this film had GVM up his game. This short felt more profound, intimate and poised, a lot more than his other work. P. C. Sreeram's images were beautiful - where they have an entire background filled with white light and we see Ritu filled with light in high contrast, in front of that background - it was such a serene image. Ritu Varma is GVM's new muse, she gorgeously fits as the GVM woman. GVM's world is always good to see, because he always strikes a balance in the individual vs family conflict, which is almost like a dream for any person.

I liked the other shorts too, they felt like a pat on the back and they definitely served their purpose - during these tough times but it's just that the setting in the remaining other shorts felt a bit similar - and the film buff me, didn't have much to look forward to in them. 

This Is Not a Film Analysis

This Is Not a Film (2011)

Co-directed, Edited and Produced by: Jafar Panahi

This film was smuggled out of Iran to Cannes, in a flash drive inside a cake - because Jafar Panahi was banned for 20 years, from making films, writing screenplays, giving interviews and going abroad - this is like death penalty to a filmmaker - and in a protest to that, he shot a film at his home, about the ban, he narrates a few scenes from his screenplay and talks about how vastly different it is to make a film than to narrate a scene, reflecting on the nature of filmmaking. They apparently have to submit the screenplay to the government and take approval, and his films mostly being anti-authority have always gotten him into trouble. 

He has experienced lockdown, isolation and how it feels to be confined and oppressed as an artist way before the world. Often people talk about need of life experiences to be able to write stories - but I think that isolation and loneliness are never any lesser of life experiences either. There's a lot of internal angst, and for artists - not being able to create art, or even worse - being able to create and yet not creating anything can lead to a lot of internal angst - which in itself can be used as an inspiration to create something. 

The choice of shots to capture are interesting - they are an intimate portrayal of his life - whether it's the crocodile pet crawling on him while he is working, his phone calls during breakfast, and his conversations with his friend at the end - the form here is radical - it's in between a vlog, an interview and a documentary. Do we have to name it anyway? We could just call it a film, in spite of the makers telling us otherwise. Here, the context and the external story of the film being smuggled in a cake - work as the promotional material for the film, they do what a trailer would've done otherwise.

Code Unknown Analysis

Code Unknown (2000)

Written and Directed by: Michael Haneke
Starring: Juliette Binoche

The film is like an anthology - dealing with different stories, although these characters have a brief encounter in the film. They use extended long shots in the film many times, I'd like to write about one of the first scenes in the film. It is a long shot in the exteriors where Anne and Jean are talking while they are walking - the camera moves parallel to them majorly following Anne - capturing the action objectively without creating any dramatic effect - the best part is that after they part, and Jeans turns back and walks - the camera now follows Jean, it also goes back along with him and follows him as he throws a piece of garbage at a woman - and when Amadou, who confronts him for the same, enters the frame because the perspective is still with Jean - a fight happens, people gather up and when Amadou is about to bring the woman to gather proof, Jean tries to walk away from the scene, and the camera follows Jean and then Amadou again enters the frame and tries to stop him - and finally the police arrives at the scene and arrest Amadou (he's black).

The color, and the look of the film felt so contemporary - the camera movements are seamless, the focus is on point at every moment even in the long shots. The lack of a conventional narrative didn't pinch me as much because I honestly didn't expect one, and also because the storytelling in each segment hooked me and I wasn't exactly looking for something beyond that. Some of these scenes in standalone, could probably be extraordinary short films - especially the first scene which I wrote about and the one where the beggar has a breakdown at her hometown. I'd have been more satisfied if I could figure a connecting theme to all the stories, it was an interesting experience nevertheless. 

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Analysis

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Written and Directed by: Jacques Demy
Won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival.

The entire film has characters singing to each other - even normal conversation is made into the lyrics of a song and are sung by the characters - this idea feels so radical because even conversations at a garage are sung with rhythm and certain dialogue is given emphasis with the music, with a punchy upbeat music parallel to it - like where Guy quits his job in the garage in the 3rd chapter. The simplistic love story helps, because it would've been difficult to process that level of depth and layering, especially when our major chunk of attention is taken with the characters singing. At a point in the beginning, the technique felt like an extended joke, but after some more time - I kind of got used to it and since there is conflict throughout, the film would've worked even without the singing part, and the singing didn't feel like a gimmick - it just added a layer of escapism to the world of the film. It's ironic and funny when pragmatic conversations are happening through a romantic song.

The film has brilliant visual aesthetics - the color of the costume of a character matches the color of the background most of the times, especially Gene's costumes - it's either the entire wall of the background, or a major object with the same color. I think that this would've been a huge influence for Wes Anderson's work. I'm generally fascinated by vibrant walls and colors, because we aren't usually allowed to/encouraged to use vibrant colors in our daily lives - again reflecting the mundane - but why not? Guy's costumes are mostly designed in a way that they his and Gene's costumes have color contrast. Fill lighting is used in most of the film - matching the tone of the light hearted subject matter. 

Lawrence of Arabia Analysis

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Directed by: David Lean
Cinematography by: F. A. Young

The film captures the vastness of the desert, and the landscapes through wide shots in which humans are just like 'dots' (referring to Orson Welles in The Third Man) and these shots remind us of the largeness of life and that we are mere dots in the larger scheme of things. The scene in which Lawrence says that he enjoyed killing, and that there something is not correct - the camera moves slowly into him from a long shot and for the first time I understood what camera movement can do - I could never feel a dramatic difference between a static shot, and a subtle push in - in this scene it lays emphasis on his dramatic confession, and his guilt. The scene in the beginning where a man kills Lawrence's guide because he drinks water out of his well - we see the person arriving in exactly their perspective - like a small dot from far away to someone dangerous. The blue sky in a lot of low angle shots, the red sunset after the match is blown - the images are so vivid in my mind. 

This film felt epic in the true sense of the word - the way we see hundreds of extras with camels or horses in the background, such shots are always tough to capture no matter how much technology can help - in an extra wide shot probably people can be created by adding dots, but the way this film captures the hundreds of people - I could feel every person being alive and moving - and again, it's not about how much money they'd have spent for those shots, it's reminding us of the largeness of life. Steven Spielberg talked in the documentary Spielberg about how Lawrence of Arabia made him want to become a filmmaker - the influences are evident in his work - he too captures the largeness of life in his films. I'm sure the desert scenes in the Breaking Bad universe are also partly inspired from this film, or The Searchers - the source of inspiration for David Lean to capture vast landscapes in this film.

Navrang Analysis

Navrang (1959)

Directed by: V. Shantaram

The film is about a disillusioned artist and it has a weird premise - poet Diwakar fantasizes his wife to be an angel and finds a new muse in his fantasized version of his wife. Here, the issue is infidelity - it need not be physical, fantasizing someone else is also infidelity - although in this film it's a little complicated because he imagines his own wife, but a different version of her. So it's not him cheating on her physically, he's probably cheating on her as a person - I don't know if this is making any sense but this is how abstract the idea of the film is. It's actually interesting - because after a point in a relationship, the excitement wears out and it's not the physical aspect, it's probably that you don't have much to look forward to after you know everything about the other person, which is why he muses on an imaginary version, which he doesn't want to know everything about. It's a weird idea.

The film is set in pre-independence India. They use background score conventionally - to direct the audience to feel the emotions. Dissolves are used well, to depict his imaginary muse and also in some scenes when things go haywire. The ending is a conventional happy ending, although I didn't get how the wife actually understood the difference between him singing for her real self and for his fantasized version of her. It's interesting so see that such complex ideas were being executed back then, without technology and resources - reinstating what Kubrick said - if it can be thought or written, it can be filmed. 

First Person Analysis

First Person (2000-01)

Directed and Produced by: Errol Morris

This is an interview series of people who are from unconventional professions and very different walks of life, some even shocking. Most of them have professions related to death in some way, one cleans up blood in a crime scene and helps the family of victims with the logistics of it, another is into cryonics (look it up if you don't know what it is, I was shocked too), another case where a talking parrot was the only witness in a crime scene, another woman who is into relationships with serial killers, another person who is the smartest person in the world but is just a professional bouncer. It is something to know about psychopaths, serial killers to understand what humans can be capable of but this series of guests are arguably, good people and all of them are on the legal side of the law - it's just that the things that they do are so weird that it's almost difficult to not judge them but by getting them to talk for awhile - he makes us empathise with them and this show just challenges our ability to be open minded.

This series was shot unconventionally - Errol Morris built 'The Interrotron' - a device similar to a teleprompter - where Errol and his subject each sit facing a camera and their faces are projected to the other person on a two-way mirror in front of the lens of the camera. For us, it feels like the subject is talking to the audience by looking into the camera, and for the subject, it feels like they are talking to the person by looking at their image - it's a win-win. They use extreme close up shots of the subject sometimes, to create an unsettling feeling. I'm yet to watch his documentary The Thin Blue Line, where after the film about the inconsistencies in a murder case - the case is reconsidered and the convict is proven innocent and set free.

Bhumika Analysis

Bhumika (1977)

Directed by: Shyam Benegal
National Award for Best Actress, Best Screenplay
Starring: Smita Patil, Anant Nag, Amol Palekar, Naseeruddin Shah

This film is a brilliant character study of Usha, a film actress, played by Smita Patil. The film explores her coming-of-age from her young days till her middle age which mostly include her experiences with various men in her life, right from her abusive, alcoholic father to her husband and with various extra-marital affairs that she has. This film is essentially about liberty and authority, and how abusing authority could drive people to purposefully break rules just for the sake of it. She rejects every form of authority she faces, she rejects her mother that film is a bad career choice, she gets pregnant before marriage (which is a huge thing in India even today in some subcultures), she has affairs with various men and even in one of those affairs with a producer, she seeks liberty. Loss of innocence is an element, and the film definitely has a strong cynical outlook towards men, and their carnal desires because in spite of the diverse worldviews, when it comes to sex there is never a second thought from anyone. Some argue that if it's a biological thing, why condemn men for it? It's like condemning frogs for being green.

Keshav played by a brilliant Amol Palekar, is so expressive without even saying anything - especially in the party where she is having dinner with Rajan, the way he looks at them. Kuleshov effect is used in that scene, the shots of Usha and Rajan add to our understanding of Keshav's anger. In the first scene where Keshav and Usha are fighting, the eyes of Keshav are stead strong - in that scene even if we mute it and see we can understand that the husband is accusing the wife of adultery. She probably cheats, only because he overprotects her and makes her feel like she is his property - there is no scope for dialogue there. This film doesn't condone infidelity - it explores how certain things could lead to it.

Once Upon a Time in the West Analysis

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Directed by: Sergio Leone

Western films give a lot of opportunity for filmmakers to work their filmmaking muscles - because of the vast landscapes, which makes them choose between a wide, long, mid, close, extreme close pretty comfortably and every choice is done intentionally. Also in the build up of a shoot out, the editing and the pacing is played around so much - even in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - we see few minutes of film just before the shoot out and the sheer suddenness of the move, is captured only through the edit. This film uses even sound design to create tension, a technique which was later used in Sholay - the sound of a swing, or a fan - the rustic, repetitive sound in an otherwise silent ambiance. The music by Ennio Morricone stands out, like his other works too - although this time, they use a mouth organ and they have the instrument in scenes which means the theme would've been worked before the shoot itself.

The ending wide shot has probably hundreds of extras, huge sets built and across a huge space - it's elements like these that make these Westerns epics. This film has a lot of fun shootouts, like the one where a person from above the train puts a show on the window and shoots through it - and a lot of stuff like that. The violence in this film is not disturbing - it plays on a witty level more than on a brutal gory level - like that of in Sam Peckinpah's or in Quentin Tarantino's films.

The Lady Eve Analysis

The Lady Eve (1941)

Screenplay and Direction: Preston Sturges
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda

This film is a story of a father-daughter duo who are con-artists; they make money off of people easily. When they encounter Pike, the daughter and Pike fall in love - and just before she is about to tell him who she is, someone else tells Pike about it. Now it's getting interesting, drama is always created out of revelations of secrets and their confrontations. Here, Pike is silent and seems to be disturbed and Jean comes and is casually talking to Pike - and when suddenly Pike shows her the photo - there is silence from both sides. Moments like these are so precious to writers to explore character, because the choices that characters make in situations which test them are the ones that define them. Some people lose control over their thoughts, and go haywire - and some overreact, punish too much - and some feel helpless.

After this, Eve changes her outlook and meets Pike again like a stranger and they again fall in love. Now, she plays the loop of "you'd assume I'd do this, so I'll instead do this" and it works. She says that he looks familiar, which he thinks that a con-artist wouldn't say because that'll raise doubt. Finally, she lets go of the con-job and goes back to him as Jean - the character arc although it feels sudden - there is progression, because when she fell in love, her first instinct was to save him from her dad. But was the whole "Eve" thing, a con just to make him fall back in love with Jean? Oh my! Then my whole understanding of the material could be wrong, and then it's a screwball comedy as I read in the description of the film. The scene where Jean looks into the mirror and makes fun of him in the starting scenes, we still do that when we see people we know talking far away - where we can't hear them but see their expressions.

Metropolis Analysis

Metropolis (1927)

Directed by: Fritz Lang

This film is a testament to what Stanley Kubrick says - 'if it can be written or thought, it can be filmed'. It's a German Expressionist science-fiction film. Films which are shot earlier and were set in the future like 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Blade Runner and likes are always interesting to watch because some of the filmmaker's interpretations of the future turn out to be close. This film captures brilliant architecture, as some critics observed - it's a mix of functionalist architecture and art deco. The film has shots with skyscrapers and neon lights, it's apparently inspired by Lang's visit to New York. 

This film conveys a lot visually, because of course they don't have sound to rely upon and frequent cutting to intertitles would only annoy the audience. The scene where the robot is instigation people to revolt and kill, that was a brilliantly shot and edited scene - because the way they superimpose shots, of the people and her, and the way they cut back and forth - it captures the excitement in both sides, as a response to her instigation. The basic plot of this film, has some similarities to Shankar's Robo - the robot turning out to be harmful to the mankind and such themes. 

All the modern horror films root back to the art movement German Expressionism - the way films interpreted this art movement was not very different - they added exaggerated makeup, lighting, costumes, production design and intense music to give a distorted view of the world. The film's production design apparently draws inspiration from Cubist, Futurist designs and more. Films like these which have a strong sense of style create an enticement to explore what influenced them.

The Exorcist Analysis

The Exorcist (1973)

Directed by: William Friedkin
Written for the Screen and Produced by: William Peter Blatty

I'm not a big fan of horror films - I love the sub-genres of slasher, like Hush, or even horror films with interesting concepts like Quiet Place, Don't Breath, Purge etc.. or the recent horror films like Get Out, Us and The Platform which make social statements in the disguise of survival horror films. I have somehow never enjoyed the conventional supernatural horror genre, the anticipation they create before a jump scare always puts me off - it feels like a prank by a friend, and most of the times I tend to look away from the screen or close half of my face, haha. The most cliche way of doing a jump scare is, making us and the character expect a jump scare and the music goes up, the character gets tensed, the music goes up and up and the character is shit scared now and somehow they muster up the courage and take a peek, there's nothing - hoof...the character is relieved and as they turn back to go, BAMMMM! A jump scare which is absolutely unexpected, and done only once or twice in a film would fascinate me like the one in Game Over.

This film, The Exorcist, doesn't have jump scares - it mostly banks on gore, and they show us the reaction shot first before they show us the horror footage - this increases the anticipation in us. It's a tool often used to create cliffhangers in novels, they write about a character who enter through a door and get flabbergasted by what they see inside and end the chapter there. I understand that my reaction to this film won't be as good as the film, because I've seen a lot of bad derivative work of this film, and have become tired of it - hence I have immense respect for this film for being one of the first popular horror films and to start a trend.

Touch of Evil Analysis

Touch of Evil (1958)

Screenplay, Direction and Starring: Orson Welles

Spoilers ahead, it's a film noir.

This film is relevant till date, both in style and substance. It's about a bunch of cops, investigating a murder through a bomb blast in a car. It has a racial angle to it as well, which is what holds the relevance. Hank Quinlan played by Orson Welles is one hell of a character, he is racist, he seeks vigilante justice, he plants evidences and frames suspects because "he knew that they were guilty", and he is unapologetic and even proud about it. The mere outlook of Hank adds a layer to the character, especially his eyes and the way he looks. In a fight with Varga, he suggests a vote out and he wins - the idea of him winning through majority depicts the plight of minorities, you are always voted out, even if you don't deserve to.

The cinematography is so good, I was surprised by the long shot in the opening, I didn't see such long shots in the 50s and that too in the outdoors with such amounts of extras and camera movement - it was phenomenal, and here the long shot is in sync with the storytelling too, the shot cuts exactly at the inciting incident - the bomb blast. The technique of the lighting getting dim - on and off, especially when it's Hank - it conveys a sense of ambiguity, and it acts as a foreshadowing. Hank being a weird guy, to an outright murderer - it happens so effortlessly, we are never shocked or surprised by his actions - this is an indication of consistency and coherence in character, and that in a morally ambiguous character is everything.

Vanilla Analysis

Vanilla (2019)

Written and Directed by: Will Dennis

This is an independent film, and it's made with limited resources, the film is shot on an A7SII and with limited crew - just like the films of the Mumblecore movement and yet it never felt that any more money would've made the film any better. The "imperfections" feel like a part of the tone and the world of the film - you don't need a Fincher-esque precision in the camera movement or shot in T/1.3 while telling a story like this. I'm not saying that I don't like films with such precision (I'm a huge fan of Fincher), it's the kind of story that supports this sort of laidback filmmaking. 

The writing and the acting is so good - after watching all of his shorts available on his Vimeo, I can say that Will Dennis has a unique writing style - he takes the contemporary conversations that people have about acceptance, inclusivity, feminism, veganism; and he doesn't rigidly take a stance for or against any of them - but he just points out weird things about them and writes around them. All of his work is based around this, and it's so interesting. Vanilla is about acceptance, and it talks about how acceptance is easy only in theory. I liked that he didn't have a character arc in the film, where he accepts her by the end - because it happening soon (or even forever) is probably not realistic. 

The film works because there is tension and conflict throughout the film, most of which is created through secrets, their revelations and the confrontations - whether it's about her being a camgirl, them selling the truck to his ex-girlfriend, she telling his ex about them having sex, etc. Her character is simplistic and yet layered, they establish her by a characteristic where she doesn't like people buying her things, and she doesn't want to be told what to do and what not to - she has authority issues, and yet she is a camgirl where she literally is controlled by another person - since she does that for the money, she doesn't let that happen outside of the camworld. I loved the scene where she gives him some money, breaks the glass and walks.

Casablanca Analysis

Casablanca (1942)

Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
Won the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay.

The film is set in the city of Casablanca during World War 2, the refugees look to escape to America and in this world a 'letter of transit' is priceless to the refugees. This setting in itself makes the film unique, and the conflict with every character and subplot is related to how they can escape from the city, for their freedom. In a setting like this, there could be a lot of stories that could be explored. Here in this film, there is a love triangle and at one scene when the woman, Ilsa, goes to talk to her ex-boyfriend. Rick, about helping her and her husband Victor - she is so convincing that even we feel the confusion in the relationship. Ilsa says that she is tired of thinking for herself and she wants Rick to think for both of them, and all of them. 

She leaves the onus on him to make a choice, and he ends up sacrificing at the end - the philosophical conflict if boiled down to individual vs community - this film's answer is community and they essentially reward sacrificing or those who are "victims" and I think the worldview is derived out of the mood of war. Rick is a layered character, he has a helping nature but he also has his flaws and the way he lets go of Ilsa and her husband go by the ending, by thinking that it'll be the good for everyone - it's a character arc from selfish to probably a more giving person. Films with a worldview of community over individual have more chances of becoming classics, films having anti-societal or counter-culture worldviews could find cult audiences but the famous classics would mostly be the ones sticking to the popular worldview.

The Third Man Analysis

The Third Man (1949)

Directed and Produced by: Carol Reed
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
In 1999, British Film Institute voted this film to be the greatest British film of all time.

The most striking aspect of the film is the images - the chiaroscuro lighting, the strong contrast in images and the way different shades of black are used to tell stories. We see Harry wearing black from top to bottom, his face is mostly lit with fill lighting except in the ending scenes - and this imagery is so expressionist - whereas Anna wears lighter shades. It's used to portray the darkness of the character, Holly Martins wears a shade of grey which is lighter than the cops, but darker than the shade of Anna. It's classic film noir - shots of people smoking, people wearing hats, and a bleak outlook of the setting. If they hadn't cast a big name like Orson Welles for Harry, him being alive would've been a shocker. The screenwriter initially wrote a novella as a preparation for the screenplay, to get the mood and tone of the setting right - I think it's an interesting way to explore the world of the film.

The film is set in post-war Vienna and it's about an American man who arrives in the city and finds his friend to be suspiciously dead. As he privately investigates this, he sees a whole new world of corruption and crime. The writing of the film is so good, we hear a line from Harry about how peace never did any good which perfectly explores the truth of his character and also how he refers to people as 'dots'. The pacing and rhythm of conversations reminded me of 12 Angry Men - it was so tight, especially the way it opens with voice over, and the visual is not cut matching to the dialogue because the dialogue is too fast, where they are talking about different allies in Vienna. It felt weird to see Vienna in such a dark film - of course it's set in the post war era - but the only other way I'm familiar with Vienna through cinema is Before Sunrise.

La Dolce Vita Analysis

La Dolce Vita (1960)

Directed by: Federico Fellini
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni
Won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival, 1960.

Fun fact: The word "paparazzi" (an intrusive journalist) is coined after the name of a character in the film - Paparazzo.

The film is a character study of Marcello, a journalist in Roma, exploring different facets in his life - through his relationships with different people like romantic partners, friends, fiance, father, colleagues, etc. Lifestories are never a compilation of some short stories, one story doesn't begin after another ends - a lot of stories keep happening for a larger period of time, than our estimate. Likewise in this film, whatever happens with Emma - the subplot stays till the end of the film, sure some characters go away sooner, like in real life too but a lot of times, change in the dynamics of a relationship happen over time. Fellini said that he doesn't want his films to be restricted by any forms of narrative, and that a film should flow like a poem.

The film explores the contrast between materialistic and a meaningful life, although the "intellectual" character ends up committing suicide and Marcello has fun throughout the film, so the worldview is clearly just to do whatever you feel like doing, even if that or rather, especially it means being hedonistic (referring to the orgy scene). The B/W cinematography is really good, we see Marcello wearing a black suit most of the times, his car and glasses are black too, and his shirt is white and his face is lit with fill lighting, so there is high contrast and yet clean imagery all over - we don't see shadows or a film-noir kind of lighting. I've only seen Fellini's Eight and Half apart from this and yet I could see a lot of similar visual choices, the quirky imagery of the opening scenes, and a very unconventional narrative. I read that a lot of critics found this narrative to have a prologue, seven episodes and an epilogue - this is an interesting interpretation of the material.

All That Heaven Allows Analysis

All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Directed by: Douglas Sirk
Starring: Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson

This is a beautiful film - it's about an upper-class widow who falls in love with a younger man. It's a simple conflict, the woman has to find acceptance from her children and the "society". The philosophical conflict is 'individual vs society' and the worldview is beautifully arrived after a nuanced moral dilemma. The women initially decides to wait till everyone gets used to their relationship, and probably will accept someday and they have a small riff, and she decides to let go of their relationship. She thinks that this would change everybody's lives, she calls her son to tell about this and it doesn't even matter much. Then is when she realizes that her life is utmost a reality drama for others, they'd be interested only when it's exciting and wouldn't care otherwise, and she has to live with it forever. 

I also liked the scene where the kids meet Ron after she tells them, the son is emotional and the daughter tries to talk rationally - there is orchestration in character in spite of them being on the same side of the moral argument. In the scene where the son talks to her about how she could do this being "his father's wife" - it's a well thought out phrase - it says that she isn't as much as a mother, or a woman to his son than she would be the representation of their "legacy". The writing, and the rhythm of the scenes feel contemporary - it didn't feel like I had to let go of certain expectations because it's a film made in the 50s.