Shyam Singha Roy

Shyam Singha Roy (2021)

Written and Directed by: Rahul Sankrityan

Cinematography: Sanu Varghese John

Spoilers Ahead.

This film beautifully uses the technique of 'set up and pay off' all over the film. It's used in the writing and visually too. In writing, a lot of things like, the short story that Shyam gives to his brother, Rosie's last wish. Visually, it's things like the two pearls that Shyam picks up in the flashback, which he places them back in the ending. Usually a lot of Telugu films have a vague beginning 20-30 mins, where there is no relationship to the core plot. Here too it seems like that in the beginning, but the first half is full of set ups which are paid off later. Also, since we see him from his short film days, to him becoming a director, there is time flowing in the film and it feels like the plot is moving even before the arresting incident happens. The filmmaking struggle is also hilarious. I loved the entire flashback except for the part where he brutally kills the man in the temple and saves them - that one sequence felt out of tone, it was too high on drama - and it again goes back into tone when he saves Rosie and moves to Kolkata, and becomes a writer. 

I loved the visuals - of course the flashback is shot beautifully - even in the present parts, the camera is so fluid. The DOP recently shot Malik, so it makes sense. The way Rise of Shyam was edited was beautiful - with the usage of some real footage in between. The making out scene was really good and smooth, can't recall such good making out in Telugu cinema before. And the act of writing is usually boring to visually see, but I loved how they dramatized the act of writing in the flashback, with camera moves, props and music. Overall, I enjoyed the film.

83

83 (2021)

Directed by: Kabir Khan
Starring: Ranveer Singh
Spoilers Ahead (about the cameos)

I thoroughly enjoyed the film, but I was slightly underwhelmed because of my high expectations from the trailer. Ranveer Singh was fantastic - not for a moment could I see Ranveer in the frame and it felt like it was Kapil Dev throughout. It's a story of an underdog team, winning the world cup and they establish a lot of antagonism through criticism. Everyone laughs at the idea of India winning. I also liked how they showed that cricket unites us as a country and even a situation like riots could be calmed down because of cricket. But then I wasn't feeling so strongly when all this was happening. I think it's because 60-70% of the film felt like a compilation of highlights of the world cup. Watching a cricket match is fun, but watching highlights isn't. Even in a film like Jersey, the best part of the film is not the cricket matches. The way they shot and cut the games - it felt slightly exhausting for me, especially the semi-final. 

I loved Sachin's cameo - I was wondering if they should've shown Dhoni as a baby too when the world cup was happening - and then the comic in me was thinking if they should've shown Virat's dad flirting with Virat's mom when the cup was happening. No. It was a bad joke. Ignore. Coming back to the film - I enjoyed the film, it was beautifully shot and produced. Felt like I was just transported to the world back then. Just witnessing something like this is beautiful - but the trailer set an insanely high expectation for me - where I was expecting this, and also the high you get when you watch a Bajrangi Bhaijaan - which I think some people would've gotten but I didn't. Perhaps because the film focused on capturing the cricket matches more than evoking emotions. But yes, in whatever scope they had, they definitely evoked emotions - for me a really good moment was when the team walks out of the pavilion to field in the finals. I loved Jeetega Jeetega song - I just thought it could've been cut better because the way the trailer used the song was something else altogether.

Pushpa

Pushpa (2021)

Directed by: B. Sukumar

Starring: Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil

Pushpa is basically a rags to riches gangster drama. Probably because of the "PAN India" release and the hype around, it would've set the wrong expectations. Otherwise at the core, it's a hypermasculine gangster drama set in the world of red sandalwood. A guy at the bottom, a coolie, slowly climbs the ladder by outperforming his peers and killing a few, comes to the top and then faces the villain. We see this structure in any gangster film. Here, since the film is shot in a way that the setting and the world comes through so well, the scale of the film got so huge, and hence the expectations. I loved Allu Arjun in the film. I was not enjoying the flashback, and the mother's track that much till the climax face off comes. Then, everything got justified. It's a man to man war, like that in Ayyappanum Koshiyum. We see very few of such hypermasculine dramas done well, especially after the overdose of the "embrace your vulnerabilities" movement.

I thought the entire Rashmika's track could've been taken off, it's just a subplot. It was given a lot more importance than needed. The climax face off is a very powerful setup for the next part. Anasuya's character was also setup well for the next part. I like how the film is shot, the lighting and the palette looks realistic. But the action scenes are Telugu-ish. There were a lot of mass moments in the film, some of which would've been elevated better with a different kind of score. Apart from a few things, I loved the film and I'm looking forward to Part-2.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

Written and Directed by: Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen, Dakota Johnson
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

It's the most beautiful, heartwarming film I've seen in a while. It has 3 characters, a very simple setting and they explore large things in life through this simple setup. Zak, a 22-year-old man with Down syndrome escapes from a facility as he always dreamt of becoming a wrestler. He then bumps into Tyler, a macho guy. From there, it's a beautiful relationship that they both form. It's a brotherhood. It's friendship. It's a guru-shishya thing. It's also a father-child relation because Tyler teaches him simple things, he protects him. It's something that you can't put a label on. Just two characters and they keep overcoming some hurdles that they face on the way. And then, they are found out by Eleanor, Zak's caretaker in the facility. Tyler convinces Eleanor to go with them, and that he's only trying to fulfil Zak's dream. Eleanor slowly gives into it. There's some chemistry between Tyler and Eleanor. They explore Eleanor's character with very few scenes and yet they do it beautifully. 

After Tyler and Eleanor are together in the ending and Zak refers to them as his family, it's again a beautiful relationship that you can't put a label on. It's like they are siblings, they are friends and sometimes it's also like Zak is their child. This is what I love about this film. Usually, we hurry to put labels on every relationship we have. We get a little restless. But if Tyler had to do a "we need to talk" conversation with Zak, would he have done what all he did for Zak? He wouldn't. He did it out of sheer love for him. In Tyler's life, post 20 years, he would still remember this beautiful period in his life where he himself might be surprised by his ability to love. This film inspires us to love without expecting anything in return. 

Captain Fantastic (2016)

Captain Fantastic (2016)

Written and Directed by: Matt Ross

Premiered at Sundance 2016.

Streaming on Prime Video.

It's a beautiful premise. It's about a family who lives in isolation from the real world, with anti-capitalist ideologies and some idealistic ways of living. They hunt their own food, they are extremely physically active, they never lie to their children even when they ask questions about things that are usually considered inappropriate for them. This family is forced to come into the real world. It's a 'fish out of the pond' scenario, like Dictator, PK and such films where the protagonist is so out of sync with the world that everything can be a conflict. They use this very well too. They are constantly questioned about their way of life and the father proves themselves right every single time. The film is shot beautifully, the performances are good too.

My issue with the film was that the film's worldview wasn't clear. It was shifting from here and there. The film ends on a note where you have to strike a balance. But the film at the end of Act 2 goes to a zone where the father too stops to believe that his ways are correct - well this could be the writer applying the 'all is lost' moment but then this ended up in the film not having a strong worldview. It doesn't take a stance. Sure, ending the film where the characters strike a balance is alright but here the characters surrender to the ideas of capitalism, which felt a little disappointing because at least in a film you crave to see characters do things that perhaps you cannot. I didn't like the track of the mother's death too, because they conveniently kept peeling layers out of that track according to whichever side they wanted to take.

Skylab

Skylab (2021)

Written and Directed by: Vishwak Khanderao
Starring: Nithya Menen, Sathyadev, Tanikella Bharani

When I first heard of the premise of the film through a friend, I was really excited. I saw the trailer, and I saw something different than what I had expected out of the film. The trailer had a nice, slice of life tone to it but it was not quite dealing with the premise. The film does exactly the same that the trailer showed. The film uses the incident of Skylab as a setting and merely as a backdrop, it doesn't use it as a conflict or a story element. The film instead explores characters within the setting of Skylab. In spite of the tone being really warm and nice, and the amazing execution of the film - it felt like the film was introducing the characters for 70% of the film. I felt like there wasn't much happening, and they had an amazing premise right there. They could've done so much more with it. Tanikella Bharani's track was beautiful. Nithya Menen's track was also beautiful. Rahul Ramakrishna's track was also beautiful. But the way they were placed with respect to the core idea of the film 'Skylab' was what could've been done differently so that we'd have felt the stakes throughout, which would've resulted in a more emotionally satisfying experience.

The film became emotionally satisfying in the last 20 minutes of the film - because we see the characters having an arc, and we get a beautiful sense of closure. The cinematography was beautiful - it had a haze to it throughout which added a nice dreamy touch to the world, giving it a slight fantasy sense. The dialogue was so musical and wonderful to listen to. The acting of every character was really good, the way they performed is what created a unique tone to the film. The last 20 minutes of the film made the experience worthwhile. 

Dating and New York (2021)

Dating and New York (2021)

Written, Directed and Produced by: Jonah Feingold
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

It's a story of dating in the modern world, it's an age old story of two people meeting, not wanting to catch feelings but they end up. However, the film has an interesting tone, the way it's shot and edited. It has a Wes Anderson-esque touch to the way it's cut and the way voice over is used. There's Milo and Wendy, two people who meet on a dating app, they hook up and then decide to stay in a friends with benefits space - where can "let them be single but not lonely". And all their friends say that this is not going to end well and that one of them is going to have their heart broken. They deny it. Slowly, they start hanging out, they start talking to each other and spending time, and of course, the inevitable happens. Milo catches feelings, and I expected that he's the one who is going to catch feelings first. 

Milo is a very interesting character, even his outlook has a lot of quirks. His curly hair, his costumes, etc. He has that vulnerable side in him intact. Wendy is more outgoing, and she seems more strong but then as Milo points out, she is acting out of fear. She is afraid to be loved, because deep down she thinks she isn't good enough for someone to consistently love her. She says that if we end up dating, it'll end up in you despising me. That tells about what she thinks of her. I would have loved the film to end where both of them stay apart, for some reason, love stories hit harder if they don't end up together - perhaps for the same reason why Wendy is afraid to be together - unrequited love is more romantic for some weird reason. Perhaps self sabotaging tendencies. 

Tu Hai Mera Sunday

Tu Hai Mera Sunday (2016)

Written and Directed by: Milind Dhaimade

Streaming on Netflix.

It's a simple premise. Five friends set out to play football in the city of Bombay, and their game is cancelled because of a mishap at a location and when they try to find space to play, they somehow can't. The film starts with this note, and then slowly explores the life of every character in the film. We see what each of their lives are like. The city is captured really well, scenes are shot in real locations and we can feel the claustrophobia of the characters. The rooms in houses are dirty and filled. There is traffic, crowd, chaos. A simple conflict on the outside which has an underlying social commentary is always a solid premise. I'm reminded of a lot of Iranian cinema. But this film also has the slice of life vibe, I see the tone of Wake Up Sid, especially the way the romance between the two characters was drawn.

The film blatantly talks about capitalism, it's clearly anti-capitalist. The worldview is clear, although it would've been nicer if the approach was a little nuanced. The boss in the office seemed caricature-ish. The person outbursting at an airport because of his corporate job also felt like too extreme of an example. These guys seemed genuinely clueless. I felt that a little more nuanced take on this would've been nice. But apart from that, I loved the film.

Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana

Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana (2021)

Written and Directed by: Raj B. Shetty
Starring: Raj B. Shetty, Rishabh Shetty
Shot and Edited by: Praveen Shriyan

What makes an epic gangster saga? The film has to study characters deeply, it has to span over a long duration, typically a generation or two, the setting and the world has to come through to create an immersive experience, and of course, some cool hip murders. GGVV has all of the above. It has Hari and Shiva - two gangsters, and they are explored beautifully through a good chunk of a sequence where we see what happened in their childhood. Shiva was found in a well, he's mistaken to be dead body initially, but turns out he is alive. Then, Shiva is bullied throughout his childhood. Hari takes care of him. And one day, Shiva reacts. That's where the story starts. It's a beautiful story of brotherhood, friendship and how they fall apart. When Shiva gets to know that Hari has sent men to kill him, he is first in denial and later when he has to believe it, he becomes so weak. Though Shiva is a bad guy, he killed so many people, it's heartbreaking to see a stonehearted man, a borderline psychopath like Shiva, become so weak. His body shivers. Because Hari is the only human bond he has had since his childhood. Now, that has turned against him. 

I like the style of the film. It's realistic, but it's also stylish. Especially the way the murder sequences are shot. My favorite is the second murder, after which Shiva does the tiger dance. It's such a cinematic visual. Also, the idea that he uses the footwear as souvenirs and we reveal that he's killed people by showing his footwear first. Though I liked the voice over, and how they used it to explore character, I would've probably enjoyed it even more if the V.O. was from the perspective of Hari. Or maybe it's someone V.O. but we don't know whose, and in the ending it turns out to be the guy's who ends up killing Hari. Overall, I loved the film. It's been a while since I watched a really good gangster film.

Churuli

Churuli (2021)

Directed by: Lijo Jose Pellissery

Starring: Vinay Forrt, Chemban Vinod Jose

Streaming on Sony LIV.

I felt hypnotic as I was watching this film. At a point, I felt like even I could start acting strange just like the people in the film. It's a film with a lot of abstractness to it. It's a mystery, horror, fantasy with elements of magical realism. The premise is pretty simple, two undercover cops go in search of a wanted criminal. In the process, they're stuck in a village called Churuli where all these eerie mysteries unfold. A lot of crazy stuff happens. I've heard someone using this phrase for Super Deluxe, in the 2nd half, the script is high on coke. Here, it's the entire film. Even more after they enter Churuli. They go through a series of experiences.

The village is shot beautifully. I still remember the imagery. With greenery all around, but with mist in between. In some shots, the mist was creating an eerie effect. In some shots, the entire landscape was visible to show the dominance of the setting in the story and the characters are just miniatures in the frame. The music, and the sound design is hypnotic. The sound effects, the ambiance, the music and dialogue - every element of sound is played around with to create the effect. There's beautiful use of dissolves too, to create this effect. And the way the people look, blink their eyes and get back - it was all creating a hypnotic effect. 

Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich (2000) 

Directed by: Steven Soderberg
Written by: Susannah Grant
Julia Roberts won the Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe for Best Actress.
Streaming on Netflix. 

It's the story of an underdog - Erin Brockovich - who has no education in the law, and despite of that, was instrumental in building a case against a Gas and Energy company. Initially, she is taken very lightly by her colleagues because of the way she dresses and looks. They feel like she doesn't belong there. And she's even fired, until they realize that what she's been doing was actually a lot of significant work. Julia Roberts did a really good job, because the character is very nuanced and a lot of it comes through the performance and the body language. The way she talks, the way she walks, and it's like she is a misfit and she isn't understood as a person by the people around. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had a similar protagonist. I really liked how her son has a character arc, from being nagging to being empathetic. 

The film has a nice tone to it, it's a workplace drama, but it's also a character study. The way the conversations are shot, the pacing and the rhythm of the scenes, it reminded me of Spotlight where the characters are given their space to take a breath. The framing is very interestingly done. I remember a lot of 1-shots when the characters talk. This kind of framing gives more power to each of the characters when they speak, because this film doesn't deal as much with interpersonal relationships. It's about Erin, finding herself some respect and identity. Only when she's more human, vulnerable, like when she's talking to the plaintiffs, or when she's with family, we see suggestion shots to see that she exists with others. But when she's at work kicking ass, we see 1-shots. In the scene where she tells the lawyer that she knows all the contacts of the plaintiffs by heart, it's a close up, 1-shot. This kind of framing subconsciously adds to our viewing of the film.

Spencer

Spencer (2021)

Directed by: Pablo Larrain

Written by: Steve Knight

Starring: Kristen Stewart

Premiered at Venice Film Festival.

The film is about Princess Diana, ending her marriage to Prince Charles and leaving the British royal family. The film has a beautiful tone to it, it's a blend of a periodic epic drama and a Aronofsky style psychological thriller. It's about her angst, of not being able to fit in the royal family, and also her dealing with Prince Charles having an affair. The best part about the film is that it's very visual. There is are a few terrific scenes which are the core of the film, one is at the dining table, where she breaks her string of pearls and then gobbles them into her mouth, and later vomits it. Kristen Stewart was terrific in the part, they added a layer of paranoia to her body language, and it's expressionist. The music is also expressionist in those scenes where the cameras are flashing at her face.

And then there's a scene where she plucks flesh from her own arm. Self harm is something very dark and interesting to explore. It happens when you feel that there's nothing in your control, except your own body. Just to tell yourself that you can control some things, you end up hurting yourself to prove yourself a point that you are in control of at least something. That's the headspace, Diana is in. Her every move is controlled, there's security all over, she feels claustrophobic, and that's the reason the film is shot in that aspect ratio too. They could've easily chose to go to a cinescope or an even wider aspect ratio to capture the beautiful sets, but since this is a story of suffocation, and not about the grandiosity of the royal family - they shot it like this. In spite of that, the frames have a very interesting nature to them, it feels a bit poetic at times, but because of the score, the poetic landscapes suddenly get a tinge of paranoia to them.

Mahasamudram

Mahasamudram (2021)

Written and Directed by: Ajay Bhupathi
Starring: Sharwanand, Siddharth, Aditi Rao Hydari
Streaming on Netflix.

The film has a nice setting - smuggling in the Vizag port, two best friends with opposing ideologies who later become rivals, one of them slowly becoming a gangster, there is a woman involved between both the friends - there is a lot of scope for drama. For me, the transition of Arjun from a man with values, to a man who starts shooting goons was too fast. It happened like a sudden jump. It just happens after Chunchu mama convinces him about something. The same with the transition of Siddharth's character in the ending, it happens after some revelations by Chunchu. Yes, there are some twists that come out here, but still when a character changes polar opposite because of some information, it's not visually convincing. For me, the motivation of Vijay was unclear throughout the film. Initially, he left Maha and went somewhere, and later he comes back and feels bad that Arjun is with her. Anu Emmanuel's character didn't add much to the story apart from someone having to observe the contrast in Arjun - from how he was back then to how he is now. This could've been done by his mother too. 

But apart from these things, I liked how the film was shot. I could see the palette of Vikram Vedha, and I liked how they used the setting so well. There were shots of the beach in between, used as a transition from one scene to another. Rao Ramesh's character was designed very well - it's a nice way for the audience to strongly remember a character. Chunchu mama was also interesting - I've not seen Jagapathi Babu play a manipulator like that lately. The world building is also good, but the character motivations, and the arcs weren't coming through. There were huge jumps there. That was the issue for me. 

Picasso Analysis

Picasso (2019)

Written and Directed by: Abhijeet Mohan Warang

Won National Award - Special Mention

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

It's a film with a simple setting, a simple premise, few characters, a few events. A seventh grader from a remote village in Maharashtra gets selected for the National Level of Picasso Arts Scholarship. Although to participate, he has to pay a fee of 1500/- by the next day. How he manages to get the money, is the film. Again, it falls in zone of Iranian films, where the entire conflict of the film can sometimes get solved with the prize of the ticket of the film. Here too, with 1500/- the problem gets solved. The conflict is small for us. But, we are engaged to see what it means to them. For the characters, it's a big deal and the father even tells his son that he can't get him the money, and that he's failed him. It's a heartbreaking moment because the father feels like his entire life has been a waste and he feels that he's been a failure, and he doesn't want his son to repeat the same mistake. 

I didn't particularly enjoy the setting of the play - but I think they shot it in a way that we see the dullness in the life of an artist. The score keeps reminding us how tough it is. Someone gives him a 100/- reward, and he looks exhausted. He feels, is that all? Am I supposed to be happy? Although by the end of the film, when he finally gets the money for his son and he gets back to work, we see a smile on his face that says that, all of it, all the struggle, hardships, it was all worth it. And that is all that matters. Do you as an artist feel satisfied with your work? Do you feel that the struggle was worth it? If that's a yes, nothing else really matters.

Pushpaka Vimanam Analysis

Pushpaka Vimanam

Written and Directed by: Damodara

Starring: Anand Devarakonda, Geet Saini, Saanve Megghana.

Spoilers Alert.

The film essentially has two premises. One, is about how a married man tries to hide to people that his wife has eloped. It has a fun tone to it. He is embarrassed, and he doesn't know how to deal with the situation. He's also heartbroken, lonely and frustrated. But he's trying to mask it all by putting up a facade. It's endearing to see the vulnerability. Here, they have a few physical conflicts as to how he covers it up. After this, the second premise makes a big turn in the film, the tone changes, it's almost like it's Andhadun suddenly. Shit gets real. From there, it goes into another territory by retaining the fun tone. What I felt was, the subplot of Akash, should've been revealed earlier so that some cards are open to the audience and they keep guessing.

The film was fun and engaging. I liked how they explored his heartbreak through him venting near her wife's friend. The choice of who the killer is, is interesting. I didn't expect it'd be him. But his reason for killing could've been something more. Because after so much mystery, when you see that it's someone who had an urge and they attacked her, it feels a bit convenient. You could close any woman's murder mystery like this, by saying that someone around had an urge and raped/killed her. But apart from these small things, I loved the film.

Jai Bhim Analysis

Jai Bhim (2021)

Written and Directed by: T. J. Gnanavel 
Produced by: Jyothika and Suriya
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Films about oppression are forming a new sub genre, a new wave in Tamil cinema. Visaranai, Pariyerum Perumal, Karnan, P. A. Ranjith's films and a lot of films. However, this film is set as a legal drama, and it also has flavors of an investigative thriller. That's what sets this film apart. The film has a lot of graphic depiction of police torture and it gets taxing to watch it after a point. The film's structure is interesting, the way it keeps cutting back to the original incident, revealing the incident parts by parts. There are a set of sequences in the film, which arise interesting investigative blocks. Like, the part where she knew about the phone call which she didn't tell Suriya. However, apart from this the film has a sense of predictability. We know that he'd win the case. That's the reason, there is not much emotional curiosity from us towards the film. An issue I had with this film is that, the pay off is barely satisfying for the amount of trauma we go through while watching the oppression. Rajamouli's pay offs satisfy us. Even in Karnan, I felt that the set up was too exhausting and it had gotten beyond repair.

The film is shot with a distinctive visual palette, the court scenes are shot in a way, the police station torture scenes, and the scenes of Suriya's office with yellow lighting. The last shot of the film is beautiful - it encapsulates the whole idea of the film. A small girl, from an oppressed community, hesitantly picks the newspaper and sits on the chair cross legged in front of an elderly, accomplished man. It shows how education, basic equality is also a privilege to some people. 

The Dictator (2012)

The Dictator (2012)

Co-written, Co-produced and Performed by: Sacha Baron Cohen
Directed by: Larry Charles
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

It's an out and out mad cap comedy. They create a character, like Mr. Bean, where no matter which scenario you put them in, you can find humor. What if this character does that? What if this character does this? Endless possibilities. Humor is always created through a consistent character, who behaves differently from the normal people. Here, the character is a dumb dictator who doesn't have the capacity to understand the depth of things, and his entitlement and therefore the choices he makes out of it, all of this leads to humor. I cracked the hardest for the joke, where he changes certain words to Aladeen and this creates confusion because he changes both 'positive' and 'negative' to Aladeen. Also, the politically incorrect and offensive stuff that he says generates a lot of fun. This is similar to the traits of Michael Scott. We know that he's a weirdo, and we are not with him, nor against him, we just witness the difference and enjoy the fun.

The tone of the film is celebratory, with the upbeat Arabian music, the pacing of the film and more. I was reminded of how I felt when I was watching The Hangover, where the only purpose was to have mindless fun watching it. The film also taps on a desire to have control over things, like how Aladeen initially has control over everything, but suddenly loses it once and learns some lessons. Usually comic characters don't change no matter what happens to them, they don't learn from their mistakes. That adds to the humor, that no matter what, they won't change.

Squid Game

Squid Game (2021)

Created, Written and Directed by: Hwang Dong-hyug

Netflix's most watched show till date.

Spoilers Alert.

It is about 456 bankrupt contestants, who risk their lives to play games to win a huge amount of money. One good thing the show does is, they show us how badly they want the money - instead of directly jumping into the show. That makes the show more human, in spite of it having a template. Another good thing is that the show has distinctly designed characters, in a way that we root for them. My favourite game is the one where they have to take all the marbles to win the game. This game had the most amount of tension. The one where Ali dies. The game with the old man, that's using someone's weakness against them to kill them - that's the most brutal I felt in the entire show. The one where the girl convinces the other to play, and ends up dying. It was so heavy.  

The tug of war was also beautiful. It could be a quintessential Telugu mass scene. The way they end the episode in a high tension moment was also beautiful - a classic cliffhanger that was. It's a lot of heavy drama, and usually I'm not into such high drama stuff. But I realised, it's because most of the times, it doesn't land and it doesn't work. Here, it does. Everything works. The reveal of the Front Man, the reveal of the old man, the ending fight, and the most kind moment of the show is where the protagonist offers to end the game, give up everything, to save one life. Such a beautiful moment it was.

House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths

House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths

Created by: Leena Yadav
Streaming on Netflix.

This show gives us a bizarre, strange experience. It gets more eerie as it keeps progressing. The event in itself is mind bending, and confusing as it is for everyone. But as we get to know more details, about how and why this entire debacle happened - it gets scarier. The first episode starts with the event, the details of the event, and it ends with the hint that this was a planned event, and not something that happened out of an impulse. The second episode deals with the diary, and how they all are being controlled by a voice in a man's head. It's extremely bizarre and mind bending. 

The craft of this material is on point - especially how it's edited. I think documentaries are entirely created on the edit table. In the beginning where they explore the details of the event, they add shots of water leaking from a raw tap, a shot of a lot of wires tangled, and all of these definitely add to the eerie tone of the show. The way the interviews were shot, was also interesting. I remember one of the interviewees was mildly sweating and that added to the tone. They don't have a lot of real footage too, but they crafted a very nice show out of whatever they had. They extensively used a family photo, and some old photos and footages. Netflix has carved a niche for creating these true crime documentaries. 

Little Things S4

Little Things

Starring: Mithila Palkar, Dhruv Sehgal
Streaming on Netflix.

I've always loved this show for how it seamlessly blends two big parts of our 20s - adulting and romance. I'd say the show is more about adulting than about romance. Dhruv feels like he'd be constantly adulting throughout his life. Well, we all do but his character is a good portrayal of that side in all of us. The episode where he realizes he is doing exactly what his dad used to do, I had this thought so many times and I thought it was a very personal thought - but it's great to see art doing its job - telling us that we're not the only ones. Kavya's back pain is a beautiful way to explore how things could change as we grow up, the inevitability of time, and sometimes how no matter what you do, some things are not in your control. I think that's the reason you believe in free will when you are young, and when slowly life starts happening to you, you realize that maybe everything is not in your control and maturing is realizing that, that's completely okay.

The show touches on so many beautiful ideas about life - the episode where they talk about how it needs courage to wake up and want to be nobody. It changes the way you look at everything, the things that you'd disrespect all your life, about how some people never do anything, subconsciously exist, laze around all day, and their lives are so slow - now you think, what's wrong with that? It's not that you'd probably change your worldview after looking at these things, but it's an endearing invitation to different worldviews. The craft is on point, the way it's shot and edited, and the kind of music that is used - it has a warm, cozy feeling to it. The pace of the conversations has a more soothing pace to it, than a few seasons earlier, also a way of showing how they grew up. 

Carol

Carol (2015)

Directed by: Todd Haynes
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
Competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2015.

The film explores the relationship between an aspiring photographer, Therese and a married woman, Carol. Carol is on the verge of divorce, but her husband won't let her have the custody of their daughter if she divorces him. Therese also comes away from a potential relationship. They both find each other, in the 1950s when things were a lot more conservative. The way the film is shot - it actually feels like a 1950s movie - the production design, and even the texture of the footage - it's not super pristine, the grain and distortion is very well recreated. A lot of frames like the Hitchcock films from the 50s. Rooney Mara was terrific, she initially brings the submissive nature in the relationship come through, but the both of them later discover how much Carol needs her and longs for her.

The husbands, partners of both the women are not made to be caricatures. It's so easy to have made them alcoholics who come home and beat up their wives, but then their choice to find themselves would've seemed like an escape to misery. But them being with each other is a choice, and not a survival mechanism. That's why when Carol makes an offer in the court hearing, the husband feels bad. The boyfriend of Therese says that he won't try to kiss her again if she feels weird. We know, it's not about that. The way the intimacy is shot - it's very endearing and empathetic towards the characters. When they kiss, we go, yes, yes! They deserve to be with each other. Though there is nudity, the sex is not meant to be titillating, I felt the same as when I was watching The Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

A Short Film About Killing

 A Short Film About Killing (1988)

Co-written and Directed by: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Won the Jury Prize and FIPRESCI at Cannes 1988.
Streaming on MUBI.

As the title suggests, it's a film about killing. More about what drives people to do it, the consequences of the actions, and how such acts affect people around as well. As I was watching the film, I felt like I was reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment - it had a very similar tone. The entire material revolves around one killing, exploring every facet of it. The colors are too saturated and vibrant, for a moment those greens were similar to the colors in Amelie. But of course, this film is almost the opposite of that film in terms of the tone and texture. Here, the visuals are unsettling, there is a lot of shadows, the sound design is also quite unsettling. 

The actual murder is so unsettling to watch - it's shot so well - because I remember Nawazuddin Siddique telling a story about how a man killed someone and took about 4 hours to do it. They do it for the rage and angst to completely come out. Here, we see that he ties a rope to his neck which could have been an impulsive act, but later when he smashes his head with the rock multiple times - we know it's not impulsive. Later when we know that he had gone through something in his life, and this act was his way of letting it out. For him, it wouldn't have mattered who he killed, it was just about the act. These things just explore what the human mind is capable of.

Vagabond

Vagabond (1985)

Written and Directed by: Agnes Varda
Starring: Sandrine Bonnaire
Streaming on MUBI.

It's a travel film - a film about a woman who is homeless, and is wandering on the roads meeting different people and having various experiences. It has a semi documentary style to it now and then, where the characters she meets talk about her. Sounds fun, right? But no. The film opens with a dead body of her, and later we cut to flashbacks to see her life, and the people she met. The film has a very bleak tone. It's very interesting because we associate travelling, and meeting people in a very romantic, slice of life and coming of age tone - but this is conceived almost like a thriller. I'm always intrigued when people subvert genre, tone - for example, Vaazhl (2021) is a travel film, it's about life, self actualization, etc. But it has all kinds of events happening in the film - there are murders happening, there is crazy stuff happening and yet the film held so tight to the theme. 

The few Agnes Varda films I've seen till now - Faces Places, Cleo 5 to 7 and the Salute to Cuba - all have a different outlook towards life. I wouldn't say romantic, but there is a sense of spirit in those films. This film is devoid of all spirit, hope and faith - and the bleakness comes through the music, her blank face and just the way it is shot. After a moment, it was almost unsettling for me to watch the film. After reading the premise, I expected a Wild kind of film, where there is a woman travelling and we explore character through flashbacks. But this film was just something else - I'm sure it would resonate with a lot of youngsters today, because a lot of people's worldview is slowly getting bleaker by the day.

Salut les Cubains

Salut les Cubains (1963)

Directed by: Agnes Varda

Streaming on MUBI.

It's a film with a compilation of photographs. Just photographs. About 1800 of them. They explore Cuba, their culture, four years after Fidel Castro came to power. They use a lot of pans, zoom ins, and zoom outs on the photographs and some of them are as effective as how it'd be if they are used on shots intead of just photos. And the photos are cut so fast, that sometimes I had to really focus to see what's happening. There's a lot of dynamism that's there in the film. It's racy, and it snaps just like that. It's interesting how Agnes Varda always combines the two art forms of photography and cinema beautifully. Faces Places is one of the best films I've ever seen. And it's so nice to see that such experiments like this have been done way back, even in the 1960s. So nothing should stop us in this day and age.

Such films are never about plot. They're a compilation of small small observations of life, and small fragments of life. It almost flows like a poem. Music, voice over and these images. It's beautiful usage of the form. I wish more such films use photographs to express. I remember Lars von Trier using that in The House That Jack Built. In films like these, there is terrific scope for filmmakers to traverse themselves into the characters and make their observations about life seamlessly come through characters.

Annette

Annette (2021)

Directed by: Leos Carax
Starring: Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard
Won the Best Director at Cannes 2021.

5 minutes into the film, and I was already thinking that this would win the Oscar for Best Cinematography. It's because it gets imagery which Cinestill 800T - a unique color film for still photographers - the film is distorted in a way where certain colored lights in the night are more bright, and hazy. The distortion creates a very distinct look - a bit like how Wong Kar Wai captures the nights of a city. We don't see the Cinestill-ish footage that often in this film, but whenever we see that - it was so charming. Well, after finishing the film, I don't think it's an Oscar friendly film - it's a very Cannes kind of film. It expresses more than it bothers to communicate. There is a lot of abstractness to the narrative. The idea of using a broken doll kind of imagery to show Annette - is one of the major statements the film makes. 

Henry's unpredictable behavior and his increasing animosity towards everything, what he does with Ann - a lot of such elements in Annette play in the territories of Rockstar. When you make a character do something unpredictable, which you don't find reason for - that adds a lot of complexity to the character. What makes it seem coherent is the acting, the erratic behavior, and the simple fact that the character is in trouble and is not in a good state. I remember the film 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg' - where the characters sing even simple stuff, like 'the weather is hot' and even such banal stuff. While it was interesting to see that for about half an hour, I personally wasn't as invested because of the form later. Having said that, the film plays a lot in territories that I enjoy - so I didn't mind the form as much - and it was an interesting experience for me. 

Rifkin's Festival

Rifkin's Festival (2020)

Written and Directed by: Woody Allen
Cinematography: Vittorio Storaro
Music by: Stephane Wrembel

This film is "full meals" for cinephiles - who have seen the works of Truffaut, Godard, Bergman, Fellini and more. The references and parodies are hilarious. It's ironic how this film, and essentially Woody Allen is also bourgeois, just like how Mort is when he recommends the Japanese film on the dining table. Michael Shawn, the lead actor did a good job of replicating the Woody Allen hero. The humor is self deprecatory, making fun of his own intellect in a way. There are terrific moments of humor out of how Mort's wife is clearly swooning over the French director. A lot of the characters and the problems they have are references to his own work. The painter boyfriend is a reference to Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the way the doctor wants to quit her job and find her calling, and also the way Mort clearly knows that his wife has an affair. All of these are recurring themes. It's like the entire filmography of Woody Allen is a big series with the same theme, and characters put in different situations.

The way the city is captured is beautiful, it's done by simply setting up conversations in the middle of the roads and by capturing everything in deep focus. And of course, with the soothing jazz and blues music playing. Mort trying to find excuses to meet the doctor is so cute, and you know exactly what he wants. He doesn't only wants to get laid - that's not the Woody Allen guy. He wants to be called a genius, he looks for purpose, he wants artistic fulfillment, great food, a beautiful city to live in, somebody to channelize his passion, and also sex. He wants all of these. That's the Woody Allen guy.

Moneyball

Moneyball (2011)

Directed by: Bennett Miller

Written by: Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin

Streaming on Netflix.

The film is set in the world of American baseball. More than the game, the film is about how the game is influenced by money and the economics surrounding. Perhaps like IPL. The film is about the manager of a team who says that they can't win with such less budget for the team. He finds a guy who has a different approach to the game, he uses statistical models to rate players. He hires him, and they both become a team and start getting players through that. The film has a similar structure to how two characters find a strange way out in a desperate situation, and how they navigate through it. They face constant hurdles, and these hurdles make for episodic conflicts. Here, they've to let go of players. Be ruthless and do what's good for the game.

The film is a nice portrayal of capitalism, and how things work there. All that matters is numbers, and that's what everyone's working hard for. Wolf of Wall Street, Social Network too operate on similar lines. It shows us the nature of capitalism, without making much of a statement about it. But I was shocked to see that Billy turned down the offer and stayed with the team, I almost had goosebumps reading it. It could've been a scene too, but it coming post the film as a text made it so impactful. I liked the film because it didn't operate like a sports film, it goes like a film about two underdogs trying to do something so against the odds.

The Mule

The Mule (2018)

Directed and Produced by: Clint Eastwood
Based on an article by Sam Dolnick
Streaming on Netflix. 

It's a film set in the drug cartel world about Earl, an 80 year old who joins the cartel as a mule - essentially as a driver. It plays a little in the territories of Breaking Bad, where we see an underdog slowly getting into a world of danger. Things go well for him because he is never suspected because of his age and race. The beautiful part about the film is that, though it's set in this violent world - the film talks about family, love, regret and guilt. It's established right from the beginning that Earl was never there for his family. He misses anniversaries, and it was always about his work for him. As his family stops talking to him, he slowly begins to realize his mistake. But perhaps it's too late now. Life is too short to wait for the other person to call you. If you love someone, just tell them. What if after 20 years you realize that everything would have been different if someone just took a step?

Finally when he gets a call that his wife is on her death bed, he takes a chance and visits her. She tells him that he meant everything to her, the love she experienced, the pain she experienced, and she says that it means the world to her that he's there for her. I couldn't help but wonder how life would have been if he was there for his family a little more. I was wondering how Earl fell out of love with his wife. What if Earl fell back in love? Is it too late? He says in the ending that he could buy everything but time. We know how Earl starts to realize about it, when he tells the cop to put his family above everything, and that you don't need the other shit. Even in this film - it never forces us to feel and emote, it just creates those scenarios for us and we can't help but feel. At the funeral of Earl's wife, tey don't play any sad music - but we feel it. Because we now know what Earl is probably going through. It's such a bittersweet ending - the family tells him that they'll be there for him.  

Enemy

Enemy (2013)

Directed by: Dennis Villeneuve

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal

Streaming on Prime Video.

The film has a simple premise - a man identifies his doppleganger and starts taking his place secretly. The way it's used, and the tone of the film that is achieved is the beauty of the film. The film has a tone where it's mostly gloomy, there is a tinge of eeriness creeping in now and then, and they elicit anxiety too out of some scenes. I was reminded of Nocturnal Animals. In films like these, more than the plot and character, the tone takes a fronthand. I love such films where the mystery slowly creeps in. And here it's subliminal. You don't even notice it, and midway you realize the tense situation. I love the way it's shot, the color palette that comes through - it also helps in getting the tone.

What I'd have probably done differently is - I'd have had the pregnant woman recognize him that he's not her partner and that happens midway of sex. And she doesn't confront it, because she knows if she confronts it, he might harm her. And from there, it can briefly go into a space of her trying to escape from him. This kind of scene intercut with the car scene would've been fun. I like how there is more layers to the film than what's on the physical layer. The film explores very few conflicts that could've come up from this premise, but it's understandable because that's how the tone of the film is. It takes time for the mystery to creep in.

The Meyerowitz Stories

The Meyerowitz Stories (2017)

Written and Directed by: Noah Baumbach
Nominated for Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival 2017
Streaming on Netflix.

It's a beautiful film about a dysfunctional family, exploring fractured interpersonal relationships. It has a very unique voice, even in the way it's written. It starts like an anthology, where the story of each child of the father is explored one after the other. Soon, it gets connected. The writing is very quirky, and it has a playfulness to it irrespective of how intense the subject matter goes. Noah Baumbach's films have an interesting tone - he explores intense drama and interpersonal relationships within artist characters. Perhaps, having artist characters makes writing easy for him, to make it more personal to him. It beautifully talks about the struggles of being an artist, about how "success" makes life easy and even your art seem better than otherwise. Through Ben's character, the explores the feeling of dissatisfaction irrespective of doing well in life - to the point of wondering what's even the point of doing well.

I loved the style of it, it comes and goes here and there - like the way he abruptly cuts when the characters are talking - it's him taking a stance against the rambling of the characters. It's so funny. It talks about how people don't express enough. How people feel unloved, simply because of lack of expression. For example, Ben Stiller feels that his father doesn't love him, and even cares about him but Adam Sandler's character tells him that he feels the same about himself, and he in reverse thinks that his father only loves Ben Stiller's character. Why? Because the father would talk good things about Ben's character to Adam's character, instead of directly telling him. Why would you do that? If you love someone, tell them that you love them instead of telling someone else how much you love them - and making both of them feel unloved.

American Sniper

American Sniper (2014)

Directed and Produced by: Clint Eastwood

Written by: Jason Hall

Streaming on Netflix.

Highest grossing war film of all time.

Clint Eastwood's films are mostly about integrity, staying true to your purpose and such themes. There is a level of filmmaking in his films, that the pace never feels rushed - he looks very confident the way he slowly introduces everything and not for a second do you feel bored. It's an amazing tone, and flow that he achieves with his films. Whether it's Sully, Gran Torino, Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven... all these films. This film is about PTSD, guilt and the dark sides of war. The film starts hitting you hard right from when he shoots a woman and a kid. This is where the ground of the film is setup, as to what's at stake. Clint Eastwood has a beautiful way of intercutting from a high stakes moment to a scene which tells us more about character. Here, they cut from the scene where he shoots the kid to his childhood. It's a beautiful cut. 

The best part about the film is, there is a lot of action and yet it never feels like "action". It feels like it's all part of the story. There is an amazing sense of flow that he achieves. And when someone dies, they don't force us to emote by playing sad music. I could put together the dots. In the scene where the kid and the father is brutally killed in a snap, the mother is wailing - I could see how her life completely turned upside down in a moment. The film allows us to do thinking and feeling. The sound design is also so good, especially where he is reminded of war post it.

Sully

Sully (2016)

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Written by: Todd Komarnicki
Streaming on Netflix. 

The film follows an emergency landing of a flight in a river, where all the passengers and crew survive. But later, the safety board investigates and as per the simulation, it turns out that he could've actually gone to a nearby airport and landed the plane safely over there. The film is about the conflict that follows thereafter. I loved the structure of the film. The first 20-25 minutes of the film go on like a courtroom drama, and there is no action as such except the cold opening kind of sequence. After this, they show us the actual incident. It's a clever choice, because if they open with the actual incident, the courtroom drama would seem boring. They cleverly placed the sequence at the end of 30 minutes, so that they slowly build up the tension. They again use the sequence back at the ending, when they are listening to the audio - to again build tension and release it during the climax. 

It's interesting how he says that he has never made a mistake for 40 years, and he is judged for 200 seconds - and that's the nature of the job, where a lot of lives are dependent on a person. You cannot have scope for human error. And from there, the film takes a nice turn. Obviously, when they put up these allegations, they don't consider the human factor, and the level of anxiety they go through during the first hand experience. The film at the core of it talks about integrity, he is called a 'hero' and he says that he was just doing his job. At the end of the day, that's what matters - are you doing your job? If the answer is a 'yes', then a lot of other things don't really matter. The good things will eventually follow.  

Where Is The Friend's Home?

Where Is The Friend's Home (1987)

Written and Directed by: Abbas Kiarostami

Streaming on Mubi.

A school going boy in Iran, takes his friend's notebook by mistake. He goes out on a search of his friend's house because he wants to return it. This is the film. Such a simple premise. It beautifully talks about the importance of doing our regular duties. They show us the stakes in the first scene, where a couple of students cry as the teacher is angry with them. This kid doesn't want that to happen again, and that too because of his mistake. It's such a small conflict, but when you look at the kid's face, we know what it means to him. He simply doesn't want his friend to get yelled at. Everybody he tells this to, brushes it off and the kid still sticks to it, and that defines his integrity. The film operates on this level of conflict, where even when a man takes his notebook and harshly turn a few pages, we feel a little threatened, just like the kid. This film makes us empathize on that level - otherwise for the issues we have in our lives this is something so trivial - how can we even feel for something like this - and that's the beauty of this film.

Just like the conflict, and the story - the film has a simplistic style too - it just captures what's happening. Not a lot of camera movements, nor a lot of cuts, and nor long takes either. Not a lot of experiments with lighting or sound too. It's just plain simple storytelling. A film like this is considered essential viewing for children, but I'd say it's essential viewing for adults too, just to remind ourselves of the simplicity of life, and how life and the problems of life used to be back when we were kids.

Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road (2008)

Directed by: Sam Mendes
Based on a novel by: Richard Yates
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet.

This is the best drama film I've seen in a while now. It is in the territories of Marriage Story, exploring a couple and their interpersonal relationship. April and Frank, decide to risk everything they have, and move to Paris to live a life of their dreams. After a while, practical problems start kicking in - Frank gets a job offer with better money and April gets pregnant. What's worse, is the marriage starts falling apart. Frank cheats on her, and goes home to see that April has planned a surprise for him, he's heartbroken out of guilt. The relationship of April and Frank is a classic example of what an anxious and avoidant attached couple would go through. Frank is anxiously attached, he always wants to talk, and be there for her. April wants space, and she doesn't want to talk. Unfortunately, both of them exactly tap on each other's vulnerabilities. After a while, when Frank decides to confess to April that he cheated on her, April's reaction to what he says is worse than the act of cheating in itself. She doesn't care that he cheated. She's like, so what now, fuck who you want. Frank at least feels guilty about cheating on her, April doesn't, because she has completely fallen out of love, and that could've happened perhaps because she is avoidant attached and all she perhaps needed was some space. The film beautifully addresses this in the ending too, when we see that an old couple just turns off the hearing aid and just stops listening. It talks about the aspect of taking a break from someone. Having said that, all of these are not conscious choices people make, the attachment styles are based on how they were treated as a child. So nobody can help it. The only way to deal with it is recognize certain patterns and make sure you don't fall back on them again and again. 

I felt that a similar film could've also been made in a Mumblecore style, well yes, the setting adds a good layer to the characters and the story, but I totally see this film being in the space of Malcolm and Marie, Blue Jay, or something like Marriage Story too. The scale of the film is a creative choice, but the script would work even in a modern setting is what I felt. Leo is terrific as Frank, he gets rattled when he gets to know that she doesn't love him. He just can't take it. He breaks things around, and his body language conveyed his state of mind very well. The way the film is shot is also very interesting, it's both epic and intimate.

Dil Se

Dil Se.. (1998)

Written and Directed by: Mani Ratnam
Starring: SRK, Manisha Koirala, Preity Zinta
National Award for Best Cinematography for Santosh Sivan.

The aesthetics of the film is so visually striking, and the imagery of the film is so strong, that it stands out from anything else I've seen. It is epic and intimate at the same time. It is as much as how they capture what they capture, but it is also choosing what to capture and what to avoid. For example, in the railway station scene in the beginning, the way they show the rain in the background, and the wind blowing... those elements in the background add up everything to what's happening in forefront in the scene. I read that the film plays on the seven stages of love that are defined in the ancient Arabic literature. Attraction. Infatuation. Love. Reverence. Worship. Obsession. Death. It said that Sharukh's character goes through all these stages as he falls in love with Meghna. 

I couldn't see find reverence and worship through my viewing of the film, also perhaps because a lot of notions about love have changed now. Reverence and worship now, it's more than being intense, it's about giving someone their own space and respecting their boundaries, and backing off. For me, he was too intense and wanted her so badly, and I'm sure there was reverence and worship on his side. Having said that, the acts that you do when you are madly in love, you lose objectivity and it's only a third person who can tell you what's okay and what's not. So I'm not really sure as to how to look at their relationship. I love how the setting of the film adds more intensity to the love story, it adds stakes, and it's also interesting to see love amidst a land of war and oppression.

Wall.E

Wall.E (2008)

Co-written and Directed by: Andrew Stanton
A PIXAR film. Streaming on Disney+Hotstar
Won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

The best part about this film is the visual aspect of it. It almost operates like a silent film, dialogue is written only wherever it is extremely important and since there is not much dialogue, we have to pick everything through the visuals. Sometimes, it is a bit of work but as Martin Scorsese says, visual literacy is important. I re-watched the first 12 minutes of Up, and even in that montage sequence, there is no dialogue but that hits harder because the contrast in the visuals is right on our faces. That is achieved here in the look and design of Wall.E and Eve, one is rustic, brown-ish and the other is plush white. The film initially explores the rut, the monotony, and the sense of languish, embodying the broken-ness of the modern world. 

It's beautiful how PIXAR films seamlessly manage to tell a lot of things within one film, and you can find something or the other that you can relate to. Amidst all the action, the sci-fi setting in the apocalyptic world, the film is a beautiful love story. Because when Wall.E meets Eve, that is exactly what he's probably been looking for all his life. Human connection. Or maybe robot connection? Anyway, so when you're so broken as a person, and when you finally find someone who you can connect with - it's an intense outburst of feelings. Because now, this one person can put you from extreme despair, extreme hopeless to extreme joy and a feeling of purpose just like that in a snap. You lose control over yourself, and surrender to them in every possible way. And from there, if love happens... it's beautiful.

Kapurush

Kapurush (1965)

Written for the Screen and Directed by: Satyajit Ray
Starring: Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee

Streaming on Mubi.

One hindrance to watch old films is that I can't relate to the way the people talk and behave. But Satyajit Ray's films are not like that. You can relate to the way people talk, behave and react even today. Not only these - you can even relate to what they're going through. A writer looking for material through first hand experiences is a bit of a niche idea even today. I can relate to a lot of conversations he's written about half a decade ago, and perhaps that's what is timelessness. It's about Roy, a screenwriter who is driving around in the country for material. His car breaks down, and a tea planter offers him shelter, but Roy is shocked to see that the tea planter's wife is his ex-girlfriend. Well, ex-girlfriend is quite a modern term and something like this wouldn't have even happened in today's world of social media.

I love the way Ray takes a premise in a short time span, and uses flashback as a narrative to explore more of the characters. It's like he peels more layers of character through flashback. I remember Nayak also having a similar structure. Here too, we see Roy reminiscing scenes from back then when they were together, about how he let her go and more. Now, I understand why Satyajit Ray was a festival favorite and not as much of a popular filmmaker - perhaps because of his stories being centered more around artists, broken souls, and these stories generally don't make for popular stuff. But yeah, these stories give you terrific scope for personal expression. 

Mandela

Mandela (2021)

Written and Directed by: Madonne Ashwin

Starring: Yogi Babu

Streaming on Netflix.

It's a terrific premise, the film psyched me up at an idea level. There are two political parties in a village competing in the local elections. They're both desperate to win, and the single deciding vote comes to a small-time barber. This premise by itself does a lot of things. One, it gives an opportunity to an underdog and it has scope to explore his character. Two, life doesn't get better with this opportunity, it in reverse creates a havoc of conflicts because of this. Three, the setting leaves scope for a lot of political and social satire. All of these things come together through this one idea, and that's the sign of a terrific premise - which opens up a lot of possibilities for what a film could be. 

The best part is that the film goes in every direction the premise opens. It starts with Mandela being an underdog, we see him from the time he gets his name, and we see him getting opportunity, him misusing it, him making mistakes and getting thrashed by people, learning a lesson and finally redeeming himself. A satisfying character arc in itself. Apart from this, the film has a lot of satire throughout. This doesn't feel like an independent film for one bit, it makes you go through every emotion and leaves you satisfied by the ending. The high moments in the film, like the ending... are still within the tone of the film. This film just proves that for some films, a good script is all that matters.

Mimi Analysis

Mimi (2021)

Directed by: Laxman Utekar

Starring: Kriti Sanon, Pankaj Tripathi

Streaming on Netflix. Spoilers Ahead.

It's a beautiful coming-of-age story. Starts off with an innocent aspiring actress, who reluctantly agrees to be a surrogate mother. Later, when a test says that the baby will be disabled, they just leave the baby and go away. This whole thing feels like a person convincing and even almost forcing another person to get into a relationship, getting deep and intense into it, and leaving them there alone. And they're scarred for life. She was a happy go lucky woman initially, see what she's become now. Life has hit her so hard. And she somehow accepts it thinking it's her destiny, because she doesn't have the heart to kill the baby, and then after 4 years when she has completely come to terms with her motherhood, they again come back and want the baby now. I wish the ending wasn't happy, because reality is harsh and if this happened in real, the couple would've taken the baby away.

For me, the parts didn't work in the film where it was trying to be funny. The goof up comedy where Mimi says that Pankaj Tripathi is the father. Those parts felt a little forced to me. The film is solid whenever it's drama. Kriti Sanon is really good. Pankaj Tripathi is terrific, in the scene where he begs them to take the baby, and later warns them that they're not getting the baby back. You need someone like that in life, who will have your back no matter what. It's quite rare. It's such a beautiful film, I'm just thinking about how a small decision can turn your life upside down and you can't even imagine where you'd end up.

The Big Sick Analysis

The Big Sick (2017)

Directed by: Michael Showalter

Written by: Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani

Premiered at Sundance. Nominated for Best Original Screenplay at Oscars.

It's a well written, and shot rom-com. Captures the modern world quite well. Struggling youngsters with aspirations. Not wanting to get into anything serious because "there's no time". Dealing with the vast differences between the ideologies of our parents and ourselves, more so with Indians. The setup and the way they fall in love, is interesting. Then the film goes into a different territory, it turns bittersweet because the girl gets ill. The guy goes through a series of events, and he ends up changing as a person. And as she wakes up, he expects things would be rosy thereafter. But she asks to go away. He's heartbroken. But later, she tells him that just because he's had this experience, he can't expect her to respond the same way he did. She has to feel that he has changed and get used to that idea slowly.

I think one of the biggest problems in the modern world is lack of patience. We get so hasty and react impulsively, more so because we can say what we want to say in a second. We can do whatever we want to. I think these are all consequences of too much of free will. If relationships could be held for years where you just talk weekly once for about 10 minutes, which used to happen earlier, which I'm sure it happens now too... why do we fall out just because we've had one small fight? I think stoicism is the answer to most of the problems pertaining to relationships. The ending though felt a bit contrived, it worked for me because it was a nice pay off to an initial setup.

Newness Analysis

Newness (2017)

Directed by: Drake Doremus

Written by: Ben York Jones

Streaming on Netflix.

It's a beautiful film about relationships in the modern world. More about how broken we all are. About how we don't know what we want, and are always looking for more, which leads to no good. It's about a couple who meet on a dating app, who meet just for fun and no strings attached. It's about how they fall in love, and after a while when they get bored of each other, they try being open and it gets messy when one of them wants it to be closed. Until the both of them finally decide that they want to get serious. It's in the regular love story space, but the tone of the film is so good. The way it's shot is very interesting. Apart from feeling intimate, it also feels a bit dark and gloomy - perhaps to capture the brokenness in us.

Drake Doremus is known for his improvised shooting style, where he keeps the cameras rolling and let's the actors move around the space and perform however they want. That's how he shot Like Crazy (2011), not sure about this film because this is written by someone else. The beats of this film properly fit into the film for it to explore their character journeys. The girl in the first meet tells that she gets bored of things quickly, and it's essentially her coming-of-age story.

Blue Jay Analysis

Blue Jay (2016)

Directed by: Alex Lehmann

Written by: Mark Duplass

Starring: Mark Duplass, Sarah Paulson

It's a Mumblecore film. Films shot in low budget, with improvised style of acting. They shot this film in 7 days. It's only 2 actors, a few locations and it has a very nice idea to latch on to. Two highschool sweethearts meet after 20 years and talk about their lives, and discover some shared regrets. Films like these are best made in this style, and it feels like more budget would actually ruin the story and the tone. Most of the film is shot by rolling the camera and capturing moments rather than trying to crafting them. It's almost like a play, but with all the stylistic elements of cinema - mostly editing. 

This film has a very bittersweet element to it even before it gets to the ending. The characters seem to be totally cool about it and we feel heavy for them. They go through their old room, their old wardrobes and joke around about stuff. The film doesn't directly explore the pain, it just keeps it in a very undercurrent way. It's just the ending 20 mins where it suddenly gets very intense. The idea of how two people have lost everything because of one choice, it's heartbreaking. Both of them haven't felt anything better ever since. About the visual language, I think since there is less information to capture, when we watch something in black and white, our focus is only on the characters and the story. Malcolm and Marie. Frances Ha. Some of my favorites in the Mumblecore style are Vanilla, Frances Ha, Hong Sangsoo's films, and this film too. 

Songs My Brothers Taught Me Analysis

Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015)

Written and Directed by: Chloe Zhao

Premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2015

Nominated for Camera d'Or at Cannes.

I was very excited to see that the film has a similar visual grammar to Nomadland. It's shot in a way that feels so real, intimate and improvised. It's like a moment happened and they just pointed the camera at it. Chloe Zhao says that to make something feel like this, it actually takes thrice the amount of preparation. It seems counter intuitive but preparation is what leads them to able to shoot something like that apparently. Another huge part of the visual language of the film is the non continuity editing. This makes it feel like the film in whole creates a feeling rather than it being a compilation of scenes. Except for conversations, almost every cut in the film is non continuous and it subconsciously makes us used to that visual grammar.

It's a beautiful, bittersweet coming of age story. The setting is a bit harsh, but the way they shoot it is beautiful. The way they capture landscapes, B-roll, small moments, the usage of music, etc. Chloe Zhao has a particular liking for wind. Wind is pretty dramatic, and she captures characters just looking at nothing and just standing in the wind. I remember the terrific beach scene in Nomadland. With such a strong visual language, and a directorial voice, I'm curious to see what she does in her next film with MCU.

Nobody Analysis

Nobody (2021)

Directed by: Ilya Naishuller 
Written by: Derek Kolstad
Starring: Bob Odenkirk

It's a fun, action flick. It's extremely stylish. The initial montage of the mundane life had a beautiful sense of musicality to it. The story is pretty primal - it's mostly survival. I'm curious to read the screenplay and see how the action sequences are written. The cinematography - there is a lot of grain and texture in the footage and it adds character to the world. Especially the interiors at nights, whether it's the very first scene in the investigation room or the scene where the invaders come in the house and try to steal something. Although I enjoyed the movie for its unabashed sense of style throughout, I would've liked it more if the action was a little grounded and there was more exploration of character. When the action is too good, and when the action scenes are so brutal or energy consuming to watch - they sometimes overpower the other scenes in the film because everything else feels less dramatic compared to it. And I think that's the reason Tarantino ends his films with an action sequence like a big blast.

The way they shot action, it's brutal and the unpredictability of the brutality makes it funny too at the same time. It elicits a reaction 'wohohoho' in us. The scene where he throws a chair at the face of the guy on the hospital bed was so funny. The usage of music throughout the film is interesting. Bob Odenkirk is just terrific. He doesn't look jacked or extremely big or anything, and yet he is so convincing as a guy who'd bash you black and blue. The way he just lashes at people, it feels like a batsman going for a sixer on front foot.

Kuruthi Analysis

Kuruthi (2021)

Directed by: Manu Warrier

Written by: Anish Pallyal

Starring: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Roshan Mathew
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

One location. Good writing. Character consistency. Conflicts. Minimalist and mutli-layered storytelling. Brilliant filmmaking and acting. These all have become the norms of Malayalam cinema now, that I'm not even surprised now. It's world class filmmaking with such low budgets, it goes to prove that it's a matter of taste and aesthetics more than anything else. Kuruthi is a simple home invasion thriller, it's actually very similar to the idea of Purge - it's not exactly themselves they are trying to protect, but someone else in their house that they want to. It's the characters, their motivations and the moral dilemmas that make it a completely different film. Here, the film often puts the characters on a spot and asks them to make choices, and these choices define who they are and where they stand.

Apart from the morality of religion, and to what extent you'd stick to the faith, the film also beautifully talks about war, revenge and the nature of hatred in humans. It's perhaps more on the masculine nature of humans, about how strong a feeling hatred could be. Sometimes, it's even stronger than love. It passes through generations, and sometimes rage gets stronger with time - revenge is a dish best served cold. In the modern world, we don't get to experience and act on our rages that often - so when we can feel rage through art - it's good. The scenes where the old man takes charge were very well shot and put together. 

Nayak - The Hero Analysis

Nayak: The Hero (1966)

Written, Directed and Composed by: Satyajit Ray
Cinematography: Subrata Mitra
Starring: Uttam Kumar, Sharmila Tagore
National Award for Best Bengali Feature, Nominated for Golden Bear at Berlin.

It's a very interesting premise - a film star takes a train to take his national award and he looks back at his life and career as he meets different people in the train. I like such premises, where they don't define and specif the film so clearly - they just lead us to somewhere and different filmmakers could make different films out of the same premise. The timespan of the film is just a day, essentially the train journey but we could explore a lifetime through flashbacks. The film talks about the nature of the movie business, and how it is a little away from "art" in the right sense of the word, and how it changes people so much. It also talks about things like what fame and money can do to a person, you feel like they give you more freedom, more choices, more time, but they actually end up taking away all of that from you. After a point, it is too much to lose. 

The film beautifully explores the broken nature of the man, and how he seems so flamboyant on the outside, but inside he is a vulnerable, lonely man. Who would even understand that part of him? No one would even believe it unless you actually sit and listen to him. The film has a very sensitive outlook towards him, irrespective of his fuck ups, and irrespective of him having "everything". The journalist tearing up the interview in the ending is a beautiful way of showing their relationship, and how it evolved over time from a bit of contempt to some empathy and understanding. I love such films where even though there is not much happening, we explore every layer of a character and try to understand life and humanity in a deeper way.

Laila Majnu Analysis

Laila Majnu (2018)

Directed by: Sajid Ali

Written by: Imtiaz Ali, Sajid Ali 

Starring: Tripti Dimri, Avinash Tiwary

Spoilers Ahead

The film opens with a statement about destiny, that our stories are already written and that there's nothing we can do about it. I'm someone who chooses to believes in free will. But the same line is used in the film at a point, in the context of love and that gives a totally different meaning to it. The cute meet and the initial love story feels a bit phony, but I feel that for us to feel the stakes later irrespective of how phony it is, we have to watch the cute meet and all the kuchi kuchi romance. At least for those shots of him which flashes to Laila before she kills herself. Even in 3, that one shot of the bike ride during the cute meet just before Dhanush kills himself... it's heartbreaking. 

The film talks about longing, waiting, unrequited love. He waits, waits and waits for 4 years... and finally when they meet, they almost collapse. Such moments are beautifully captured. The behavior of the actors in these moments felt so intense. You can't capture something like this unless you've felt these things yourself, or else these feelings seem so silly. Later when she asks him to wait for a month, every second starts feeling so excruciatingly painful and after a moment, he flips. He's like, fuck it. I'm not going to wait anymore. I can feel what I want to feel. And he goes crazy. Well, there is a meaning to his craziness and for him, he knows why he is behaving like that, and the scene where he disturbs the prayer also conveys the same - but for me, I kind of lost him a little bit as I was looking at him go completely insane. Then, the thought that occurred to me was, I've seen a lot of people like this on the roads in my entire lifetime - I wonder what their stories would have been.

Raja Raja Chora Analysis

Raja Raja Chora (2021)

Written and Directed by: Hasith Goli
Starring: Sree Vishnu, Megha Akash

It's a fun film. It had the residue of Broche and Jersey here and there in terms of the tone and texture. The best part of the film is confrontations. The way people face the truth. That is the best part. It starts off with Sree Vishnu seeing Megha Akash in the store and them having a double confrontation with each other. And of course, the interval. And even in the second half, there is a lot of confrontation happening. That's how both drama and humor is generated in the film. Whether it's the guy who confronts the cop about why he was having an affair with this wife. Megha Akash getting to know that Sree Vishnu's wife is alive, and him having to face his son. The cop's mother facing the truth that his son is not what she thinks. The double confrontation of Sree Vishnu and Ravi Babu in his house when Megha Akash calls him home. If this was a show, there would've been tons of scope for cliffhangers all over. What happens post the confrontation is something normal and expected, and yet the anticipation that these confrontations build up - it's terrific. 

These moments work on paper at a script level. They don't need a background score, or terrific editing for these moments to work. These are the best kind of moments. When they work on paper, everything else elevates them. Sree Vishnu has found a very consistent tone to his performance that even something small he says, is eliciting humor. For example, Megha Akash says, 'let's leave' and Sree Vishnu too says 'yeah, let's leave' and it's such a small, instinctive that but the theatre was erupting with laughter. Vivek Sagar adds a beautiful layer to the film with his music, and so does the editor. I enjoyed the film, it just took me about half an hour to get invested in the film. So perhaps the opening wasn't as gripping to me.

SR Kalyanamandapam Analysis

SR Kalyanamandapam (2021)

Directed and Edited by: Sridhar Gade
Written by and Starring: Kiran Abbavaram

The film excited me on an idea level. A wedding hall, built by the hero's grandfather loses its reputation because of his alcoholic father. Now, his mother requests him to take care of the wedding hall and revive it and save the family. The hero along with his friends, goes on a journey to revive the wedding hall. It's equivalent to a bunch of friends starting up and looking for investors - just that the milieu is more grounded and familiar. Apart from this core idea, there is another beautiful layer to the story which is the fractured relationship between the father and the son. There is good conflict, characters are authentic, and it's interesting. Everything seems organic. But the problem is when the film doesn't stick to these ideas for long. It goes into different territories. The director being the editor, there is a lot of style tried in the edit - it works in some parts, but sometimes it felt overdone. But I'm sucker for style, so I'd actually not mind someone trying style.

The film disappointed me because I was excited with the idea, and the film worked whenever it stuck to the idea - the portions where they go from houses to houses looking for clients, them doing their first wedding - it works. But soon, it goes into the potboiler format. Also, the love track didn't work one bit for me. And the politics of the love story were weird even for someone like me who says that films need not be PC. The first scene of him being drunk and bashing a few goons - it falls into the masculine zone - it would've worked if the core idea of the film was masculine too, like if it dealt with such themes. The angle of respecting a person irrespective of the money they make is good - but again, it's more like a subplot without any link to the core idea. It felt like there is good stuff sprinkled here and there but overall, it didn't work that well for me.

The Human Voice Analysis

The Human Voice (2020)

Written and Directed by: Pedro Almodovar
Based on a play by Jean Cocteau
Starring: Tilda Swinton
Streaming on Mubi.

It's a classic Almodovar film. Strong, bold colors all over. Pain and Glory had a lot of white and blue. This has a lot of red, and green. Solid mise-en-scene. Intense voice over. Story of an artist. Stories about complex emotions. Here, the story is about a woman who just gets to know that her partner is leaving her for good, without even a proper goodbye. He ends it over a phone call, and she gets mad about. She gets upset. She expresses her urge to kill him with an axe. She even swings the axe at a couple of his shirts. And she also tells him about the kind of mental imbalance and the void that has been created in her because of what he did to her. Abandonment can be horrifying. So is isolation and loneliness. Especially when it is someone who you trust. She decides to break free from it, and liberate herself. 

Tilda Swinton is terrific in portraying that pain. The mental agony that she goes through, comes through the performance. It all pents up and she ends up burning the whole thing at the end to feel better. It's interesting as to how for some reason, people always get attracted to the wrong kind of people. For the person she is, she can choose to be with someone who actually values her. But she makes herself vulnerable by trusting this idiot. And it works both ways, of course. 

The Big Short Analysis

The Big Short (2015)

Directed by: Adam McKay

Written by: Adam McKay and Charles Randolph

Streaming on Netflix.

The film is about the financial crisis in 2007-08, and how it was triggered because of the housing bubble. The interesting aspect is that the film explores various characters within this setting. The way the film is shot, it reminded me of Uncut Gems - it's anxiety inducing in a way. Especially the scene where as they're talking, the market keeps going down and they keep getting updates in their phones. I've experienced that in real, and the feeling that the film generates is pretty close. It's created mostly by them shooting in close ups and the way the camera shakes. The visual language is so out there. The breaking of fourth wall is done so creatively. Them getting real life celebrities to explain complex concepts. And them addressing cinematic liberties they've taken mid scene. Lot of this kind of stuff was interesting.

The editing is also very stylish. In a lot of scenes, we sees them juxtaposing quotes, images and we see some frames getting repeated just like it's a music video. All these are not done just for the sake of it, it adds a sense of movement and flow to the movie. It creates a different visual experience. Vaazhl also had a similar effect on me, where the entire film had a kind of editing which changed the whole experience for me. The way Amelie does with the camera movements. I'm a sucker for films like these which use the craft of filmmaking so well. Having said that, this film talks about the financial crisis and it takes a standpoint but also presents all sides and makes us understand how people in the banks actually think.

Shershaah Analysis

Shershaah (2021)

Directed by: Vishnuvardhan

Starring: Sidharth Malhotra, Kiara Advani

Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video.

It's a biopic of Captain Vikram Batra. It has a very similar structure to Gunjan Saxena. It felt predictable in parts, but the film works decently because it is done well. The writing and the acting stays true to character. The way his character is built right from his childhood, I think army officers are the epitome of masculinity and the modern world somehow associates the words 'toxic' and 'masculinity' so close to each other. But this film proudly celebrates the masculinity - whether it's strength, bravery, hard work, etc. Sidharth Malhotra plays Vikram Batra with such ease, along with all the qualities he'd have as an officer, he also adds a bit of grace and charm which makes it fun to see him.

The film is shot very well, especially the action sequences. The camera movements, the VFX, the sound design, the art... all of them were so good that the experience was immersive. The track with Kiara Advani was well done too, but I wish it explored a bit more on how as a partner of an army officer, you get lonely and how life is tough like that. Then perhaps the ending scene would've hit more. Biopics are nice because they're also coming-of-age stories. They basically show us life happen to a character.

Modern Love S1 Analysis

Modern Love S1 (2019)

Created by: John Carney

Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video.

An anthology of different love stories set in New York City. The tone of the show is beautiful visually and bittersweet emotionally - just like what Pixar does. Some of the stories are centered around conflicts where you the characters can't do anything about it. Anne Hathaway can't do anything about her condition. She's trying. The old lady in the last episode, what can she do. The older guy and the young girl in Ep-6, what can they do. Somehow these stories are centered around things which we can't control. Life and death. Making someone like you. Fate. These are beyond your control. And that's what makes it heartbreaking. The bittersweet part comes out of the aspect that they can choose to move on and let life happen to them. The setting of New York comes through very well, by the way they shot it. It also comes through the locations it is set in; houses, cafes, grocery store and such life affirming locations.

My favourite is Ep-6, and Ep-8. I wish they showed us more the story in Ep-8 instead of calling back to the earlier episodes. For some reason, I found Ep-8 so endearing. It felt like something impossible was happening, to the both of them. It's quite rare to find someone at that age and be together. And Ep-6, the way it's shot is entirely from the girl's perspective which is why when the guy kisses her, we go WTF. But do a rewatch of the episode from the guy's perspective, it's a totally different reading of the same episode. Ep-6 has lots of scope for discussion about it.

Never Have I Ever Analysis

Never Have I Ever S1 (2020)

Created by: Mindy Kaling, Lang Fisher
Starring: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan
Streaming on Netflix.

It's interesting how life is for an average Indian. The expectations of your parents are at one extreme, and the expectations of Instagram is at the other extreme. You are somewhere at the middle, not living up to either of them. 

It's a coming-of-age show set in high school. It's about an Indian-American teenager dealing with life, high school and also the recent death of her father. It talks about the feeling of being left out, being a misfit, the feeling of not being good enough, a question on our self worth and more such things. The striking aspect of this show is the style of it. There is a very interesting idea, where the voice over is done by John McEnroe, a tennis player who has nothing to do with the show. Breaking the fourth wall is becoming a cliche these days unless the actor is really good, so this is an interesting way they did it in this show. Although Devi is not written to play by any stereotypes, the way her mother talks felt a bit unreal and like it was written to cater to the stereotypes. Some of the exaggeration could be for the jokes to work, I get it. I'm not vouching for political correctness here, lol. 

The track with Paxton is beautifully written - the part where she ditches her friends and goes to Paxton - it's kind of sad the difference in the level of efforts people put in when they are actually into someone and when they aren't. You can clearly see through. The subplot with Devi and her mother's relationship is very well written. Devi's mother was portrayed mostly from Devi's perspective, I wish we saw a bit of why she is so rude to Devi, so that the ending would've been more organic and we could've empathized with her mother too a bit more. 

The Conjuring (2013)

The Conjuring (2013)

Directed by: James Wan
Written by: Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

I don't even know why I'm watching these horror films. I don't enjoy the genre in general, but for some reason, the idea of watching a horror film seems fun. I enjoy horror which is not supernatural, which would probably be like 5% of the horror films made. With the other 95, there is hope that somewhere a film would've done something different and most of the times, 'nope'. Just like every other horror flick, we see a haunted house and a family is amazed by the magic tricks that the spirits perform. I'm curious as to why these spirits perform magic tricks. Even my first short film was horror, and these are the tropes I resorted to as well - a chair gets pulled, the switches get turned off by themselves, and boom, horror! The only part I enjoyed in the film is the angle of how they are experts in paranormal activities, and have experience dealing with them, and how she has suffered because of this, and how she is trying to heal from it. I liked how they wrote the couple.

I know I'm probably shitting on a movie which made like $300mn, which is exactly what I'm trying to figure. As to what kind of gratification this flick gave. I understand that there is terrific amount of tension built and released, which gives a certain sense of high. But apart from that on an emotional level, on a cerebral level - I couldn't feel anything. I'm always excited by the idea of a horror film, you take any setting, and put a horror film there - it sounds interesting to me. But for some reason, I'm almost never satisfied when it's supernatural horror. Hereditary would be an exception, but even there the most high I got was the accident scene - which is again not supernatural horror. Apart from these, I enjoy survival horror, slasher films, the ones where there is some social commentary, and more. 

The Queen's Gambit

The Queen's Gambit (2020)

Written, Directed and Co-created by: Scott Frank
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy
Streaming on Netflix.

This is the story of the obsessed artist. How does it feel when you dedicate your entire life to one thing? Your mind is thinking about it all the time. Irrespective of what you are doing. It's likely that if you stay like that for a couple of years, you'd become good at it. But what about your life apart from that? That is the question these stories have dealt with - films like Whiplash, Black Swan, Shankarabharanam, The Disciple, and Queen's Gambit too falls in the same umbrella. All these stories have told that it's quite tough and lonely. Because people think you are mad, and would go nowhere, until you are successful. Queen's Gambit is at least not as heartbreaking as The Disciple - because she is good at it and gets a lot of acclaim for her game. The Disciple is the story of a guy who no matter how hard he tries, and how much of his life he dedicates, he just can't achieve excellence. He never sees the moment of excellence that the artists achieve in the endings of Whiplash, Black Swan and Queen's Gambit. This moment is what these artists have been longing for all their lives. And when it comes, it is gratifying. 

Chess is not a very visual game, for it being a cinematic tool. But they do her taking the tranquilizers and imagining a game on the roof, which they even use in the ending - which is a good pay off. Queen's Gambit is also about dealing with success and money at a young age - they ask a beautiful existential question - if you become the world's best chess player at 21, what will you do the rest of your life? This question makes total sense, because the pursuit of being in something is what keeps us look forward to something in life, which is also why perhaps people who have everything in life are not necessarily happy. You need to have problems in life, which you have to keep solving for life to keep going.