Pitta Kathalu Analysis

 Pitta Kathalu (2021) 

Produced by: RSVP Movies
Streaming on Netflix. 

My order of preference: Tharun Bhascker, Nag Ashwin, Sankalp Reddy, Nandini Reddy

Tharun Bhascker's Ramula - This is my favorite of all, and perhaps the only one I really liked in the film. It has a conscious visual language. The usage of music is quirky - the best part is the way they use upbeat music even over tragic scenes. Ramula is crying, her life is shattered, she commits suicide - and the music is still upbeat. It's a very interesting technique. It brings in a world view that the film is aware of all the good and bad things in life and it has a very godly worldview. The imagery and the storytelling is so strong. After the shot of Manchu Lakshmi putting it out in the news, the music starts and thereafter - I remember every shot. It's visual storytelling. It didn't work as much on a script level for me. But the film language - it has a lot of Scorsese's influence, and it made me like the film so much. It's not very often that we see rooted and grounded stories with such stylistic filmmaking - which is why I loved Ramula. 

Nag Ashwin's X-Life: I really liked the world building in this film. Although it was a little too direct in the way it speaks against social media - I was very impressed with the way the film was shot. A small complaint for me in this film would be that it was predictable, whatever that she was doing was to fuck him over.

Frances Ha Analysis

 Frances Ha (2012)

Directed, Co-written by: Noah Baumbach
Co-written by and Starring: Greta Gerwig

It's a character study of Frances. It's a mix of the French New Wave, the Woody Allen school of filmmaking and the Mumblecore film movement. It's shot in a minimalist way, and yet we never feel that. It's because the visual scope of the film never feels limited. It travels through different countries, and it feels like anything could happen. Getting our trust that the film will do something if it's necessary, and it won't avoid the scene due to the lack of budget - is the most important aspect of all. 

Frances is a total goof up. Her silly idiosyncrasies, and her physical comedy reminded me of some people. What I like in people like Frances is that, they don't play safe or back out once things don't go well, they go - 'oh god, I'm badly fucked now' and again try to figure things for themselves. There is subconscious will to take challenges and face risks in life. The film essentially captures the problems of the modern world. When the actor also writes for the film, it's interesting because then the level of work they do to discover the character for themselves - it could be something else. 

This film was shot on a 5D, and they didn't even use cinema lenses. They used 50mm prime and 70-200mm zoom lens. So we don't have like seamless charge-ins, or track-ins. The best part is that the film doesn't need it. This film reminded me of Coffee and Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch, and Obvious Child. 

Malcolm & Marie Analysis

 Malcolm & Marie (2021)

Written and Directed by: Sam Levinson
Starring: John David Washington, Zendaya
Streaming on Netflix. 

It's 90 mins of yelling at each other. Yelling is such an American thing. I can't stand yelling. But I could with this film, because he yells against people who politicize everything, and bring in political correctness all the time - I was laughing out loud. 'Won't they let us have some fun with art?' Sam Levinson has an unflinching honesty, whether it's with this film or with Euphoria. The way he goes into deep dark conversations out loud - we often don't do that within too. It's like an exercise I do sometimes, where I type all my exact thoughts and it's tough even for me to read it - I'm like - oh god! His way of putting out such thoughts on paper, and making them into a film should be something else. I'm practicing putting out my vulnerabilities by casually talking about it to strangers, so that if I have to write it - I can. 

Whatever that happens in the film, I don't know if it's healthy - but I felt like after this, if they're still together - nothing can break them apart. They've confronted their deepest vulnerabilities with each other and have had them roast the fuck out of them. The ending scene was so good - where Marie talks about how she wishes he thanked her. The extreme highs and lows that happen over a single night show us how things happen in relationships over the course of days too. It's apparently the first Hollywood film to be written, financed and produced during the pandemic. I didn't know this, and it didn't feel like that. All the choices felt conscious - black and white, a single location film with two actors, the minimalist drama. I think the minimalism let him write the film from a personal space with sheer honesty. The matte look is also interesting, it's a different visual world because it's different from the B/W we see in Roma, or Mank. 

Uppena Analysis

 Uppena (2021)

Written and Directed by: Buchi Babu Sana
Starring: Vaishnav Tej, Kriti Shetty
Produced by: Mythri Movie Makers. 

Spoilers Alert. 

Uppena cheats us, acting like it's a dumb movie with old school romance, and the woke ending which is done with a twist - is like a huge bang. Initially, the film has cheesy romance - the way they show them kissing is a back shot of the head, and it cuts to their eyes widening and then they release. It's so hammy. The slow-motion reaction shots of the guy and the girl. I was almost dozing off here and there. It felt a lot like Sairat, where they elope, go to another city and struggle. The only good thing about the film (apart from the ending) is the way they use the setting of the film, the way they shoot in real locations, near the beach. I could feel the beach while watching the film.  

And as I was dozing off, the conversation between Sangeetha and her dad - suddenly I go, 'what the fuck' and it's such a mind-blowing twist, it has setups earlier and this twist alone closes the theme, plot, character and everything. The conversation is a little on the preachy side, but I thought it wasn't that bad. The best part about the Sukumar school of films is that they deal with edgy themes, they talk about real adult stuff and yet they do them under the garb of a commercial film. There's no way I can personally imagine, a Telugu film talking about masculinity in such a good way - if not for this film. Now, I understand why they got Ravi Shankar to dub for Vijay Sethupathi - the masculinity has to be evident through every feature. 

Euphoria Analysis

Euphoria (2019)

Created and Written by: Sam Levinson

Zendaya won the Emmy for Best Actress.

Streaming on Disney+Hotstar.

The general setback of TV shows is that they lack cinematic language. Alfonso Cuaron once said, 'If there are two characters talking, and if it keeps cutting back and forth to their closes - why do I even have to watch it? I can just listen to it'. Shows not having cinematic language is natural as well - because of the runtime - it's not likely that they shoot and edit the entire show with conscious decisions. They generally tend to capture what's happening. In this show, they use almost every cinematic technique which you stands out. The style is unapologetically visible. The prologue of every episode is a 10-min introduction of a character - where we see their childhood voids. Every prologue is shot like the opening sequences of Amelie. The show is heavily influenced by the filmmaking of Martin Scorsese. The way it roots for anarchy, the voice over, usage of pop music, and the snappy editing. Goodfellas. Wolf of Wall Street. One more thing the show does is, it stitches a lot of swish pans.  

Let's talk about Rue, her nihilistic IDGAF outlook towards life comes through the way she talks, the way she walks and even in her general body language. The same with Cassie, Kat as well. One dark thought I generally have when I meet someone is, what could be the worst thing I could say to insult them. It's just a passing thought. It helps us understand their vulnerabilities. This is explored through every character in the show - Cassie gets the worst insult in the show when the guy says that she's boring and any guy who is interested in her is only there to sleep with her. Rue gets such insults. Nate gets those insults, where she says that he can't keep himself hard - it hits straight to his masculinity. All such vulnerabilities are used to explore the characters. The unpredictability of the show makes it less addictive, binge-able, and makes it more of a movie watching experience.