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.