‘once upon a time in america’ is enormous epic saga set in new york spanning decades. lovingly detailed and almost four hours long. comfortable with long silences and very long takes; the film follows the friendship of two hoods turned gangsters through three time zones in flashbacks and forwards. i wonder whether the title of ‘once upon a time in mumbai’ plays homage to this film. robber de niro and james caan play the friends. fantastic production design.
the silly parallels being made between masculinity and horse, religion, repression and deviancy might be ludicrous- especially when played with such gravitas by all concerned. richard burton as the classicist psychoanalyst is terrific and maybe if i was not in such an irreverent mood the film with its trite observations on freedom and normality might have felt less pretentious. the sex scene with the horse in particular was hilarious- but then how in the world is one to stage that without raising giggles?
in ‘the city of lost children’ production design again rules. somewhere in an alternate universe children are being kidnapped and taken to a tower far away to steal their dreams. the raiders are blind men who having one artificial eye are called the cyclops. the city is a three dimensional dickensian nightmare- criss crossing bridges over the overflowing drains, brick clad warehouses in a perpetual night. the clones stealing the dreams include six nitwits and one brain in a fish tank with a camera for an eye.
i saw a charlie chaplin film after a very long time and loved ‘the beginning sequence of ‘modern times’ where chaplin becomes apart of the machine. more fantastic sequences include the skateboarding at night in the mall and the house on the edge of the city where he ad the girl-tramp try and make a home.
although we would like to believe in the seamless connection between culture and architecture- like the buildings in themselves are testimonies to a certain historical fact; very often this is difficult to establish. buildings are far more slippery than that. they refuse to be one liners. they, in so many ways, speak also for themselves. perhaps ideology and th form through which it is made tangible are not so esily connected. unfortunately, based on the film ‘brutality in stone’ where black and white shots of the monuments of the third reich are intercut with party speeches and patriotic songs, with nazi architecture this connections seems unbroken. enormous frightening monuments to ideas of purity, nostalgia and supermen make diminutive all things human.
john woo takes his swashbuckling action film drama and splices it with ‘crouching tiger hidden dragon’. china exotica complete with armies that move in choreographed unison, flying coloured robes and a enormous war epic about a smaller kingdom standing up to a much larger juggernaut. in the middle of this is a love triangle. the battle sequences are jaw dropping- the first with the tortoise formation – like something out of the mahabharat; and the finale with fire.
it must be something that eagerness to do something useful that comes from being educated and therefore privileged in the ‘third’ world; but this self imposed morality to make sure the film (in the case) has an important ‘message’. in ‘moolaade’ this message is very clear- ‘stop female circumcision!’ the second wife of a man, in an idyllic and very pretty village, takes a few girls under her wing for protection against the wishes of the red robed women performing the operation and the men of the village who hold her responsible for corrupting the women of the village. it is her and the radio that bring the corruption of the city to the village and the latter are burnt in a pile of screaming voices in front of the village mosque. she is beaten up but does not relent.
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