chandramukhi . public housing. this film is not yet rated. terminator- salvation

in a fantastic entry sequence that begins with the sole of his shoe rajnikanth enters the film as a psychoanalyst who has made up his mind to debunk the myth of the ghost of a dancer that haunts the rooms of the palace. from a room to the rear of the building she is said to look down at her lover's house who was killed mercilessly by the tyrant husband. in the climax an easy solution is found to the tamilian schizophernia that pits science (all those iit-ians) against the mystical/religious (tirupati/ rajnikant) by making the yogi and analyst work together to rid the heroine of her poltergeist. whether it was a real spirit infestation or only a manifestation of internally repressed feelings is never resolved.

frederick wiseman's 'public housing' is a curious film. almost three hours of fly-on-the-wall gazing at everyday life in a housing scheme in chicago. except that the everyday life he has access to comes from the chicago housing authority which also has a special police squad for the colony. so we spend most of the time watching the poor, drug infested, dysfunctional neighbourhood on its best behaviour under the gaze of figures of authority- whether that is the social worker, the policeman or the plumber. the film is strangely un-self-conscious about the camera and its power to transform the object that i looks upon.

'this film is not yet rated' is an expose of the film rating system in the usa which is controlled by a secretive group of parents who work as a moral police for the nation. the premise to expose these people to the general public and he hires a lesbian couple as a private detective agency to help him. pretty straightforward with a michael moore kind of humour where the filmmaker submits his own film for rating.

the latest of the terminator series was damp and vapid compared to the others. in fact, i think after 2 the films have gone downhill very fast. some great action sequences and sets. the world i now almost completely run over by machines and a revolutionary army is trying to overthrow them. nothing to remember except for the thrill of two or three chases in gorges and river beds.