so many films to review. i am falling behind every week. maybe i should start off with the westerns- two of them- the first one 'high noon' in which gary cooper plays a lawman recently married waiting for two hours for a train to arrive that carries his nemesis. as he goes from house to pub to church to enlist deputy sheriffs to help him fight the villain, all of them desert him, cursing him instead for the violence that is sure to follow. the two women in his life- his mexican ex-girlfriend and his very white and blonde wife also desert him until one of them has a change of heart at the end. no prises for guessing which one. the stereotypes are all there. what really works is the tension of the impending arrival through the whole film. the climax at the end ends up being a let down. john ford's 'the searchers' places a few twists in the typical western. far from being a white washed hero, john wayne plays a racist cowboy who snarls his contempt for anything red indian. his companion is a 'half breed' as they travel the gorgeous utah deserts in search of a young girl kidnapped by avenging tribes of ululating, horse riding, teepee living indians. when she is found she is a squaw of the tribe leader, which leads to our hero wanting to kill her for miscegenation. the final reunion at the end is lovely in spite of the cringe inducing racism that underlies the whole film- in spite of its relatively progressive stance.
i finally got down to seeing 'el topo'- the mole- a western of sorts but packed to the brim with allegories and symbols that i assumed to have profound importance but could not for the life of me understand. not that it mattered. the film seemed to be divided in three parts. in the first 'el topo' rescues a community from a murdering tribe and leaves his son in their care. in the second he travles with a woman through the desert to defeat 4 people, each with their own powers and geometric symbols; and in the third he helps a band of deformed underground people dig a tunnel to the world above. mesmerising and completely obscure.
thank god for 'dabanng'. i am sick and tired of the smooth over produced chic of multiplex films- those that dont aim for more than a smooth surface finish, or (even worse) those that claim to have a social conscience - think 'peepli live'. dabanng has no such pretentions. i was afraid with the image of salman's sunglasses reflecting the lighted heart, that the film might be too self conscious about its own masalagiri to really go out and enjoy it. always keeping a respectful distance from getting down and dirty in the genre and instead 'appreciating' it as a clever 'take'. 'wanted' had no such inhibitions and 'dabanng' had only a few. salman khan is salman khan, no matter if you call his chulbul- and he is great- especially in the action sequences- a closed warehouse with a bunch of goondas where he flexes his muscles to get out of the clutches of the villains or the way in which his shirt comes off in the final scene. sonakshi sinha is stunning but had little to do. and the story... i cant remember. on a whim i also saw david dhawan's 'raja babu' yesterday. entertaining if you can carry your brain with you and pretend to read too much in everything- otherwise it can simply be shrill and hackneyed. govinda's comic timing is fantastic and so are the dance sequences- the sari lifting in 'aa aa ee' being a highlight and of course the multiple and complex pelvic thrusts. the groin is the centre of the film - whether that is the phallus/candle that karisma burns for govinda or the nadas- in stiff and limp state that shjakti kapoor fights with.
i have always loved the songs in 'hum dono' but had never seen it (ages ago on doordarshan does not count) what struck me in the film were long silences and the gentle ease y which the story is told from the very first scene where an entire silent flirtation leads into 'abhi na jaao'. in fact all the songs are placed beautifully. as a weepy it is totally successful; i sobbed away. partly becasue the music - especially 'allah tero naam' is just simply divine.
'once upon a time in mumbaai' tries so hard to be cool. the narrator speaks in a decorous monotone, so do all the actors - no one screams, ajay devgan mumbles and scowls, the photography is lush period homage and very tasteful. everything is so smooth that the film is completely flat. it plods along from incident to incident. the only one who tries to fight the eternal smoothness is emraan hashmi who manages for some time to look human enough to be petulant and vulnerable. prachi desai as his girlfriend benefits from this, but poor kangna ranaut is submerged under the perpetual good taste of the film. boring.
'vincere' follows an affair that Mussolini had with a woman who he later discarded and declared insane along with the son they had together. high on production design and operatic staging. every moment is pushed to the extremes of high tension through stylized photography and sound design. i did not hate the film- but it did not leave me with much either.
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