Saturday, January 01, 2011

phas gaye re obama. goodbye my fancy . to die for . uncle boonmee who can. band baaja baraat . the time that remains. loins of punjab presents .


political farce about a group of kidnappers badly hit by a slump in the market who kidnap nri hero who also turns out to be broke. he turns the plot around to benefit them all by selling himself to the highest bidder. the locals area all corrupt or stupid and the american is bright, opportunistic and above all trustworthy. so balance of power is neatly maintained. the nri is rajat kapoor who plays it with the cool that can get so irritating while one of the goons is neha dhupia sizzling. the rest is good.

goodbye my fancy plays like aandhi- sort of. drop out student turned politician returns to her school to find the man she loves- the teacher for whose reputation she gave up her academic career. meanwhile she is being pursued by a photojournalist in love with her. joan crawford is the woman at the centre of it all.

in 'to die for' gus van zant pits his beautiful teenage losers on the margins of society against the demons of mainstream america- television and fifteen minutes of fame- in the form of blonde and beautiful nicole kidman. terrific film.

the self conscious formality of 'the time that remains' is a grid within which the ironies of the history of nazareth is placed. right angles and symmetries all over the place as a semi autobiographical story unfolds before a semi detached gaze- ours and the main characters. tati like , and like a tati film the one note began to get tiresome by the end of the film.

more self conscious formalism in apichatpong weerasethakul's new film- 'uncle boonmee who can remember his past lives'. but lovely. always willing to let myself go and enter his world of long immersive fantasy, it was easy to enter the magic realism of a ghost story about folklore, love and loss; folklore and history,; the wild and civilization. enigmatic and dreamlike but held in place with its attention to the soundscapes and the gestures of everyday life.

i was keeping away from 'band baaja baraat' because of the lethal combination of yashraj and a punjabi wedding. this time the setting of the film within a middle class neighbourhood in delhi saved the film. romantic comedy- pleasant characters, predictable storyline- but what else do you really need. pretty people doing pretty things- and a happy ending.

the new year's party film was 'loins of punjab presents' that followed three days in a desi idol competition. great fun. nasty and loving to each of its assortment of characters the gujju family, the desi wannabe white boy, the bhangra rappers. the only real villain being the bitchy rich housewife shabana azmi.

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