Amsterdam: Aldo Van Eyck's Orphanage

I am still surprised the overtly design conscious dutch allowed this masterpiece to fall into disrepair. when karla and i were there the building was subdivided into parts- one part an artists studio. most of the building was shut down and empty. a gentle scale in spite of the sprawling campus- a modular metabolism that allows it to flow across the lawn, and the idiosyncrasies that make every corner unique.

Lamayuru and Landscapes on NH1

Lamayuru monastery with it's landscape of golden 'moonscape' mountains, clusters of houses; and on the way the Indus snakes alongside with green fields in the valleys and the mountains turning purple, gold, pink and every colour and form imaginable at every turn. 

the 400 blows . max mon amour . joint security area

male teenage angst shapes this film- some lovely scenes- the famous truancy in paris with the well of death; or that beautiful end on the beach with the startled look to the camera at the end. still i felt that the sexism that underpinned it all was rather annoying. the father is allowed to be cold towards his son because he is after all a step son- but the mother is given no excuse for being the bitch she is treated as. as for other women? they don't really exist. 

savagery is unleashed in the prim domesticity of the british diplomat's home as it prepares for the queen's visit when the chimpanzee might be giving better sex to his wife. he is confused, jealous, curious- while the wife stays silent as an enigma. played as natural the film is funny, easy and most importantly tender- in spite of its preposterous plot. 

blood brothers make friends across the border between north and south korea. you know this can't last right from the first scene. the rashomon like pov shifts try to confuse the matter - not very successfully. but skilled at story telling- this is. 

warrior . nayakan

testosterone packed melodrama this good is rare. bro tears, dad love/hate and some sibling rivalry. the men get to express themselves only in fistfights or sulk and scowl at each other. ‘brothers’ twisted the backstory around- gave us some mom issues and some kareena kapoor but kept the rest the same. the tear jerking didn't need amping up. tom hardy’s bruised swollen lips make him look like a sullen schoolboy. 

more daddy issues with kamalhasan as a pasty faced cupcake in the early half just seems silly- especially when he wears neatly ironed matching matching clothes through the murders and the beatings. later on, he improves. all evil people have sex with prostitutes while the other women are the conscience of the film- the daughter and the mother. more male machismo bonding dictates the rest of the plots- with no self-reflexivity (same to same as ‘warrior’) the bombay recreations in out of focus (at least in the print i saw) blue grey wet muddy are fine enough- but for the hero’s shiny greased face are fine as long it is the slum or the stock shots of marine drive/ gateway / vt. the rest of the film- the funeral sequences, the courtroom stuff are so not mumbai that the spatial illusion falls flat- letting the film go too.