Hi Pakistan: Hindi cinema and us - By Asghar Butt:
"At least strong enough to meet the challenge posed by the onslaught of the Indian movies. That does not imply that most of the Indian movies are of a very high standard. They are not. Most of them are in fact unwatchable. But those that are watchable or good and are far better than those which are our watchable movies. Their technical quality, their story line, their music, their direction and their acting level is better. Granted that they spent a lot more money on each film than we do, especially on the cast, sets, production and music but for a story, direction and acting one does not need more money, only more brains and know how. Our cinema industry has not attracted real expertise or better brains.
Those who disagree with this thesis should have seen the Zee TV programme of film awards for Indian movies, telecast on the night of the 27th February from Dubai. Apart from a large number Indian film personalities some film directors, actors and actresses from Pakistan were also there. No harm in that. But when our people were invited by the hosts to speak on the occasion, the comparison between our people and the Indians in the level of education, command over expression, self confidence, stage presence, etc was so markedly in favour of the Indians that any Pakistani watching the programme would have felt embarrassed. Watching that show would also have explained where we miss out is in manpower quality. And without quality in manpower to hope that we will ever be able to compete with the Indians or anyone else will be futile. Our policy makers should keep that in mind. "
Monday, March 15, 2004
Monday, December 01, 2003
Calcutta Mail, 2003 (*) - Hard to believe it was directed by Sudhir 'Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin' Mishra. Or was it the ill health and death of Renu Saluja -- his wife and one of the most wonderful and prolific film editors that Hindi Films have seen?
The only bright moments of the film are provided by the lead actors Rani Mukherjee, Satish Kaushik and Anil K, though even these guys add their share to the mediocrity at times. Manisha Koirala is 'unjhelable' as always with her highly irritating, whispering dialogue delivery. And what is with the children in Hindi movies these days.
The only bright moments of the film are provided by the lead actors Rani Mukherjee, Satish Kaushik and Anil K, though even these guys add their share to the mediocrity at times. Manisha Koirala is 'unjhelable' as always with her highly irritating, whispering dialogue delivery. And what is with the children in Hindi movies these days.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Movies in Oct-Nov
Deconstructing Harry, 1997 - Superb. Allen ensembles an impressive star cast - himself, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Billy Crystal, Tobey Maguire, Judy Davis, Demi Moore. Tagline: Harry Block wrote a bestseller about his best friends. Now, his best friends are about to become his worst enemies.
Harry Block: What? You have air-conditioning in Hell?
The Devil: Sure! Fucks up the ozone layer!
Doris: You have no values. With you its all nihilism, cynicism, sarcasm, and orgasm.
Harry Block: Hey, in France I could run for office with that slogan, and win!
Harry Block: Tradition is the illusion of permanence.
Harry Block: Between air conditioning and the Pope, I chose air conditioning.
Harry Block: I'm a guy who can't function well in life but can in art.
Harry Block: [to his brother-in-law Bert] I think you're the opposite of a paranoid. I think you go around with the insane delusion that people like you.
(*****)
Bullets Over Broadway, 1994 - Woody Allen time again for me. In this one he is not in front of the camera. John Cussack plays a young playwright. As with almost every Allen film, this one is also filled with innumerable great moments. Not his finest but still a fine work.
Sheldon Flender: Let's say there was a burning building and you could rush in and you could save only one thing: either the last known copy of Shakespeare's plays or some anonymous human being. What would you do?
Sheldon Flender: [bragging] I have never had a play produced. That's right. And I've written one play a year for the past twenty years.
David Shayne: Yes, but that's because you're a genius! And the proof is that both common people and intellectuals find your work completely incoherent. Means you're a genius!
David Shayne: You're gonna write it?
Cheech: What am I? A fuckin' idiot? They taught me how to read and write in school before I burned it down.
David Shayne: You burned down your school?!
Cheech: Yeah, it was Lincoln's birthday. There was nobody there.
(*****)
The Spanish Prisoner, 1997 - An okay suspense drama. At times becomes unconvincing but carries through. Plot Outline: An employee of a corporation with a lucrative secret process is tempted to betray it. But there's more to it than that. (**)
Miller's Crossing, 1990 - Coen brothers show their mastery over crime drama and their usual flair for interesting ideas. (****)
Flirting with Disaster, 1996 - Ben Stiller. (*)
The Cheap Detective, 1978 - A spoof on The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. Funny in parts but falls flat most of the time. (*)
The Maltese Falcon, 1941 - The film that made Bogart a star and Sam Spade a classic character. Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman is also impressive and has some good lines. This classic film noir is an interesting suspense mystery.
Kasper Gutman: "I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously, unless you keep in practice. Now, sir, we'll talk if you like. I'll tell you right out, I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk."
(****)
The Conversation, 1974 - Coppola made this just after his grand Godfather successes. Well made. Gene Hackman is very good. Raises some interesting and thought-provoking privacy issues. (***)
The Shining, 1980 - Kubrick's trademark long shots, visual grandeur, use of background score are very much the things that make this movie. Nicholson is brilliant. based on a Stephen King's novel. Horror. (***)
Trainspotting, 1995 - Wonderful British cult classic. Tagline: "Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a starter home. Choose dental insurance, leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose your future. But why would anyone want to do a thing like that?" (****)
The Usual Suspects, 1995 - Second Viewing. Still look excellent. (*****). Directed by Bryan Singer.
Roger & Me, 1989 - Documentary. Michael Moore attempts to confront General Motors then-chief Roger Smith. It's actually about a town losing its livelihood. Not even nearly as good as his latest one (BFC) but his trademark humor is present. (**)
The Big Lebowski, 1998 - Coen brothers. Very different and original. Wonderful performances. (****)
New York Stories, 1989 - Three short films directed by New Yorkers Woody Allen, Coppola, Scorcese. Interesting. (***)
Deconstructing Harry, 1997 - Superb. Allen ensembles an impressive star cast - himself, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Billy Crystal, Tobey Maguire, Judy Davis, Demi Moore. Tagline: Harry Block wrote a bestseller about his best friends. Now, his best friends are about to become his worst enemies.
Harry Block: What? You have air-conditioning in Hell?
The Devil: Sure! Fucks up the ozone layer!
Doris: You have no values. With you its all nihilism, cynicism, sarcasm, and orgasm.
Harry Block: Hey, in France I could run for office with that slogan, and win!
Harry Block: Tradition is the illusion of permanence.
Harry Block: Between air conditioning and the Pope, I chose air conditioning.
Harry Block: I'm a guy who can't function well in life but can in art.
Harry Block: [to his brother-in-law Bert] I think you're the opposite of a paranoid. I think you go around with the insane delusion that people like you.
(*****)
Bullets Over Broadway, 1994 - Woody Allen time again for me. In this one he is not in front of the camera. John Cussack plays a young playwright. As with almost every Allen film, this one is also filled with innumerable great moments. Not his finest but still a fine work.
Sheldon Flender: Let's say there was a burning building and you could rush in and you could save only one thing: either the last known copy of Shakespeare's plays or some anonymous human being. What would you do?
Sheldon Flender: [bragging] I have never had a play produced. That's right. And I've written one play a year for the past twenty years.
David Shayne: Yes, but that's because you're a genius! And the proof is that both common people and intellectuals find your work completely incoherent. Means you're a genius!
David Shayne: You're gonna write it?
Cheech: What am I? A fuckin' idiot? They taught me how to read and write in school before I burned it down.
David Shayne: You burned down your school?!
Cheech: Yeah, it was Lincoln's birthday. There was nobody there.
(*****)
The Spanish Prisoner, 1997 - An okay suspense drama. At times becomes unconvincing but carries through. Plot Outline: An employee of a corporation with a lucrative secret process is tempted to betray it. But there's more to it than that. (**)
Miller's Crossing, 1990 - Coen brothers show their mastery over crime drama and their usual flair for interesting ideas. (****)
Flirting with Disaster, 1996 - Ben Stiller. (*)
The Cheap Detective, 1978 - A spoof on The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. Funny in parts but falls flat most of the time. (*)
The Maltese Falcon, 1941 - The film that made Bogart a star and Sam Spade a classic character. Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman is also impressive and has some good lines. This classic film noir is an interesting suspense mystery.
Kasper Gutman: "I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously, unless you keep in practice. Now, sir, we'll talk if you like. I'll tell you right out, I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk."
(****)
The Conversation, 1974 - Coppola made this just after his grand Godfather successes. Well made. Gene Hackman is very good. Raises some interesting and thought-provoking privacy issues. (***)
The Shining, 1980 - Kubrick's trademark long shots, visual grandeur, use of background score are very much the things that make this movie. Nicholson is brilliant. based on a Stephen King's novel. Horror. (***)
Trainspotting, 1995 - Wonderful British cult classic. Tagline: "Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a starter home. Choose dental insurance, leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose your future. But why would anyone want to do a thing like that?" (****)
The Usual Suspects, 1995 - Second Viewing. Still look excellent. (*****). Directed by Bryan Singer.
Roger & Me, 1989 - Documentary. Michael Moore attempts to confront General Motors then-chief Roger Smith. It's actually about a town losing its livelihood. Not even nearly as good as his latest one (BFC) but his trademark humor is present. (**)
The Big Lebowski, 1998 - Coen brothers. Very different and original. Wonderful performances. (****)
New York Stories, 1989 - Three short films directed by New Yorkers Woody Allen, Coppola, Scorcese. Interesting. (***)
Friday, October 10, 2003
Woody Allen week
Annie Hall, 1977 (*****)
[After sex with Annie.]
Alvy Singer: That was the most fun I've ever had without laughing.
[In California.]
Annie Hall: It's so clean out here!
Alvy Singer: That's because they don't throw their garbage away, they turn it into television shows.
Alvy Singer (about Los Angeles): I don't want to move to a city where the only cultural advantage is being able to make a right turn on a red light.
Alvy Singer: Love is too weak a word for what I feel -- I luuurve you, you know, I loave you, I luff you, two F's, yes I have to invent, of course I -- I do, don't you think I do?
[Alvy has killed two spiders.]
Alvy Singer: I did it. I killed 'em both.
[Annie starts crying.]
Alvy Singer: What's the matter? What are you sad about? What did you want me to do? Capture 'em and rehabilitate 'em?
Annie Hall: Alvy, you're incapable of enjoying life, you know that? I mean you're like New York City. You're just this person. You're like this island unto yourself.
Alvy Singer: I can't enjoy anything unless everybody is. If one guy is starving someplace, that puts a crimp in my evening.
Alvy Singer: I remember the staff at our public school. You know, we had a saying, uh, that those who can't do teach, and those who can't teach, teach gym. And, uh, those who couldn't do anything, I think, were assigned to our school.
Alvy Singer: I'm so tired of spending evenings making fake insights with people who work for "Dysentery."
Robin: "Commentary."
Alvy Singer: Oh really? I had heard that "Commentary" and "Dissent" had merged and formed "Dysentery."
Alvy Singer: I though of that old joke, y'know, the, this, this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy. He thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" And the guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much how I feel about relationships. Y'know, they're totally irrational and crazy and absurd and, but, uh, I guess we keep going through it because, uh, most of us need the eggs.
Manhattan, 1979 (****+)
Isaac Davis: This is so antiseptic. It's empty. Why do you think this is funny? You're going by audience reaction? This is an audience that's raised on television, their standards have been systematically lowered over the years. These guys sit in front of their sets and the gamma rays eat the white cells of their brains out!
Isaac Davis: She's 17. I'm 42 and she's 17. I'm older than her father, can you believe that? I'm dating a girl, wherein, I can beat up her father
Isaac Davis: Why is life worth living? It's a very good question. Um...Well, There are certain things I guess that make it worthwhile. uh...Like what... okay...um...For me, uh... ooh... I would say ... what, Groucho Marx, to name one thing... uh...um... and Wilie Mays... and um ... the 2nd movement of the Jupiter Symphony ... and um... Louis Armstrong, recording of Potato Head Blues ... um ... Swedish movies, naturally ... Sentimental Education by Flaubert ... uh... Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra ... um ... those incredible Apples and Pears by Cezanne... uh...the crabs at Sam Wo's... uh... Tracy's face ...
Play it Again, Sam, 1972 (*****) - Directed by Herbert Ross. Written by Woody Allen.
Nancy: My lawyer will call your lawyer.
Allan: I don't have a lawyer. Have him call my doctor.
Allan: That's quite a lovely Jackson Pollack, isn't it?
Museum Girl: Yes, it is.
Allan: What does it say to you?
Museum Girl: It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of Man forced to live in a barren, Godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror and degradation, forming a useless bleak straitjacket in a black absurd cosmos.
Allan: What are you doing Saturday night?
Museum Girl: Committing suicide.
Allan: What about Friday night?
Allan: I wonder if she actually had an orgasm in the two years we were married, or did she fake it that night?
Allan: I have met a lot of dames, but you are REALLY something special.
Linda: Really?
Allan: [to Bogart] She bought it!
Allan: I love the rain - it washes memories off the sidewalk of life.
Allan: If that plane leaves the ground, and you're not on it with him, you'll regret it - maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.
Linda: That's beautiful!
Allan: It's from Casablanca; I waited my whole life to say it.
Allan: I'm so excited, I think I'll brush all my teeth today!
Annie Hall, 1977 (*****)
[After sex with Annie.]
Alvy Singer: That was the most fun I've ever had without laughing.
[In California.]
Annie Hall: It's so clean out here!
Alvy Singer: That's because they don't throw their garbage away, they turn it into television shows.
Alvy Singer (about Los Angeles): I don't want to move to a city where the only cultural advantage is being able to make a right turn on a red light.
Alvy Singer: Love is too weak a word for what I feel -- I luuurve you, you know, I loave you, I luff you, two F's, yes I have to invent, of course I -- I do, don't you think I do?
[Alvy has killed two spiders.]
Alvy Singer: I did it. I killed 'em both.
[Annie starts crying.]
Alvy Singer: What's the matter? What are you sad about? What did you want me to do? Capture 'em and rehabilitate 'em?
Annie Hall: Alvy, you're incapable of enjoying life, you know that? I mean you're like New York City. You're just this person. You're like this island unto yourself.
Alvy Singer: I can't enjoy anything unless everybody is. If one guy is starving someplace, that puts a crimp in my evening.
Alvy Singer: I remember the staff at our public school. You know, we had a saying, uh, that those who can't do teach, and those who can't teach, teach gym. And, uh, those who couldn't do anything, I think, were assigned to our school.
Alvy Singer: I'm so tired of spending evenings making fake insights with people who work for "Dysentery."
Robin: "Commentary."
Alvy Singer: Oh really? I had heard that "Commentary" and "Dissent" had merged and formed "Dysentery."
Alvy Singer: I though of that old joke, y'know, the, this, this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy. He thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" And the guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much how I feel about relationships. Y'know, they're totally irrational and crazy and absurd and, but, uh, I guess we keep going through it because, uh, most of us need the eggs.
Manhattan, 1979 (****+)
Isaac Davis: This is so antiseptic. It's empty. Why do you think this is funny? You're going by audience reaction? This is an audience that's raised on television, their standards have been systematically lowered over the years. These guys sit in front of their sets and the gamma rays eat the white cells of their brains out!
Isaac Davis: She's 17. I'm 42 and she's 17. I'm older than her father, can you believe that? I'm dating a girl, wherein, I can beat up her father
Isaac Davis: Why is life worth living? It's a very good question. Um...Well, There are certain things I guess that make it worthwhile. uh...Like what... okay...um...For me, uh... ooh... I would say ... what, Groucho Marx, to name one thing... uh...um... and Wilie Mays... and um ... the 2nd movement of the Jupiter Symphony ... and um... Louis Armstrong, recording of Potato Head Blues ... um ... Swedish movies, naturally ... Sentimental Education by Flaubert ... uh... Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra ... um ... those incredible Apples and Pears by Cezanne... uh...the crabs at Sam Wo's... uh... Tracy's face ...
Play it Again, Sam, 1972 (*****) - Directed by Herbert Ross. Written by Woody Allen.
Nancy: My lawyer will call your lawyer.
Allan: I don't have a lawyer. Have him call my doctor.
Allan: That's quite a lovely Jackson Pollack, isn't it?
Museum Girl: Yes, it is.
Allan: What does it say to you?
Museum Girl: It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of Man forced to live in a barren, Godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror and degradation, forming a useless bleak straitjacket in a black absurd cosmos.
Allan: What are you doing Saturday night?
Museum Girl: Committing suicide.
Allan: What about Friday night?
Allan: I wonder if she actually had an orgasm in the two years we were married, or did she fake it that night?
Allan: I have met a lot of dames, but you are REALLY something special.
Linda: Really?
Allan: [to Bogart] She bought it!
Allan: I love the rain - it washes memories off the sidewalk of life.
Allan: If that plane leaves the ground, and you're not on it with him, you'll regret it - maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.
Linda: That's beautiful!
Allan: It's from Casablanca; I waited my whole life to say it.
Allan: I'm so excited, I think I'll brush all my teeth today!
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Movies in September
Leela, 2002 (**)
Misery, 1990 (***+)
Barton Fink, 1991 (***)
Central Station (Brazil), 1998 (***)
The Jungle Book 2, 2003 (**+)
Boys Don't Cry, 1999 (*)
Blood Simple, 1984 (****)
Murder by Death, 1976 (****)
Nine Queens (Argentina), 2000 (****)
The Cider House Rules, 1999 (****)
Yojimbo (Japan), 1961 (****)
Comedian, 2002 (*)
All About My Mother (Spain), 1999 (***)
Leela, 2002 (**)
Misery, 1990 (***+)
Barton Fink, 1991 (***)
Central Station (Brazil), 1998 (***)
The Jungle Book 2, 2003 (**+)
Boys Don't Cry, 1999 (*)
Blood Simple, 1984 (****)
Murder by Death, 1976 (****)
Nine Queens (Argentina), 2000 (****)
The Cider House Rules, 1999 (****)
Yojimbo (Japan), 1961 (****)
Comedian, 2002 (*)
All About My Mother (Spain), 1999 (***)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
