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Posted by bharath on Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Some Movie Reviews
La Vita รจ bella (Life is Beautiful) 1997
Director:Roberto Benini | Italian | IMDB
wow. Roberto Benini! If you thought he would jump out of the television, you might not be crazy. He has such infectious enthusiasm. The movie is set with holocaust in the backdrop, and surrounded by misery of those times. As the story gets narrated you won't get infected by it. The life of a couple, their happy kid is what consumes all of your attention. Yet on the bicycle rides through the street with Benini and his kid, one cannot avoid looking at the shop windows with 'Jews not allowed' signs or the Nazi army marching in the city squares. Or the time when the horse of his uncle is painted in green with Jew-slander. It is difficult to do a drama with comedy when the back drop is so very grim. But then Roberto Benini intends it that way and pulls off a near magic. The basic element of the movie is what we all wish to believe and trust in (even in those grim times, especially in those grim times): Humanity. Yes, Humanity is what Benini chooses to frame for us.
Det Sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal) 1957
Director:Ingmar Bergman | Swedish | IMDB
The film, set during the days of the plague, brings a knight in confrontation with death (portrayed as a man dressed in black). The Knight challenges death to a chess duel, so he can bargain time to save a happy couple. To some the couple may symbolise the holy mother and God. The Knight wants to believe there is a god, there is a good that is worth living for. The times, the misery, the hopelessness, the deaths of people falling to the plague, makes such a hope an impossible imagination. Ingmar Bergman, one of the most talented directors of our times, portrays the helplessness, the anguish and misery directly. People are shown going around whipping each other, atoning for their sins, hoping for God's grace to follow. The movie is unrelenting and does not offer hope until the very end; even the end that is offered might not be a real consolation. The movie is a wonderful conversation, one that many of us have at one time or the other.
Le Corbeau (The Raven) 1941
Director:Henri-Georges Clouzot | French | IMDB
A really nice film about a doctor who is slandered by anonymous letters written by "The Raven" accusing him as an abortionist. Slowly the people of the township start to be troubled by the letters and its contents as the accusations start to engulf others. The doctor must act quickly, else "The Raven" would have done serious damage to his reputation. The movie depicts the slow coming apart of the society as slander spreads, and people start to doubt "what if there is any truth to the letters?, what if?". There is nothing superlative in terms of direction in this movie. What it does have is a plot and script which are tightly woven in the narrative. As many french movies that came later, the interest is maintained mainly through characters of differing backgrounds: a mother, a bureaucrat of modest reputation, a businessman, and the women in the town whose name gets embroiled in this controversy. In the end you get a very entertaining movie that keeps you guessing.
Director:Roberto Benini | Italian | IMDB
wow. Roberto Benini! If you thought he would jump out of the television, you might not be crazy. He has such infectious enthusiasm. The movie is set with holocaust in the backdrop, and surrounded by misery of those times. As the story gets narrated you won't get infected by it. The life of a couple, their happy kid is what consumes all of your attention. Yet on the bicycle rides through the street with Benini and his kid, one cannot avoid looking at the shop windows with 'Jews not allowed' signs or the Nazi army marching in the city squares. Or the time when the horse of his uncle is painted in green with Jew-slander. It is difficult to do a drama with comedy when the back drop is so very grim. But then Roberto Benini intends it that way and pulls off a near magic. The basic element of the movie is what we all wish to believe and trust in (even in those grim times, especially in those grim times): Humanity. Yes, Humanity is what Benini chooses to frame for us.
Det Sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal) 1957
Director:Ingmar Bergman | Swedish | IMDB
The film, set during the days of the plague, brings a knight in confrontation with death (portrayed as a man dressed in black). The Knight challenges death to a chess duel, so he can bargain time to save a happy couple. To some the couple may symbolise the holy mother and God. The Knight wants to believe there is a god, there is a good that is worth living for. The times, the misery, the hopelessness, the deaths of people falling to the plague, makes such a hope an impossible imagination. Ingmar Bergman, one of the most talented directors of our times, portrays the helplessness, the anguish and misery directly. People are shown going around whipping each other, atoning for their sins, hoping for God's grace to follow. The movie is unrelenting and does not offer hope until the very end; even the end that is offered might not be a real consolation. The movie is a wonderful conversation, one that many of us have at one time or the other.
Le Corbeau (The Raven) 1941
Director:Henri-Georges Clouzot | French | IMDB
A really nice film about a doctor who is slandered by anonymous letters written by "The Raven" accusing him as an abortionist. Slowly the people of the township start to be troubled by the letters and its contents as the accusations start to engulf others. The doctor must act quickly, else "The Raven" would have done serious damage to his reputation. The movie depicts the slow coming apart of the society as slander spreads, and people start to doubt "what if there is any truth to the letters?, what if?". There is nothing superlative in terms of direction in this movie. What it does have is a plot and script which are tightly woven in the narrative. As many french movies that came later, the interest is maintained mainly through characters of differing backgrounds: a mother, a bureaucrat of modest reputation, a businessman, and the women in the town whose name gets embroiled in this controversy. In the end you get a very entertaining movie that keeps you guessing.
Labels: Movies
¶ 5:34 PM
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noted these names.... my recommendations:
1) Goodbye Lenin
2) Favella Rising
3) Mediterrano
4) La Petit Lili
:)
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1) Goodbye Lenin
2) Favella Rising
3) Mediterrano
4) La Petit Lili
:)
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