Cinema's greatest classics

[unleash_me]

Can't wait....

Samsara Trailer (Documentary 2012) - YouTube

 

[rraghuram]

Let the right one in. Swedish version. check out Lena Leandersson's sensational performance as a 12 year old vampire, forever doomed to be 12! This movie is one of those rare gems that manage to extract great performances from child actors within the framework of story that is traditionally the happy hunting grounds of blood sucking adults! Now, what to watch next?

A big THANK YOU to the thread starter and all those who chipped in here! This and "Right now I am listening to" are 2 of the most useful threads here! Alas, so many albums to listen to, so many great movies to watch, so little time & misplaced priorities! Nevertheless, I shall raise my Katana sword to cut through the B.S that life presents and make way for some soul stirring experiences.

 

[moktan]

i am a Johnny-Come-Lately when it comes to the movies. But still I try watching them whenever I can.
Saw these recently.
Rear Window-Wonderful plot. The way the camera works you share the view of the voyeuristic protagonist even as he sits near the window watching the antics of the people in the apartment across. One can almost feel the heat of summer. The climax is neatly built up and besides entertaining it throws up some deeper issues too. Quite relevant in this world so caught up in the frenzy of an intrusive media that makes everything a show and everyone so judgemental.
The Thirty-Nine Steps-Just the perfect movie for me. Fast paced. Witty though a tad melodramatic at times (I am saying this nearly 80 years after it was released). Neat and ingenious ending too.
The Third Man-I didn't realise until later that Graham Greene wrote the script for this absolutely gem. Visually almost every frame is a work of art. Especially the manner in which this black and white movie uses the interplay of light and shade. Orson Wells as wily racketeer in the chaos of post-war Vienna is quietly menacing. The music supposedly composed on a lone zither is another hallmark of this classic. Sometimes the alchemy is just too perfect.
Lawrence of Arabia Huge canvas. The politics hasn't lost its relevance. Anthony Quinn is just superb as an Arab chieftain. The dialogues pack a lot of punch and the sheer majesty and grandeur of most of the scenes is a reminder of the magic of the movies.
The movies mentioned above are quite old. But there is a timeless quality to them. Must say i really enjoyed them. Yes enjoyed is the word. Wasn't bored one bit.

 

[ajay124]

India is a land of many tongues. Our cinema comes in many languages. Hindi cinema is the most prominent but not necessarily the best one.

A list of Indian films that I would like to have in my library:

Satyajit Ray

Pathar Panchali
Aparajito
Apur Sansar
Jalsaghar
Charulata
Jana Aranya
Pratidwandi

Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Swayamvaram
Elipatthayam
Mukhamukham
Maithilukal

Shahji Karun

Piravi
Swaham
Vanaprastham

Girish Kasaravali

Ghattashradda
Dweepa
Haseena
Naayi Neralu

Ritwik Ghatak

Meghe Dhaka Tara
Komal Gandhar
Subarnarekha

Shyam Bengal

Nishant
Manthan
Bhumika
Mandi
Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda
Bose

Govind Nihalani

Aakrosh
Ardh Satya
Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Ma

Kundan Shah

Jaane Bhi Do Yaro

M.S. Sathyu

Garam Hawa

Aparna Sen

36, Chowringee Lane
Paroma
Raromitar Ek Din
15 Park Avenue

Bimal Roy

Do Bigha Zameen
Parineeta
Bandini
Madhumati

Guru Dutt

Kaagaz Ke Phool
Pyaasa

Goutam Ghose

Paar
Padma Nadir Majhi

Mrinal Sen

Bhuvan Shome
Padatik

Mani Kaul

Uski Roti
Asadh Ka Ek Din
Duvidha
Nazar

G Aravindan

Thampu
Kumatty
Esthappan
Chidambaram

Ketan Mehta

Bhavni Bhavai
Mirch Masala
Maya Memsaab

Jahnu Barua

Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai
Firingot
Umbartha

Shekhar Kapoor

Bandit Queen
Masoom

Mira Nair

Salaam Bombay
Monsoon Wedding
The Namesake

Vishal Bhardwaj

Maqbool

Sudhir Mishra

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi
Yeh Who Manzil To Nahi

Prakash Jha

Damul

Mani Ratnam

Thalapathi
Roja
Nayakan
Iruvar

Chetan Anand

Neecha Nagar

Nagesh Kukunoor

Iqbal
Dor

Vijaya Mehta

Pestonjee

Sai Paranjpai

Sparsh

I have probably forgotten to include some films and may not be aware of many others. I have watched many of these films and know the rest only from their reputation. I have not forgotten to add Sholay, Deewar, DDLJ, Ghajini, 3 Idiots and similar films. I simply have no interest in them. I believe that with time they will go the way of all blockbuster cinema - they will start seeming dated, cliched and boring. In fact they already do!

 

[moktan]

Watched Apur Sansar. It is easily the best Indian film I have ever seen. I somehow had the impression that serious Indian films (the so called Art Cinema would be slow, depressing, serious, pretentious and most of all boring).
Apur Sansar shattered those notions.
This movie is so full of life. It has humour, pathos and a certain 'deepness'. The treatment is masterful. The dialogues have wit and intensity. The acting is top notch. The lead protagonist of this movie is handsome and acts with delightful restraint.
There is one particularly powerful moment when he receives news about the death of his newly wed wife. The grief is distilled in a scene that lasts a few seconds and yet is of such intensity that it over powers the viewer.
Like all great movies there is delightful visual poetry in the shots. The atmosphere of the city, the onset of the monsoons, the nuances of living in a rented room with neighbours are brought out so deftly that each scene stays in the mind and heart for a long,long time.
I am not sure if others too have felt the same. But somehow the movie especially in its visual treatment of the city reminded a lot of The Bicycle Thief.

 

[doors666]

Peeping tom - beats "the psycho" at its own game.

 

[longshanks]

One film that would remain as a classic in my mind in spite of watching several times has to be Ratha Kanneer,M. R. Radha is one of the greatest actors in the world imo.
Ratha Kanneer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
M. R. Radha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brilliant scene.
Ratha kaneer wonderful scene - YouTube


one more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnKElcGVReI&feature=related

 

[ajay124]

Watched Apur Sansar. It is easily the best Indian film I have ever seen. I somehow had the impression that serious Indian films (the so called Art Cinema would be slow, depressing, serious, pretentious and most of all boring).
Apur Sansar shattered those notions.
This movie is so full of life. It has humour, pathos and a certain 'deepness'. The treatment is masterful. The dialogues have wit and intensity. The acting is top notch. The lead protagonist of this movie is handsome and acts with delightful restraint.
There is one particularly powerful moment when he receives news about the death of his newly wed wife. The grief is distilled in a scene that lasts a few seconds and yet is of such intensity that it over powers the viewer.
Like all great movies there is delightful visual poetry in the shots. The atmosphere of the city, the onset of the monsoons, the nuances of living in a rented room with neighbours are brought out so deftly that each scene stays in the mind and heart for a long,long time.
I am not sure if others too have felt the same. But somehow the movie especially in its visual treatment of the city reminded a lot of The Bicycle Thief.

Moktan

The best 'art' films may be serious but they are seldom slow, boring or pretentious. Rather they are entertaining, enrapturing, enthralling and exhilarating!

Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy+Jalsaghar+Charulata are the high watermark of Indian cinema. These films have all the qualities you have mentioned above. Our best film makers like Goutam Ghose, Ritwick Ghatak, Shahji Karun, Girish Kasaravalli and Shyam Benegal can evoke equally epiphanic and exhilarating moments. But Satyajit Ray and Adoor Gopalakrishnan are perhaps the Indian directors whose best films will endure as classics of world cinema along with the major films of masters like Bresson, Fellini, Antonioni, Bunuel, Tarkovsky, Eisenstein, Bergman, Fassbinder, Kusturica, Truffaut, Resnais, Godard, Dreyer, Imamura, Kurosawa and Ozu.

Everybody has a film which they feel is the best that they have ever seen. The best film I have ever seen ( and I believe it is the best film ever made ) is Andrei Rublev by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Amazon.com: Andrei Rublev (The Criterion Collection): Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolay Grinko, Nikolai Sergeyev, Irma Raush, Nikolay Burlyaev, Yuriy Nazarov, Yuri Nikulin, Rolan Bykov, Nikolai Grabbe, Mikhail Kononov, Stepan Krylov, Vadim Y

Tarkovsky reviews Andrei Rublev - YouTube

 

[ajay124]

A few "not to be missed at any cost" films!

The BRD Trilogy: The Marriage Of Maria Braun, Lola and Veronica Voss+The Bitter Tears Of Petra von Kant+Fear Eats The Soul by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

L'Avventura+La Notte+Eclipse+Blow Up+Passenger by Michelangelo Antonioni

The Ballad Of Narayama+Black Rain by Shohei Imamura

Tokyo Story+The End Of Summer by Yasujiro Ozu

Ran+Roshomon+Throne Of Blood+Dersu Uzala+Ikiru+Seven Samurai+Kagemusha by Akira Kurosawa

Underground+Black Cat White Cat+When Father Was Away On Business+Time Of The Gypsies+Life Is A Miracle by Emir Kusturica

Hiroshima Mon Amour+Night And Day+Last Year At Mareinbad by Alain Resnais

Diary Of A Country Priest+Pickpocket by Robert Bresson

Viridiana+The Dairy Of A Chambermaid+L'Age d'Or by Luis Bunuel

La Dolce Vita+8 1/2+La Strada by Federico Fellini

Battleship Potemkin+Ivan The Terrible+Alexander Nevsky by Sergei Eisenstein

Breathless+Alphaville by Jean Luc Godard

400 Blows+Jules and Jim+The Last Metro+Fahrenheit 451 by Francois Truffaut

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc+Day Of Wrath by Carl Thedor Dreyer

Metropolis/Fritz Lang

Decalogue+Red+White+Blue+Double Life Of Veronique by Krzysztof Keislowski

The Round Up/The Red And White by Miklos Jancso

Szindbad/Zoltan Huszaryk

Ashes And Diamonds+ Man Of Iron+Danton by Andrzej Wajda

Mephisto+Taking Sides+Being Julia by Istvan Szabo

Farewell My Concubine by Chen Kaige

Chungking Express+In The Mood For Love by Wong Kar Wai

Taste Of Cherry+Through The Olive Tree by Abbas Kiarostami

Breaking The Waves+Dancer In The Dark+Melancholia by Lars Von Trier

The Piano Teacher+Code Unknown+Cache+The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke

Damnation+Satantango+Werckmeister Harmonies by Bela Tarr

Wild Strawberries+The Seventh Seal+Through A Glass Darkly+Winterlight+Cries And Whispers+Persona+Autumn Sonata+Fanny And Alexander by Ingmar Bergman

All the films by Andrei Tarkovsky.

 

[esanthosh]

Finally, I've gotten around to Tarkovsky.

With Andrei Rublev, I tried to watch the movie with all my thoughts filled in. I didn't "get" it until half way into the movie (In a movie about a painter, he is not even shown painting? What is this movie about? What is "The Raid" doing here? etc., etc.,)

With Solayris, I took constant breaks, tried to make sense of it and in the end, couldn't make sense of everything.

With Stalker, I sat there with an empty mind without any expectations. I put myself in the position of the camera and just watched it unfold. At the end of the movie, I still won't say I understood all of it. But there's a sense of calmness that I don't experience often. Coming off any movie, I have my thoughts filled to the brim. Today, I am not eager to read other's interpretations, I am not even thinking about my own interpretation.

Just another opinion in a sea of opinions - I've read some of the posts on IMDB boards of Tarkovsky's movies. There's seems to be a constant battle on whether his films are 'pretentious & boring' or 'works of art'. There's also this constant effort to pigeonhole the intellectual capability of those who "get" it and those who don't. I really do not think it is based on intellectual capability or having appreciation for art films, because most people tend to like other movies generally considered as 'art films' or even somewhat understand Tarkovsky, but still find his movies boring and pointless. I do not count myself among either group - intellectuals or the art movie lovers. But, I think the key may be the will to 'surrender and just watch' that separates people who like Tarkovsky and those who do not. Otherwise, they may be just a series of long, "boring" but often beautiful shots where nothing ever happens.

 

[ajay124]

"the goal of all art unless of course it is aimed at the "consumer", like a saleable commodity is to explain to the artist himself and to those around him what man lives for, what is the meaning of his existence. To explain to people the reason for their appearance on this planet; or if not to explain, at least to pose the question" - Sculpting In Time by Andrei Tarkovsky

Sculpting in Time: The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky

Long Pauses: Sculpting in Time (1987)

 

[longshanks]

Koyaanisqatsi - Godfrey Reggio
Koyaanisqatsi (1982) - IMDb
Koyaanisqatsi - Trailer HD - YouTube

 

[ajay124]

An interesting and revealing 20 minutes about cinema, theatre, actors and the audience:

naseeruddin shah at IITKgp - YouTube

I have always admired Naseeruddin Shah as an actor. But I admire him even more as a sensitive, intelligent and forthright human being.

 

[ajay124]

For those who are sick of the insipid fare dished out by Hollywood/Bollywood ad-infinitum:

It's showtime folks!

I received this mail from Osian yesterday:

The 12th Osian's-Cinefan Festival of Indian, Asian & Arab Cinema in collaboration with the Government of NCT of Delhi will take place from 27th July to 5th August 2012 at Siri Fort Complex. With over a 200 Films, Exhibitions from the Osian's Archive, and Interaction with Film Dignitaries from around the world; Osian's-Cinefan promises to provide a memorable experience for all film lovers. The Festival is free and open to all however, as per government regulations Registration is mandatory. To avoid queues at the festival, you could pre-register online and collect your Accreditation Card as per the details given in the link.

12th Osian's-Cinefan Festival of Indian, Asian and Arab Cinema: Home

* I would appreciate if Delhi-ites can post information about affordable guest houses in the vicinity of Sirifort Auditorium. Personally I would like to be present at Sirifort everyday from 8 am till the last show ends. Therefore I will be looking for a boarding place which requires the least possible commuting time.

 

[santu]

@ajay124





Poor fellow!How hard he tried to come to the level of the audience:the IITians who are supposed to be the specimen of the intelligent Indian youth.And lo and Behold!The cultural quotient of the audience was much below of what Mr Shah condescendingly expected.

BTW I have never been fascinated by the IITs.

 

[ajay124]

Watching films in a multiplex is a rarity for me. But last week it was my daughters birthday and she had extracted a promised that all her reasonable wishes for the day would be fulfilled. Immediately after breakfast she wanted to be taken to the North Pole to pay a visit to Santa Claus! I gently told her that this was definitely not a reasonable wish. Her next command was: Lets go and watch a movie! Since my wife absolutely refuses to watch a mainstream film, I am always the fall guy who has to accompany our daughter. The last few Hollywood films I endured for her sake were all mind numbingly boring. Therefore we opted to watch Ferrari Ki Sawaari on her birthday. FKS turned out to be an enjoyable film with a good performance by Boman Irani.

Today I went solo to watch Naseeruddin Shah in Maximum. The promos on You Tube looked interesting and the terrible reviews in mainstream newspapers bolstered my confidence that Maximum would turn out to be a nice film! And indeed it was. Taut and credible direction by Kabeer Kaushik, restrained acting by Sonu Sood, engrossing, minimalistic narrative and a flawless performance by Naseer. His presence on the screen and his command over the craft of acting is impeccable. Like a good Cabernet Sauvignon from Bordeaux he is getting better with age. I don't know how many more films he is going to act in but I intend to watch all of them.

Now that I have got into the act I am planning to watch a few more Bollywood films. Gangs Of Wasseypur is next on the agenda! Hopefully this film will propel Manoj Bajpai into the limelight and launch his second innings in Bollywood. He did a great job in Satya, Aks and Road. Personally I feel that Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Irfan Khan, Raghuvir Yadav and Manoj Bajpai are hindi cinema's best 5 male actors. And Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Tabu, Deepti Naval and Seema Biswas are the best among the ladies.

* I began watching movies alone in cinema halls at the age of nine. I have a distant memory that the first film I watched alone was called Black Beard's Ghost. Hopefully my daughter will follow in my footsteps and I will no longer have to endure the torture of watching 3D animation film! The 1970's were happier times and nobody questioned a nine year old boy entering a movie hall alone. I knew all the ushers in Ritz, Regal and Rivoli - the three cinema halls in Simla which screened Hollywood films daily at 5.15pm. I wonder if they still allow small, unaccompanied kids to watch films alone? Probably not!

 

[santu]

We shouldn't force anything down the throat of our children.And even expecting them to do certain things in a certain way is a milder version of it.A heavy dose of Dostoevsky and Tarkovsky wouldn't make him/her anymore wiser than the absence of it.

 

[theredcommando]

The movie list is already too big, to add anything to it. But Majid Mjidi is definitely missing from the list.
Also, can we have a list of good and entertaining classics?

How about adding K K Menon to the bollywood best actors list? Irfan Khan and Manoj Bajpai are good, but both are not versatile IMHO.

 

[ajay124]

We shouldn't force anything down the throat of our children.And even expecting them to do certain things in a certain way is a milder version of it.A heavy dose of Dostoevsky and Tarkovsky wouldn't make him/her anymore wiser than the absence of it.

I think you may have misunderstood what I said. My comment about my daughter following in my footsteps was only in the context of watching cinema alone. I dislike most of the films that I watch with her. But I want her to experience cinema therefore I take her to the multiplex quite often. She turned 6 a few days ago and she already has a personal collection of nearly 100 DVD's and VCD's of Hollywood films. No torrents. All bought and paid for. I don't like Hollywood films now but I grew up on them. I am happy that she is watching these films. Not only children movies but plenty of clean grown up films. We don't have a television connection in the house so she watches a film everyday. Two on holidays.

I don't expect, or even want, my daughter to be like me. I have no interest in force feeding her Dostoevsky or Tarkovsky. She is a disobedient and rebellious child but I don't really mind. My message to her is: It's a boy's world. Boys get a lot of stuff gifted to them on a plattter. Girls have to fight for their share of the platter. Perhaps the most important thing that a little girl needs to learn is how to say No!

 

[longshanks]

It's a boy's world. !

Trust me, this about to change very soon or i should say these days in reality this is mostly not the case.