Cinema's greatest classics

The Jan Jakub Kolski films screened were
The Burial Of The Potatoes
Johnnie Waterman
A Miraculous Place
Happy Aphonya
The History Of The Cinema in The Village of Popielawy
Pornografia
Keep Away From My Window
Venice
I viewed the first three and came away with mixed feelings.The films shared common themes of farmers,christianity,miracles,loss of faith.Slow moving and restrained,full of folklore,symbols,metaphors and allegories.Not very easy viewing because of the slow pace,which only picked up towards the climax.The pay off comes in the form of scenes and frames of startling beauty.Almost like paintings by a nineteenth century master.Also the tremendous acting and screen presence of Franciszek Pieczka,the main protagonist in Burial and Johnnie Waterman.
 
i love yasujiro ozu because i think he truly created his own language for making his films! i have seen 70% films recommended by ajay124 and will be watching more. but i don't see him taking abbas kairostami's and wong kar wai's name! i think they r great directors "living" which are as great as french new wave pioneers like godard and italian neo realistic directors like roberto rossellini.
 
i love yasujiro ozu because i think he truly created his own language for making his films! i have seen 70% films recommended by ajay124 and will be watching more. but i don't see him taking abbas kairostami's and wong kar wai's name! i think they r great directors "living" which are as great as french new wave pioneers like godard and italian neo realistic directors like roberto rossellini.

I love the cinema of Abbas Kiarostami (especially Taste Of Cherry and Ten) and have mentioned them on page 4 of this thread.His latest film "Certified Copy" starring Juliet Binoche was screened at IFFI,but I missed it in favour of a nice film from Gaudalupe."Certified Copy" will be easy to find at a later date.
Wong Kar Wai is also very good."In the Mood For Love" is a wonderful film with great performances by Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung.The climax in the Angkor Wat is unforgettable!His other films like "Chungking Express","Fallen Angel" and "2046" are also nice.Even he has made a new film this year called The Grand Master,but I have not seen it.
Yasujiro Ozu's 'Tokyo Story" would be an automatic choice in my best 10 list.
 
yea kiarostamis "through olive trees" has the superb climax which i will never ever forget is my fav film! loved "ten" a lot too specially the kid.. u seen d film and u knw what i mean! its the most engaging film a real test for any actor in this world. even i am waiting for certified copy. cant wait :)

i am a film student and will always be one ill say it in kurosawa style : if u miss yasujiro ozu's film TOKYO STORY means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon! hehe this movie really has the ability to stimulate the mind and change life's. ajay124 just think how people in that theater hall wld have felt and reacted just after watching this film! there is a reason why tokyo story is called as a masterpiece of cinematic art! my other ozu's favorites are "an autumn afternoon, late spring and all of ozus films. hez master of his own creation. no one is like him.

wong kar wai is the best visual artist in cinema we have the way he directs and lights his scenes is purely out of this world without using any kind of special hollywood tools. his use of color pallet style in 'Chungking Express' gave a new style to the world cinema and everyone tries to do it even in hollywood & bollywood anuraag kashayp use it a lot u can check out "dev d" lighting style. i love that slow motion stairs scene in "in the mood for love" with a superb music piece. but my fav wong kar wai film wld be "happy together" its the best directed piece i have ever seen wong kar wai style its outstandinggggggggg ill watch it again on my new 50V20 :D soon. is grand master out on dvd? and good u reminded me i missed "fallen angles" will chk it out soon thanks :)
 
REVERSE (Poland 2009)
Directed by Borys Lankosz,this was the most engaging film I saw at IFFI this year.With a remarkable script and a cast of 3 superb actresses,this film could very well start a renaissance in Polish cinema.The best films in Poland were made in the 60's and 70's.Since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact Polish cinema has been hunting for a new direction.'Reverse' is one of their most 'polish-ed':) films from recent times.Shot in stunning black and white with occasional bursts of colour in the flash forward,it's a great debut for Lankosz.Hope he is able to live up to his instant 'cult' status in the years to come.The performance of Agata Buzek as the central protagonist is of the 'once viewed never forgotten' kind.She will find it hard to get another role,or deliver another performance quite like this one.
I will not reveal the riveting plot line of the film,as it would mar the pleasure of watching this film,but for anyone interested in watching a 'big' small film,this is the one to look for.
 
A SCREAMING MAN(Chad 2010)
If Agata Buzek in Reverse was the 'Best Actress' from the IFFI films I viewed, then Emil Abossolo was definitely the 'Best Actor'.His expressive face and graceful,ambling,athletic walk(of the ex-swimming champ he is portraying in the film)has you hooked from the word go.One of the things I noticed in several films at IFFI is that not every one knows how to tell a story.In the worst films the narration seemed to be moving at a snail's pace,the characters never acquired a distinct persona and after 20-30 minutes of turgid cinema,many in the audience were walking out,seeking better horizons in the other auditoriums at the Inox.Since there were multiple films running at the same time and admission was free,a film had to be really good to keep the audience hooked to their seats.
As the drama of "A Screaming Man" languidly unfolds against a backdrop of a civil war in Chad,it is clear that the director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun is a master story teller.By the time the stunningly beautiful climax fades into black,the audience has been transported to a distant land,one which is as familiar as our own,because the emotions and characters portrayed are universal and eternal.
"A Screaming Man" is a film for everyone,young and old,men and women,from every nation of the world.For those who seek meaningful cinema and for those seek entertainment.
 
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Antichrist 2009 shown at MAMI int film fest Mumbai. Charlotte won best actress at cannes this year for antichrist. lars von trier made this film to shook the audience its a highly graphic psychodrama! many hated it but this film is artist's personal work showing the harsh side of evil nature. this film had something truly different and unique i watched in a long time. talking about this film wont be right on HFV. this film is not for fainthearted and is not for someone below 18 many mistake it for a horror flick its not even a sadist film its a DRAMA but yea its highly disturbing film i have ever seen and i liked it! i dint really understood the end but i like what lars von trier wanted to say!

Press Notes: Antichrist - From the Current - The Criterion Collection
 
I was hoping that IFFI would showcase the recent films of Lars Von Trier and Michael Haneke,but somehow I knew that 'Antichrist' and 'The White Ribbon' would not be there.I view this as a failure of the IFFI management,in not being able to bring the latest and most talked about films to the festival.I would have liked to view the 'Antichrist' for it's directorial style and cinematography,although I am not sure if I would have finally approved of it's provocative content and graphic images.When it comes to sex and guilt and religion,the Scandinavians seem to be coming from an entirely different planet from the rest of the world.
Reading the plays of Henrik Ibsen,August Strindberg and watching the films of Ingmar Bergman and Carl Theodore Dreyer should be an essential part of one's education.
I'm sure that some members on the forum would be familiar with the major Bergman films,but they may not have experienced the cinema of Carl Dreyer.The Passion of Joan Of Arc (1928) is quite simply one of the greatest films ever made.I would compare it to the Taj Mahal,a wonder which can never be recreated again.Day Of Wrath,is another remarkable films about witch hunts in the 17th century.The setting of this film may be in the distant past but the the theme will always be contemporary.Witch hunts are a part and parcel of every culture,every nation,every age.Only the methodology and instruments of torture keep changing.The spreading of terror and hysteria,the herding of the masses by the rich and the powerful,the destruction of reputations and lives through insidious rumours and innuendoes....happens all the time.
 
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Here's what I thought of Antichrist -

(From my blog)

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Antichrist - This sexually graphic movie from Denmark has received mixed reviews polarizing views. The Danish critics have been mostly very positive while the general world reaction is mixed. The movie is sad, intense and has a few great scenes with brilliant imagery. I loved the way the film portrayed pain. However, mostly, the movie falls short. Fellow blogger Nathaniel Rogers sums it up nicely when he says - in the end this psycho-horror film felt like a 45 minute story that kept repeating itself as the director dragged his actors sadistically through their grotesque marks. The praise for the twin (lead) performances seems excessive. I will give it a 3/10.
 
antichrist been shot in digital its obvious looking at the motion of the playback. camera work is outstanding in some scenes actually the first scene itself including the set decoration! and a fabulous background score.

the white ribbon great performances but i did not find the movie so interesting like antichrist! i didn't understand what the director wanted to say or show.

ingmar bergman's the virgin spring and persona are the films which i really admired which i watched lately! 2 years back bergmans first film which i saw was wild strawberries i was new to this kind of cinema and i was just 18 and started my film carrier i didn't understand a thing but i watched the whole work which was unique in itself. will be watching it again soon! including the the seventh seal which i haven't watched yet :( cries and whispers was almost completely shot in indoor may be it was done purposely so he can save the beautiful outdoor location for the climax which was completely different from the rest of the scenes in the movie!


The Passion of Joan Of Arc (1928) is indeed the king of silent era the masterpiece of Carl Dreyer! the precisely composed and lighted close ups and medium close ups of the actress are something which always comes to mind whenever i think about the moVIE.

days of wrath thanks for reminding i have read a lot about the lighting aspects it in a film book have to catch it ASAP!
 
@trinitron
If you were 18 two years ago,then your knowledge and passion for off mainstream cinema is very impressive.Are you studying in some film school or is it a hobby?At your age I don't think I had seen any Bergman's.
I had been initiated into the early Benegal films and considered myself the biggest Naseer fan in the country.My adulation for Naseer lasted a long time,through all the nonsense he associated himself with,from Karma to Mohra and beyond.I understood that a man does not live by passion alone,bread too is important.But I sure wasted my money watching him play bit roles,while all those baby faced/wooden faced 'heroes':p hogged the limelight.
For me,the switch away from Hollywood began with Gore Vidal's hilarious satirical novel"Myra Breckinridge".Somehow I could never take the hunks from Hollywood seriously after that.My gradual loss of interest in Hollywood films,coincided with my move away from the bestselling fiction of Robert Ludlum,Frederick Forsyth,Wilbur Smith,Arthur Hailey,Leon Uris,Mario Puzo,Ayn Rand etc.I discovered the great authors of the world like Dostoevsky,Tolstoy,Flaubert,Stendhal,Kafka,Camus and Melville at the same time as I discovered Kurosawa,Ray,Ozu,Bergman,Fellini,Antonioni,Truffaut,Godard,Bresson,Resnais etc.Around the same time I started getting bored with Rock music and gradually shifted my focus to Jazz and Western Classical music.
As I lost interest in mainstream books,films and music,I also lost several childhood friends because we no longer shared common interests.
As the Neil Young song goes
So I got bored and left them there
They were just dead weight to me,
Better down the road
Without that load
 
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@trinitron
I also lost several childhood friends because we no longer shared common interests.
As the Neil Young song goes
So I got bored and left them there
They were just dead weight to me,
Better down the road
Without that load

Ajay,

I am yet to see most of the movies that you talk about and I don't know if I ever will. We do tend to keep actors, directors, singers,authors and such others on a very high pedestal and while there is nothing wrong with that, it does make me sad that you have lost childhood friends because they did not see eye to eye with something as irrelevant as movies and music when seen in a larger context.

As far as Niel's song goes, they are just that. Songs. I hope not many see them as ways to live lives.

On a lighter note, I do hope that you post some pictures of you enjoying Goan Delicacies at the festival !!! (Wine, um, Women and Food, hehe) :)

Regards,

Sunil
 
it does make me sad that you have lost childhood friends because they did not see eye to eye with something

ssf,

for many people (include me) life is a flux that attracts and repels -

i still have affection for all my friends through my innocence, adolescence, teens, adulthood, old-age - but (while i would profess affection) - i would not want to waste my extant life with any but one or two of them (and they could be people i met yesterday!)

yes, friendships and relationships should be the keystone of the bridge to your afterlife (either heaven or hell!) - but the flux rings the bell!:)
 
@trinitron
If you were 18 two years ago,then your knowledge and passion for off mainstream cinema is very impressive.Are you studying in some film school or is it a hobby?At your age I don't think I had seen any Bergman's.

thank you for the compliment ajay124 :) i did a small a 9 month course in a film school since then i don't believe in any film school in the world. judging someones art telling them to write scripts on Hollywoods master key 3 act structure formula telling how to direct this shot men this this angles means that is all bullshit for me i don't believe in all this! i march to my own drummer! ;) India don't really have films of their own i mean the way we make films we use a structure for writing a film its a formula to keep the audience engaged its called Hollywoods "3 act structure" its a formula which works most of the time! story's are different in film's of India and America but its been told in the same 'structure; way hence all this films fell the same hence the name Hollywood Bollywood. but that dosent mean i dont like watching indian and american films i love them but i think there is a reason why hollywood use such structures they make movies on a massive scale and they cant afford the losses afterall they invented film and America is a film capital of the world . after so much studies, thinking and watching one film per day made me realize one thing cinema is not about the story its about the "image" because images tell the story and for me if the image of the film is bad then the story is bad dosent matter how great its written! if u want to enjoy story's u should read a novel i worked for a hindi feature film last year as an assistant director it was an awesome cinematic experience i ever had in my life i jumped like a baby when i was called on dubbing and dolby digital mixing :) only camera our man was aware of films which we watch he told me about wong kar wai.

my other film friends who go to so called great film schools even they are not aware of such films they only know those dhoti kudta indian classics but some are really good tho. and my other friends they tease me with names Kurosawa is funny for them and they say what nascence u watch. lol so i only know ajay124 and madhur bhandarkars brother with whome i used to go for film festivals in mumbai. this thread is great :)
 
@ss(f),suri
I lost my childhood friends not because of petty arguments over books,music or cinema but because they were growing up in the 'normal' everyday world of Simla and Chandigarh,but I was growing up in the 'abnormal' 'other' world of Dostoevsky,Kafka,Ibsen and Camus.My mind was full of hastily consumed and undigested ideas from their books.I became a loner,shunning conversation and company.I was depressed most of the time.Euphoric some time.I drank too much,smoked too much.I lost my ambition,my grades crashed.I had never been much of a 'believer' but now I became a cynic.
I came to understand that the pursuit of knowledge and the pursuit of happiness do not go hand in hand.They are the two separate,mutually exclusive roads down which one can journey.You can choose one or the other.Most folks obviously choose happiness.Money,career,social status,friends,relatives,an easy to access GOD.'Comfortable' and 'shared' opinions formed by newspapers,television,mainstream books and films,godmen and guru's.
I chose a one line dictum inscribed on the temple of Delphi,attributed to many Greek philosophers but probably spoken by Socrates.I have tried to make it the cornerstone of my life.It is the only belief I have.
GNOTHI SEAUTON.KNOW THYSELF.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
One thing only I know,and that is that I know nothing
"Philosophy begins when one learns to doubt-particularly to doubt one's cherished beliefs,one's dogmas,one's axioms.Who knows how these cherished beliefs became certainties with us,and whether some secret wish did not furtively beget them,clothing desire in the dress of thought."
(Will Durant/The Story Of Philosophy)
 
Suri, Ajay,

As you very well know, I have little understanding of Heaven, Hell, God, Classical Cinema, Classical Books, Philosophers and their philosophies. Hence, I find it quite easy to make fun of them. :ohyeah:

You guys can kill me the day after tomorrow as on the morrow I have a Rum and Coke Date with a friend.

Ajay said:
I lost my childhood friends not because of petty arguments over books,music or cinema but because they were growing up in the 'normal' everyday world of Simla and Chandigarh,but I was growing up in the 'abnormal' 'other' world of Dostoevsky,Kafka,Ibsen and Camus.My mind was full of hastily consumed and undigested ideas from their books.I became a loner,shunning conversation and company.I was depressed most of the time.Euphoric some time.I drank too much,smoked too much.I lost my ambition,my grades crashed.I had never been much of a 'believer' but now I became a cynic.

That is a lot better. Or is it ? :p Imagine a situation where I, on Ajay's recommendation read Dostoevsky,Kafka,Ibsen and Camus and a week down the line, I start drinking too much, my grades crash, I shun company and conversation and my wife seeing all this starts thinking that I am having an affair to remember !!! hehe

Regards,

@ss
 
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Suri, Ajay,

As you very well know, I have little understanding of Heaven, Hell, God, Classical Cinema, Classical Books, Philosophers and their philosophies. Hence, I find it quite easy to make fun of them. :ohyeah:

You guys can kill me the day after tomorrow as on the morrow I have a Rum and Coke Date with a friend.



That is a lot better. Or is it ? :p Imagine a situation where I, on Ajay's recommendation read Dostoevsky,Kafka,Ibsen and Camus and a week down the line, I start drinking too much, my grades crash, I shun company and conversation and my wife seeing all this starts thinking that I am having an affair to remember !!!

Yes, most definitely, all the books and movies that Ajay recommends should come with a disclaimer ... hehe.

Ok you can bring out the shotguns now. :lol:

Regards,

@ss
@ss(f)
Yes,perhaps reading existentialist fiction and philosophy should come with a statutory warning.
"Beware,those who enter this forbidden land may suffer damage to their mental health".
'Mental Health' as viewed by the normal,sane citizens of our world:)
Knowledge does not come on a silver platter dressed with lettuce leaves,feta cheese and olive oil(or in the Indian context with kaju,kismis and kesar).It comes with a mendicant's bowl,bare feet,with a sturdy walking stick.
But reading classics is just one way of gaining knowledge.Experience,curiosity,keeping an open mind,travelling,meeting people,watching good cinema and theatre can all be roads to knowledge.For example,you say that you are not well versed in the classics,but reading your posts my impression is of a person with a substantial amount of intelligence,wisdom and common sense.Perhaps it's the rum and coke you seem to be very fond of(f) and the sessions with your friends which are responsible:)
 
Ajay,

I had edited the disclaimer part so as to not offend you (unintentionally of course) :p

Ajay said:
But reading classics is just one way of gaining knowledge. Experience, curiosity, keeping an open mind,travelling,meeting people,watching good cinema and theatre can all be roads to knowledge.

:)

Ajay said:
For example,you say that you are not well versed in the classics,but reading your posts my impression is of a person with a substantial amount of intelligence,wisdom and common sense. Perhaps it's the rum and coke you seem to be very fond of(f) and the sessions with your friends which are responsible.

You are too kind,Ajay. I have none of those. The humor could probably be attributed to the Rum and Coke :D

Regards,

@ss
 
FREEDOM(TUTTA COLPA DI GUIDA)(ITALY 2010)
Normally I don't like 'prison' movies and I groaned when this one began in one.But within 10-15 minutes I was hooked and the film just kept getting better and better.A lady director is hired to stage the 'Passion of Jesus Christ',by the prison priest.The lady is a non believer,who not only has to resolve her personal scepticism about 'God',but also has problems convincing any of the prisoners to play Judas.The film builds up very nicely with the priest emphasising that 'salvation' and 'freedom' comes from belief in God and the director's personal conviction that salvation and freedom comes from theatre and the arts.
Directed by Davide Ferrario,this was number 3 on my IFFI list.
 
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