U, Me and Films is 2 Today!

Two years ago on this day, on 13th June 2011, after preparing myself for about a month, I finally summed up the courage to click on 'Publish' button for the very first post on this blog. I wrote in general about what do films mean to me? What’s their place in my life? And about what do I intend to do with this place? Looking back to it now, I feel embarrassed about whatever I wrote but happy to have done that and so much more. It is amazing to see how far I have come in these past two years and how much this blog has helped me to grow as a cinephile and in some ways, maybe even as a person.

Back then when I started it, I had no idea how long will I be doing it? I started it because I had some time to spare and wanted to do something related to films. After finding couple of blogs that concentrated on films, I immediately knew that is exactly what I wanted. But the problem was not having written anything ever before and if I am to do something, I wanted to it properly. I took some time to prepare, a month I talked about earlier, tried to write something and see if it's readable. After testing some posts on my roommates, I jumped in and have managed to stay afloat for the past two years. So, all things considered, it ain't that bad right?

Off course, none of this would have been possible without each and every one of you reading this post. People like you, who have read these posts or any of the posts in past two years, commented on them, interacted and encouraged me on this or other platforms like Twitter are the chief source of inspiration for me to continue writing all this time and I wish to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. Hopefully, this has been just as wonderful journey for you as it has been for me. (Don’t worry! Even if it sounds like a Goodbye speech, it isn’t. Unless something unforeseeable happens, I am not going anywhere in near future. :))

On this occasion, I have managed to revise my Top 100 list. You can see it here or on the menu bar above. I hadn't updated it since I published it first in March 2012, so there was a lot to update. I have 21 new films that I have seen since then added to the list and almost twice as many films that have gone either up or down from their previous position. I would have loved to find some space for the films like Chinatown(1974), The Maltese Falcon(1941) and Taxi Driver(1976) that have grown on me since the last time I made this list. They didn't make it, not because I don't like them enough but because I wanted to watch them once more before getting this list done and unfortunately, I could not find time for it. I wanted to update 'A Life in Movies' page as well as I am pretty sure my choices now will be drastically different. But once again, life intervened! I will try to update that as soon as possible though.

Thank you once again for your support and hopefully you will keep coming back for more. Let me know if you like the updated list in the comments. Cheers!!

Upstream Color

I don’t remember the first time became aware that there is a film called Primer(2004) but it definitely wasn’t a while ago. I still haven’t seen it myself but it is in my Netflix queue and from what I have heard, I am definitely excited to have a look. I am just waiting for the right time. Apparently it is not something you watch casually. Shane Carruth, Write, Director and Star of the film, made quite a reputation for himself from it. When he released his second film, Upstream Colour(2013) about a month ago, he once again got everyone talking about it. I don’t know if it was or will be playing in any theaters around me but last week it was made available on Netflix Instant. And instead of waiting for big screen release which may or may not happen any time soon and for Primer to watch first, I decided to give it a try.

You’ll have to bear with me in this because there will be a lot ‘I don’t understand exactly what happened but something like…’ since Upstream Colour is that kind of film. If you know anything about Shane Carruth, if you have seen Primer or have heard about it, you would have some idea about that. In the beginning, we see a man working on making something from the plants or specifically worms in the roots of the plants. It looks like he is making some kind of drink with the worms in it. We see two kids. One of them gives other one a drink that is filtered by a filter with a worm in it. When the other boy drinks it, he imitates every move first boy makes perfectly with his eyes closed. I made two assumptions here; first, this kid grows up to be the guy we saw earlier and second, that drink probably has some hallucinatory effects.

Next, we see this guy lurking around suspiciously trying to find someone. His eyes fall on a young woman Kris, as we know it later, alone, perfect victim for him. He dopes her with his potion and from that point onwards, she is like under his spell. This proves my second assumption and I had to be content with 1 of the two since there was no way to prove the former. She makes her do a lot of weird things but essentially takes her money and leaves her be. When she wakes up, she does not remember what happened to her. She loses her job because she just vanished without saying anything, all her savings are gone, even the house she leaves in isn’t hers anymore. Basically her life as she knew it isn’t what it was and she has no idea how.

One day she meets a young lawyer, Jeff played by Carruth himself, on train. Jeff takes a liking to her the very first time they meet and even though Kris in completely unresponsive initially, keeps coming after her for a while. She lets her defenses down eventually and two of them start spending a lot of time together. As we get to know him better, we realize that even Jeff has fair share of his own problems. Even though he does a good job of hiding it, he is just as broken inside as Kris is. Rest of the film is about fighting their demons and if possible, getting to a solution, to the closure. If you have read someone say that this is one movie that everyone should experience for themselves, they are absolutely right. For that reason, I want to say as little of the plot as I can but at the same I think that I can give you as much as possible of the plot and for the exact same reason you would still find many things of your own when you would sit down for it. If you think I have given a lot of plot details here, I assure you there is much more that happens on screen for you to see and more importantly, to feel.

I have been watching The Story of Film: An Odyssey(2011) on Netflix over the last week. I still haven’t finished it but I am almost done. If you have seen it, you would know that narrator Mark Cousins talks continuously about films that tried to work beyond the boundaries of the medium in it. I am sure that Mark Cousins would love this film because I think this is the farthest you can get from conventional cinema without rejecting the format completely; something he loves dearly. It uses hand-held camera which reflects a lot of movements and majority of the film is shot in close-up. It uses deep focus, weird camera angles, harsh lighting and very few dialogues. There is rather more emphasis on the various sounds you hear in the background than dialogue. In lot of places story moves forward without using any dialogues and when there are dialogues, they are usually delivered very flat and you don’t always see the person talking on 

screen.

At various points, there are sequences that you don’t understand exactly or don’t really get the point of. Like just after Jeff and Kris meet, we see both Jeff and Kris behaving like they are still under spell and at the same time their perpetrator is recording some of his weird sound bites or what I think of as Groundhog Day(1993) memorial sequence of some couple going over the same fight again and again. I don’t think that any of these sequences were necessary because quite frankly I have no idea what was it for except [SPOILER ALERT] telling us that there were others like Kris[SPOILER END]. But I just went with it hoping that it would pay off some time later because it looked intriguing and helped in making the film more mysterious, not that it needed any.

I still haven’t understood a lot of things about this movie, most importantly last 5 minutes of this movie. I don’t know what exactly was the perpetrator doing? Why was he doing whatever he was doing? I didn’t understand where the name of the movie comes from though I am guessing it has something to do with those flowers they find in the stream. But… but I am neither disappointed nor annoyed by the ambiguous ending (Can I call it ambiguous even if it’s just because I did not understand it?). I am rather intrigued by it which to me is a success of the film – not alienating your viewer. I would be willing to give it few more chances and see if I can get few things more next time.

Upstream Colour does not follow most of the conventions, neither does it spoon feeds the viewer about its mystery and it’s very open about it. If you have seen Primer, you know that you’ll have to see this film multiple times and even then you may not understand it completely and Carruth doesn’t try to sugar-coat that either. However despite everything, I still believe it is an experience worth sitting through. Just keep your patience, try to understand as much as you can and who knows? It just might pay off!

Rating(out of 5):

 

The Hours

More often than not, most film bloggers are obsessed with lists. We may have love-hate relationship with them but we cannot help ourselves getting obsessed with them. Like reviews, they are inherent part of this world. We not only make our own lists, we also follow the lists someone else makes for us – 1001 Movies list, Sight and Sound list, All the AFI lists or Academy Award winners list. I am no exception. I keep track of all the lists mentioned above. However there are two which I usually ignore, probably because I do not score well in either of them. First is Best Actor winning films in Oscar where I have seen exactly half of them right now, but the worst is Best Actress winning films where I am at about 36%. Today I got a chance to knock one more title off of this list and nudge a little forward with Stephen Daldry’s The Hours(2002).

The movie essentially tells us 3 different stories in 3 different timelines that are somehow connected to each other. First one is Virginia Woolf herself working on her novel “Mrs Dalloway” in England in 1923. She is fighting her own demons with schizophrenia and has been shipped out of London, into the quite of Richmond to help her clam down and work on her novel by her husband. However the buzz of London is exactly what he yearns for. Second storyline takes us to Los Angeles in 1951 where Laura Brown, a housewife, is reading the novel Virginia Woolf is writing in the first story. She seems to have a decent life – a loving husband, a kid. She is also pregnant with another but that is all just on the outside. Inside there is something that seems to drag her down incessantly. We see her fighting through this depression, trying to find some joy, some meaning in her life and fail every time.

Third storyline follows Clarissa Vaughn in 2001 New York City. She is preparing for a party in honour of her friend and ex-lover Richard who is going to be awarded some literary award later in the day but is dying of AIDS. Clarissa has been taking care of him through his illness and though she is in relationship with her girlfriend Sally for 10 years and Richard has had other relations as well, still thinks she might still be in love with Richard. The Hours follows all the three storylines simultaneously for a day in their lives, cutting across each other; the day all 3 ladies take a decision that will have some serious repercussions on the rest of their lives. All the three stories follow a remarkably similar structure to arrive at their eventual conclusion. All the stories have a visitor, a party of some sort, a kiss and a suicide that directs the course of each storyline.

This film has one of the best casts you can imagine. Just for a while, let us forget about the three central characters. There are a bunch of characters that appear for a very limited time - most of them just for one scene - and it is remarkable that every last one of them leaves their impression on you. I would’ve named some but there are far too many and I don’t want to do disservice to anyone by not including them. This is a heavy material that demands a lot out of the actors but it is hard to imagine any one of them could have done anything better. As for the three leads, any one of us will be hard pressed to find three more versatile, more talented actresses than Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep working in 2001. Technically, Kidman is the lead and other two are in supporting role but personally I don’t think structure of this film supports this claim. There are three stories with almost equal importance to all of them and each one of them is the lead in their own story. I am pretty sure that distinction was only for the awards purposes.

However I did have a clear favourite of three – Nicole Kidman. Moore and Streep are brilliant and as effortless as they are in every other role we have seen them play. But if I didn’t know it is Kidman playing that role, I never would’ve guessed. She completely vanished behind Virginia Woolf’s persona, her smugness and her demons. I imagine playing Streep’s role would be little more challenging since Clarissa Vaughn is a very normal person giving you very less to work on. Kidman had flashier role but subtleties of her performance even in most mundane moments impressed me more. I remember her being hugely touted to win the Oscar for Moulin Rouge!(2001) a year earlier. I don’t remember what her chances were this year because of the incredible line-up but given a choice I think, as much as I like the film and her Satine in it, I will choose her Oscar winning performance in this over Moulin Rouge!.

For a story that simultaneously goes through three different storylines in three different time periods, this isn’t Cloud Atlas(2012). It is an incredibly easy story to follow since, even though all the stories are connected to each other in some way or the other, they do not have any dependence on each other. There are obvious connections between the stories. The novel Woolf is writing in one story, Laura Brown is reading in her story. Mrs Dalloway’s first name in novel is Clarissa and we see Clarissa Vaughn essentially living that day in third. And Richard that Clarissa is giving this party for is Laura’s son. However what really connects all the stories together are the motifs like regret and loss and loneliness that the characters in them feel. As anyone would expect form the film that deals with such topics, The Hours is mostly depressing film. But I would like to think that the way we see all the three stories end, there is some kind of silver lining to each of them.

There are two other aspects of this film that I think deserve to be mentioned here. First, Editing. One of the major reasons why this movie works despite multiple storylines is in the editing. Just take a look at opening sequence where we see all three women waking up. In just about two minutes it sets up the whole movie beautifully. Another aspect is production design. There are not only three stories but three different times and three different locations as well. That would mean a lot of time and energy spent in getting the setting and costumes but we get every single detail just right. The Hours is a heavy movie that deals with heavy subjects. Based on the way various characters react at multiple points, I am also sure it is also possible to interpret in multiple ways. However way you want to look at this film, the three leads and their compelling storylines make it a worthy watch.

Rating(out of 5):

 

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

But blood for blood without remorse, I’ve takes at Oulart Hallow

And laid my true love’s clay-cold corpse, Where I full soon may follow

As ‘round her grave I wonder drear, Noon, night and morning early

With breaking Heart when e’er I hear, The wind that shakes the barley.

Very early in this film, we hear this Irish ballad, about a young rebel who sacrifices his relationship with his sweetheart for doing his duty towards his country, from which Loach borrowed the title of his movie. On 26^th of May when Blue is the Warmest Colour(2013) was declared Palme d’Or winner of 2013 Cannes film Festival, I naturally found myself going through the list of previous winners. One of the winners of the recent years that caught my attention was Ken Loach’s Irish war drama film The Wind That Shakes the Barley(2006) which takes us through last years of Irish war of Independence and then Civil war following it in the early ‘20s.

Story follows two brothers Damien O’Donovan and Teddy O’Donovan. When we see Damien, he is about to leave for London to join one of the most prestigious hospitals in London. As he is bidding goodbye to some of the folks from his village, he witnesses some British officers beating one of his friends, Micheail O’Sullivan, to death because he wouldn’t tell his name in English. The day he is to leave, he also watched beating the same officers beating the driver, his assistant and guard of the train he is about to board because they refuse to let them board. Even though initially reluctant, because of these two incidences Damien changes his mind and instead of going to London, joins the local branch of IRA which his brother Teddy commands.

After undergoing the basic training, their squad starts hitting the targets like the barracks of local Police or RIC in this case. Once in a while, they come across Auxiliaries i.e. former British soldiers deployed in Ireland and try to make as much damage as they can. However they always make sure never to shoot at any fellow Irishmen even when RIC, which is full of Irish people, are very cruel and brutish even towards Women and Children. As British face retaliation, they hit back with equal force. Both sides keep on attacking each other, shading whole lot of blood and losing many lives, until finally, higher authorities on both sides agree on the truce to stop all the bloodshed.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley does not only show their struggle with British in fighting the war of Independence. Good thing about it is while they are fighting this war it also focuses on the future implications of their fight like the direction in which they want Ireland to lead, if they eventually do succeed in getting the British out of their country. Two of the film’s best scenes are not when they are out in the fields fighting with their enemy but when they are trying to work on the course they want to take as Irish people free of any association with London, as free Republicans responsible for their own future.

One, when Teddy tries to protect a rich man convicted in the republican court for swindling poor people out of their money because that man provides money for buying their guns and ammunition. Second, when all the local members of their unit decide whether to accept the treaty offered to them or to keep fighting. Half the members of the party, including Damien, are of the opinion that whatever treaty is offering isn’t worth them being content off. Other half, which surprisingly includes Teddy and his deputy in their unit, zealously supports the decision of their superiors. Soon this rift goes on increasing dividing the whole country into two, including the two brothers, and results in the civil war.

While I was in school learning about the Indian Independence Struggle, we often came across various references to IRA and Irish was of Independence in general. Not only were both the fights were against the same enemy, they were going on at roughly the same time as well. This struggle served as a great source of inspiration especially to the faction of Indian revolutionaries leaning towards armed struggle. They always fascinated me ever since then and made me naturally sympathetic of them and of their cause. Movies like Hunger(2008) have only increased that appetite. This movie goes one step further in that history lesson.

To the best of my knowledge, it is a fictionalized story or at least the characters are. But it is based on actual events, on real circumstances. There were RICs fighting the war for British, there were Auxiliaries who were former British soldiers and they were deployed in Ireland to fight against the flying squads like Teddy’s and there was civil war that swiftly followed the treaty in Ireland. From what I understand Loach was criticized for getting some of the other finer details wrong. Neither am I expert to comment on their validity nor do I think that is important enough to dwell further on.

Only recognizable names to me from the whole cast were Cilian Murphy in the central role of Daniel and Liam Cunningham as their associate Dan who stays with Daniel even after civil war breaks out. Padraic Delaney who plays Teddy did seem familiar until I realized he played George Boleyn in The Tudors(2007) that I am currently going through on Instant. Rest of the cast, most notably Orla Fitzgerald, is unknown to me but leaves you with an impression. On various occasions, characters stutter or talk like their dialogues are improvised or seem confused as what to do next. But since they remain in the characters, it gives whole movie an impromptu but naturalistic favour. Given the amateur status of these soldiers, I think this is a welcome change.

With the help of brutal but sensible screenplay by Paul Laverty and by equally restrained directing what Loach does is he makes a great case for Irish people, their cause. Even though British are the enemy they are fighting, this movie refrains from portraying them in overtly villainous ways. It is about the Irish people and it stays about them. As I’ve credited it before, screenplay of this film remains to be one of the biggest assets of the film, even in portraying Daniel and Sinead’s love story. Their arc gives us little more human interest, something to distract from all the brutalities of war and also serves the purpose of making the end more brutal but it never takes over the main focus i.e. their cause. Regardless of the validity of some of the Loach’s claims, this makes The Wind That Shakes the Barley a worthy watch.

Rating(out of 5):