Recently
got to watch Jean-Pierre Melville’s debut movie ‘La Silence de la Mer’ (The
Silence of the Sea). Arguably one of the finely crafted movies I have
seen in recent times.
The
above scene from the movie does make me wonder if at all our global leaders do
learn anything from history. The irony of it all.
The concept of coming home
is one that has become a part of our lives in these times when we are at the
pinnacle of human migratory journeys. Wherever we move, for whatever reasons
that may be, there is always that place called home. The place we were born or
has a certain tie beyond rationale or emotions. We all have gone back to that
home every now and then, some people more often than others.
In the beautifully edited
and crafted documentary ‘Heima’, the band Sigur Ros has captured their home
coming in a special way that is true to the spirit of the band as well as Iceland - the country they call home. Visually stunning and hauntingly pulsating it is their special
ode to their homeland.
Meanwhile in her new video called ‘Wanderlust’ the other Icelandic crooner Bjork has her own journey of the very act of coming into this world. Not since her ‘Human Condition’ video have we seen anything of this magnitude.
Icelandic storytelling at
its best.
"Those Detroit relics, modified with loving care in someone’s garage or backyard, may waste gas and burn oil, but they seem to have an individuality — a soul — that the homogeneous new vehicles, with their G.P.S. and their cruise control, their computer chips and their air bags, can never hope to match."
[Via New York Times]
It was the 1972 movie 'The Harder They Come' directed by Perry Henzell, that introduced reggae to a global audience. It is also the first-ever Jamaican-produced feature film.
The movie also helped pave the way for the international break-through careers of Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff.
"With my sunglasses on I'm Jack Nicholson. Without them I'm fat and 60."
- Jack Nicholson
The legendary iconoclastic movie director Robert Altman passed away this monday the 20th of November. This picture of him itself is quite mesmerizing. It's a face that can reveal a hundred stories.
His biggest movie 'Nashville' came out the year I was born. That makes me quite old I guess. But fact of the matter is age is no bar to enjoy an Altman movie.
His New York Times obituary piece talks about how he was irritated by being referred to as a cult director. For me his take on cult itself reveals his iconoclastic brilliance: "What is cult? It just means not enough people to make a minority."
Here's three of my favorite Altman movie poster classics.
Finally got to see 'The Departed', Martin Scorsese's remake of the brilliant Honk Kong action flick 'Infernal Affairs'. It's watchable just for the fact that it has a freakin impressing ensemble cast - Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo Di Caprio, Alec Balwin, Martin Sheen. The story is a back to back copy of the original movie with a hardcore Boston working class Irish facelift.
Jack Nicholson's opening lines in the movie says: "You are a product of your environment. I like the environment to be a product of me." Mirroring that sentiment, my six word summary of the movie would be "It's a product of the original".
Caught 'The Prestige' this saturday. It's director Christopher and his writer brother Jonathan Nolan at their tricky noir best, after their Hollywood conundrum of 'Insomnia' and 'Batman Returns'. Plus the theme of magicians rivaling against each other in turn of the century England makes a new and refreshing storyline.
My six word summary of the movie would be what Michael Caine's character deplores in the movie:
"Obsession is a young man's game."