We are tonight’s entertainment !!

This year’s award season was quite a wild ride ranging from Everything Everywhere at all once to  Quiet Along the Western Front.  Among these Aftersun got into limelight. Charlotte Wells’s debut movie starring Paul Mescal got quickly into the names and after watching it I clearly see why this got so much acclaim. Even at times I feel it deserves more recognition considering the impact the whole cinema does. Aftersun is a slice of life story about a holiday trip of Calum (Paul Mescal) spending time with his daughter Sophie ( Frankie Corio) in Turkey of whose moments are recorded in MiniDV Camera by Sophie at times. The film traverses along all various topics of discussions between dad and his daughter. Calum is separated from Sophie’s mother and he is going through a financial crisis in his life. This is depicted in various ways throughout the film and also even Sophie realizes this at times. In the beginning, when they both go to Scuba diving, Sophie loses the mask and Calum i...

Movie : Hummingbirds. Director :  Silvia Del Carmen Costaños,  Estefanía "Beba" Contreras. Cast : Silvia Del Carmen Costaños ,  Estefanía "Beba" Contreras. Year : 2023. My experience in documentary is quite minimal. I have watched some of them but you do not think of watching any of them usually. In my tour of Berlinale which I and my friend were browsing through the list to spend our evening, we come across this documentary called "Hummingbirds". The only thing that strike my eyes was a documentary issuing present day conflicts in USA. In my mind, I had no expectations of what to expect from such an indie documentary. Turns out after we both left the movie, we were both were very overwhelmed (I was in tears for a while) and enjoyed it a lot more than we expected. No wonder this documentary bagged the award for "Grand Prix International Jury "at Berlinale 23.  Directed by Silvia Del Carmen Costaños and Estefanía "Beba" Contreras (who al...

 Movie : Manodrome. Year of release: World Premiere in 73rd Berlinale 2023. Director : John Trengove. Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody.  We are living in a world where a lot of toxicity exists and it has become a big debate in the recent years . A lot of toxic masculine people nowadays are raising voices and with the advent of social media influencing a lot of teenagers on making them stand up and be relentless on their mannerisms and values. A fairly recent example is the boxer turned influencer Andrew Tate and the whole incident surrounding him. Mandorome is a movie which is exactly portrays this current state of mind and shows what drastic consequences this leads in and around the person's life. The movie makes this issue more clearer involving cult ideas, men hitting gym to be in their most muscular shape and the sexual dominance. This movie is the first movie I managed to watch in 73rd Berlinale among thousands of people in the amazing Verti Music Hall. The intense ton...

 Martin Scorsese is always known for his contribution in the era of Gangster thriller oriented movies. This includes movies like Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Gangs of New York, Irishman to name a few. Silence on the other hand is a very religious movies quite different from what he is known of. Adding to Kundum and Last Temptation of Christ, this third religious movie by him is quite an intense take on the suppression of Christianity during 17th Century Japan. It is a great movie which sadly was a commercial flop in the movie industry mainly because of its take on religion which is still quite a topic not fully appreciated by the audience. Setup in the 17th  Century, Silence revolves around the journey of two Jesuit priests Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garupe (Adam Driver) in searching for their teacher Ferreira (Liam Neeson) who claims to have renounced their faith on Christianity in Japan. With the help of a Japanese person Kichijiro, they both reach Japan and witness the h...

 I got interested into the realm of superhero movies in depth when the Marvel movies really tried to make a business in the cinema industry. Especially, movies like  Captain America : Civil War and the others where the ones I got caught with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even these movies have dramas and made mostly in big scale for commercial success, the underlying idea of superheroes dating from comics and connecting all the movies to have an epic finale against a big villain intrigues me. Feige with his vision of Iron Man had made this possible with his 10 year conclusion of Infinity Saga of all the superheroes fighting the mad Titan Thanos. Fans were questioning at that time what is the next saga going to be and who is going to replace that gravitas what Thanos had. The Marvel Disney+ TV series Loki, finally gave us the clue of this introducing a Multiversal variant of the titular villain : Kang the Conqueror. This created a lot of hype in the Marvel fan base and made us...

In 2022, I came across a plethora of films : action, comedy, drama, romance. thriller. When the trailer of Bardo arrived, the genre of this movie seemed very different than the movies I watched in 2022. The artistic weird images in the trailer hyped me when the movie arrives in Netflix. I finally managed to watch this masterpiece developed by the man behind Birdman and The Revenant. This movie made me fall in love with magical realism and surrealism again. The movie revolves around Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho), a Mexican journalist who turned into documentary filmmaker who is about to recieve an American award for journalism. It is a movie which dives into the trauma of Silverio's life inspite of all his fame and having a lavish lifestyle.   As being a journalist, it also explores the Mexican American conflict (especially the battle at Chapultpec castle in 1847), the formation of Mainland Mexico by Hernán Cortés  and many others. The movie manages to capture ...

  It has been quite some time that I have watched a biographical musical. The last time was Bohemian Rhapsody in theaters in 2019.  Being a Queen fan, I did enjoy the movie and portrayal of Rami Malek. But surprisingly the movie did not echo with me so much and I remember only bits of the movie. At that time, I did hear about Rocketman but did not manage to watch it. After watching this, I have one thing to say at first- "Boy oh boy, I did a huge mistake of not watching it in theaters". This movies deserves to be added in Blu ray collection of movies.    Not much of a listener of Elton John's music (sadly), I went with this movie with nothing to expect. The movie briefly about the life of Reginald Dwight a.k.a Elton John (played by Taron Egerton) from his childhood and gives you glimpses of ups and downs of his career into the world of soft rock and takes you behind the scenes of his glory days. Dexter Fletcher's way of portraying this story as an epic musical r...

It is always difficult to make a true incident look cinematic and make it edgy enough to keep the audience entertained. Good acting and tight script are not much in the hands of director if they want to follow the footsteps of true events. Films like Zodiac even though being long, it keeps it on your seats. "The Good Nurse" falls into that genre. It really isn't the type of movie one really expects. It takes it time to build up the suspense and makes you feel very uncomfortable in the middle of the movie and in the end it does not give you a very satisfying ending and shall keep you confused. It shall make you more interesting on what the hell actually happened in reality.  The director Tobias Lindholm (known for "War" and directing some episodes of Mindhunter) brings that cinematic documentary-ish vibes from the beginning movie. The movie revolves around Amy (Jessica Chastain): a nurse working in Parkfield hospital and trying to make mends for her health issues...

After "Three Billboards of Ebbing Missouri", Martin McDonagh comes back with the In Bruges' Duo Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson who are playing two best friends who stop hanging out and the aftermath of their breakup of this friendship. Having not watched too much of Irish movies, the strong Irish accent set in the town of Inisherin during 1923 did take a toll on me and was quite an adventure to watch it. The story revolves around a specific group of people in the village of Inisherin and starts with a dispute when Colm (Brendan Gleeson) stops talking to his best friend Padraic (Colin Farrell). As of the small town and people mostly knowing everybody, many members of village seem to be concerned on this which includes Padraic's sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) , Dominic (Barry Keoghan) and some other people.  Even the story starts with a spat with a friendship, it subtly hints at perspectives and goals in life to different people. The scenes do make you laugh at somebo...

Edgar Allan Poe and Franz Kafka haven been major influences in my life. Their poems, stories. novels have been a great thrill to me.  Whenever something shows up related to either of them, I am highly tempted to check on it. The Pale Blue Eye is a movie adaptation of a book which involves two characters: Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) and the cadet turned poet Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling) investigating a gruesome murder which occurs in the American Military Academy during 1830s. The movie overall has a different taste to usual detective stories in this genre but still lacks a powerful ending. Scott Cooper's vision to keep the movie in a gloomy phase, using typical gothic horror related imageries, for example showing the Raven at times, and the ghastly murders are typical inspirations one takes from Poe's vision. The story plot reminds me a lot of Tell-Tale Heart mixed with anecdotes of Raven here and there . I am not aware of the actual plot of the book but despite a gritt...

 Throughout the years since I started loving the art of cinema, I have encountered various art forms visioned by various directors. It is safe to say that  Mulholland Drive has made me fall in love and insanely connected to the man behind the curtain : David Lynch. As David turns 77, reviewing one of his classics is a small gift from me to him of how much impact he has done in my life from cinematic, artistic and philosophical point of view. It is insanely hard to describe the emotions and meanings of any of his movies by words, but I will my try best having watched this movie 6 times so far.  Mulholland Drive is one of Lynch's movies which according to me is a nice introduction to Lynch's contribution. If you like this movie, you are good to go to watch his other ones starting from Blue Velvet to Inland Empire. The beauty of his movies is that there are millions of interpretations of what he is trying to say.  He has this unique way of producing a feeling via amazin...

 The year of 2023 has fortunately started with watching the anticipated movie "Babylon" directed by the critically acclaimed director Damien Chazelle. I finally managed to watch it with a couple of my friends and it was quite an experience.  Unlike 2022 where some of the movies did not really lived according to my expectations, Babylon has delivered more than I expected. The 3 hour long fiasco created by Damien has inspirations from many movies with his unique touch. The main characters played by Diego Calva, Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt did paint the evolution of sound in cinemas during 1930's and the madness behind the scenes as Chazelle wanted. First of all, kudos to Justin Hurwitz and the whole team for making such amazing background music that keeps you elevated and enhanced the scenes in correct form. The jazzy vibes echoes undoubtedly with Chazelle's Whiplash. If you are a lover of such music, you will be tempted to listen to the score in loop.  The whole vibe of e...

It has been a very long time that I have seen a Bengali movie in a big screen and "Aparajito"(the Undefeated) is  such a movie that will touch every cinephile who is familiar with the legendary Satyajit Ray.  It is one of those rare experiences where tears are meant to make you feel proud.  Anik Dutta with the whole cast and crew has nailed the coffin and made us revisit the concept of neorealism which is sadly still not relevant in the Indian celluloid. Like David Fincher's Mank which revolves around the making of Citizen Kane, Aparajito revolves around the making of Pather Padabali (the Ballad of the Road)  by director Aparajito Ray (Jeetu Kamal).  Being heavily inspired from the incidents of the Satyajit's Ray road to making "Pather Panchali" (Song of the Little Road, first film of the series of "The Apu Trilogy") , it meticulously follows Aparajito's struggles and his journey of changing the cinematic culture of India in 60's and 70...

 Prisoners was the second movie that I watched of Villeneuve after "Incendies". I remembered enjoying it but have almost forgotten the plot as it was a long time ago. Last week, I with a couple of friends of mine plan to watch this thriller again.  Prisoners is an intense movie which keeps you at the edge of your seats till the end.  To start with story telling, it captures your attention right from the beginning. It has a monotonous dark tone in the beginning although the scenes are more of a happy tone which makes you anxious to the main crux of the movie. The cinematic style of wide angle shots which is a classic trick of Villeneuve is already visible in this movie. Villeneuve does a fantastic job in adding symbolism at the appropriate points of the movie. In one shot, the character of Hugh Jackman  (spoiler warning !!) comes in the driveway after interrogating "Alex" and the shadow of the red headlights create an image of blood trail behind symbolizing the crime...

  Being a huge fan of Brünel since I came across Un Chien Andalou, I was excited to have a chance to watch the movie : Brünel in the Labyrinth of Turtles at a theater in my city, Essen in Germany. Based on the journey of his making of the documentary Las Hurdes, this animated movie is a masterpiece in each and every aspect of what a cinema should be. It made me deeply think about myself for quite sometime on my way back to home. First of all the story is amazing in its own right. The juxtaposition of the then scenario of Spain with surrealism and witty humour is a perfect blend to keep you engaged with the cinema. The animation is astonishing with great visuals of dream sequences. The mixture of actual version of the movie Las Hurdes with the animation just makes you a part of his whole journey of how he made this film. The music is fantastic in its own right and has perfect tones at various emotional stages of the movie. All together, a complete mixture of all emotions with deep ...

 On 11th November, 2019, I was really lucky to watch the amazing documentary titled "Marianne and Leonard : Words of Love". As you might have already guessed, it is about the love story of the great Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne. As a fan of this person since a couple of years, this documentary enlightened me more about the brilliant aspects and more specifically the darker aspects of this person. Starting from his journey at Hydra at 60's ( a mesmerizing place in Greece) to his recent concerts in 2010 after he left the monastery, the film showcases all the different emotions and hardships this person has gone through. Filled with interviews of people close to him, the documentary grinds you down to reality and how various circumstances make even the beautiful stories bitter. At the end, it made me cry like a river. Do watch this if you are able to find it online or in nearby cinemas. This person's journey is a hell of a movie with rollercoaster emotions in i...

 My first introduction to Villeneuve was Incendies which made me an instant fanboy of his work. A gripping dramatic storyline with intense violence. Since then most of his movies have been a treat to watch which includes The Enemy, Prisoners, Sicario, The Arrival and Blade Runner 2049. His treatment of the screen canvas and huge landscape oriented shots mixed with perfect CGI is a delight to watch in the big screen. The Dune delivers all of such effects along with the intense sci-fi political oriented story.  I must say I have not read the book. My sole idea was based on David Lynch's 1984 Dune which was an adaptation of the novel.  I consider it one of the works where Lynch was in a bit of haste.  I liked it but it symbolized that there are a lot of details he has skipped which makes the story less comprehensible. As of the huge size of the novel, Villeneuve splits this into two movies.  This is the Part I of the book(60% story of Lynch's move).  Villeneuv...

There are films which make you speechless for quite sometime and it takes some time for it to digest in your mind.  The Father is one of such movies that struck in my mind deeply. The very realistic description of an old person suffering Alzheimer and it effects in the family is touching and heartbreaking at many instances.  On the top of this cake of emotions, the acting of Anthony Hopkins just took it to another level. Having experienced old people suffering Alzheimer and its consequences, this movie shows the intense pain, suffering, lack of trust from the point of view of the patient. Zeller's theatrical setup inspired from his play suited well with the story. Ludovico Einaudi's score emphases all the emotions at the correct times. The storytelling is quite unique and it keeps you edge on the seats other than making you feel heartbroken. I especially loved the decoration of the apartments which seemed maze as seen from the perspective of the patient.  It is hard to de...

Filmstudio Gleuckauf in Essen never ceases to amaze me with their fantastic choice of cinema. This weekend I watched  a documentary film "Aware-Journey into Consciousness". It is one of the rare documentaries which makes you contemplate about life after you leave the theater.  As a believer in Freudian school of psychology and Transcendental meditation (inspired from David Lynch), this documentary just amped up those ideas and gives a clearer picture of scientific and spiritual understanding of the deeper trenches of mind in living beings.  To be said in short, the documentary gives the vague idea on the question of the origin of consciousness via neuroscience and its interpretation in other religions (especially Buddhism).  The notion of consciousness is unclear not only in the level of homo sapiens, but also in the level of animals and plants.  One of the scientists featured in the documentary experiments on the notion of consciousness of plants.  The mos...

 Todd Phillips's Joker is one of the rare movies where even though the title seems to be comic book inspired, the movie is more realistic than one imagines.  I recently watched this again and it made me realize the beautiful intricate details Todd has included.  It was surprise switch from Todd considering his comedic Hangover series.  Being highly inspired from Scorsese's "King of Comedy", the story revolves around the character Arthur Fleck (played by none other than Joaquin Phoenix) who is sick of the society that we live in and undergoes a drastic psychological transformation that makes him into a maniac. The story is based on the DC's comic city Gotham which is inspired from 80's New York where crime was rampant.  Robert De Niro's short powerful role is an allude to King of Comedy with roles replaced where Arthur is judged by the people around him. The setup of Arthur Fleck's apartment is precisely done which somehow is a big replica of the final ...