Burning is dark, ambiguous and a layered creation with Faulkner’s rage and struggles coupled with the strange, unspoken mysteries of Murakami. Haruki Murakami’s narratives are not the easiest ones to adapt into films. Often his fictions would have a very relaxed pace, with details of everyday life such as cooking and choice of music that ...
From Stroszek (1977) to Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), here are the finest Werner Herzog movies. Our ambitions are the seeds of new possibilities and our dreams are the tools that keep us awake and going. Without these two indispensable elements, humanity would not have been able to surpass its limits. All curiosity would have been for ...
In the age of binge-watching, it is important to sort out the films genuinely worth your time from the clutter. We have attempted to draw up a list of large and smaller films, from this year, that left us with the whole gamut of emotions. It’s a mix of delightful superhero flicks, earnest small-budget dramas, ...
The animation genre is no longer dominated by few studios and, as you know, isn’t just for kids. Also, 2018 has witnessed more diverse range of animation subjects and styles than ever before. Whether you are an art-house afficionado or looking for popcorn entertainment, there are a variety of animated offerings. Here are the 10 best ...
From The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) to The Devil’s Backbone (2001), these are the 50 best horror movies of all time. No other genre in cinema can best represent the strong impact of moving images like horror. Horror films can strangely disconnect us from the horrors of our life. And at times satiate our quench for adrenaline. I ...
Considered to be the birthplace of cinema as well as documentaries, France holds a certain respect when it comes to the production and viewing of films. French films are appreciated around the globe, making France one of the world’s largest exporters of film, second only to the United States. French cinema has rightfully achieved acclaim ...
When I first saw Russian filmmaker Dziga Vertov’s Man With a Movie Camera (1929), I was totally amused by the rhythm of the film. Just the way the images flowed one after the other. It was also the first time I realised that you can make a film which is an intense work of art, philosophy and ...
From Ghostwatch (1992) to Europa Report (2013), these are the best mockumentary horror movies of all time. A mockumentary is a fine tool to satirize societal absurdity and hypocrisy. Right from the early 1980s there’s been so much interest in these fake documentaries that it has become a separate genre. Peter Watkins’ disturbing 1965 drama War Game ...
Jia Zhangke’s 24 City is a modern elegy. Chronicling the life and times of generations of workers in the Chengdu district of Sichuan China through the gradual replacement of factory 420 by luxury apartment buildings, 24 Citytells the tale of an irreparable loss. The film lies in the grey area between a documentary and fiction. In ...
Korean filmmakers are good at fusing tension and humor to create a bigger impact, while not deviating much from the basic nature of the story. Director Kim Seong-hun in his thriller feature A Hard Day (2014) relied on humor to broaden the dramatic dimensions of the story. Now, with his recent disaster cinema Tunnel (2016), ...
Sometimes, an actor’s presence is powerful enough to unsettle viewers. The sunken eyes of Marcarena Gomez, who plays Montse in Esteban Roel and Juanfer Andres’ Shrew’s Nest (aka Musaranas, 2014) create that impact. Montse, a victim and victimizer is frail and fierce at the same time. She is mixture of Stephen King’s overly pious cringeworthy women ...
French/Turkish filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s poignant début Mustang, is about the socially mandated sexualization of women. It opens with a premonitory voice-over: “Everything changed in the blink of an eye. One minute we were quiet. The next we all danced.” Set in a small Turkish coastal village by the Black Sea, Mustang is narrated by a ...
Dipankar Sarkar
