Movies, Movies and More Movies

Last weekend Bay Area had two film festivals. 1. Latino Film Festival in Redwood City and 2. South Asian Film Festival in San Francisco. Close to 80% of the audience for Latino Film Festival were Latinos. At South Asian Film Festival not even 50% were South Asian. I think this is really sad.

I ended up watching 1 film at Latino Film Festival and 4 at South Asian. Here are my opinions about the movies I saw.

The Violin - Mexican-Spanish
I was attracted first by the name and next by plot. The movie is not about Music. It about rebels, ruthless soldiers and a father who wants to help his son. It is a well made dark film. Photography is amazing.

Loins of Punjab Presents- Indian American - English
Weird name. I went to watch the film as I had to go to the city for my finger printing. As usual I got a parking ticket at that parking lot. When I bought the ticket I saw a huge line that extended a block and half. The movie is about a singing contest in New Jersy. It was a laugh riot. Dont expect anything from the movie and it is politically incorrect humor. I had a stomach ache after watching the film.

Unni-Indian-Malayalam
I love Malayalam movies. They introduced the movie as being a Pather Panchali. It is about a child and his relationship with friends. It is a not a Pather Panchali. Pather Panchali is like a song. This movie is not. The movie doesnt have much of a story line. It made me relive some of my childhood memories in Hyderabad.

Sankara-Srilankan-Sinhalese
This is my second Srilankan film. It is about a Buddhist monk and his temptations. The movie is strictly for art film aficionados. The film is sheer poetry and beautiful. Photography, acting and direction were fantastic. I wished they did not describe certain things in the end though.

Kya Tum Ho-Indian-Hindi
I was debating whether I should watch this movie or not. They called this movie neo noir film.It's about 3 people whose paths are interwoven. I was expecting the film to be a very dark film. But it was not. I felt the movie was very average. I could not understand what my dissatisfaction about the film was.

So last weekend was all movies, movies and more movies.

Movies, Previews & Reviews

Previews are expected to give to an impression of what movie is all about. I watch a preview and think that I am going to watch a drama and the movie ends up being a mushy romantic film or a senseless action thriller. Latest in that list is 'The Kingdom'.

Watching the previews I thought that this is some film like Syriana. I liked Syriana. Infact the film opens with history of friendship between Saudi Arabia and US. A suicide bomber attacks an oil company picnic. After that it is a regular Hollywood action thriller.

If it is not a serious film and does not want to talk about politics, why do they give an impression that it is a political film? They are probably turning off the regular action movie watchers. Ofcourse you could ask me why the hell I haven't checked out the reviews. My reply "Oh yeah! Do they mean anything?" King Kong got rave reviews, but the movie royally sucked.

Now my point, don't rely on previews or reviews. Have a friend who watches every film that releases, and ask them the story and make your decision. :-).

Ghatak - Broken Dreams??????

Ritwik Ghatak made 8 feature films. None of them were hits. Heck! Not many people have even heard of him. Is he a failure?

A film is a form of artistic expression. If you have any doubts, watch Ghatak's films. His protogonists go through a lot of toughtimes in their life. Most of the times are failures. I usually dislike that kind of films. But not in Ghatak's. His movies seem like reflection of his soul. He wanted to all his anguish in them.

I was watching Subarnarekha lastnight. In that you see 2 characters who love to cry(That's a crude way of putting it. One likes to sing sad songs/raagas and the other writes sad stories). Another character asks the girl why she sings sad songs all the time. She replies that's what she sees around her all the time. That's what ghatak has seen. He wanted you to see it.

Now coming to the question whether he's a failure. You may say he is. He was an alcoholic and died at 51. Made 8 films none were hits. But hey, his films are a relection of his soul. How many artists can really do that? Now he's considered by many as one of the best film makers from India. His dreams probably were broken, but his work will live on forever. Thanks to British Film Institute trying to restore them.