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Sunday, October 14, 2007

46. Swedish maestro Ingmar Bergman's "Nattvardsgasterna" (Winter Light) (1963): Stunning cinema for some, dreary for others

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Winter Light is simply stunning cinema. Ingmar Bergman realized this was the film (with the arguable exception of Fanny and Al...
1 comment:
Wednesday, October 03, 2007

45. British director John Boorman's US film "Point Blank" (1967): Alienation at its best surfaces in a Hollywood action film

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The toast of the Cannes festival awards ceremonies on three occasions, director John Boorman has made films best forgotten and films that ...
2 comments:
Monday, August 27, 2007

44. Swedish maestro Ingmar Bergman's "Through a Glass Darkly" (1961): A truly remarkable, ageless film that makes you think

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This film's title is taken from the Bible: "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but...
3 comments:
Saturday, August 18, 2007

43. South African filmmaker Mark Dornford-May's "U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha" (2005): Different strokes of Bizet's opera 'Carmen,' and the best is....

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There are examples of cinema when music can provide fodder for thought. Great directors have always chosen music to communicate viewpoints,...
Wednesday, August 08, 2007

42. Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Trzy kolory: niebiesky" (Three colors: Blue/Trois couleurs: Bleu) (1993): Not merely an essay on grief

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A film on I Corinthians Chapter 13 , just as Kieslowski's Dekalog was based on The Ten Commandments of the Old Testament ! The later ...
1 comment:
Sunday, August 05, 2007

41. Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni's US film "Zabriskie Point" (1970): A film that lost its shine over the years

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When I saw the film for the first time in the early 1970s, I was in awe of this film. Visually, it was stunning and the events on campuses i...
1 comment:
Sunday, July 29, 2007

40. Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Dekalog, siedem (Decalogue 7)" (1989): Stealing as a metaphor

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The brilliant Polish director--whom I had the good fortune to meet in Bangalore at an International Film Festival in 1982--made a series o...
2 comments:
Saturday, July 14, 2007

39. US director Richard Brook's "Lord Jim" (1965): Conrad's treatise on fear, heroism, cowardice and death

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Imagine a movie where the hero turns into a coward and switches back to a hero. You begin to question your own yardsticks of what makes a he...
6 comments:
Monday, July 09, 2007

38. Spain's Alejandro Amenabar's "Mar Adentro" (The Sea Within) (2004): The depths to explore within the film and varied human relationships

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I have seen Whose life is it anyway? (1981) and now Mar adentro (2004). I loved both films while they unspooled their entertaining sexist ...
Saturday, June 30, 2007

37. Hungarian director Lajos Koltai's "Sorstalansag (Fateless)" (2005): A thought-provoking film on the Nazi horrors

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Many directors have made acclaimed movies on the horrors of the Nazi perpetrated holocaust, the gas chambers, and the concentration camps. T...
1 comment:
Tuesday, May 01, 2007

36. Italian Frederico Fellini's "Le Notti di Cabiria" (Nights of Cabiria) (1957): Christian Marxism of Fellini and Pasolini

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It would be far too simplistic to feel that the film merely presents an optimist's commitment to live and enjoy life in an imperfect wor...
2 comments:
Sunday, April 22, 2007

35. US director Terrence Malick's "Days of Heaven" (1978): Seeing heaven by twilight on earth

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Director Terrence Malick strides the world of cinema as a colossus in the company of Soviet directors Andrei Tarkovsky (www.nostalghia.com)...
2 comments:
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

34. Canadian David Cronenberg's "Spider" (2002): What is real? Detection within the world of the insane mind

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Insanity has been captured on cinema in myriad ways. David Cronenberg leads the viewer into the world of the unsettled mind in a manner few ...
Monday, April 02, 2007

33. Pasquale Festa Campanile's Italian film "La ragazza e il generale" (The girl and the general) (1967): Can neo-realism mix with humor?

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Virna Lisi gives an impressive neo-realistic performance (The film, with dollops of satire, was made in lush technicolor, unlike the stil...
Monday, March 12, 2007

32. Iranian director Amir Naderi's "Davandeh" (The Runner) (1985): A gem of neo-realist cinema

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Davandeh (The runner) is a cinematic ode to the spirit of Amiro, a young orphan boy who seeks to excel in what ever he does, to know more ...
2 comments:
Thursday, February 22, 2007

31. Chinese filmmaker Yimou Zhang's "Yi ge dou bu neng shao (Not One Less)" (1999): A marvelous neo-realist Chinese film, ideal for family viewing

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Long after De Sica made Bicycle thief and Fellini his La Strada , neo-realist traditions grab me like no other in cinema history. The Chin...
5 comments:
Monday, February 05, 2007

30. British filmmaker David Lean's "Ryan's daughter" (1970): A complex masterpiece that never got its due praise when released

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More than 30 years after the movie was made, Ryan's Daughter needs to be compared with his other important works-- Lawrence of Arabia,...
1 comment:
Tuesday, December 19, 2006

29. Iranian director Amir Naderi's evocative "Aab, baad, khaak" (Water, Wind, Dust) (1989): Evocative and uplifting film on human values

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This is an unusual film of exceptional values--75 minutes long in color, with hardly any spoken dialogs. I saw this Iranian film in Farsi wi...
Saturday, December 16, 2006

28. Mexican film "El Violin" (2005) by director Francisco Vargas: Riveting debut performance by an elderly actor and impressive photography

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Imagine that you look like a grandfather in real life. Imagine that your right palm has been amputated but you play a violin with a bow stra...
Wednesday, December 13, 2006

27. Canadian Sarah Polley's "Away from Her" (2006): Remarkable debut film and a superb performance by Julie Christie

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Julie Christie's combination of talent, beauty and brains has enthralled me over four decades. Nearly a decade ago, her Oscar nominated ...