Cinema, Culture & More
It’s been a while since I watched ‘Searching for Sugarman’, on the recommendation of a dear friend, and decided to go for it once again, these lockdown days. Malik Bendjelloul’s documentary on Rodriguez, strikes you more as an investigative cinematic piece into the life of a man about whom very little is known, and boy, the rewards that it holds for you as a viewer, are nothing short of exceptional. Continue reading “Searching for Sugarman (2012) English Documentary Short Review”
Ryan White’s docu-series on Netflix, ‘The Keepers’ is nothing short of explosive stuff. It follows two determined women, Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Fitzgerald Schaub – former students of a nun named Catherine Cesnik at Baltimore’s Archbishop Keough High School, who strive hard to find out what actually happened on the night of November 7, 1969, when the nun disappeared, only to be found murdered a couple of months later on January 3, 1970, near a garbage dump in the Baltimore suburb of Lansdowne. Continue reading “The Keepers (2018) English Documentary Short Review”
Charlize Theron would remain the prime reason behind my deciding to watch this film, and Jason Reitman’s ‘Young Adult’ reiterates why viewers like me look up to the actor with such an indomitable conviction. This is another of those films that Theron chisels up to perfection, and with some brilliant writing by Diablo Cody, ‘Young Adult’ turns out to be an interesting watch. Continue reading “Young Adult (2011) English Movie Short Review”
Thirteen years after its release in 2007, Gregory Hoblit’s ‘Fracture’ remains as engaging as it gets. For one, the structure of this fantastic psychological thriller is straightforward, in that there is no suspense regarding who the murderer is. Theodore “Ted” Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) shoots his wife on the face and makes its clear that death is the penalty for infidelity. Continue reading “Fracture (2007) English Movie Short Review”
Derek Cianfrance’s ‘The Place beyond the Pines’ stretches across a long timeline, and three discernible, distinct time frames could very easily be identified. It starts off with a motorbike stuntman by the name of Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) who discovers that he is the father of a toddler one fine morning and develops aspirations of starting a family. In a bid to make some quick money, he starts robbing banks and is eventually caught and shot. Continue reading “The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) English Movie Short Review”
Granted that the Argo operation in Ben Affleck’s directorial debut seems too easy and uncomplicated to be true, but when you are told that it based on a true story, do not be surprised if your hair stands up on its ends. This 2012 film is not just a directorial success, but also show cases Affleck’s potentials as an actor as well as that of several other lesser known faces. Continue reading “Argo (2012) English Movie Short Review”
I caught up with Sergio Pablos’ much acclaimed work ‘Klaus’ on the first day of the national lockdown following the Covid- 19 pandemic, and wasn’t I glad that I chose this little gem of an animation film? Whoever thought that the legend of Santa Claus would find itself a luscious version as the one that Pablos has come up with!? Continue reading “Klaus (2019) English Movie Short Review”
It’s literally impossible to merely look at Tamara Jenkin’s ‘Private Life’ as a poignant, yet hilarious account of a couple striving hard to start a family, late starters though they seem to be. ‘Private Life’ is much, much more, and presents a vivid dissection of a relationship that is stretched and strained in all possible ways before they get to see each other for what they truly are. Continue reading “Private Life (2018) English Movie Short Review”
In a government storage house in Malawi, a thirteen year old boy sits with a hard earned bag of grain held close, as a not so lucky and extremely perilous mob that has gathered outside threatens to smash down the doors and barge in. The guards have no other option but to throw open the doors and instruct the ones inside to run for their lives when they do. Continue reading “The Boy who Harnessed the Wind (2019) English Movie Short Review”
And quite by chance I come across this gem of a tiny movie on Netflix, titled ‘The End of the Tour’, wherein two young men in their thirties – David Foster Wallace, much acclaimed writer and David Lipsky of the Rolling Stone – engage in some brilliant, revelatory conversations as to what it means to be a writer, to be famous, and above all, to be human. Continue reading “The End of the Tour (2015) English Movie Short Review”
A bearded, sombre looking Colin Farrell plays a cardiac surgeon in Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ – Dr. Steven Murphy – who befriends a young teen named Martin, for reasons best known to the two. As Martin inches his way closer to the doctor’s family and starts treading and trampling ever so softly on his life, a concerned Anna (Nicole Kidman), Steven’s wife, insists that she knows what it is that binds the man and the boy together. Continue reading “The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) English Movie Short Review”