Fading Gigolo, the 5th directorial venture of
actor John Turturro, is that rare film that Woody acted in but didn’t write or
direct. One might, in fact, easily confuse it with a Woody film – it has
unconventional take on love and sex, it has jokes on Jews, it managed to be bit
of a love letter to New York, and, in line with Woody’s preferred genre, it is
a humorous and idiosyncratic dramedy. Murray (Allen) is an ageing bookstore
owner whose store has become antiquated as no one buys rare books anymore, and
hence is forced to close shop, while Fiovorante (Turturro) is his long-time
assistant and friend who’s forced to change job at middle-age. When his wealthy
dermatologist (Sharon Stone, ravishing even at 55) expresses her intent to have
a ménage à trois with her saucy
girlfriend and a man he might know, Murray recommends Fiovorante’s name. And
thus begins the bizarre alternate lives of the two where the former pimps the
latter using hilarious monikers in order to cater to rich, bored and sexually
demanding ladies looking for pleasure on the sly, and earn a quick buck in the
process. Things turn really crazy when Fiovorante starts falling for his latest
client Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), a shy, recently widowed Jewish lady, resulting
in Murray earning the wrath of a devout Jewish cop (Liev Schreiber) who’s been
in love with her for ages. Despite the outrageous nature of the plot, the
film’s tone was mostly gentle, charming and whimsical throughout its length,
with melancholia and laughs alternating one another. Woody was at his quintessential
best, delivering satiric one-liners and witticisms only the way he can.
Director: John Turturro
Genre: Drama/Comedy/Romance/Buddy Film
Language: English/Hebrew
Country: US
The Pawnbroker, Lumet’s adaptation of Edward Wallant’s novel,
belongs to the elite list of films on the Halocaust that didn't trivialize, sensationalize or sentimentalize the dark episode. Brooding, downbeat and deeply
discomfiting, helped in no small measures by exquisite aesthetics, rising
tempo, and a marvelous lead performance, the film painted a powerful portrayal
of the harrowing memories of WWII. Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger), a gruff,
cynical and taciturn middle-aged loner, runs a small pawn-broking shop at East
Harlem in New York, where he treats his customers with disdain. He’s also
forever inflicted with the debilitating memories of the devastation suffered by
his family and fellow Jews at Auschwitz, and on account of that he lives in a
graveyard of isolation and bitterness, completely bereft of any faith on
god and mankind. Four disparate developments, meanwhile, act as key
drivers as the film is taken to a nightmarish finale – Jusus (Brock Peters), a
Puerto Rican who works as an apprentice at his shop, frustrated with lack of
attention received, plans for armed burglary with local hoodlums; Sol learns,
through Jesus’ fiancée, that the racketeer who uses the shop as a cover, also runs
a prostitution arm; he’s having an affair on the sly with a fellow-Holocaust
survivor who’d lost her husband in the camps; and, a kindly but naïve social
worker (Geraldine Fitzgerald) tries in vain to befriend
Sol. The film comprised of fabulous B/W photography, replete with excellent
usage of camera angles, shadows, framing, zooms and innovative flashbacks, to
evoke the moody atmosphere and oppressive nature of memory, terrific jazz-based
score, and Steiger’s powerful portrayal of the protagonist’s scarred psyche, inner
turmoil, anger and implosion.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Urban Drama
Language: English
Country: US
Coming
after the likes of Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole and Stalag 17, the three films that Wilder made prior to this, Sabrina might seem like a bolt from the
blue. As opposed to the dark, cynical and pessimistic tones of the three
previous films, particularly the 1st two, Sabrina was humorous, charming, romantic and thoroughly delectable.
It did have gray undertones in terms of its satire and underlying commentaries
on social stratification and capitalistic pursuits; but it was a light-hearted
fare on the whole filled with comic interludes, witty wisecracks and a heartwarming
ending. The titular Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn), the pretty, young and naïve
daughter of a chauffeur (John Williams), has always been in love with the dandy
and fun-loving playboy David (William Holden), the younger son of the wealthy
retired industrialist Oliver Larrabee (Walter Hampden), who her father works
for. Linus (Humphrey Bogart), the workaholic elder son, manages the industrial
empire he has inherited, and his life runs like an atomic clock. When Sabrina
undergoes an image makeover in Paris, David falls heads over heels with her;
however, since, that is a bad business proposal, Linus starts courting her with
the hope of getting David married off to a more suitable candidate, but, as can
be guessed, he starts falling for her as she starts bringing out the
sentimental person concealed inside his seemingly implacable, commerce-minded
exterior. Filled with a host of memorable moments – some comedic, while others
melancholic – this highly enjoyable ride was made even more appealing by
Bogart’s excellent turn as a tough man with a soft core, Hepburn’s lovable
presence and easy charm, and the comic timings of Holden and Hampden.
Director: Billy Wilder
Genre: Comedy/Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Country: US
Shabdo is bound to evoke memories of the British film Berberian Sound Studio that released a
year before and the brilliant De Palma thriller Blow Out, though, from tonal and stylistic standpoints they were
all very different films. Like the latter films, it had at its epicenter a Foley
artist and sound designer who is enraptured by the minutest sounds around him
and is completely obsessed with his work and world. Tarak (Ritwick Chakraborty)
is in the profession of creating ambient sound for movies, and he is very good
at his job. However, as a result of his immersive nature, his mind has started
losing grip of the real word and conversations. It was presented through 2
parallel narrative strands – while one focused on him, his work, his marital
and familial life, and the increasing concerns of his loving wife (Raima Sen)
as he’s always in a state of absent mindedness, the other focused on a doctor
(Churni Ganguly) who is hell-bent on curing Tarak and bringing him back to the
real world. The former strand was easily the better of the two – Ritwick’s
intense and layered performance was nicely complemented by the brooding tone,
moody photography, juxtaposition of real with reel, evocation of his
claustrophobic world, and deliberate pacing; Raima, too, fit in very well in
her character’s silent frustrations. Unfortunately, the latter strand spoilt
the mood and dampened the good work – it was often preachy and resorted to
over-explanations; Churni’s performance was incorrigibly over-dramatic, while
Srijit Mukherji’s, who played the role of a director, was wooden. Hence, in the
end, it ended up being a film worth noting but held back for not using the
scissors more appropriately.
Director: Kaushik Ganguly
Genre: Drama/Medical Drama
Language: Bengali
Country: India
Kurahara’s
Intimidation was diametrically
different – generically, thematically and stylistically – from the 2 other
films by this filmmaker during his studio days that I’ve seen, viz. Black Sun and The Warped Ones. This taut, bleak, tense, fatalistic and
low-budget Nikkatsu Noir, at a brisk running time of 65 minutes, was made right
along the lines of classic American noirs. Takita (Nobuo Kaneko), the seemingly
much loved assistant manager of a bank, has been promoted to the head office.
However, as is eventually revealed, that was on account of his opportunistic
marriage to the bank president’s daughter and various scams he participated in
during his job. His old buddy Nakaike (Akira Nishimura) is a classic example of
a loser – he never managed to rise up the ladder, he is regularly trampled upon
by all like a doormat, he was in love with the lady Takita eventually married while
ditching Nakaike’s sister in the process, and, much to the chagrin of his
frustrated sister, he’s resigned to his life as a perennial loser. After the
end of the lavish farewell party thrown in Takita’s honour, he receives a quiet
visit from a shady and mysterious blackmailer who produces proofs of his
misdeeds and asks for 3 million Yen to keep silent; fearing everything to lose,
he decides to rob the bank and have Nakaike as the scape-goat. As can be
expected, neither does everything go as per plan, nor does everything seems as
it is, thus leading to a mean and unexpected climax. Bad memories, wrong
judgements and fatal confrontations were the order of the day in this engaging
little film, filled with B/W chiaroscuro and decent performances.
Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara
Genre: Drama/Crime Drama/Post-Noir
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan
