That
the French Nouvelle Vague crop loved classic American film noirs and used noir
themes and archetypes as a springboard is a well-known fact; but the French also dabbled in classic noirs – cases in point being Dassin’s Rififi and the underrated Jacques
Becker’s Touchez Pas au Grisbi. The
template of ageing criminals planning for one last job before calling it quits,
albeit with tragic consequences, was given a slight twist in this film – here 2
ageing men, having already scored their last hit, must now somehow retain the
stash so that they can retire in peace; however, as is usually the case with
fatalistic noirs, it’s easier said than done. Suave, loner and weary gangster
Max (Jean Gabin), and his buddy Riton (René Dary), have successfully pulled off
a heist of a lifetime. Unfortunately for them, Riton, fearing that he might
lose out his striking young girlfriend (Jeanne Moreau) to younger men, has let
loose on their secret in order to impress her; she, in turn, has spilt the
beans to Angelo (Lino Ventura), a brash and crooked hoodlum who now wants to
get hold of the spoils. This is where the film starts off! Friendship, honour
and the process of ageing – and how that sometimes makes even the toughest men
weak and careless – were the principal themes of the film. Shot in exquisite
B/W, the narrative had its share of tense and muscular moments, including a
blazing face-off at the end; but they were complemented with moments of quietude
that struck a fine balance between melancholia and sentimentality. Gabin did a
fine job as the tough but romantic hood, though I would have personally loved
to see more of Ventura and Moreau (two of my favourite actors).
Director: Jacques Becker
Genre: Crime/Crime Drama/Gangster Film/Film Noir
Language: French
Country: France
In Nayak Ray, in an inspired casting
decision, worked with the reigning superstar of Bengali cinema Uttam Kumar for
the 1st time, and the result befitted the stellar collaboration. This
intense and gripping road movie provided a revelatory behind-the-scenes peek at
a movie star with all the baggage that comes with stardom – guilt, insecurity,
loneliness, false braggadocio, heart-breaks, ego, inner turmoil – but needs to
remain cloaked under the fragile veneer of smug confidence. The narrative
follows the journey of Arindam Mukherjee (Kumar), a superstar of the silver screen,
who’s aboard a train from Calcutta to Delhi to receive a national award He
plans to spend the time with himself, but his acquaintance with co-traveller Aditi
(Sharmila Tagore), a beautiful and independent-minded journalist, acts as a
disruptive element in his journey. Despite not being an admirer of the star or
formulaic cinema, she coaxes him for an interview; their interactions gradually
take him out of his cocoon and comfort zone as he introspects, re-lives the
memories haunting him and reveals details from his life hitherto unknown to the
public – his transition from theatre to cinema against the wishes of his
mentor, his trysts with a volatile former star during and post his days of
fame, his changing friendship with a Leftist friend, the constant fear of
failure, certain scandal-worthy episodes, etc. Meanwhile other secondary
characters added dimensions to the slice of life portrayed herein. Kumar, who
knew a thing about superstardom, gave a tour
de force and multi-faceted turn as the complex protagonist, while Tagore
was also good as the enigmatic lady who starts empathizing with the man behind
the mask, in this compelling and brilliantly cinematographed scoop.
Note: My earlier review of Nayak can be found here.
Director: Satyajit Ray
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Road Movie/Showbiz Drama/Ensemble Film
Language: Bengali
Country: India
High Noon heralded a generation of character-driven
psychological Westerns, and 3:10 to Yuma,
Delmer Daves’ adaptation of an Elmore Leonard short story, was a striking
example of that. This low-budget film played out as a tense cat-and-mouse
thriller given its marvelously plotted tale about two men trying to outwit each
other and the tight temporal span of the storyline; but its greater strengths
lay in the layered character arcs of its leads, and the way Delmer provided a
delicate balance between grime and grittiness on one hand, and affecting
moments of melancholia and evocation of the West’s loneliness on the other. The
film begins with Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) and his close-knit gang holding up a
stagecoach which ends with robbery and a couple of casual murders; the event is
witness by hardened rancher and family-man Dan Evans (Van Heflin). When offered
money to catch Ben and make him board the titular train, Dan, who’s hard
pressed for money on account of drought, takes up the job. Holding him at
gunpoint and awaiting the train, a fascinating game of one-upmanship begins as
Ben offers to buy Dan out while also coolly making him aware that his men will
arrive before the train does. Ford was absolutely terrific as the charming and
confident, but also weary, surprisingly suicidal and complex outlaw. The film
was beautifully shot in B/W with action continually shifting between exteriors and
interiors, while the lilting score added an introspective touch to it. The
violence in the first scene was followed by focus on a family finding the going tough, and a leisurely paced and quietly sentimental bar scene followed that –
they were enough to show the film’s depth and virtuosity.
Director: Delmer Daves
Genre: Western/Psychological Western
Language: English
Country: US
Kobayashi
followed up his monumental magnum opus ‘The Human Condition’ trilogy, and preceded his renowned Samurai film Harakiri, with The Inheritance – no wonder, it got lost in the process. Dark,
tense, nihilistic, filled with wry but pungent humour, and set in contemporary
urban Japan, this superb film provided a grotesque picture of incessant greed, jealousy,
self-centeredness, lust, corruption, and propensity for deceit and
violence that remains cloaked under fragile veneers of civility and decency. An
aged business tycoon (So Yamamura), upon learning of being afflicted with a
terminal disease, decides to re-draft his will wherein 1/3rd of his
immense fortunes would go to his much younger wife (Misako Watanabe), a cold
and scheming femme fatale, and the balance to his three illegitimate children. He
employs his subordinates, an unctuous lawyer, a couple of unreliable associates
(one of them played by Tatsuya Nakadai), and his coy secretary Yasuko (Keiko
Kishi), to locate his children and decide if they are worthy of the endowments.
As can be expected in a situation such as this, they start finding ways of
getting hold of the wealth themselves, while at the same time trying to
hoodwink and out-smart one another in the process. Yasuko, for most parts,
seemed to be the only decent character, but as the excellent opening montage
had given indications and her convenient moving-in with the dying man, despite
his failing potency, furthered that, she might just have the
necessary guile to win this nefarious and twisted race to the finish. The sparkling and expressionistic B/W cinematography, and the brilliant
but low-key jazz score, added sensual dimensions to this bleak, noirish and delicious
morality play.
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Post-Noir
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan
A
Nikkatsu Noir, qualified as such by Criterion because this was one of many such
low-budget crime thrillers produced by Japan’s Nikkatsu Studio during the 50s
and 60s in order to compete with American and French films in the box-office, Take Aim at the Police Van was one of
Suzuki’s earlier films, even though he’d made over a dozen films by then. Though
not considered among his best works, this crisp, kinetic, moody and unpredictable
little film did pack in enough wallop to make this an entertaining ride. The
story begins with what the title makes amply clear – a police van, carrying a
bunch of criminals and led by prison guard Tamon (Michitaro Mizushima), is
ambushed by unknown assailants that lead to couple of murders, the escape of a
small-time hoodlum who’d been anticipating the ambush and suspension for the
prison guard. Tamon, unable to digest the disgrace, takes the onus of connecting
the dots and solving the crime, and this leads him right into the middle of the
netherworld of murderous gangsters engaged in flesh trade, and a dangerous
affair with the powerful and beautiful femme fatale Yuko (Misako Watanabe). The
film proceeded as a mix of gangster, noir and whodunit, as Tamon gets deeper
into Tokyo’s seedy underbelly. The dour-faced Mizushima, with Marlowe’s grit and
relentlessness but without the acerbic cynicism, led this slight but solid,
deftly photographed caper to its violent climax, with enough twists and turns
to keep the viewers thoroughly engaged. The film also provided an interesting
exposition on Suzuki’s formative years on his way to becoming a daring filmmaker.
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Genre: Thriller/Crime Thriller/Gangster/Post-Noir
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan
