The quasi-musical and mockumentary Leningrad Cowboys Go America remains the
most internationally popular film of the ‘King of Deadpan’ Aki Kaurismaki. This
quirky and satirical parody, filled to brim with absurdist plot developments and
dry humour, focused on the farcical travails of a fake rock band (who were ironically
better than what they have been made out to be). When their music doesn’t find
takers in Siberia, they, along with their self-serving manager Vladimir (Matti
Pellonpää), move to US in search of success – because, as they are wryly informed,
anything sells there. However, their audition in New York does not please the
agent, and are instead recommended by him to play at his brother’s marriage in
Mexico. The rest of the film focused on their road trip through the country in
a used Cadillac, and playing gigs at various stopovers in order to earn money. The
wild and in-your-face dresses and hairdos of the band members, and the way they
behave and converse, were incredibly entertaining. Kaurismaki provided jabs at
a number of serious themes on the way as well – from unemployment and condition
of blue collar people to cheeky bastardization of what democracy and socialism
entails, through the hilarious relationship between Vladimir and the band. And,
to top it all, this also managed to be a worthy road movie in its engrossing
portrayal of Americana along with the traits and idiosyncrasies that define the
various places. The soundtrack was superb, and the acting of the ensemble
cast, in particularly that of Pellonpää, was quite good. In an apt
gesture, fellow deadpan specialist Jim Jarmusch played a cameo in it.
Director: Aki Kaurismaki
Genre: Comedy/Social Satire/Road Movie/Americana/Mockumentary/Musical
Language: English/Finnish
Country: Finland
Spielberg’s latest film Lincoln, based on the historic last four months of the legendary
American President, was a testimony to both the best and worst in the
filmmaker. At its best, it was richly detailed, comprised of noteworthy storytelling,
was technically sound and kept one engaged despite its 150-minute length. But,
at its worst, it was overly sentimental, didn’t manage to eschew any formal conventionality,
and was so straight-jacketed that it almost seemed an underhanded display of hero-worship.
The film’s basic intent was to chronicle Lincoln’s efforts and final success,
against all odds, challenges and oppositions, to get the iconic 13th
Amendment that would abolish any form of slavery that was rampant in the US
then, and it did that sincerely. Though a law cannot really obliterate racism,
it at least began a journey towards equal rights and opportunities for the African
American folks of the country. Despite the lumbering pace, Spielberg managed to
keep one engaged through regular interjections of humour and dramatic moments,
even if they were, at times, at the cost of sacrificing complexity and
profundity on account of the rather straightforward history lessons. In other
words, it was easy to like, but was mostly lacking in anything further. On the acting
front, however, one can’t complain – Daniel Day-Lewis, the eerie resemblance apart, provided
a layered and restrained performance cappturing the increasing
weariness as well as the quiet resolve, while Tommy Lee Jones’ was the more
flamboyant. Sally Field and James Spader, too, were good as Lincoln’s wife and
the man entrusted with the dirty and often comical job of liaising and lobbying
for the law.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Drama/Historical Drama/Political Drama/Docu-Fiction/Biopic
Language: English
Country: US
Anyone who has seen maverick Japanese New Wave
filmmaker Seijun Suzuki’s Youth of the Beast might know what to expect while watching Tokyo Drifter. This colourful, riotous and gleefully over-the-top
gangster potboiler, with equal doses of wacky humour and surreal touches, is essentially the
kind of film that would make Tarantino leap up in joy. When powerful
yakuza gangster Kurata (Ryuji Kita) goes straight, so does his trusted
right-hand man Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari). But, when he realizes that he is coming
in the way of peace for his Boss, who is more than a father to him, he takes
leave from him and the beautiful nightclub singer he likes (Chieko Matsubara),
and becomes a drifter. But the bad guys just refuse to budge, and so it ends
the only way it can end – in a spectacular showdown amidst some cool gunplay.
And on the way he is taught a valuable lesson by a fellow lone wolf and an
equally adroit ex-yakuza henchman – that loyalty can often be a life-threatening
proposition. The plot wasn’t anything new and was filled with holes the size of
craters. But then, Suzuki, as one might guess, wasn’t anyway concerned with
watertight storylines to start with; for him, style and form overruled content.
Consequently, what he concocted was a delirious mix of idiosyncrasies, cool and
unpredictability, including one of the most rambunctious drunken brawls ever
recorded on screen. The film’s vibrant colour design, set-pieces and madcap
editing were particularly memorable. Yet, interestingly, it had an underlying
streak of melancholia as well, marvelously emphasized by the absolutely beautiful title
song that formed its principal motif.
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Genre: Thriller/Crime Thriller/Gangster Film/Black Comedy/Action
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan
The Collector
was the third entry and, assuming ‘1 hour duration’ as the minimum criterion, the
first feature in Rohmer’s acclaimed ‘Six Moral Tales’ series; it was also the
slightest of the four. This dialogue-driven and light-hearted comedy is
centered on Adrien (Patrick Bauchau), a young and morally uptight art dealer
who is almost narcissistic in his obsession with his inner workings and
philosophical disposition. While on a break one summer both from his work and
his fiancée, he meets Haydee (Haydee Politoff), a cute and carefree young lady,
at the villa he has put up in a quaint coastal village. The beautiful and
alluring temptress, who sleeps with a different guy every night without so much
as a second thought, is the collector of the title. Adrien, who prefers whiling
his time swimming and reading books, forms the opinion that Haydee is physically
attracted towards him and that it is completely dependent on him on whether or
not to reciprocate, though, amusingly, that is hardly the case. Rohmer’s refreshing and understated exploration of the politics of love and lust, and the subtle interplay
between morality and pleasure, was quite delightful to watch, and was
reminiscent of the decidedly superior My Night at Maud’s and Claire’s Knee, and particularly Chloe in the Afternoon. His preference for verbose conversations might seem tad intrusive
at times and the acting was also decent at best; but, on the whole,
he managed to take the otherwise simple story to a satisfactory finale courtesy
fine character dynamics and even certain amount of profundity at some level.
Director: Eric Rohmer
Genre: Comedy/Psychological Drama/Romantic Comedy
Language: French
Country: France
Though Reconstruction
might not rank amongst Angelopoulos’ greatest works, it was, nonetheless, a
very good feature debut for him. Further, this, along with his next feature Days of ’36, provided for a smooth
progression into the kind of aesthetics and themes his films are generally
associated with, particularly on account of the increasing political
commentaries. Shot in stark and high contrast black-and-whites, and coupled with
sparse dialogues, minimal flourish, bleak visuals and austere tone, the film
appeared, on hindsight, highly reminiscent of Bela Tarr’s works. Based on an actual
event, the story concerns the murder of a Greek man, who had just returned home
in his sparsely populated village from Germany where he had emigrated to seek
work, by his philandering wife (Toula Stathopoulou) and her lover (Yiannis
Totsikas) who works as a gamekeeper. The boldly employed fractured narrative
which kept shifting back and forth temporally, show the attempts of the police
to reconstruct the crime and determine the exact degree of culpability of the
two, and events before and after the crime. But the exact moment of murder is
never shown, thus making the film an interesting analysis on the nature of
truth. Theo, however, didn’t just limit the scope to the crime; rather, he used
that as the springboard for meditation on the slow disintegration of life and
depopulation in the tiny and impoverished Greek village, and in turn an
allegorical and telling commentary on the political turbulence and erosion suffered
by the country during the course of 20th century. In that sense,
therefore, the film might even be considered as a precursor to Haneke’s
desolate and allegorical masterpiece TheWhite Ribbon.
Director: Theo Angelopoulos
Genre: Drama/Crime Drama
Language: Greek
Country: Greece
