In the Shadow has
strong political contexts and is filled with angry reminiscences of a prolonged
dark and turbulent period in the country’s history. However, more than
anything, this Czech film is a riveting thriller and a tense police procedural,
marked by breakneck pace, excellent zeitgeist, compelling character dynamics
and relentless tension. Captain Hakl (Ivan Trojan) is a loyal family man with a
loving wife and a young son, and a committed if decidedly weary member of the
police force. When a seemingly mundane case of jewelry store heist lands on his
table he starts investigating with impersonal vigour. However, to his
befuddlement, Major Zenke (Sebastian Koch), a German officer with a mysterious
past, arrives in the scene and takes over the case under powers vested directly
by Moscow. Though relieved of the current responsibility, he continues digging,
and before long dirty and complex state-sponsored conspiracies start getting
revealed as Jews start getting arrested en masse, and his job and his family’s
lives are placed in grave danger from unknown assailants. Meanwhile the entire
country is reeling under the fear of a possible currency that might leave
hordes penniless. The sense of constant paranoia among the populace on account
of the secret police, anti-Semitism and Stalinist purges was marvelously
captured, while the cinematography and art décor provided an astounding mix of evocation
of the times, moody cloak-and-dagger atmosphere of the Cold War era, and
noirish expressionism. The entire cast was good, but Trojan was particularly
terrific for his portrayal of his character’s doggedness, growing cynicism and
particularly layered relationship with his family, and his war of nerves with
his German nemesis.
Director: David Ondricek
Genre: Thriller/Political Thriller
Language: Czech
Country: Czech Republic
The title of this late Zanussi, viz. Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease,
which seemed typical of a Woody Allen wisecrack, made me assume this to be an
irreverent, satirical, darkly funny and, possibly, a campy film on the ironies
of life and death. It’s on the ironies that govern, and inextricably link, life
and death alright, but contrary to my presumptions, this turned out to be
bleak, melancholic, downbeat and serious – that, perhaps, was the Polish
filmmaker’s deadpan joke on his viewers. The ‘film within a film’ sequence
about a horse-thief in 12th Century France who is facing execution
and whose perceptions of life and thereafter are altered after a tryst with a
priest, that it begins with, set the tone for the rest of the film and set the
thematic context for what followed. Tomasz (Zbigniew Zapasiewicz) is an ageing,
divorced doctor whose insulated life comes crashing down when he’s diagnosed
with terminal cancer. Suddenly faced with a fact of life that one chooses not
to think of, i.e. the certainty and inevitability of death, the cynical and
atheistic protagonist starts experiencing changes in his outlook as he begins
grappling with questions of faith, spiritual conflict and mortality, and even
befriends, contrary to his asocial nature, a young physician and his pretty
fiancée. The topic of euthanasia, too, was touched upon as this grim,
beautifully photographed and minimally scored film played out at a leisurely
pace portraying his transformative journey as life starts slipping away from
his grip. It was made all the more affecting by Zapasiewicz’s tour de force
performance with his face as a substitute for unspoken words and conflicting emotions.
Director: Krzysztof Zanussi
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Existential Drama
Language: Polish
Country: Poland
Ivan Passer was a co-writer for 2 of the 3 Czech
features that Forman made – the delightful comedy Loves of a Blonde and the masterful satire The Firemen’s Ball, and directed just 1 film, Intimate Lighting, before having to defect from Czechoslovakia –
yet, these Czech New Wave gems were enough to make him a major figure in the movement.
Contrary to the deeply political nature of the short-lived movement’s most
renowned products, this delectable, charming, humorous and breezy little film captured
the lazy elegance of rustic life, and Passer deftly suffused it with simplicity,
idiosyncrasy and whimsical fun. The plot, which is skeletal at best, is about
the reunion of two friends at a bucolic setting. Bambas (Karel Blažek) is a
violinist at the local philharmonic. The first scene, showing a bunch of
gaggling elderly men preparing for an important performance, immediately caught
attention with its subversive humour and quick wit, and the same was sustained
with effortless ease throughout its compact run-time. Bambas, who resides with
his father (Jan Vostrčil) who too dabbles on the violin, albeit not with as much
adroitness as his son would prefer, mother and plump wife, is given a visit to
their countryside house from Prague by his old cellist friend Petr (Zdeněk
Bezušek) and his young and beautiful fiancée (Věra Křesadlová). The urban-rural
divide formed for a sharp metaphor on success and failure, and the ensuing
underhanded social commentary was subtly but brilliantly touched upon through
wryly funny sequences and rambling conversations. Consequently, despite some
cynical undertones, the film, on surface, was light-hearted, affectionate,
amusing, playful and melancholic.
Director: Ivan Passer
Genre: Comedy/Rural Comedy
Language: Czech
Country: Czech Republic (erstwhile Czechoslovakia)
Le Dossier 51, Michel Deville’s adaptation of Gilles Perrault’s
novel, would strongly remind one of such classic films on surveillance as The Conversation and The Lives of Others, as well as the paranoid
conspiracy thrillers popular during the Watergate-era. But, unlike all these
films, Deville employed a novel formal device by placing the viewers into the
shoes of those carrying out the intrusive surveillance. The result of the
point-of-view narration and shoot, therefore, was disconcerting both
psychologically and from an audio-visual perspective. A French man has just
been elevated to the level of a Diplomat, and for reasons not elaborated an
unidentified intelligence agency decides to prepare detailed dossiers on his
life, background and activities – the kind of illegal snooping CIA is notorious
for. The motive, therefore, was secondary vis-à-vis the actual act. They name
the man ‘51’, use every available mode of information gathering, including photographing
his and his beautiful wife's moves using telescopic cameras, wire-trapping, accessing confidential
information, bugging his apartment, tailing, undercover agent conducting fake
interviews with people from his past and present (including a particularly
disturbing one with his emotionally scarred mother) and even arranging seduction of his former girlfriend, and starts documenting, with chilling efficiency
every single facet of his life, spilling out worms out of his closet in the
process. And if that weren’t enough, they even psychoanalyze him based on the
information gathered and finalize ways of blackmailing him if necessary. The
film, using its faux-documentary style,
provided terrifying commentary on state-organized breach of privacy, thus
giving relevance and credence to paranoia among common people.
Director: Michel Deville
Genre: Thriller/Spy Thriller/Political Thriller/Psychological Thriller
Language: English
Country: US
Miss Lovely is
a marvelous homage to the seedy and sordid world of Bombay’s defunct underground
Z-grade horror, trash and sexploitation industry that played to India’s lecherous grindhouse
audiences. Combining elements of a pulpy storyline, biting social commentary, wry
humour and self-reflexive look at the medium at its most lowbrow, it dished us
with a bleak but delectably tipsy underbelly, and was gloriously accompanied by
expressionistic audio-visuals that superbly catalogued the sleazy and lurid
quotient of the world being depicted. Sonu (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is the naïve and
romantic younger brother of the brazenly carnal Vicky (Anil George) who’s planning
to get into distribution under the banner of Duggal Brothers – a reference to
the cult films of Ramsay Brothers. Things become complicated when Sonu falls
head over heels with the ravishing Pinky (Niharika Singh) who, as is eventually
revealed, is anything but the coy and virginal girl she seems to be. When, in
order to make a film with her, Sonu steals a stash of cash that Vicky has
been paid by the ruthless racket of B-Films, leading to trouble for both the
brothers. And when the police suddenly start cracking down on them, there’s
just no escape. The squalid, scandalous and titillative world was brilliantly created
by the mesmerizing cinematography that alternated between garish colors, moody
visuals and noirish chiaroscuro, and the stupendous authentic-looking art
direction that spoke volumes of the director’s technical virtuosity, while the soundtrack
evoked the disco age and tension in equal measures. Both Siddiqui and George
were great to watch, Niharika was delicious as a femme fatale under the garb of an innocent
damsel in distress, and the supporting cast was quite effective as well.
Director: Ashim Ahluwalia
Genre: Thriller/Post-Noir/Crime Thriller/Showbiz Drama
Language: Hindi
Country: India
Every
once in a while Woody Allen makes a volte-face from his comedic ventures and
makes a film that is dark, serious and raises difficult questions. Blue Jasmine, the Septuagenarian genius’
absorbing 45th directorial venture, is a disconcerting blow against
the shallowness, conceits, hypocrisies, callousness and self-centeredness of
the so-called ‘winning class’, or wealthiest of the wealthy – facets that
become glaringly stark when they suddenly crash on to the planet. Jasmine (Cate
Blanchett) is faced with the disreputable prospect of penury upon the arrest
for fraudulence and subsequent suicide of her husband Hal (Alec Baldwin), an
insanely wealthy investor. She moves in with her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins),
whose working-class background, penchant for “looser” boyfriends and perky
nature is diametrically opposite to where she’s accustomed to. Her acute
embarrassment at having fallen from grace has left her psychologically shaken,
and being forced to keep the kind of coarse company that she despises takes her
more and more into the depths of delusion at her former grandeur. Consequently,
when she meets the rich, globe-trotting Dwight (Peter Sarsgaard), she
experiences a ray of sunshine in her increasingly drab and dreary life, only
for her refusal to accept her present to become the biggest barrier in her
path. The narrative frequently shifted to the past to chronicle the foibles of
the smooth-talking Hal and disintegration of their marriage. Good turns
abound in this ensemble film, with Blanchet’s magnificent portrayal of the
self-destructing woman being a standout moment in her career. The film, though wordy and tad overbearing, is filled with bitter humour and bleak
ironies.
Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama
Language: English
Country: US
