High Plains Drifter,
Clint Eastwood’s second film as a director and first that of a Western, was a
remarkably gripping, deeply disturbing and unabashedly violent film. He used
the iconic ‘Man with No Name’ persona
from Leone’s ‘Dollar Trilogy’ for his
protagonist here, but added far darker and malevolent shades to it. It begins
with a mysterious stranger (Eastwood) riding into a small and newly built town
on horseback. He immediately draws attention of the town folk when he
single-handedly shoots three outlaws who had been appointed to protect them.
Taking the crack-shot as a force to reckon with, they request him to be their
new protector as three dangerous criminals led by a vicious outlaw (Geoffrey
Lewis), who had been responsible for the brutal murder of the previous Sheriff,
are slated to be released in a few days; in return, he is given a carte blanche in terms of what he wants.
However, unbeknownst to all, he has an ulterior motive in riding into this town
and taking their offer, and in a cold, calculated and ruthless manner he goes
about destroying everything that the town holds dear. Consequently, by the time
he kills the gang members and rides into oblivion, he ends up doing as much
damage as the three might have. His intent was never made clear, but allusions
were provided that revenge for the slaying of the former Sheriff, which the
residents had silently watched without extending their support, was possibly
the agenda that was at work for him. Rarely have Westerns been made, even among
the revisionist ones, which have comprised of as much carnage being perpetrated
by the protagonist himself as this.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Western/Revisionist Western
Language: English
Country: US
Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud, Sautet’s final film, provided a summation of the subjects
and themes that he loved delving in, viz. deeply empathetic, layered and
nuanced portrayals of the French bourgeoisie with all their desultory joys, deep
regrets, emotional baggage, failed relationships, loneliness and flaws. It also
formed a fine companion piece to his last film, A Heart in Winter. Nelly (Emmanuelle Beart), a beautiful young lady
married to a guy who has lost interest in work, makes chance acquaintance with
Arnaud (Michel Serrault), a wealthy and ageing former judge and businessman,
who offers to help her out of her debts. He is in the process of writing his
memoirs and offers her the job of his secretary which she gladly accepts, and
thus begins a beautiful yet complex relationship between the two. He starts
falling for her in his detached way, which becomes woefully obvious when she
becomes involved with his editor (Jean-Hugues Anglade). But, as is slowly
revealed, she too harbours feelings for him. The exquisitely understated
finale, when he suddenly decides to go on a world tour with his former wife, which
makes Nelly for the first time truly confront the deep connection that they
have developed, was both melancholic and memorable. The elegance and maturity
with which Sautet explored the lives of these two wonderfully etched characters,
with a tone that was contemplative yet matter-of-fact, and filled with subtle hints,
observations and allusions, was proof of his grasp of this mostly derided and misunderstood
class. Both Beart and Serrault gave startlingly naturalistic performances,
while Anglade too was noteworthy in his brief but important role.
Director: Claude Sautet
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Romantic Drama
Language: French
Country: France
The independent film Nice Guy, the assured feature debut of Pascal Bergamin, is a bleak
chronicle of an Everyday Joe whose life starts slipping from under his feet after
he finds himself unemployed. David (Cavan Clerkin, who,
interestingly, was also the film’s writer), the titular Londoner, stays at home looking after his kid
while his wife goes for work. With his male-ego hurt, emotional distance
developing with his wife, and his life in a limbo, he starts wandering to a pub
which makes him feel alive. However, unbeknownst to him, the place is infested
with hard-edged mobsters, and when he accidentally ends up witnessing a murder,
he finds his morose life spiraling out of his control as he is plunged into a nightmarish
world of crime, violence and madness. The structure of a neo-noir was
effectively used against post-2008 financial crisis to allegorically portray
the devastation that unforeseen unemployment can cause to an otherwise normal
upper-middle class family. Jerky camera movements and extreme close-ups during
the beginning and the end were smartly alternated with a more staid approach in
the middle to counterpoint the tone and accentuate David’s increasing panic, paranoia
and desperation. Clerkin did a competent job in his portrayal of a regular guy
and the quintessential 'tragic hero' prototype in classic noirs at the wrong end
of Murphy’s Law. Though essentially very different characters, one might just
find a hint of Harry Fabian, from Dassin’s masterful Brit-noir Night & the City, in the way David’s
life so spectacularly crumbles, leading to its surprising final shot that was reminiscent
of the way Billy Costigan met his end, out of the blue, in The Departed.
p.s. Mr. Pascal Bergamin was kind enough to contact me and send me a copy of the movie. I wish him a great Indie and filmmaking career ahead.
Director: Pascal Bergamin
Genre: Drama/Crime Drama/Post-Noir
Language: English
Country: UK
Bombay Talkies,
an anthology film comprising of 4 shorts, was made with the intent of
commemorating 100 years of Indian cinema; consequently cinema in general, and Bollywood
in particular, was either a thematic concern or at least a plot element in each
of them. The first, by Karan Johar, was about a well-to-do married couple (Rani
Mukherjee and Randeep Hooda) whose lives take a sharp turn with the arrival of
a young and brash gay guy (Saqib Saleem); the second, by Dibakar Banerjee, and
adapted from a short story by Satyajit Ray, was about a failed theatre actor
and entrepreneur (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) whose mundane and unspectacular life
gets a brief breather when he is offered, out of the blue, a bit role in a
movie; the third, by Zoya Akhtar, was about a kid (Naman Jain) who starts
dreaming of becoming a dancer, much to his conservative father’s chagrin, upon
seeing a Katrina Kaif dance number; and the fourth, by Anurag Kashyap, and
slightly reminiscent of Spielberg’s The
Terminal, was a satire on hero-worship where a simple-natured guy (Vineet
Kumar) from Allahabad goes to Mumbai with the intent of meeting Amitabh
Bachchan on his father’s wishes. Though the quality fluctuated and the scripts
could have been tighter, the portmanteau was an engaging watch on the whole.
The second short was easily the best of the lot – it had great emotional and
perceptive depth that added layers to the simple premise, and boasted of a
superb turn by Siddiqui. The one by Johar, given its director’s reputation, was
the surprise package on account of its delving into a difficult subject, even
though it had its share of flaws.
Directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap
Genre: Drama/Urban Drama/Psychological Drama/Social Satire/Slice of Life
Language: Hindi
Country: India
Though movies, particularly in the sci-fi and
fantasy domains, have been made on the apocalyptic effects of nuclear warfare, Black Rain remains a rare exposition on
one that actually happened. This uncompromising and devastating portrayal of
the harrowing aftermaths of the barbaric atomic explosion at Hiroshima, remains
a completely atypical work in Imamura’s filmography. Sombre, tranquil,
poignant, and filled with warm humanism, this has been construed by many as his
reconciliation with Ozu under whom he had apprenticed as a young man. The
narrative followed two temporal strands – the ‘present’ shows how Yasuka (Yoshiko Tanaka), a likeable young lady, and her
compassionate uncle (Etsuko Ichihara) and aunt (Kazuo
Kitamura), cope with life after the event, while the flashbacks provides
us a shuddering and near-surrealistic glimpse into the very day the bomb was
dropped, with desolation and charred flesh all around. The family in general,
and Yasuka in particular, seem to have survived the physical ordeal as they try
to find a groom for her with assurances from the local doctor that her health
is sound. But, as is the wont, long-term radiation effects eventually catch up
with them as it does with most of their neighbours, leading the film to a
heartbreaking finale. It captured, with vividness, depth and maturity, not just
the biological but also the debilitating social fallouts of the tragedy. Elegantly
shot in B/W and comprising of terrific turns by Tanaka and Ichihara, the
juxtaposition of the daily chores of the family members in the futile hope of
erasing the tragedy of their collective conscience with the slow disintegration
of life around them made it all the more haunting.
Director: Shohei Imamura
Genre: Drama/War Drama/Psychological Drama/Family Drama
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan
