Mixed Doubles

It only happens with great movies that they bring different response from you at different times. Two years ago, this movie posed as a comedy about the hypocrite nature of the Indian male in terms of his sexual fantasies. Watching it today again, it feels like a dark drama.

Mixed Doubles is the story of Sunil Arora(Ranvir Shorey) who driven by one of his friends suggestion tries to coax his wife malti(Konkona Sen) into wife swapping. This story traverses from the time this idea pops into his head and how he goes about convincing his wife. Whether he succeeds or not is the rest, brought out in one of the best climaxes that acts as the completing arc to this character study. During my first viewing, it played out as a really funny movie with well-defined characters which bring out the mentalities of middle-class folks. But watching it now has a repulsive touch to it on how much of a hypocrite Sunil Arora turns out to be.

Vinay Pathak is a cheating husband who acts as a playboy in Sunil's office and Saurabh Shukla is another colleague of his. It is interesting that they are not just two colleagues in office but rather bring out two facets of Sunil's character in the movie. As an example of how well though out the charcters are,we can note that though all three are seen together, it is rather Saurabh Shukla and Sunil are real friends, as Sunil chooses only him to be complicit in a setup and turn for approval for his and not the dubious Vinay pathak. I was feeling that it was getting moralistic about its lead character towards the end but couldn't complain. The end credit labeled the movie as an "a-moral tale" like any great movie which would know what exactly it was doing.

2008

2008 has been an definitive year as far as my movie watching experience is concerned. Looking back I see a huge transformation in my response towards the movies. It goes without saying that every year makes you feel your younger-self naive in comparison, but at the least I feel a gradation in how early I invalidate myself these days. It is not surprising that all my top movies are the ones that I have seen this year, meaning that I either revisited or just discovered them.

I always felt that why all this fuss about Alfred Hitchcock as he just makes those thrillers which never seem exciting to me. I can pardon myself that I have watched only Vertigo during that time, a movie which doesn't excite even now and even Kurosowa though of Hitchcock the same way(yes very weird). But with Rear Window, Rope and Marnie, Hitchcock has become one of my favorite directors.

Re-watching Trois couleurs: Bleu(Krzysztof Kieslowski) cemented its position as one of the most poetic movies ever. That reminds me that I still haven't seen his much acclaimed Decalogue yet. I also happen to cover more than two-thirds of Michael Haneke movies and it is due to my bad memory and possibly a change in perspective, I'm doubting whether Haneke will attract me the same way he did not very long ago. This year also saw Zodiac from one of my favorite directors who thankfully broke away from his pop-generation image only to return to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which again seem to generate the same kind of wrong-response that Fight Club did years ago. This movie has been in to-do list for long as I wanted to see it theaters. Werner Herzog is another discovery last year and thanks to Netflix online viewing and a sympathetic friend who shared his online account for some high-quality online viewing.

After a few failed attempts, I finally managed to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which made me eat my words that Kauffman films are just clear and nothing more. Eternal... for such a complex films that it is(which you never realize watching it), is amazingly organic and profound in its experience, which I wonder any other writer can create. Talking about organic and profound experiences, I also manage to watch the long delayed The Thin Red Line which again is one of the most beautiful films. I also want to declare that I have adopted Jim Jarmusch as my thalaivar with Broken Flowers and Coffee and Cigarettes racing into my Top-n films of all time. That reminds me that I have to see a lot of Ozu films, whose Tokyo Story tells me that he just might be my man.

One of the constant preoccupation that I have had during the last month is Monty Python. Starting from Flying Circus to Life of Brian and Holy Grail, there is no parallel with what they have done with comedy. I'm sure there must be some religion(?) created after them with absolute disrespect for everything including the religion itself. If we have a religion based upon the Dude of The Big Lebowski, how can we not have one based on Monty Python. But it is rather pity that I will soon run out of all youtube videos, interviews about Monty Python.

Lesser due to my bad memory and probably because of the movies itself, I can't remember many Indian movies that I loved with the exception of Manorama-Six Feet Under and Anjathey. Saroja created a leap of faith in me that there can be pathetic directors who can create good movies by stroke of luck. The Chennai-600028 director has given such a drivel called Saroja, that makes me think whether his debut movie was pure luck or more possibly his only good idea. In preparation for Naan Kadavul, I have been watching Bala's movies and revisited Pithamagan for the first time(one of those rare movies which I never see the second time for a too-painful first time experience). Watching Pithamagan makes me realize that an good Indian movie, more so a Tamil movie gives a much real experience than any of non-native movies that you see, irrespective of how good they are. I must wait for Nandala to see what Mysskin can do as I don't want to make the same mistake as I did with Venkat Prabhu. And I'm still waiting for that first perfect film from Selvaraghavan in Aayirathil Oruvan.

sex, lies and videotape

There is always a talk about whether Sex, lies and Videotape deserved the praise that it got when it came out. Being more familiar with Steven Soderberg's work now, might seem the accusation to be right, but I can do sense the reception when it came out at that time. A good night sleep always put many movies in perspective to me. I generally don't bother to think too much above the movie after it is over and the next day(I usually watch it late at night), I have a more concrete feeling of how much the movie has worked. Sex, lies and Videotape is a tour de force during its run time, but probably feels a bit too optimistic to my taste now.

Anne & John are an unhappy couple, whose marriage is failing both emotionally and sexually. John meanwhile is having an affair with Anne's sister. Enter Grahan, who is long lost friend of John, who was like John before but no more now, to stay with the couple for few days. The story is about how his appearance catalyzes the change in status quo where everyone is confronted with the truth of their situations. The title Sex, lies and Videotape is a misnomer as the movie is about the alienation that people have and how peoples problem are more likely to be caused by it than about sex, lies and of course videotape. There is a beautiful scene where Anne confronts Graham about how he is trying to get away with people, and Graham explains that though he has some problems(real big problems in fact), but they are his.

Probably this is a thing with Soderberg, since I guess he likes to end his films in a suggestive optimistic way, which did not sit well with the rest of the movie. But the whole narrative structure of the movie is top-notch and I feel its better than both Traffic or Erin Brokovich, that it is far more organic than the other films. I have my doubts about this film, and I might have to return to it to find whether this is as good as I think it is now.

Idhayathai Thirudathey

Idhayathai Thirudathey has probably has more moments of amazing BGM sequences than any other movie. It is not just that the BGMs are great, but there are so many amazing moments in the movie that take things to a different plane altogether. And the title sequence is one my favorites one of all time.



The way the flute rushes from 1:30 to 1:35 just to come to a halt. Bringing in the title sequence when they talk about Nagarjuna's condition. And the violin flourish towards the end. Too much.

Current addiction

I'm madly addicted to this great song Mannaiyum Ponnaiyum. Words totally fail me when I try to explain what is good about this song. This is roller coaster ride and the songs changes it rhythm, scale after every stanza. But it seems there is a larger construct to these changes than what I can fathom. If only some one could explain to me in plain English. If haven't paid much attention to this song, do yourself a favor and listen to it.

Broken Flowers

From little that I know about the different forms of cinema, I can firmly state the one with absolutely no parallels is Jim Jarmusch, and yes the Coen Brothers. Thinking again, I can say that for all the great directors, but if you know Jarmusch's films, you'll know what I mean. Broken Flowers is probably the most mainstream film of Jarmusch and for a second I though(before seeing the film), whether he wanted to reach out to a bigger audience a.k.a sellout. But watching Broken Flowers reassures that Jarmusch knows and controls totally what he is doing.

Don Johnston(the fantastic Billy Murray) receives a letter that he has an unknown son, right after his girl friend leaves him. Persuaded by his neighbor, he goes on a road trip meeting his ex-girl friends to find some clue about the hypothetical son. There are no give-aways in the plot. The movie is about his journey and what it does to the un-intimidated Don. Jarmusch excellent ability with the actors again plays a great part and with Bill Murray, what we get is something fantastic.

The movie never gets suggestive at any point of time, about what the characters feel, lest what should the audience feel. With the slow pace and Murray's superb acting, we are drawn into the world and play the passive audience for real, and go through the same thoughts as Don does. Watching this film makes it apparent, how we hardly play a passive audience in a film, and there is almost direct instructions from the directors on how do we go about reacting to the film. The film never suggests us as to what to feel, but we play the plain observer and not wait for cues from the director and what & how to feel about it. This is very different film from Jarmusch and possibly his most emotional one from him.

ARR?

Came across this video in youtube. Sounds very like ARR. Must be during his ad. days.