This is one of those occasions on which I’ve first watched the remake, in this case Steven Soderbergh’s 2002 version, before watching this earlier version by Andrei Tarkovsky. This was way before I started watching films seriously and I remember being perplexed by it but I thought it still did a fairly good job of depicting the alienness of the planet Solaris. Tarkovsky’s version turned out to be much more personal and individual, focusing with laser-like intensity on the inner psychology of its protagonist Kris Kelvin.
After having watched so many films, I’d like to think that I’m starting to have a good grasp of what is out there even if I haven’t necessarily watched it yet, especially when it comes to American cinema. But every once in a while I’m reminded that there’s so much that I still don’t know. I’d never heard of Sidney Lumet before this but he is apparently one of the most respected American directors of all time with an impressively long filmography and a reputation of being a great craftsman of film.
This unusually named film is the anime adaptation of a seinen manga, meaning it’s aimed at young adults. Also unusual is that it was directed by an American, Michael Arias, who works primarily in Japan. It’s about a pair of young orphans who run rampant in the streets of Treasure Town, a district of a large metropolis. Due to their athletic abilities and martial prowess, they are said to be the masters of the town. Consequently when the Yakuza tries to move into their territory, the duo become priority targets for their assassins.
Two Days, One Night is the first film I’ve watched by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, a duo of brother-directors from Belgium of some renown. With Marion Cotillard in the leading role, it has serious acting power behind it as well. It duly went on to do well on the international awards circuit, which was why I added it to my ever growing watch-list.
Brazil showed us a couple of weeks ago how you can have the highest-grossing film of the year also be a respectable and artistically interesting film and now India does the same with PK. Not only is it the most commercially successful Indian film ever made, both domestically and in international markets, it also happens to be a courageous film that pokes fun at religion in an inventive and intelligent manner.
This marks the third film we’ve watched by Luis Buñuel, all within a year. This is because I’d asked for recommendations of South American films from a Broken Forum poster and he must really like Buñuel. We’re still slowly working through the list. To be honest, I was hoping that this would be one of his more surreal films like The Exterminating Angel, but it turned out to be a more direct social commentary film like Los Olvidados, albeit in the completely opposite direction.
This is a fairly prominent documentary that my wife asked to add to our usual list and it’s no wonder why it made waves. The subject matter is so intriguing and so humanistic that it lends itself naturally to film. It’s also worth noting that nearly every documentary I’ve covered so far in this blog involves significant ethical questions and this one is no different. In fact, given that the producer and primary driver of this project, John Maloof, is the person who is mainly responsible for popularizing this artist after her death, the ethical issues here may be more thorny than usual and makes for a fascinating study in its own right.
