David Simon has made some waves recently in a series of interviews regarding the Wire (here; here; and here), viewer’s relationships to it (and its characters). I’m not going to repeat or reproduce Simon’s remarks here; please do chase down the links. But in a nutshell: Simon (was) is unhappy about the ‘pop’ understanding ofContinue reading “David Simon is a Little Too Proprietary About The Wire”
Category Archives: Movies
Tourism and the Invented Tradition
Ian Johnson interviews Tian Qing (New York Review of Books Blog, April 6th, 2012), the head of China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, “an institution set up by the government to protect China’s native traditions in the performing arts, cuisine, rituals, festivals, and other forms of culture” in an attempt to figure out whether these culturalContinue reading “Tourism and the Invented Tradition”
Aguirre and the Rainforest: Madness in a Theater Made For It
Werner Herzog‘s Aguirre: Wrath of God is a supremely effective cinematic meditation on madness. It is able to marshal several progressions: that of the cinematic narrative, the journey into, through, and hopelessly within, an alien jungle-land, the simple passage of time, and run them alongside the descent into insanity of the movie’s eponymous central character.Continue reading “Aguirre and the Rainforest: Madness in a Theater Made For It”
Art House Double Features: A Day (or Night) at the Movies
The impecunious graduate student’s best friend is the arthouse cinema double-feature. The evidence is in and the case is clear: for payoff in a diverse set of dimensions, the cinema double-feature is the winner hands down. Sure, the wine-and-cheese reception might get the budding academic a date or two–paper acceptances, book contracts, meaningful academic conversation,Continue reading “Art House Double Features: A Day (or Night) at the Movies”
Reflections on Translations – III: The Pleasures of Iranian and German Movies
I like many products of contemporary Iranian cinema: for instance, the movies of Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and Majid Majidi–to name only three of a long and distinguished line-up of directors. Theirs is a neorealism with a compellingly different grammar from that of other products of the genre. There is another, not-so-overt reason for theContinue reading “Reflections on Translations – III: The Pleasures of Iranian and German Movies”
The Oscars as Inducers of Cosmic Disillusionment
Many, many years ago, as a mad-about-the-movies young–very young!–lad, I was in the habit of eagerly awaiting the announcement of the year’s Oscars, my cinematic antennae quivering with anticipation as the suspense mounted. My spatio-temporal geographic location being what it was, this enthusiasm manifested itself most visibly in a speedy dash to our front balconyContinue reading “The Oscars as Inducers of Cosmic Disillusionment”
Bernard Rose’s Kreuzer Sonata: Sex and Jealousy Forever
Bernard Rose‘s The Kreuzer Sonata might be the best cinematic treatment of insidious, corrosive, and ultimately self-destructive sexual jealousy that I have seen recently. Based on Leo Tolstoy‘s 1889 novella, and part of a trilogy of Tolstoy-adaptations by Rose–I have not seen his Anna Karenina and Ivan’s XTC yet, but I intend to–the film belongsContinue reading “Bernard Rose’s Kreuzer Sonata: Sex and Jealousy Forever”
Nina Paley’s “Sita Sings The Blues”
This past weekend’s viewing pleasures included a long-standing, and much-awaited, resident of my movie queue: Nina Paley‘s 2008 graphically and musically eclectic reworking of the Indian epic Ramayana, Sita Sings The Blues. The movie incorporates four elements: a reworking of the traditional narrative of the Ramayana; a Mystery Science Theater-like commentary on the Ramayana carriedContinue reading “Nina Paley’s “Sita Sings The Blues””
Asif Kapadia’s Senna Takes Pole Position
Asif Kapadia’s Senna, based on the life of the late Ayrton Senna, succeeds as documentary, a sports movie, and a movie. It works as biography, as a morally-instructive fairy-tale about an improbably good-looking, intelligent, sensitive, and articulate sportsman (in a sport made singular by its technologically-enforced impersonal distance from its spectators), and finally, as aContinue reading “Asif Kapadia’s Senna Takes Pole Position”
Goin’ to the Movies
Last December, I found myself stumped by a simple enough question: When was the last time you went to see a movie in a theater? Some ten hours later, I remembered: Terence Maillick’s _Tree of Life_ at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (I cannot remember the exact date). A few days later, I returned toContinue reading “Goin’ to the Movies”
Samir Chopra 