Sat with Stephen Prince's commentary track on Kurosawa's epic Ran. This is one of the better commentary tracks on a Criterion DVD, with Prince giving some interesting insights into the making of the film and into Kurosawa's techniques, especially his use of telephoto lenses. Of course it wouldn't quite be a Criterion commentary without its share artsy noodling and over-analyzing of Kurosawa's "intent" for a particular scene, but this is on the whole a decent track to sit with and the film looks great as ever.

Though most of these were from the end of last month:

Anvil - The Story of Anvil:
Underdog story that could have been made about a lot of bands in the 80s, but fortunately for Anvil (for once), they had a Sam Dunn-like fan who went ahead and made a docu about them. Unlike Dunn though, he doesn't get in front of the camera. Some of it feels made for the camera, but a lot of it rings true (getting shafted by dive bars in Prague, sparks flying between Kudlow and Reiner), even though it's occasionally more funny than tragic. Ok, a bit of both. Those "I don't like heavy metal, but the heartwarming tale of two friends who endured..." reviews bug me, though.

Paranormal Activity:
The slowest of slow burns, practically nothing happens the entire movie. But at some level, it could be considered an effective scare. An effective return on investment too, from the producers' standpoint. Anyhoo, it's easy to laugh this one off if you want to, but it's also not too hard to get creeped out a bit.

Sherlock Holmes:
Second half was better - at least then I gave a crap about what was going on. But neither of the two women in the film can really act, which was a bit annoying. Mark Strong was totally toothless as the baddie. The script was quite useless. So you basically spend most of the movie admiring how cool Robert Downey Jr is. The most impressive thing was how they set up the sequel. Not many movies will have a thread running from near the start of a movie, only vaguely related to the main plot, for the sole purpose of getting a sequel in. For that, I shall give them credit.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea:
When you watch a Miyazaki movie, you know that the story could be total crap and you still wouldn't mind much. If you have the power of sight, that is. If you don't, why are you watching movies, exactly? Maybe in the hopes that someone would make a Hallmark movie about blind people who watched movies out of nostalgia. Well, that doesn't sound too far-fetched. Anyway, Ponyo's story isn't too shabby - though considering his last one was Howl's Moving Castle and the last 5 minutes of that movie were ridiculous, maybe I'm being blinkered a bit. Loosely based on The Little Mermaid, the premise gives Miyazaki room to run amok with the earth-sea symbiosis and throw in whatever cool things he can think of, which as usual makes for a brilliant looking movie. I watched the Japanese version, though it turns out that the English dub is getting the A-list actor treatment (Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Tina Fey and Matt Damon, among others ), so it might have not have been that bad.

P.S - Oh, one of the protagonists is a girl who screams a lot - those of you who don't like that kind of thing can consider this fair warning.

36 Quai des Orfevres

Tackily scripted cop movie where one cop frames another in a criminal rap. Seesm to have gotten a stupid amount of hype on account of its being in French. Gerard Depardieu plays "bad cop with big nose".

Sanjuro (Kurosawa) - nth re-watch, good ass-kicking fun.

A movie I reviewed for a friend's blog:


Van Diemen's Land (2009)

Directed by Jonathan auf der Heide
Actors: Oscar Redding

"Hunger is a strange silence"

Some years ago, I read 'The Fatal Shore', Robert Hughes' seminal work on the establishment of the
penal colonies that came to be called Australia. It was a remarkable piece of literature, one
gathered from the historical record, and tracing the journey of convicts and other undesirables
from the zealous assizes and overflowing prisons of the Old Country to the newly discovered land
in the nether regions of the world. The inhuman conditions of transport, first encounters with
the aboriginal natives, the terms set for the convicts' emacipation, folk tales and legends - 'The Fatal
Shore' gave a succinct picture of the evolution of the fiercely independent, competitive, and
often misunderstood, Australian character.

Van Diemen's Land, written and directed by Jonathan auf der Heide, is a movie centered around one
such legend. Based in the Tasmanian (previously known as Van Diemen's Land, named after some
bureacrat) wilderness of 1822, it tells the story of a group of convicts that fled their shackles
in search of the fabled and fertile eight districts. Their initial levity, however, is gravely
tested as they come to grips with the harsh, unchartered, and unforgiving landscape. It rains, it
snows, the wind is biting cold, the rivers are angry torrents -indeed, there is a memorable line
before one such boiling rapid: "That river there is one for an angry man." Left to their devices
with no hope in sight, they succumb to a paradoxical form of cabin fever amidst the vast, green
expanse, letting mistrust take seed and bloom. They try to live off the land initially but food
is almost mockingly sparse. Trapped between all-pervading hunger and fast-receding hope, they
turn to cannibalism, weeding out the weak and the hesitant.

Van Diemen's Land is told from the perspective of one Alexander Pearce, played by Oscar Redding.
Pearce was eventually caught and hanged by authorities sometime in the 1800s however his accounts
of cannibalism were dismissed as so many tall tales by a culture still governed by Victorian
proprieties. The movie itself doesn't allow us to get too acquainted with the characters, instead
casting them as props against the backdrop of dormant inhumanity that lurks within us all. The
no-name cast handles the parts well enough though, admittedly, there isn't much to be done here.

Pearce soliloquies in Irish throughout the movie. His monologue is the sole link we have to the
ravaged minds of these miserables. The narrative is laden with insight into the mind's darkest
recesses, spewing frustration at an indifferent God. On an occasion when the resident man of
scripture among the lot (Mathers) expresses his resentment on being asked to carry the "crumbs",
Pearce muses, "Mathers has a pure heart still, but Dalton's flesh rots his teeth." In a way, the
movie refrains from judging these men; it merely posits that stretched far enough, there is space
for the unmentionable within us all. However, in the absence of all social mores and structures,
when we're reduced to our basest, do our ideas of good and evil even hold credence?

Jonathan auf der Heide shows a huge Terrence Malick influence here. The wide screen, lingering
and contemplative shots of the forest canopy, the dependence on monologue as a tool for examining
conscience, the sounds of nature lending voice to the wild's monotony, etc - he has obviously
studied Malick's work, The Thin Red Line in particular. Van Diemen's Land is stark, repressive
but never anything other than beautiful to look at. auf der Heide doesn't take the movie's grim
subject matter as license for exploitation either; there are few, if any, explicit images of
cannibalism, to the extent that it deprives the movie of a certain visceral punch. But I can gel
with the director's mindset.

Van Diemen's Land isn't a movie for everybody. It's bleak, sports little cheer, has no standout
performances to speak of, and doesn't have a road to travel or a resolution to meet. As a
meditation on the darker aspects of humanity, however, it is a worthwhile investment.

Rating: 3/5

Saw Striker last evening. Movie has a tremendous sense of location, showing a Mumbai that's not the generic depiction of high-rises and slums seen in most movies. The story of a guy whose trying to rise above his circumstances using his carrom skills also had a significant amount of potential some of which was realized and some of which goes into wtf crap territory. And no, the movie doesn't end with a carrom match that the protagonist wins.

finally saw The Hurt Locker, in a special screening here in Boston. The lead actor Jeremy Renner was also there for a Q n A session later. Super movie and the actor was also cool in his responses.

@ Ravenus - Striker: I'm intrigued by this one. Not only because of the carrom play, but i think the Muslim love interest is extremely pretty to look at. Good one time watch? Or should i just wait for the DVD?

I think it's an interesting if also dissatisfying one-time watch. I'd go to the theaters because the movie also has some excellent sound design (when the songs are not playing). Assuming you're in Mumbai you could see it at Liberty which is a lovely old-school theater and cheaper than the crappy multiplexes.

@ Muslim Love Interest (spoiler):

Tintin in America

Harishchandrachi Factory

Marathi film about the journey of Dadasaheb Phalke towards the making of India's first feature film. It's like watching an extended episode of Malgudi Days - Not quite as sublime as the best episodes in that series but frequently charming and funny, and affectionate towards the subject matter.

TinTin : Cigars of the Pharaoh

Not been watching much at all, but in the past three days I sort of started again.

That Mitchell and Webb Look's Season 3 was good, but there are no peaks like on the first two seasons. First season is still the absolute best these guys ever got.

Also been watching Earth - The Power of the Planet, a pretty decent screencap of this new BBC-HD series that tries to explain what makes this planet tick in a very step by step and logical way explaining a whole lot of things and connecting the dots. I'm now through with the episodes about Volcano and atmosphere, and am halfway through the one on snow. Very good production values, and not as traditional and classy as Michael Palin or David Attenborough, so it has some electronic and rock music, and modern editing work not to mention. Two and a half episodes more to go but I'd highly recommend it already.

TinTin:The Broken Ear

Finished with the entire Extras series. This was damn good overall. My personal favorites were the Kate Winslet episode and the small part with Robert De Niro. And almost all scenes with Ricky Geravis and his agent were just brilliant.