Solaris (1972)- Review

Watched. My rating: 10/10. 

 

 My second Andrei Tarkovsky film, first being Stalker (1979). Man... his films really are a handful!
 

 Tarkovsky's direction style reminds me a lot of Stanley Kubrick and this film is like a reverse 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); if 2001 and The Shining (1980) congressed, this would be the result. As it turns out, Andrei was not a big fan of 2001, referring to it as "cold and sterile", even though Kubrick loved Solaris. I'd say Andrei just missed the point with 2001, but who am I to say that?
 
 Hence, Solaris was meant as a Russian response to 2001, which makes it that much more interesting and amusing for me. It is a much more warm and human drama, whereas 2001's most developed character was H.A.L 9000, an artificial intelligence fueled sentient computer. These two films really act like each others' Yin and Yang; one depicts a future where our fascination with technology dwindles us of emotions and deprives us of intimate human connections (2001) and in the other, technology is merely a background, a presence which seldom makes itself feel, and when it does, it just acts to accentuate our emotions, making them as high as they can be. Love, grief, sorrow, misery, disgust, fear... every knob turns to 11 once you're in Solaris, surrounded by technology. Some might even say that Solaris is a much more cynical than 2001.
 

 The conscience of the crew of Solaris gets personified with the in the shape of the memories of people the crew knew/know. The more one of these mysterious beings interact with the person from whom they originated, the more real and human-like they become, making it possible for them to interact with other crew mates even when the being's main person is dead. I believe these "beings" might be art personified. For e.g, take a writer writing a book. The more time and labor a writer (crew mate) spends on this book (being), the more it'll be comprehensible to other people and the more they'll be able to relate to the book. The book will encompass the writer's human experiences of emotions and intellect.
 
 If the book is refined enough, it'll become a classic, being interacted by people long after the author is dead; like the little girl seen by Kris when he first arrives at Solaris. Replace the book with a film or a painting or a song and the analogy still works.
 
 The little girl follows Kris in the beginning, but once Hari (the female lead) finds him, the little girl disappears from the film. The girl might stand for humanity's lost innocence, following us, always in the past. Kris tries to follow her but soon gives up when he finds a dead body. Once the film progresses, she is so far off in the past that she is out of sight and out of mind. As if she is of no concern to humanity. 

 
 Hari might be our infatuation with... the lost desires? I don't know where this thread might lead, need to think about it. But her character's relation with Kris strangely resembles with relationship in Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, Vertigo (1958). The similarities are: 'resurrections' of the loved one, or the multiple disguises of Kim Novak's character, the male lead is unable to protect the female and it becomes inevitable to repeat past mistakes.

  Repeating past mistakes is a big thing here. Even the building in which they live and operate is in a circular design where characters keep running in circles like a hamster on a wheel (2001). We're all reliving the same basic experiences which just differ in circumstance. As if the love story remains the same, it's only the time and details which change. Like Hari, who comes back again and again, differing just a little each time; this theme is akin to the themes of 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind where the two main characters keep engaging in a doomed relationship each time their memory is wiped. We're all trapped in our own little islands of memories, living the same life over and over again.
 

 Solaris should be a mandatory double feature with 2001; hell! make it a triple feature and add Vertigo in the mix!

 

The Office Season 8- Review

 Watched. My rating: 6.8/10. 

 

 Because The Office had achieved rock hardness in the seventh season, it was sad to watch it become flacid because of the newly introduced, unlikable characters in season eight. To give Michael Scott's arc to Andy was a mistake. Rainn Wilson as Dwight carries this season. That's it, I guess. I don't what to talk about. I'm pretty indifferent about this season.

Desert Flower (Fleur du Désert) 2009- Film Review

 

Ritvij’s review published on Letterboxd:

Watched. My rating: 8/10. 

  Its a rags to riches story but an unconventional one; in any traditional one, once the protagonist reaches a western country, they start with a clean slate, working slowly to their way to the top. Isn't that the famous, or infamous, depending on whom you may ask, "American Dream!"? But in Desert Flower, the protagonist carries her problems from the old country and lives her each day with it. I guess genital mutilation is not a problem you can just shrug off, now can you?

Yes sir, yes madam, thirty minutes in and it gets to the point, shocking the audience if they hadn't already knew what the story was about (I knew it 'cause the movie was recommended to me by a human being). Getting back to the subject, stuff like this continues to baffle me. Keep in mind that when I talk about mutilation, I'm talking for both the genders. Its clearly designed to repress sexual pleasure, it is fantastically painful, leads to trauma, leads to the dulling of the sexual relationship and can be in that moment life threatening in itself. There are hundreds and hundreds of records of babies who've died or have had life threatening infections as a result of this disgusting practice.

Its an utterly idiotic and ghastly wicked social construct accepted by people in the past who couldn't tell the difference between piss and rain. But its not like they hate their kids. They might even say that the reason they do this is that they love them. But that doesn't excuse the horrid ritual being inflicted upon them. In the past, rituals like these are how boys were trained to become soldiers and girls were groomed to like repression. 

Childhood indoctrination is a fascinating thing. Teach a child that the burqa is a good thing and (negative) reinforce it with religion, in a few years you'll get a woman who loves the wretched garment.
There are a couple of scenes involving child actresses which needed not to be filmed in the way they were filmed. Its not the best shot film, its not the best scripted film, and its not the best edited and sounding film, but it has its place and deserves recognition. 

An uncut and hidden gem.

 

 

Fight Club (1999)- Review

Watched. 

 

 My rating: 8.7/10. 

 

 let's break the first 2 rules of Fight Club and talk about it. 

 I believe that Fight Club is a love story between young men and the projection of masculinity as projected by the media and society. Its obvious that The Narrator and Tyler Durden are the same guy; why is it treated like its a big reveal? 

  The film is all about dichotomy, as represented by the Yin-Yang table lying among the rubble of The Narrator's burning apartment. But the problem with the protagonist is that he assumes that the Yang to his Yin is Tyler Durden (aka, toxic masculinity). In truth, the real Yang is Marla (femininity), but, of course, as a testosterone fueled, angry with his life, young man, he takes Marla as a threat when he first time sees her in her life (in his personality). 

  But he still uses her for pleasure while distancing himself from her mentally, i.e deluding himself that some part of him is not feminine. Isn't that what young men without a sense of self are prone to do? To try and fit that image of pure masculinity, hurting themselves in the process? Consuming products which they'll either never need and in the process of consuming, the products become a part of them as a person. Maybe they think of themselves as a product of last generation's fuckups and maybe that's why they feel entitled to anger.

 

  But that's just a surface level reading. Its a solid script and its masterfully directed. The cinematography really captures The Protagonist's state of mind. Every shot almost smells of gasoline. Dreariness of the colour pallet is contrasted with the fast cutting action swirled with exciting needle-drops. 

 Its a bit overrated, but, as most overrated films, it has some merit.

The Office Season 7- Review

Season 7. 

 

 

Watched. My rating: 9/10. 

 Ricky Gervais, Jim Carrey, Ray Romano, Will Arnett, Kathy Bates and James Spader show up in guest roles in this season. Ricky cameoed twice! Need I say more? It would've been absolutely mental if David Brent (The Office U.K) had replaced Michael as the new boss.

 To watch Michael leave was distressing as hell. I was misty eyed but I didn't break because I was expecting him to return in an episode or two. But now that the season is over, its hitting me now that maybe that was Steve Carell's final episode. Damn... I also liked how they incorporated the "A-Minute-of-Silence" bit from the U.K version when Pam meets Michael at the airport. But, as it goes, the American adaptation of that particular bit was not as brave as the British one because we could still hear the ambience. It works nonetheless.

 Jim is funny, liked by everyone, has a wife and a kid and a great body. Is Jim what Michael aspired to be when he was a young guy? And maybe that's why saying goodbye to Jim was the most difficult thing for Michael to do; he would be saying goodbye to that projection of his as well and accept himself as he is. The whole arch of Michael Scott (David Brent) is that he goes from people laughing-at-him to laughing-with-him, and we see the beginning of that beautiful transition in this season when people actually laugh at his jokes. Its a classic larva to butterfly shebang. 

 Season 1 was terrible but they listened to the criticism and improved themselves tremendously, making us connect to the characters in a strong adhesive of empathy. And because of that connection, even when the comedy isn't at it's best, we carry on watching the show because we enjoy the company of the characters; also it results in some very powerful emotional beats. Shows have the advantage of feedback over movies. 

 

The Office U.S Season 5- Review

Season 5. 

 

 Watched. My rating: 8.9/10. 

 This show is just rising with each season. And how the hell did Idris Elba show up in it!? The Michael and Holly arch was gripping. I loved how Dwight forgave Angela. Everything was cool. My back hurts like hell right now. This season had the best ending.

The Sopranos- Season 1 Review

 Season 1

 

 

 Watched. My rating: 8.5/10. 

  I think I've cursed myself. Ever since I've watched Breaking Bad, I know that any show I pick up is not going to give me that same level of high that B.B did. Now I can't help myself but compare any show I watch with B.B. So lets just get some similarities and differences between the two shows out of the way.

 Similarities- 

*Both stories first episodes involve a birthday i.e implying the subtext of a new beginning.

*Both involve the protagonist's life changing due to a medical condition.

*Both Walter White and Tony Soprano worry about their families.  

 Differences- 

*Walter White was infatuated with the future but Tony Soprano is in love with the past.

 *Walter White's family loves him but Tony Soprano's family doesn't.

 

 

 

  Masculinity and the society's expectations of what masculinity means and how it defines it is obviously a big thing here. Tony doesn't think very highly of femininity; a sign of weakness.

  

 Tony thinks he and his generation are doomed for failure. Stuck in the past with the greats like Al Capone and his own dad.  He even thinks the younger generation is disrespectful of his generation even though he is doing the same thing to his elders.

 

 Its great to see Michael Imperioli from Goodfellas (1990) to shine as one of the main characters in this. That reminds me of that jaw-dropping cameo by Martin Scorsese himself in the 2nd episode. 

 

 Its a good setup, lets see where the following seasons lead.