All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) | Review

 16/12/22.  

 Watched. My rating: 9.4/10. 

 After spending four months with Niffeneger's romance novel, The Time Traveler's wife, I dove in headfirst in Erich Maria Remarque's 1928 German novel, All Quiet on the Western Front and ended up bingeing it over a week as it became an instant favorite of mine and it reminded me of what truly great literature is capable of. So naturally I was pumped up to watch it's film adaptations, especially this one considering it has the advantage of modern technology over the previous iterations. And I'm so glad to announce that it not only met my expectations, but its also among the best films of this year.

 The story follows Paul Baumer, a 19 year old who enlists in the army with his schoolmates as their teachers, parents, neighbors and the whole previous generation eggs them on in the name of glory, heroism, god and country. But the front has a different plan for them with its reality...  

 Right from the very first shot, we get a clear sense that Edward Berger (director) and the team aren't interested in repeating what's been done before, other than a reference to the 1930 production (A soldier lying g dead with his hands blown away, probably still clutching the barb wire). Lesley Paterson has changed the original story in her screenplay, enough to exclude the scenes which the Lewis Milestone's 1930 adaptation had already taken advantage of and adds an entirely new narrative which runs parallel to main action portraying the German and French delegates hashing out the terms for an armistice. This not only provides for a much better contextual understanding for the audience, but also a background to cut away to from the action sequences.

 The film opens with serene shots of the woods and a mother fox feeding her pups in their burrow. The scene proceeds to hover over to a desolated land covered with dead bodies, dead horses, broken equipment, scattered guns artillery before dropping down in a trench where shells screech around them, clumps Earth rain down on the miserable soldiers as they yell and run up and down the line to climb over and attack the enemy. A scared young soldier somehow musters up enough strength to run towards the the direction of the bullets and, very soon, he bites the dust. His name was Heinrich. 

 The film cuts to black and the title comes on. Heinrich's uniform is taken off of him to be re-patched and his name tag is replaced with Paul's. We see women operating sewing machines which sound like the firing of a machine gun, implying how women, and every civilian, were serving at their own personal fronts. There's the individual's honor in war, in all its glory; one name replaced with the other.

 That whole bit wasn't in the book and the fact that many such scenes and details are added which enrich the experience deserves all the praise its getting.

 The cast is composed of mostly young talent, unknown talent which helps you focus on the story. Yes Daniel Bruhl is in this, the one and only Fredrick Zoller, but only because he produced it. But Felix Kammerer proves to be a very good Paul Baumer, lending himself to vulnerable innocence and hardened stature of veterans, and his chemistry with Albrecht Schuch, who plays Kat, provides for a rather touching relationship for the audience to relate to.  

 Now, to talk about the action sequences, we must address the chilling score by Volker Bertelmann. Volker has given us the best soundtrack of his career to this date. We enter the battlefield aurally before witnessing it visually by the threatening blares of the music which sound like something out of a monster movie and makes the horrors of war that much more palpable. And the action scenes themselves are incredible as well, with long takes and intimate shots of the characters, putting you right in the middle of the cross fire. It even made me flinch once. But the highlight of the film for me was the sequence in which the German forces encounter enemy tanks for the first time, only to be followed by flamethrowers. The visceral sound design surrounds you with all its creaks and groans of metal and wood, give the atmosphere a detailed texture. Its among the most anti-war action scenes of all time. 

 I'm not sure of the historical accuracy of the film overall, but it seems authentic enough for me to buy into its reality. But that's not the goal that it sets itself anyway. The aim was to encapsulate the dread, the paranoia, of being stuck in the trenches and it succeeds in doing so. It had my heart thumping in many scenes and I can't say that about many war movies.

 It changes the ending from the book, and it still works. I think that the book had a better, bleaker conclusion which portrayed the pointlessness of war in a much more poetic sense, yet retaining a sense of realism. The film ditches realism at the very end to get a bit more satisfying ending for the audience. Again, it still works, but I prefer the book's version.

 The film ended, credits flashed in silence and all I could hear was my own palpitation, before the rasping sounds of the harmonium came back, as if the ghosts of the past wars were breathing down our necks, like Gerard Duval, the Frenchman that Paul kills.

 

 For me, a ten on ten film, a perfect film, is one in which I wouldn't change a single thing. And this one came very close to being one, but I have my issues with some of the editing choices in it. Many scenes are cut off just a few seconds earlier, which jarred me out of the movie. For example, the scene in which Paul and his friends find the company of young recruits they were looking for in a warehouse/factory, and the scene just cuts off. There's clearly some essential shots which didn't make the cut because of which the film feels just a tad incomplete. Perhaps adding those missing 10 to 15 minutes worth of footage would do wonders for the film, even though its runtime already sits at two and a half hours.

 All Quiet on the Western Front will leave you dumbfounded. Clearly among the best of the year.

The Good Lord Bird (2020) | Limited Series | Review (Thoughts)

 Limited Series. 

24/Nov/2022. Watched. My rating: 9/10. 

 Prior to watching this, I knew next to nothing about the historical figure, John Brown. Matter of fact, I knew only his name and the fact that he was a violent abolitionist. But after watching this, like after watching any film based on any historical events, I've begun researching about the man and his history. That's the thing about great filmmaking; it infects you with its own curiosity regarding the subject it is about. Which makes me wonder if my own interests stem from others' passions.

 The Good Lord Bird is a limited series which came out in 2020 and it is directed by a group of coloured people, men and women. Its short, sweet and to the point and the cinematography at times reminded me of Red Dead Redemption 2.

 The casting is just phenomenal here, really great bunch of actors in really well written roles. Ethan Hawke tore the stage with his thunderous performance as John and he deserves all the praise that he got for it and his larger than life character is perfectly complimented by young Joshua Caleb Johnson's relatively restrained performance as Onion. Wyatt Russel, Daveed Diggs... what a cast.

 Funny enough, Ellar Coltrane, who was the boy in Linklater's Boyhood (2014), played Ethan's son in this as well. I guess its his niche, his speciality.

 I was going to write a piece on it talking about the various layers of dichotomy (between god & country, humor & horror, black & white etc.) but I watched it on 24th of November and today is 16th of December and I'm no longer interested in talking about it. Plus, today, I'm sick at heart. 

 Great show though.

Normal People (2020) | Limited Series | Thoughts

19/Nov/2022. Watched. 

 My rating: 8.2/10. 

 This past month and a half has been difficult. Sometimes the yearning is so strong that it just... especially when you know there's no chance of seeing them anytime soon. I sometimes wonder if missing someone can actually make you sick. Yes. Yes it can. 

 And to cure myself of it, I restarted watching movies. Romance movies, mostly. And Normal People, the 2020 Hulu series which is an adaptation of the Sally Rooney novel of same name, fit snugly into the mood I am in.

 It tells the story of an outcast-of-a girl and a shy jock who fall in love in high school and it follows their will-they-or-won't-they relationship till they are 22. (I don't think I'm ready to talk about movies yet. Too distracted.)

 But let me just say that a few scenes and dialogues in this felt like they were lifted straight from my life. Especially in the tenth episode, I believe. 

 Great performances, intimate and melancholic atmosphere is what made me binge it. And yes, by binge I mean I watched it in 5 sittings. Which is not really bingeing 

 I'm not enjoying anything more than a 8/10 nowadays. I hate it when it happens.

 Just look at this scattered piece. Its not even a piece. I'm sorry.

Better Call Saul | Seasons 2-6

  16/Oct/2022. Seasons 2-6. 

 Watched. My rating: 8.8/10. 

 Its been over a month since I watched the final episode of Better Call Saul and considering Breaking Bad is my favorite show of all time, I wanted to write a proper piece on BCS. But, I won't. I can't. I'm not interested anymore. Plus, I have 8 movies to log on my Letterboxd. Yeah, so I'm just clearing up my chores.

Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (2019) | Review | A Love Letter to Leonard Cohen

 14/Oct/2022. Watched. 

 My rating:  8.6/10. 

 I love Leonard Cohen. If there is a man who has influenced my writing the most in the past 3 to 4 years, its Leonard Cohen. If there is a man who is responsible for reviving my love for writing and reading poetry, its Leonard Cohen. 

 I have read two of his books, The Flame & The Book of Longing and I've listened to all of his albums multiple times. As a matter of fact, as I'm writing this piece, the final track of his album, Dear Heather (2004), is playing on the speaker; Tennesee Waltz (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival).

 I wrote my first poem in the first standard, when I had an altercation with my music "teacher", and by the end of the affair I had declared that I could write a better song than the faecal propaganda written on the blackboard. That was my first run-in with the authority and my first dabble in writing creatively, even though it was my protest than my artistic expression. Time went by and I had lost my patience for poetry and school only worsened the wound. 

 Until years later, in 2019, when I watched a romance film by the title of, Take this Waltz (2011). I loved the film, but more so, I loved the track which they needle-dropped in its climactic sequence. I was absolutely gobsmacked. And its not an hyperbole when I say that all the breath was taken from me. I had never heard such lyrics, such voice, such music. It was dark and it was gentle and the world was anew! 

 I searched for the track and discovered that the film was named after the song itself and it was written and sung by a man by the name of Leonard Cohen, who had died in 2016, the same year my father had died. Leonard's songs are a comfort to me, especially this month, when my dearest friends are leaving our town for greener pastures. Leonard doesn't take away my loneliness but Leonard puts an arm around me and declares that he is lonely too. And thus, the two of us sit in the dark, writing and drinking and looking at the light.

  Instead of a review for the documentary about the man, its a love letter to the man. And if there is any man who deserves it, its Leonard Cohen.

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial | IMAX | Review

  4/Sep/22 Watched. IMAX. 

 My rating: 9/10. 

 I received some money yesterday so, naturally, I opened the Book my Show app on my phone and began browsing. To my disappointment, Jordan Peele's Nope and George Miller's Three Thousand Years of Longing were no longer playing in Lucknow. But, in the pages of history, every once in a while, fate reaches out and extends it's hand; E.T: The Extra Terrestrial was released in celebration of it's 40th anniversary.

 When I was in kindergarten, we had a DVD which had 3 films: E.T. (1982), Koi Mil Gaya (2003) and Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004). Now, Baby Geniuses 2 was clearly the best movie by a mile, considering its of the Citizen Kane caliber. And apparently, Koi Mil Gaya, a Bollywood rip off of E.T., was apparently the first movie that I'd "watched" in cinemas. I say that in quotations because it had released on 08/08/03, just a few days before my first birthday which was on the 23rd.

 Anyways, since I loved Koi Mil Gaya, I tried watching ET back when I was 5 or 6. The opening scene, with it's night time forest, the landed UFO and the alien's finger pulling on a branch scared me so much that I ejected the disc and put on Spider-Man instead. 

 And ever since I crossed the age of 16, I assumed it was a cheesy kids' movie so I never really came around to it. Who knew that they'd have to release it in the IMAX format for me to watch it. And man, was it worth it! Especially since it costed half the price of admission in comparison to a new release. (255rs and 455-550rs). 

 So lets talk about the movie itself now. 

 Directed by Steven Spielberg and shot by Allen Daviau, the film opens with the titular character of alien origins being left behind on Earth by his companions as the government agents try and hunt the aliens down. Frightened, alone and looking for a shelter, ET stumbles into a family's backyard where he meets Elliot. The young boy, whose father recently left him, his elder brother, younger sister and mom, befriends the alien and takes him in to protect him and find out where he came from. 

 But, at its core, the story is about losing a father. 

 Now, as far as I know, Spielberg didn't have the happiest childhood. His family kept moving from place to place, which did expose him to all types of people but it costed him the stability a young mind needs (or does it need it?). Even though his mother indulged in his creative pursuits, his father, who prioritized his work above anything else, never appreciated his son until he heard his coworkers praising his films. He was at all times distant, to say the least. And if that wasn't enough, arguments between his parents escalated so much in his teens that Steven remembers bunching up towels under his door to keep out the shouts and screams of them. Soon, when his mother fell in love with one of his father's friends, they separated. Spielberg was 19. And he was estranged from his father for the next 15 years.

 Whether it be Jaws (1975), Jurassic Park (1993) or Catch Me If You Can (2002), themes of the broken home can be traced in his filmography. Out of the films that I've watched, its most perceptible in E.T and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977); two films that Spielberg made within 5-8 years that revolved around the concept of alien life. 

 In Close Encounters, after receiving telepathic signals from a UFO, Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who is a father and a husband, gets obsessed with trying to contact the aliens and ignores his family. Similarly, in CMIYC, Frank's parents are shown in an argumentative marriage because his father has lead his family in debt. Spielberg creates this warm household which was absent in his childhood time and again in his movies and showcases either their collapse or their journey to healing themselves.

 There's lovely scene n Jaws where, being tensed with his obsession of catching the killer shark which is on the loose and saving the lives of the people of his town, Brody is sitting with his son at the dinner table and to uplift the somber atmosphere, they begin mimicking each other's body language. That same scene is used in E.T when E.T mimics Elliot's movements. But its taken up a notch in it as we see later on in the film during the school scene, that Elliot experiences all of E.T's states of mind. A drunk father at home explains why the boy is acting out at school.

 Yes, E.T is obviously the dad. The dad who left. And when he came back home, he wasn't the same. He had to learn everything once again. Through his child, the world was anew. A man becomes a stranger in a strange land when he becomes a father. Why does the dad die? Cancer? Alzheimers? It doesn't matter. What matters is that he lives on in his child.

 The acceptance of responsibility leads to happiness in Spielberg's films. Both in E.T. and Jurassic Park, we see characters accepting fatherhood; Sam Neil's character in JP and E.T. in E.T. Even Oscar Schindler takes up the responsibility of saving as many lives as he can.

  Another thing which I like about this film is that it has that inspiring flare of 80s' feminism, the kind you see in Dragoti's Mr Mom (1983), in the form of Dee Wallace who plays Elliot's mom. She exuberates with energy in all of her scenes and carries the emotional weight of the story. Her chemistry with the kids were great too. 

 When talking about the technical side of the film, I've got absolutely no complaints. The animatronics, the special effects, the VFX, the sound mixing, the cinematography, the compositions, the palette... everything is just perfect. And of course, whenever John Williams partnered up with Spielberg, we've seen wonders happen.

 I its a cliche to say it but I'm gonna say it anyway: Steven Spielberg's movies encapsulate those warm, fuzzy feelings that you used to have as a kid. That childlike wonder is rare in cinema and I'm glad that Steven is here to capture it. And E.T. made me sob like a child... or an animal.

 Who knew that my first Spielberg at the theaters would be one of his classics! We need revival theaters in Lucknow! 

Panchayat | S01 & 2 | Series Review

5-6/August/2022. Watched. 

 My rating: 9/10. 

 As soon as I heard my friend, Sahil, praise this show a few months ago, I had added it to my watch list. But that's the thing about watch lists, they have no order to them. Its very fortunate that I dove into it yesterday because I was in the perfect mood for something like it.

 Panchayat consists of 2 seasons, 8 episodes each and I ended up watching 11 of them in a day. It follows a young man named Abhishek, who ends up moving to a village in Uttar Pradesh named Phulera where he is appointed as the secretary in a panchayat (village council). Once there, he discovers the colourful characters that inhabit Phulera. As frustrated as though he is leaving his urban life behind (even going as far as to claiming it a village of idiots), he begins to care about his fellow villagers and even falls for a girl there.Yes, we've seen these stories of assimilation but not quite like this before. 

 Yes, its technically a subpar production. The scenes don't flow together, its over-scored, the melodrama infests a moment or two, the editing is lackluster, the sound design distracts more than it immerses, the blocking never gets creative... there are a million flaws to it. But, just as Sahil warned, watching it to dissesct it's technicalities is just the wrong approach to it. If you're doing so, then you completely missed the point. 

 The show's strength lies in it's characters, dialogues and the warm sense of community that it creates. Its a comfort show, a hangout series. And it captures the intricacies of the rural life so accurately that it just makes me smile. 

 For instance, in the first conversation that Abhishek has with his colleagues, he learns that even though the village head is a woman, she stays at home and her husband is acts as the real head. And he is baffled by it. Believe it or not, that's almost verbatim dialogue that I had with a former pradhaan who had the same arrangement with his wife. And there are a lot of such scenes in it which shines light on some very real issues that we have.

 The performances here are, for the most part, pitch perfect. Like most of us, I first came across Jitendra Kumar (Abhishek) back in 2020 in a show called Kota Factory in which he played a teacher named Jeetu. He rose to fame with Jeetu Bhaiya and then I didn't thought of him much. Now, as Abhishek, he is great but he does falter a bit during some intense scenes where he has to act with the experienced actors, Neena Gupta and Raghubir Yadav.

 Raghubir and Neena stole the show for me. The little gestures, the little breaks, repetitions in their voice they implemented, brought the characters to life for me. And that attention to detail can be noticed in the rest of the cast as well. Chandan Roy, Faisal Malik, Prateek Pachauri, Pankaj Jha...

 Like, if I wanted to show someone what people in my village are like, I can show them Phulera. And that says something.

 Every episode had a self contained narrative, like a sitcom, which made it that much more watchable. And, because I can't seem to figure out where to insert this thought, it is here I must place it; I loved how Abhishek lived in the panchayat office which was just a bit removed from the rest of the village. It rendered his detachment, his loneliness that much more visual and comprehensible for the audience. I wonder how long it must've taken to scout the location for this show. 

 It also consistently improves itself with each episode in an almost palpable manner and nothing me makes me happier than witnessing someone's artistic growth. Hell, the final episode even made me cry, what else do you want. That was actually the exact moment when the show turned from 8.9 to 9 for me. And I just found out that it was directed by Raghu from TVF, the man who parodied Roadies.

 Every scene stays on for just a bit too long to show a detail of our culture that we don't see in cinema. Like, there's a scene where Abhishek calls Prahlad, his colleague to help him with some task. Turns out Prahlad is busy and can't come. Abhishek hangs up and the scene cuts back to the Prahlad's shot where his son asks him what was the call about and he tells him flippantly. Such details are put in regularly throughout it's runtime. And I think that's just beautiful. 

 Panchayat is clearly made with sincerity and love and its as infectious as it is heartwarming.