A drop from the ‘Pensive Bowl’ (PART III)
Lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice? Hmmm… The Birds Nest thinks otherwise
August 16
- Zubin was fortunate to watch the cocky ‘Bolt’ of lightning scotch the track - making the recent developments at the cube seem passé.
August 15
- Zubin having fluked an eagle, intends to stay off the greens for most part of the next few decades.
August 13
- Zubin wishes to be fortunate enough to watch Bupathi-Paes take on Federer.
August 11
- Zubin " G O L D!".
August 9
- Zubin having missed the $43 billion -‘One world, One dream’ extravaganza, is searching for reruns.
August 8
- Zubin 080808 080808 080808.
August 7
- Zubin is all eyes on the biggest spectacle- and the chance for the Dragon to stamps its arrival in grandeur.
August 5
- Zubin is expecting an implosion sooner than later in the former Test playing nation, that has had an annual inflation of 2.2M% (yeah.. ‘M’ as in ‘MILLION’).
August 3
-Zubin isn't sure what to make of his comeback from a setpoint down, before he goes on to win the next 6 games and the set.
August 1
- Zubin Confidence vote? Checked!...... IAEA? Checked!....... Next? NSG, US Congress… Nov?? hmm...
-Zubin has new found respect for the symptoms brought on by the human emotion identified by a drop in serotonin levels and increase in cortisol.
July 29
- Zubin wonders if Reino de España will extend their dream run (courtesy Sastre, Nadal, Euro'08, F1, beauty pageant, etc) at Beijing.
July 27
- Zubin is catching up on the latest season of 'Ticky-Tacky, Little Boxes', but doesn't see any 'Ticky-Tacky, Little Boxes'.
July 25
- Zubin in his spare time, continues devouring info regarding the feasibility of 'fission' plants, in light of the latest gambit.
- Zubin wishes someone would help answer the question that recently popped up,… please?
July 23
- Zubin is ecstatic that the 'people who matter', are going all out to hedge the future using Thorium. "w00t! w00t!".
Posted at 09:52PM Aug 17, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
69. Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s US/Mexican/French film "Babel" (2006): Lack of empathy or a problem of communication?
There is a revival of interest worldwide in making feature films that comprise several disparate stories that link up with a common thought or use a common location. This is now called the portmanteau film. Such films have sporadically surfaced over the decades but their appeal seems to be limited to the serious film goer. Babel belongs to that odd genre stitching together several stories, one taking place in rural Morocco, another set in towns on the Mexico--USA border, and a final one in urban Japan. Understandably you hear five languages--Berber, Arabic, English, Japanese and Spanish—with subtitles to help the viewer, not to mention sign language used by the hearing impaired.
To understand the film one needs to know the historical meaning of Babel. Babel is a city described in Christian and Jewish scriptures relating to King Nimrod in The Book of Genesis.[Read More]
Posted at 09:11PM Aug 16, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
57. Canadian filmmaker Paolo Barzman's second film "Emotional Arithmetic" (2007): Subtracting the past, adding the present and balancing the equation
It is fascinating how the horrors of World War II continue to spark off good, intelligent cinema around the world even after a gap of over half a century.
[Read More]
Posted at 11:00PM Aug 15, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
62. Haitian director Raoul Peck's US/French film "Sometimes in April" (2005): Remarkable feature film on the Rwandan genocide
(Opening quote from the film)
After I saw the Hollywood’s multiple Oscar nominated film Hotel Rwanda (2004) in a regular theater, I could stand up and be counted as one who felt that that the noble efforts of a hotel worker (based on a real person who worked at Hotel des Mille Collines) to save so many lives were worth emulating, if I was ever to be in his shoes.
Just a few days ago, I chanced to see Sometimes in April (2005), on the Rwandan massacre on television’s HBO channel, released a year after the release of Hotel Rwanda. You begin to wonder why so few have written about this wonderful little film made for TV, partly with US financial support. This small film is undoubtedly far superior to the acclaimed Hollywood product in both content and style, even though the subject matter of both films pertain to the real events that surround the genocide in Rwanda. The genocide took place in the month of April, when the rains begin, and hence the title of the film.
Yet the two movies are as different as chalk and cheese.[Read More]
Posted at 08:58PM Aug 08, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
A drop from the ‘Pensive Bowl’ (PART II)
July 23
- Zubin is ecstatic that the 'people who matter', are going all out to hedge the future using Thorium. "w00t! w00t!".
July 21
- Zubin "The most popular 'mammal with wings' had a tryst with debonair".
July 19
- Zubin 's attention is on Tues vote, which shall potentially influence the economic prosperity of appx 2 billion people (for the next 2-3 decades).
July 13
- Zubin 's eyes are on Vietnam!(at least for the next couple hours) :p.
- Zubin is (nearly) distraught by the implications of Barclay's projection of 17% WPI inflation, as it may be the harbinger of worse news.
July 11
- Zubin believes that being 'The best' in a well represented athletic event at both age 14 and 41, deserves a fairytale ending (though unlikely).
July 9
- Zubin begins counting down the days until the next installment of 'Heracles (purported) gift to the modern world'.
July 6
- Zubin xpects history that evaded Borg to be finally made today. And yeah, hearty congrats to Dara Torres!
---The most popular 'mammal with wings' had a tryst with debonair---
Posted at 09:44PM Aug 02, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
65. Alfred Hitchcock's "Marnie" (1964): Unusual Hitchcock—where marriage is preferred over jail by a strong-willed woman
This is NOT the stuff that director Hitchcock usually dealt with. The subject and the treatment of the subject are different from most of his other films.
[Read More]
Posted at 12:31AM Aug 01, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
64. Russian (former Soviet) director Grigory Kozintsev’s "Korol Lir" (King Lear) (1971): An unsung masterpiece on "civilization heading to doom"
I fell in love with the Ukranian-born director Kozintsev’s King Lear some 30 years ago and I continue to be enraptured by the black-and-white film shot in cinemascope each time I see it. Each time you view the film, one realizes that a creative genius can embellish another masterpiece from another medium by providing food for thought---much beyond what Shakespeare offered his audiences centuries ago. Purists like Lord Laurence Olivier and Peter Brook offered cinematic versions of the play that remained true to what the Bard originally intended, only refining performances within the accepted matrices.
[Read More]
Posted at 10:05PM Jul 28, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
35. US director Terence Mallick's "Days of Heaven" (1978): Seeing heaven by twilight on earth
Director Terrence Malick strides the world of cinema as a colossus in the company of Soviet directors Andrei Tarkovsky (www.nostalghia.com), Sergei Parajanov (www.parajanov.com), and Grigori Kozintsev. After viewing Days of Heaven for the third time in 20 years, the film touches me the same way as did the works of the three aforementioned Soviet filmmakers.
The title is from Deuteronomy 11:21:
"That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth."
Technically the movie can be appreciated by each of the three elements that build the final compound product.[Read More]
Posted at 08:52PM Jul 17, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
A drop from the ‘Pensive Bowl’ - recalling portions of the last few days
July 3
- Zubin finds himself hauling more electronic gadgets than clothes while on the move (A child hood fantasy that’s lost its charm).
July 1
- Zubin having logged in excess of 16 contiguous hours is wondering if it may just be coincidence that his comp seems to be working faster than usual.
June 29
- Zubin ‘s serendipitous dialogue that started 6 month ago with his daimonic, has ended on the best possible note with his cherished convictions intact.
June 27
- Zubin wholeheartedly thanks all those that were kind enough to volunteer (over the last couple days) their one perpetual yet fleeting possession.
June 24
- Zubin isn’t pleased that one of the better movies of the year may have subsequently influenced a few in possibly making not-necessarily-the-best decisions.
June 21
- Zubin thinks that the unexpected coming of age of his least favored guard, makes a strong case for a preemptive change in phase.
June 17
- Zubin possibly just heard the finest rendering of Nessun Dorma, that wasnt sung by Luciano.
June 14
- Zubin is curious, but has not reason to be scared as he is no feline. (A Duchenne cheshire smile).
June 12
- Zubin believes this week will be noted in the annals as the day when a major corporate player first announced its historical change in market strategy.
June 8
- Zubin’s fear of having to choose between Euro’08, the Canadian GP and the French open finals now seems wistful.
- Zubin is going to miss watching probably one of the best single handed backhand (he remembers watching) and wonders how effective the Belgians’ backhand may have been in today’s one sided final.
- Zubin for a change wants the offense to win! Go Roger!
"Waste Allocation Load Lifter Axiom-Class" - voilà!
Posted at 07:40PM Jul 05, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
47. Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" (1954): Opening new windows to reflect on the classic thriller
After viewing the film three times over a span of 20-odd years, the film urges a keen viewer to go beyond the appreciation of the cinematic challenges that Hitchcock sets for himself to overcome. For instance, one need not merely appreciate that this film is one of the rare instances in cinema where all the sounds are "diegetic"— recorded on the soundtrack are sounds from within the visual world captured by the camera. Further, one need no longer be intrigued by the amoral perspective of the voyeur, represented by L.B. Jefferies (James Stewart), the good, average American bachelor with a robust, modest, creative career and a rich doting girl friend, Lisa, trying to rope him into marriage. After three viewings you are no longer wide-eyed about the blending of the viewer's perspective with those of Jefferies' perspective, historically a major feat of Hitchcock.
Posted at 08:55PM Jul 01, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
29. Mexican film "El Violin" (2005) by director Francisco Vargas: Riveting debut performance by an elderly actor and impressive photography
Imagine that you look like a grandfather in real life. Imagine that your right palm has been amputated but you play a violin with a bow strapped to the maimed arm. Imagine a director wanting to use you as a lead actor in a feature film. Imagine you win a Cannes Film Festival Best Actor prize for the Un Certain Regard section of the festival for the role. It's not a dream--it happened to Mexican actor Don Angel Tavira in the Mexican film El Violin or The Violin, directed by Francisco Vargas.
I caught up with this film at the on-going International Film Festival of Kerala, India, where it won the Silver Crow Pheasant award, the best film award bestowed on a film among the 14 competing entries by the 6200 delegates attending the festival.[Read More]
Posted at 06:18PM Mar 01, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
30. Iranian director Amir Naderi's evocative "Aab, baad, khaak" (Water, wind, dust) (1989): evocative and uplifting film on human values
This is an unusual film of exceptional values--75 minutes long in color, with hardly any spoken dialogs. I saw this Iranian film in Farsi without English subtitles at the Early Iranian cinema retrospective at the recent International Film Festival of Kerala, India. That I was watching a print without subtitles did not make a difference as there were very few lines of spoken dialogs.
This is a very accessible film for any audience to enjoy--its story and values are not merely Iranian, it's universal.
The film is set in rural Iran that had not tasted petro-dollar prosperity. The setting is on fringes of desert land, where water is scarce, rainfall scanty and hardly any blade of grass is green. Add to it wind and dust that buffets and whips man and animal and you can imagine plight of the people who live on the fringes of society.[Read More]
Posted at 08:46PM Feb 01, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
31. British filmmaker David Lean's "Ryan's daughter" (1970): A complex masterpiece that never got its due praise when released
More than 30 years after the movie was made, Ryan's Daughter needs to be compared with his other important works--Lawrence of Arabia, Dr Zhivago, Bridge on the River Kwai and A Passage to India. Pauline Kael and many others ripped up the film because it was a loose adapatation of Madame Bovary. But this is Ryan's Daughter, not Madame Bovary.
Visually the three finest are Ryan's Daughter, Lawrence of Arabia and Dr Zhivago.
Aurally--in the departments of music and sound--the finest two are Ryan's Daughter and Dr Zhivago.
If performances make a movie, four of the movies were outstanding: Ryan's Daughter, Dr Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and [Read More]
Posted at 06:13PM Jan 01, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
32. Chinese filmmaker Yimou Zhang's "Yi ge dou bu neng shao (Not one less)" (1999): A marvelous neo-realist Chinese film, ideal for family viewing
Long after De Sica made Bicycle thief and Fellini his La Strada, neo-realist traditions grab me like no other in cinema history. The Chinese film Not one less, made half a century after the Italian masterpieces, underlines several aspects of neo-realist traditions—non-actors can transform into great actors provided you have an intelligent script and a talented director, poverty attracts anyone with a conscience, the candid camera is a marvelous tool, and human values exist to be appreciated irrespective of national boundaries. It truly deserved the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival.
A reluctant substitute teacher taking on a job that would fetch a doubtful "50 yuan" from a village mayor with questionable priorities transforms into a national hero in less than a month as she strives hard to ensure the number of her students do not dwindle until the regular teacher returns. Her resolutions [Read More]
Posted at 10:26PM Dec 01, 2007 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]
33. Iranian director Amir Naderi's "Davandeh" (The Runner) (1985): A gem of neo-realist cinema
Davandeh (The runner) is a cinematic ode to the spirit of Amiro, a young orphan boy who seeks to excel in what ever he does, to know more and look beyond his present boundaries, and to seek this knowledge through formal education that has eluded him thus far in life. Without a doubt, the movie is a treat to watch. This is the second Amir Naderi film discussed on this blog.
The opening shot is of the young boy yelling out a greeting at a distant sea vessel. You wonder what is wrong with the kid. As the film progresses you learn that he is an orphan. He is a normal kid, yearning to know more about the world beyond his immediate boundaries—the big ship and aircrafts symbolize this quest.
[Read More]
Posted at 02:35AM Nov 01, 2007 by zubinabraham in Personal | Comments[0]