Eagerly waiting to see two new Korean movies

I am eagerly waiting to see two new south Korean movies. Joon ho bong’s ‘Mother’ and Park Chan Wook’s “Thirst”. Both of them are my favourite directors from Korea.

40 years old Joon Ho Bong has already proved his talent through his films “barking dogs never bites”, “memories of murder”, “host” and “Tokyo”. His films are critically acclaimed as well as big successes in box office. He is a product of Korean Academy of Film Arts (known as KAFA, the state film school in Korea like our FTII. I got a chance to watch his diploma film ‘incoherence’ at KAFA- the present institute director who taught him told me how talented he is even when he was a student). His film “Memories of Murder” broke all the box records when it was released. It is a perfect crime thriller with out using many mainstream cinematic jargons and one of my favourite films ever produced in Korean language. His last commercial movie “The Host” is still the highest money collecting movie in the history of Korean cinema. This film was dubbed into more than 15 languages and released all over the world including India. His latest movie “Mother” was released last month in Korea and it instantaneously became another big success. I heard that it is also a crime thriller like “Memories of Murder”.

Park Chan Wook do not require any introduction, the two time Cannes award winner is considered to be the most precious film maker of modern Korean cinema. He started his career as a film critic and has a deep understanding of world cinema. He is world renowned for his “Vengeance Trilogy” – Sympathy to Mr. Vengeance, old boy and Sympathy for Mrs. Vengeance. IMDB has voted Old boy as one of the greatest movies ever produced in the history of world cinema. His earlier film “JSA”(Joint Security Area) is one of the ground breaking political film (remember it was a commercial film) which questioned the boundaries built by the political establishments over the unbounded love of humanity. I think JSA is the first South Korean political movie released in North Korea by the Kim ll-sung regime (it may be wrong to call it a communist government as it became a father-son business).

Park’s latest movie ‘Thirst’ got special jury award in Cannes film festival of this year. It is his first horror movie and it is about a vampire. I heard that it has lot of visual potential like ‘old boy’. “Thirst” will be released in Korean theatres in this month. I am very excited to watch this movie.

Interestingly both the directors – park chan wook and Joon ho bong are members of Democratic Labor Party, a leftist political formation in Korea. They are very critical towards the US centered policies of the South Korean Government. You can trace out anti imperialist statements/references in their films.

Byambasuren Davaa

Byambasuren Davaa is a unique film director…. still now she has made only two films – “the weeping camel” & “The cave of the yellow dog”. Her films are unique for its very gently, subtle , uniquely fluid, organic, meandering way of storytelling.

She was born in Mongolia and studied in Germany. Her both films are about the vanishing culture of nomad people in Mongolia. But interestingly she used very different perspective to tell the story. In her own words : My aim was to document a vanishing culture. So as a film-maker, I’m in control of my language, but I wanted to step back and let them tell their story from their perspective, so in a sense I created a filmic language that would enable them to do that. They live quietly, and in a subtle way.

In the first film is about nomad family in Mongolia and one of their camels. The camel is not ready to accept its new born baby. The mother camel is not allowing the baby camel to drink its milk. So the family tries all possible ways to solve the issue but fails. Then according to their tradition if a particular music is played the mother camel will change its mind. So they bring two artists from faraway place to play the music. And astonishingly the music works...!! The camel starts crying and it allows the baby to drink its milk.

The story is very simple and close to nomad tradition. The second film is also about another nomad family but this time the main focus is on a child and her dog. All the characters are from real life and no script was used to produce both these films. For both this movies, she spent more than 2 months with the original nomad family. After some days the family was not worried abt the camera and presence of the team. So she created some situation in which the characters reacted naturally and she filmed those scenes. So there was no “Action” and “Cut” s during the shooting. It was really long, painstaking process of film making but result was very amazing. The characters were fitted with each situation in the film and it was so natural.

Zhang Yang

If cinema is a medium to narrate a story – Zhang Yang is one of the greatest film makers from Asia. His films presents human saga interwoven with affectionate humor. Turn away from art house destined costume epics of emperors, conquerors and concubines; he depicts the lives of ordinary citizens. He is a great talent as a teller of compassionate tales.

In his first movie - spicy love soup is considered to be the first box office hit of an independent film in Chinese film history. This celluloid work was based on 5 love stories, with changing tone and feel for each story, yet continues to follow a certain charming rhythm and style.

The first story is about a boy who loves sounds. He daily records sounds which please him. One day he came across the most beautiful sound in his life - sound of a girl student in his class. Using his recording and editing skills he creates a beautiful but manupulated conversation with the girl. It was his first gift to the girl ...may be the last also. In the second story we came across a boy who makes a dinner with a hope to reconcile his bickering parents. He adds some magic love potion (given by his grandmother) in the dinner to unite them. In the third story a husband and wife in the verge of alienation rediscover their love through toys…!! The fourth story is about a love at first sight …

In the centerpiece of the film, is the most heart touching story of a retired nurse who tries to find out her new life partner…..

His second ‘Shower” film brought him international attention.

Da Ming, goes home to Beijing when he receives a letter from his mentally challenged brother Er Ming thinking that his father had died. He finds his father working at the family's bathhouse (the false message was a ruse of Er Ming, to get Da home). Da stays a couple days, observing his father being social director, marriage counselor, and dispute mediator for his customers and a boon companion to Er. Da is caught between worlds: the decaying district of his childhood and the booming south where he now lives with a wife who's not met his family. When Da realizes his father's health is failing and the district is slated for razing, he must take stock of family and future.

His third film Quitting was a sensation in China. It depicts the story of a drug addicted actor- Jia, who tries to find out his existence through alienating himself from his family and society. . The film is a striking social document as well as a gripping personal story. The film is also a passage through the impacts of post modern "Beatles Culture" on the young generation of China in early 90’s.

Sunflower was his fourth film. "Sunflower" is a powerful and touching look at the compelling inner dynamics of post-Cultural Revolution Chinese society. As the political atmosphere of the country changed Zhang Gengnain, a self trained painter rejoins with his family from the labor camp. The physical torture in the labor camp made him incapable to continue the profession of an artist. But he wants to fulfill his dreams through his son Xiangyang. The films time period spans the course of three decades--focusing on the years 1976, 1987 and 1999--in the lives of Zhang Gengnian and his son.

His latest film is Getting home released in 2007. It is also a pulse counter of modern China. The film reflects the humane side of Chinese society as well as the emerging callous class difference and developmental paradigm of the society.

The plot follows Zhao as a construction worker whose best friend dies, leaving him to fulfill a promise that he will return his body to his distant hometown. Short on money, the determined Zhao decides to carry his friend's corpse on his back, relying on help from the people he meets on his travels…"Getting Home" is a road film in the purest sense, progressing in anecdotal fashion through Zhao's encounters with a variety of quirky characters, some of whom help and some of whom hinder him in his journey. The plot revolves around a number of small, personal stories and is frequently unpredictable, as the viewer never knows what lies around the corner, or who he will run into next. Through this, the film works well as a series of clever observations on the lives of everyday people in modern rural China, and is both believable and fascinating. Despite the subject matter, it makes for upbeat and life affirming viewing, helped by the fact that the honest and loyal Zhao makes for a great, sympathetic protagonist who the viewer really comes to care for. His efforts to fulfil his promise are very touching, as are many of the tales of the people he meets, and Zhang shows his usual skill in avoiding cheap sentiment, keeping things heartfelt and unforced throughout.

Zhang's works have emotional core which drives the film and which really pulls the viewer into the story. Few other directors working in modern Chinese cinema or indeed from anywhere else in the world are his equal in this respect. Funny and poignant in equal measures, it makes for great entertainment and again goes to show that the best films to come from China in recent times have been the small, personal ones rather than the big budget blockbusters.

Waltz with Bashir

ഈ സിനിമ ഒന്ന് അവസാനിചെന്കില്‍ എന്ന് ആഗ്രഹിച്ചു പോയി പല തവണ. ഇതില്‍ കണ്ട ദൃശ്യങ്ങള്‍ വളരെ കാലം ബോധ മനസിനെ വേട്ടയാടും എന്ന് സംശയമില്ല.

1982 ല്‍ ലെബാനോനിലെ സാബ്രയിലും ഷടിലയിലും നടന്ന വംശഹത്യയുടെ ഓര്‍മകുറിപ്പാണ് ഈ സിനിമ. ചരിത്രത്തിലെ ഏറ്റവും രക്ത രൂഷിത മായ, സ്റ്റേറ്റ് സഹായത്തോടെ നടന്ന കൂട്ട കൊല യാണ് ഈ വംശഹത്യ. ഈ സൈനിക നീക്കത്തില്‍ പങ്കെടുകേണ്ടി വന്ന സിനിമ സംവിധായകന്‍ മറന്നു പോയ തന്റെ ഓര്‍മകളെ തിരികെ തേടുകയാണ്.

ഒരു മുഴുനീള അനിമെഷന്‍ ഡോക്കുമെന്ററി ആണ് ഈ ചിത്രം.

A new Kim-Ki-Duk in World cinema

If you are waiting for a Kim-Ki-Dukian  movie, do not wait for Kim-Ki-Duk to make a movie. “Yang Ik June” will satisfy your Kim-Ki-dukian taste buds.

The new Korean movie “Breathless” marks the arrival of a new Kim-Ki-Duk in World cinema – Yang Ik June. This movie is the new sensation from korea, conquering film festivals and critical appreciation from the around the world.

Breathless originates from the dark side of human relationships. Throughout the film you can feel the violence which demystifies violence. The director is not concerned with viewers who would humiliate its characters. It does not try to make its characters appealing by concealing their stupidity. That is to say, it does not avoid absurd moments to make itself more romantic.

It can also see as a gangster movie but it gradually breaks away from all the traditional elements of a gangster movie. In the gangster traditional films, it is rather the sympathetic qualities that makes the gangster identifiable; the viewer somehow knows that actually the gangster is 'good hearted', and waits for that moment in which he reveals the good in him/her. But from the first scene breathless questions this perspective.

In the first scene you can see that- A man is beating a woman. Then another man comes along (“hero”) and beats the beater. At that point the viewer may think like "OK, this is the hero". Yet the scene continues and the man who beats the beater starts to beat the woman, blaming her for not fighting back. The viewer does not know if she/he is to laugh or get angry, to adore the guy or to degrade him.  

Interestingly this is the first film of Yang-Ik June and he played main role in this film. His performance as an actor was amazing…one may feel that his both skills were competing each other in this movie.  

Cinematic experience

What kind of experience do we have when we are watching movies? Is it only personal..?

While reading a book we conceive words into images…. Is it same happens with cinema also..? I think personalization happens with images also. The visual moving infront of the viewer’s eyes would be different from the visual (information) that he stores in his memory. There is a transformation happens in between these process. What is that..? How is it happens..?

I think this process of transformation is vital when we study the impact of moving images on an individual and on a mass. That is why different people have different feelings about a same movie.

Shower

ലോകസിനിമ ഇന്ന് zhang yang കഥ പറയുവാന്‍ കാത്തിരിക്കുകയാണ്. ഓര്‍മകളായി മാറുന്ന മനുഷ്യ ബന്ധങ്ങളുടെ നൈര്‍മല്യംമാണ് zhang സിനിമകളുടെ ഇതിവൃത്തം. 80 കളുടെ അവസാനം ചൈനീസ് സിനിമയില്‍ പുതിയ മാറ്റാങള്‍ കൊണ്ട് വന്നു. പുതിയ ഒരു കൂട്ടം സംവിധായകര്‍ നവ സിനിമയ്ക്കു തുടക്കം കുറിച്ചു. ഈ ചൈനീസ് നവ സിനിമയുടെ അമുല്യമായ സംഭാവനയാണ്‌ zhang yang. zhang നെ പ്രശസ്തി യിലേക്ക് നയിച്ചത് 2 മത്തെ സിനിമയായ "Shower" ആണ്. തികച്ചും ചെറിയ ബജറ്റ് ഇല നിര്‍മിച്ച ഈ സിനിമ അപ്രേധീഷിട വിജയമാണ് box officil നേടിയത്. ഒപ്പം വിവിധ ഫിലിം ഫെസ്ടിവലുകളില്‍ വിമര്‍ശക അംഗീകാരവും നേടി.

 

Shower

 

Liu Daming നഗരത്തില്‍ നിന്ന് അച്ഛന്റെ അടുത്തേക്ക് വന്നത് വളരെ ആശങ്കയോടെ ആയിരുന്നു. താന്‍ ജനിച്ചു വളര്‍ന്ന ഈ ചെറിയ പട്ടണത്തില്‍ അച്ഛന്‍ നടത്തുന്ന bath house ( ആളുകള്‍ക്ക് സുഖപ്രദമായി കുളിക്കാനും സമയം തള്ളീനീക്കാനും വേണ്ടി നടത്തുന്ന സ്ഥലം) ഇല്‍ എതിയപോയാണ് സമാധാനം ആയത്. അച്ഛന് കുഴപമോന്നും ഇല്ല. അച്ഛനോടൊപ്പം ഈ ബാത്ത് ഹൌസില്‍ കസീയുന്നമാനസിക വളര്‍ച്ച കുറഞ്ഞ അനിയന്‍ കാണിച്ച വേലയാണ് ഈ തെറ്റിധാരണ ക്ക് കാരണമായത്. തനിക്കു അയച്ച കത്തില്‍ അവന്‍ ബെഡില്‍ കിടക്കുന്ന അച്ഛന്റെ പടം വരച്ചു, അച്ഛന് സുഖമില്ല എന്ന് Liu Daming കരുതുവാന്‍ ഇത് കാരണമായി. ഇപ്പം അച്ഛന് കുഴപമില്ല എന്ന് കണ്ടപ്പോള്‍ സമാധാനം ആയി, വന്ന സ്ഥിതിക്ക് 2 ദിവസം കഴിഞ്ഞു പോയാല്‍ മതി എന്ന് നിശ്ചയിച്ചു. ഈ shower house ഒരു രസകരമായ ലോകം തന്നെ യാണ്. ഇവിടെ വരുന്ന ഓരോ ആളും ഓരോ തരക്കാരാണ്. ഒരാള്‍ക്ക് വെള്ളം തലയില്‍ വീണാല്‍ ഉടനെ പാട്ട് വരും. ഈ പാട്ട് കേട്ട് നിവൃത്തി ക്കെട്ടാല്‍ മറ്റൊരാള്‍ ഓടി പോയി tap അടയ്ക്കും. അപ്പോള്‍ പാട്ടും തന്നെ നില്‍ക്കും. പക്ഷെ Liu Daming ഇന്റെ അനിയന്‍ Liu Erming ഇന് ആവട്ടെ പാട്ട് ജീവനാണ്. അയ്യാള്‍ ഓടി പോയി Tap തുറക്കും. അപ്പോള്‍ ഒരു ഉന്തും തള്ളും പ്രതിഷിക്കാം. അവിടെ വരുന്ന വയസ്സായവരാകട്ടെ കമ്പം "ചെറു പ്രാണികളെ " തമ്മിലടിച്ചു രസിക്കാനാണ്. പ്രാണികള്‍ തമ്മിലുള്ള അടി അവസാനം അവര്‍ തമ്മിലുള്ള അടിയായി തീരാന്‍ അധികം നേരം വെണ്ട. ഭാര്യയുടെ അടി പേടിച്ചു വരുന്നവരും, വിചിത്രമായ കണ്ടുപിടുത്തം തലയില്‍ കൊണ്ട് നടക്കുന്നവരും ഇവിടത്തെ സന്ദര്‍ശകരില്‍ പെടും. എത്ര വിചിട്രമാനെന്കിലും ഈ ലോകം ഒരു തലമുറയുടെ വികാര വിചാര ങ്ങളുടെ രംഗ വേദി യാണ്. ഒപ്പം Liu Daming ഇന്റെ അച്ഛനായ Liu ഒരു ജീവിടകാലം കൊണ്ട് കേട്ടിപെടുത്ത ഒരു കുടുംബമാണ് ഈ bath house.

 

Liu നു പ്രായം ഏറെ ആയിരിക്കുന്നു. തന്നെ ഉപേഷിച്ച് നഗരത്തില്‍ ചേക്കേറിയ മൂത്ത മകന്‍ മാനസിക വളരച്ച്ചയില്ലാത്ത ഇളയ മകനെ തന്റെ മരണ ശേഷം സംരെക്ഷിക്കുമോ? വികസനത്തിന്റെ പേരില്‍ ആ പ്രദേശത്തുള്ള എല്ലാ വീടുകളെയും പൊളിച്ചു മാറ്റ്‌ മെന്നു govt. അറിയിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു . അപ്പോള്‍ തന്‍റെ ഈ പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട bath house നെ വിട്ടു പിരിയേണ്ടി വരുമോ ? - Liu തന്റെ ആകുലതകളെ ഉള്ളില്‍ ഒതുക്കി കഴിയുക യാണ് അപ്രേധിഷിത ആയാണ് Liu നെ മരണം കീഴടക്കുനത്. ഈ മരണം - Liu സഹോദരന്മാരെ എങ്ങനെ ബാധിക്കുന്നു എന്നതാന്നു ഈ സിനിമയുടെ അന്ത്യത്തില്‍ നാം കാണുന്നത്.

Revive Malayalam film industry

I am always wondering why Malayalam cinema is not matured till now. The time is reached to say bye to stardom from Malayalam film industry. It is like “thondayile mullu”. The time is reached to say to the veteran actors like Mamooty, Mohanlal and suresh gopi - ENOUGH. Now we need better cinema, not the old moral value system that these actors are still representing. We need new stories on human relationships and man-woman relationships. We need political expressions in cinema not “SHIT DIALOGUES”. We need better visual story telling methods not MTV cuts and Shaji Kailas cuts. We need new experiments with MUSIC and SOUND. We need new stories exploring our cultural tradition and history. We need to explore the folklores and political movements of our history. We need to question our male shovanistic society. Middle class and upper middle class have high jacked our films years ago. PLEASE take back our cinema from their hand.  

I am not just saying we need young directors and actors. But we need new narration methods. If the new comers just imitate their older generation, what is the use..?

Hindu groom and Muslim bride - Secularism of indian film industry

It is very interesting to observe the notion of secularism in Hindi films. We have to appreciate the film industry to uphold the values of secularism during the initial decades of post independent period when the nation was divided and communal riots broke out. It is the time when the left movement had a great influence on the film industry through artists like Balraj Sahni, Mehboob Khan, Bimal Roy etc.,. Later years also this tradition of secular values sustained in hindi films along with some minor deviations. Why this happened…. is an interesting question to answer.

I believe this broader sense of humanity came from the constituent structure of the film industry. People from various parts of the country, from various religious as well as social backgrounds came to form our Hindi film industry. If you take a typical hindi film in 50s, most probably the director could be a Bengali, script writer could be from MP or UP, technical crew could be from South India, actors could be from regions like Punjab etc., Also the contribution from Goanian(from Goa) music orchestrators to the hindi film music world was enormous.

We can also see that minority community had played a major role in the development of the film industry. The main excluded section was the tribal community (It is very rare that hindi film industry has addressed tribal issues).

This unification of cultural diversity had provided a secular platform for hindi film industry.

But interestingly there are many paradoxes in the secular stand of the film industry. Some of them are- if there is any Hindu-Muslim marriage, the groom is always from Hindu religion and the bride is from Muslim religion….. The responsibility to uphold religious amity always falls on the Hindu character… Most of the time Christian character would be a “professional” drinker and morally westernized….. etc.,

Even these paradoxes existed, hindi film industry was more over secular up to late 70s. In 80s and 90s we can see the rise communal messages in hindi films inspired from the large political atmosphere of the country.

Wednesday vs Mumbai Meri Jaan - Two approach towards Terrorism

Wednesday
In my opinion it is very dangerous movie in our present political scenario. The basic idea conveyed by the director can said like this - Terrorist kills innocent people.....police can't do anything against them, even if they arrest terrorists (indirectly director is indicating towards a "strong" law required to tackle terrorists)....the terrorists are no doubt "Muslims"......since police and judiciory can't handle terrorists, it is time for "Aam Janta"[common man(not woman)] to take the law in their hand...... lets kill all the terrorists.......then they will learn a lesson....

I have some questions to ask.... how can we know that who are the terrorists...???? Do police only catch real culprits??.... Many times they also catch innocents and torture them(due to different reasons)... remember those arrested from Hyderabad....govt at last accepted that they were not terrorists but police picked them intentionally...those people were given compensation for the torture .....But according to the director of this film.... these innocent people should be killed...Terrorism is a complex issue, u can't simply it...... by looking at the news paper headings or watching TV news reports, you can't find out real terrorists....

Subject wise the film is not better than any of our Ranji Panikar/Suresh gopi movies or Shankar movies like "Anyan". The common man's revenge against the incapable system....!!

Simplifying issue may give popularity but it genuinely lacks depth. I agree that Wednesday is well made movie…the rhythm of editing…..suspense factor…it is a good entertainer. But we should think what is inside the beautiful envelope…. a dangerous ideology.

Mumbai Meri Jaan
The film has a very different approach towards the issue of terrorism. it carries very positive messege....

What terrorists (belongs to any religion or political group) would like to do by carrying out a terrorist attack....??? do they simply wants to kill some people and satisfy in it...Not at all....terrorist attacks are always a triggering point.....to polarise a society.... it will destabilise the society…creates an atmosphere where human rights have no value….it will promote arm race…. It will give more power to STATE, religious and political groups to squeeze individual freedom…

Do u even thought....why terrorism is a phenomenon of this period.....?? Now terrorism is identified as an effective tool to polarise the society… Terrorism creates an invincible enemy… a fear psychosis…. An atmosphere of mistrust is a good field for seeding extremist politics.

There are Muslim extremists group as well as Hindu extremist groups. Both of them need each other to survive.

So what should we (common citizen) do in this difficult period? Should we hate each other and participate in extremist politics..? or take law in our hand and kill those we believe as terrorists..? is it solve our problem..?Do we have to abandon our humanity..? do we have to stop love each other or stop living together..? This film tries to give answer to many such questions, without being overstated…..

It is foolish to think that there is no terrorism in our society… we should be cautious about it…. The best way is to study the political climate of our society and to isolate all kind of extremism among the society. Keep religion and every kind of fundamentalism away from our political life… it is the best way and only way to stop terrorism.Please do not forget to live and love ….. in the times of darkness… I think it is the message of this movie.