Review by Vinoo
Language : English / Hindi
Director : Jaideep Varma
This one will go right alongside ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ in my collection. Hats off to Jaideep Varma for a wonderful tribute to, arguably, the best band in the country. The passion with which the group makes their music is nothing short of infectious. The film begins wonderfully with various sounds, street calls, vehicle honks, hawkers singing, all of which could be music if seen the way it should be, culminating in the house where Indian Ocean has been jamming for years making the wonderful music that they are. The inspiration to the music that Indian Ocean makes has been varied, be it the ‘Ma Rewa’ from the people of Narmada, or ‘Kaun’ inspired by Kashmir, or ‘Kandisa’ pulled out from Aramaic, or the wonderful music for ‘Black Friday’ which is definitely one of those films where the soundtrack will be talked of much after the film’s lifetime.
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Review by Vinoo
Language : English
Director : Susan Koch / Jeff Werner
‘Kicking it’ is a documentary on the World Cup for the homeless. 48 countries participate in a World Cup for the homeless in 2006 during which most of the football footage for this film was shot. Started in 2003, by Mel Young and Harald Schmeid, this initiative is simply remarkable. The premise is that a football can change lives. How true! The film follows 7 people from various countries : Jesus (a 62 year old with an alcohol problem, an ex-player for the junior team of Real Madrid, Spain), Slavan (from the streets of St.Petersburg, Russia, Najib, from the Taliban-ruled, war-torn Afghanisthan), Damien and Simon (from the drug rehab centres of Dublin, Ireland), Craig (a homeless from the streets of North Carolina, USA), Alex (a toilet-cleaner, from the slums of Kenya).
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Review by Vinoo
Language : Spanish
Director : Francisco Vargas
‘El Violin’ is the story of the confrontation between the soldiers and the peasants in 1970s Mexico. Don Plutarco Hidalgo, his son and grandson are the main protagonists. Plutarco’s son is a revolutionary and is part of the peasant movement for their rights. Every evening Don Plutarco’s Violin offers solace to the weary peasants. In one of the raids on their village, in search of rebels, the soldiers take over and drive out the entire population. Some of the men are taken hostage and their women are raped right in front of them. Stuck in the village is ammunition the rebel peasants have shored up. The only way their revolt can offer any sort of resistance whatsoever is if they can recover the ammunition. Don Plutarco goes back to the village, on a mule he bartered for his entire harvest (such stories seem universal and not just part of films like ‘Mother India’), on the pretext of checking his harvest. The local military commander takes a liking to Don Plutarco’s Violin and seizes it in the hope of learning it himself. Plutarco has no choice but to go everyday to give the commander Violin lessons. And, on the pretext of checking his harvest, he gradually smuggles out ammunition, buried in his farm, in his Violin case. The commander misleads Plutarco, by seemingly hinting at when and where the peasants would be attacked. Plutarco tips off the peasants, not knowing he has been played by the Commander, and thereby inadvertently leads his own people into an ambush. Plutarco knows he has been cheated when he finds the Violin that he had buried in the secret hideout, to smuggle out ammunition in its place, is no longer there. The commander offers him his Violin and asks him to play while the rebel peasant leaders, including Plutarco’s son, are captured and brought back and presumably executed. Plutarco puts the Violin back in the case and says ‘The music is over’. The film ends with Plutarco’s grandson making a living playing the Guitar. A revolution never ends, does it? Shot in amazing black and white the film has some scenes of extreme brutality by the soldiers. The film has amazing performances by all, especially Angel Tavira, as Don Plutarco, with that brilliant face of his that says a thousand words. Brilliantly directed by Francisco Vargas and amazing casting. Watched this at IFFK a couple of years back and revisited it recently.
You can download the movie poster here
Digital Cinema Camera KINOR – DC2K
* 22 mm color CMOS sensor
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The Kinor website
technical specifications noX 2k d-cinema camera
* 2K resolution (2048 x 1152 at 25-fps max)
* 1080p (1920 x 1080, progressive, 23.98-, 24-, 25-fps)
* 720p (23.98-, 24-, 25-, 29.97-, 37-fps max)
* Single 1.2″ CCDchip
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* 8.4″ high resolution control monitor with touch screen
* 6.5″ high resolution, high brightness control monitor with
touch screen (opt.)
* Electronic viewfinder (opt.)
* Raw uncompressed data recording
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* 18 seconds shock protection
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* 360-degree shutter
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* V-mount rechargeable battery system
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Digital Cinematography – Latest News about digital cinematography
Language : Marathi
Director : Dr.Jabbar Patel
I could watch just any film with Smita Patil in it. ‘Umbartha’ (‘Subah’ in Hindi) is Smita from the beginning right unto the end. Sulabha Mahajan (Smita Patil) is married to a lawyer, Subash (Girish Karnad), a family that is highly respected and supposedly liberal. Sulabha’s mother-in-law is a social worker and wants her to join her group. Sulabha, a social-sciences degree holder, gets an offer to work in an NGO. She leaves home, and her six-year old daughter and husband, and joins the Mahila Ashram. Like ‘most’ NGOs it turns out that this too is an NG or a ‘No Good Organization’. It is a cover for money laundering, prostitution and other such illegal activities. Sulabha soon begins to set things right but figures everyone in the system, the Chairman of the Mahila Ashram to the local Corporator to the Ashram staff are all hand-in-glove. Destitutes, Lesbians, abused Housewives, Sexually-abused women, Criminals, Divorcees and other section of women not acceptable to ‘Modern Society’ end up in the Ashram. They have nothing to look forward to in life. In her fight against the system, Sulabha has to sacrifice herself. She goes back home only to find her daughter is secure in her sister-in-law’s company and doesn’t have any attachment whatsoever to her anymore. Her mother-in-law isn’t quite amused with Sulbha coming back either. Her husband reveals that while she was away he gave in to a physical need and has been sleeping around with another woman. He also tells Sulabha that there is no choice now but for her to make a small adjustment and life can go on like before. The film ends with Sulabha leaving on a train, her situation no better than any of the inmates of the Mahila Ashram she was trying to resurrect. The character of Subash is a little weak as written in, particularly so where he is discussing a case where he will make sure the woman, against who he is arguing a case, has no choice but to accept that her character is suspect. Watch this one just for Smita Patil and the subject it takes on. A middle-class woman fighting to hold her own, in a male-dominated society, played so well by Smita Patil.
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Review written by Vinoo
Language : Persian
Director : Asghar Farhadi
Sepideh invites Elly, her daughter’s kindergarten teacher, on a holiday with three families and their kids at a beachside resort. Elly is not initially aware that Sepideh’s real agenda is to set her up with her cousin Ahmad who is just back from a break up with his German? wife. Elly wants to go back home as she has not informed her mother of a long break. While she is walking by the beachside the kids are playing in the water. One of the kids gets washed away and is luckily washed back to the shore. Simultaneously Elly goes missing. The kids are not able to clarify if Elly did go after the drowning boy and drowned herself in the process. Gradually Sepideh’s husband tries reaching Elly and figures her mobile phone is hidden in Sepideh’s bag. This leads to suspicion and Sepideh is forced to reveal all. Elly’s engagement to a man she doesn’t like and that Sepideh was only trying to help her out of a bad relationship by fixing her up with Ahmad. Cheating on a man she is engaged to is tantamount to an illicit relationship in Iran. Suddenly the entire group turns against Elly. Sepideh asks what if Elly drowned trying to save your kid. Elly turns from good to bad to good in the eyes of the family members. The film culminates with Elly’s fiancé landing up at the beachside resort and at the same time Elly’s body is washed ashore. You are not let in on whether she drowned trying to save the kid or if she committed suicide unable to solve the dilemma of being stuck in a relationship she does not want and a liking she develops for Ahmad. The change in human relationships over minor incidents is handled brilliantly. Also you don’t realize what really happened to Elly but you are glued to the story like you are part of it all. Every scene seems to reveal a bit of the story but you figure it really doesn’t, not even at the very end. Quoting Ahmad from the film “A bitter ending is better than an endless bitterness”. Aye!
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Review by Vinoo
Language : Persian
Director : Abbas Kiarostami
What a movie. If I hadn’t seen it I would have dismissed ‘Shirin’ as pretentious stuff passed off as an experimental film. Here is the gist. Make what you can of it. Abbas Kiarostami experiments with an audience, comprising of 112 Iranian women (and I think I vaguely remember 2 men as well), watching a twelfth century Persian love story, the story of ‘Khosrow and Shirin’. All you see is the face of the audience. This goes on for five mins… ten… twenty… and by then you know that is all you will see for over an hour and a half. All you see is the expression of the women in the audience, who are really us. The expressions tell you the story. There is just the play of light on their faces, and the rich soundtrack that you hear. You almost feel you have seen the love story on screen. The actors have been filmed in fixed-frame close-up I gather. And for Juliette Binoche fans out there her face is one among the many women watching the film and reacting to it: sometimes smiling, sometimes shedding a tear, sometimes trying hard to mask an emotion. Surely was one movie that left an impression at this year’s IFFK. Hats off to the director for even thinking of making something that would seem outrageous unless of course you have seen it. This ran to a full house in Kerala. What more can I say?
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Review by Vinoo
Language : English / French
Director : Ken Loach
‘Looking for Eric’ is the story of how an imaginary Eric Cantona helps his huge fan, Eric Bishop, work his way out of a crisis. Eric Bishop is a middle-aged man working in the franking section of a post office. He has two step-sons who show him no respect whatsoever. His second wife has not contacted him for a while now. Eric is on the verge of committing suicide. During one of his drunken evenings he is high on dope and almost magically his Manchester United celebrity Eric Cantona appears. Eric cantona will serve as an example and will help his fan, Eric, put his life back in order. You get to see some old footage of the genius Eric Cantona playing for Manchester United. I am no great fan of this club but I sure loved Eric cantona and the film. How a Manchester Untited mob sorts all issues and how Eric re-unites with the family forms the rest of the film. Loved watching this one at the IFFK.
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