Mystery, Alaska | The ALASKAthon

-Note!- My blind spot entry for this month will be posted on Letterboxd.com, as was last months (12 Angry Men). I want to get used to and make you get used to my blind spot entries and possible (mini) reviews appearing on that platform. Just wanted to make sure you know.

Even though it should be the cinephile's highest aim to be able to approach each genre and subgenre without prejudice, we all have our own little preferences when it comes to the films we watch. Last year, I started keeping a diary on what decades I watch most films from and what suffer most of my ignorant teenage - of course I found my viewing habits concentrated on the last 5 or so centuries. With the 2000s and 2010s taking a lead that is much too strong in my eyes. But it's not only that (sub-contious) skirting of old films that dictates my film viewing habits - much more prominently and, I have to admit, self-consciously, I omit war and sports films.

Blind Spot Fixed: Léon, The Professional

Life has taught me that it's always easier to just give your thumbs up to something than to back off and share your doubts on it. Add to that the fact that I can't really get angry - like, ANGRY angry - and think fighting is sort of useless, and you have me slightly afraid of the reactions to this post. Let's cut to the slack: I wasn't the biggest fan of Léon, my April entry to the Blind Spot series. It's a movie I've been aware of for a long time now and I've been close to picking it up several times on flea markets and the like. As all of the movies I chose for this blogathon, it's one of the highest ranked films on IMDBs Top 250 that I haven't seen until now - and this is a list I have only had good experiences with so far. Not that Léon was a bad experience. In fact, I acknowledge it to be a good, solid film with an unusual story and great characters. Still, I'm not a fan.

Short Break | No Time

A long time before the days of Requiem For a Dream and Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky was "just" one of the most promising graduates from the directing program at the American Film Institute. Apparently, the most important short from his days of studying, Supermarket Sweep, became an actual National Student Academy Award finalist! However, neither this nor his other two AFI shorts Fortune Cookie and Protozoa, are available to common peasants like me. With no time on my hands and a strong desire to participate in French Toast Sunday's amazing director months, I tracked down the last of Aronofsky's short films. It is named, ironically No Time.

If your impression of Aronofsky so far has been that of a highly intelligent director who makes slightly depressing movies - including what is probably the most depressing movie of all time - you will think again once you've seen the precious 1994 short No Time. Where to start? It's pure mayhem from the beginning and then 22 minutes onward until the end. Consisting of several short episodic sequences that bear close resemblance to those sketch shows that seem to have disappeared from [Danish] television, this film is as different from the other two Aronofsky films I've seen, as the black swan is from the white swan. If anyone could've told that this was an Aronofsky film without knowing, I will quit being a semi-critic and watch 1000 more movies before I start writing about them again. 

The protagonists of the short are four friends that may or may not be living together, and whose entertainment options have narrowed down - however, we only find out what has happened in the middle of the short. Anyway, the try to bide their time by playing charade and also going on individual adventures such as playing basketball and fishing. If this sounds pretty basic; yes, it is, but Aronofsky manages to fill every sequence with enormous amounts of slapstick and situational humour that is pushed to an almost grotesque level in the end. This kind of humour is certainly dangerous and not universal at all, even for me, it can go either way. But within minutes, I found myself laughing louder than what is probably appropriate when your sister is trying to fall asleep next-door. No Time worked just as well for me as Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan have, although on a completely unexpected, ridiculous level. I can't wait to finally watch his other three - well, actually four now - movies soon. If you would like to see No Time for yourself, scroll down and hit |>.

All month long, FTS will be highlighting the work of Darren Aronofsky and also posting other related articles and links from around the web. Post your links and find banners here, send an email to lindsay@frenchtoastsunday.com for help and use the hashtag #DarrenAPRILofsky for tweets. 

Blind Spot Fixed: American History X

I can't discuss American History X - which, just to give you an impression, should land somewhere up in my Top 10 films of all time - without discussing my initial expectations for it. Along with Once Upon a Time in the West, this was the movie from blind spot list that I expected least from, mainly because I knew the least about it. The title had always made me think of some slightly preachy yet solid, typical 'universally good movie' about Malcolm X and black oppression. At least I was slightly right about that last one, but surprisingly there is no trace of Malcolm X in this movie at all. Lincoln may have been mentioned, which brings me to my first point: Movie buffs have been talking a lot about racism in the last two years with Lincoln and 12 Years a Slave being released and overall cherished. These were two movies that left me very cold and didn't trigger much of the aspired emotional reaction in me, which has convinced quite a few people I talk to about movies that I am a racist (jokingly... I hope). For example, one of these people was very surprised when I told him that I had actually fairly enjoyed this year's Fruitvale Station, me being a racist and all. I can't wait to tell him what I think of American History X (hint: it begins with M and ends with ASTERPIECE)*.

Guest post: Aesthetic similarities between The Nightmare Before Christmas and German Expressionist Art

There's a first time for everything, right? ...The lovely Brandon Engel, a blog-less blogger it seems, approached me with some ideas for articles he would like to have featured on my blog and they sounded so great that I couldn't reject him. Even if this article will make my own scribblings seem less original than ever. Here it is then, the first guest post on Lime Reviews and Strawberry Confessions...

It takes oddballs like Tim Burton and Henry Selick to infuse all of the macabre, sinister aesthetics of post World War I German Expressionist filmmaking into a Christmas film. You have to hand it to them, though! Consider the public response to the film. Audiences have been so receptive that even 20 years after the film’s initial release, the film is still heralded as a classic, and there is more Nightmare merchandise floating around than any goth teenager could ever possibly fit in their bedroom. Just consider all of the animated films that were produced over the course of the past twenty years...how many of them have completely fallen off the face of the earth? Nightmare has stood the test of time.

Braindead: A ballet of braaaaaaains

That brainy little bastard. Somehow, Peter Jackson - who managed to completely bore and disgust the hell out of me with his first feature gore feast Bad Taste - won my heart (and liver, and... ribs) with his third blood bash Braindead aka Dead Alive.

It's a movie very similar to the former, fully living up to my expectations of an illogical and unimportant plot, a good portion of black gore movie humour and some cool effects. But this already sets it apart from Bad Taste, for even though that one did have all of these qualities, it didn't have them in great quantities. Braindead was never afraid to go for it with everything it had, featuring the stupidest characters making the stupidest choices, saying the worst and hence funniest lines, and ripping each other apart in the most inventive and disgusting ways I have ever seen in a movie of the genre. It's not a big surprise Lord of the Rings had such great effects, when you take a look at the awesomely executed battles of Braindead. Their setting in a huge cottage in New Zealand instead of, well, Middle Earth, doesn't make them any less original and fantastic. Keeping in mind that all of these effects were done without the help of computers only adds more joy to the experience. In that way, this was a very technically interesting movie to me - I kept wondering how they did this and that, where the blood was coming from, whether somebody gargled with water in order to produce the matching sound effects... and so on. Still, Braindead is more than just a technical experience. Its over-the-top-ness in every aspect that you can possibly believe, makes me want to compare it to the extravaganza we see in for instance Baz Luhrmann flicks. It takes a big portion of self-conciousness and commitment to produce something so ridiculous and pure, and I can't help but admire Jackson for that. 

Gore-fans, like me, should keep in mind that Braindead isn't a movie for everyone. The people who cried out in disgust when we watched Fight Club in philosophy class (I know... it's sad) definitely shouldn't search out this one. But if you do enjoy or don't mind a lot of blood, Braindead is probably straight up your alley. If you live in Germany, there's another good reason to watch it, since the original uncut version was, and still is, banned here.

FINAL FRAME

STRAWBERRY

1001 Movies: Finishing Kubrick

185 - 187

Slowly, my Kubrick-film-feast is going to an end... Having watched all sixteen feature and short films of the late director, I feel full of knowledge and enlightenment. That doesn't mean I loved or even liked all of his films - but we'll dive further into that matter when I write my big, grand Kubrick Post with a capital P. All you're going to get for now is three short reviews of my last three Kubrick-adventures, one that disappointed me and two that are officially on the list of my favourite Kubrick-opuses.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

„THE COMPUTERS THAT TAKE THE SITUATION BEYOND HUMAN INTERVENTION HAVE ONLY BECOME MORE CAPABLE. BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID.“

The Cate Blanchett Essentials, #1 / 5

Here it is now, the pompous piece that closes the chapter of The Cate Blanchett Essentials and deserves its position entirely.

Elizabeth (1998) Shekhar Kapur

IMDB: 7.5 - RT: 82/85

The reason

„There are countless reasons: Indian director, Cate's breakthrough, acclamation, period drama and so on. I should have seen this one a long time ago.“

Fabulous Filmic Fashion Friday: THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT

Getting back on the fashion track with a wonderful gem and an impressive title: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). 

This cult movie that came to me out of nowhere (how come I had never ever heard of it?), features some of the coolest and most inventive outfits I've ever seen. Nothing much you would wear in public - or wear at all - but still, that's what haute-couture's all about, isn't it?

The film revolves around three transsexuals who go on a roadtrip through Australia's outback, sequins and wigs included, which gave the designers the opportunity of their lifetime. While there are some more casual outfits in the film too - no, they don't walk around in flip-flop dresses all the time - I've decided to focus on the coolest and more extravagant costumes here.

Hype: Deserved

1994, USA

Pulp Fiction

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Written by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary

★ John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson

            

 Pulp Fiction is an english description for "dirty" literature - this I just found out, and it makes me appreciate the movie even more.

What else is Pulp Fiction?
It was, to me, one of the biggest cult films, one of the 1001+ movies, one of the highest rated movies on IMDB - to put it shortly; one of the greatest blemishes on my List of Shame (which exists in my head only). Things like that kind of raise the expectations.
Many movies, ones I loved and ones I hated, have made me lower my expectations for movies to see - especially highly acclaimed ones. But whenever one of those cultural-heritage-movies crosses my path, all these precautions are wiped out of my head. And then there's only one thought left: "I've gotta love this movie, I simply must".

All this introductory rambling is supposed to build up to this important statement:
"I actually do love Pulp Fiction - STRIKE!"

Now I could say something like "Well, how can one not love Pulp Fiction?", but I won't because I actually know someone (ahem, not personally, it's a blogger) who didn't love this movie. And I'm sure there are many more. Why? Because Pulp Fiction is not a movie for everyone, it's just not a second Shawshank Redemption.
Surely, most people of our generation will love this movie, if only for the soundtrack and sudden outbursts of we're-so-cool-we-don't-even-care-we-look-stupid-being-it. But many I know, especially people that are less into intellectual films or art, will probably be confused by the non-linear narrative, the awkward characters and so on.
By the way, don't let me get started on parents - I tried watching The Graduate with my mom once. Although there must be movie-interested parents somewhere out there.

There is, however, one reason to watch Pulp Fiction, no matter who you are, and that I have already mentioned: cultural heritage.
If you haven't seen Pulp Fiction, you won't sound convincing quoting it nor will you be able to dance convincingly to the magnificent soundtrack. You won't understand many references in newer films, perhaps not even recognize them (I'm sure I've already unawarely passed hundreds)... you will have what we call a "Bildungslücke" in German - a gap in education. And not only if you're a movie buff, if only you just "like" movies, you will have this Bildungslücke.

Hopefully,  I have convinced you to want to watch or re-watch Pulp Fiction as soon as possible. For those who have already seen the movie, I guess I didn't make you wallow in sweet memories of its amazingness - the reviewer's classics-doubt has caught me. I simply feel that I have nothing interesting to say about Pulp Fiction that hasn't been said yet.
Hopefully this video will suffice to re-aflame the feeling of the strawberry explosion.

FINAL FRAME

Cool Films With Ships and Boats: Waterworld

USA, 1995

Waterworld

Directed by Kevin Reynolds

Written by Peter Rader, David Twohy

★ Kevin Costner

Am I the first one to use the word „cool“ about Kevin Costner’s mainstream 90s blockbuster? Surely not. Still, I feel somewhat split describing this film with a positive adjective. 

The best way to describe Waterworld would perhaps be: hybrid. Hybrid, as in „Not really good. Not really bad.“, quoting my new official rating system. We can see it the other way around too; there are good things about Waterworld, and there are bad things about it. 

Climbing to the Tops: Fight Club (1999) in 10 Thoughts

1. I think I like this. The narration is cool, Edward Norton has the perfect voice and face for this seemingly frustrated middle-aged guy-next-door. I like the IKEA-animation-scene too. 

Oh, and there's Helena Bonham Carter. Everyone says this is their favourite performance of hers... might be true, I mean, look at her hair. Hair like that is a sure indicator of a great role. 

2. Although this is starting out pretty well, I'm kind of scared that it won't be as good as everyone says. I mean, sure it's good, but great, amazing - fantastic? But it would be nice for a change, to see something definitely and univocally mind-blowing. Most things I've seen lately are good but you know... somewhere in the 8-area. I want to be able to say "THIS IS A 10!" (or almost a ten) right after a movie has finished.

3. Okay, maybe this is the movie I've been waiting for. I feel... newborn, in a way. I want to fight somebody. Hey, anyone here to fight? Oh, I'm just alone in my room...

SO WHAT? I'll just fight an imaginary friend... huah... HAH... HAYA! Nice shot! WOOOHOO!

... Ah, that felt good. So now, what's going on in the movie...?

4. You know, the worst thing about borrowing DVDs at the library (I know, it can't match with the fact that it's free), is when it F***ing doesn't work. Or if one scene doesn't work, and you have to jump over to the next one. I HATE THAT!

5. My initial assumption was that Brad Pitt was going to be the eye-candy of this movie, but actually Edward Norton develops a strange attraction too, especially in those fight scenes. I mean, he's quite different from Pitt, but there's something about him. At least in this movie. And of course his character is awesomely written, but I don't want to spoil things for the people who haven't seen this yet. (I know you're out there, I saw you when I was out there myself, until yesterday night!).

6. Is David Fincher a God or something? I didn't realize until I saw this one, how amazing a director he actually is! Although I liked The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo a lot, and truly love The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I was never completely convinced by his greatness. His immense greatness!

7. Oh, twists... the best thing about good movies, the worst thing about bad ones. It's all about finding the right balance between unexpected/ awesome and unrealistic/weird. Guess what, this one belongs to the first kind.

8. When this movie came out, I was four years old. I wish I had seen it on the big screen! But you know, I really thought it was newer. It doesn't look old. Not at all, actually - it looks AWESOME!

9. This film shouldn't be my current treasure. It should be my... current reason to live. Current life philosophy. Current... current source of awesomeness!

10. This isn't the most well-written or insightful article I've ever written, so I can just stop pretending and really tell you what I have to say: I don't have anything to say. Fight Club is awesome, and people have said that before. It's one of the best films I've ever seen, and people have said that before. It maybe changed my life, at least a little, my view on life. And people have said that before. 

So let's celebrate and say it again: LET'S TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB - TELL EVERYBODY ABOUT FIGHT CLUB!

The Final Word:

(Introducing the new ratings system - for more, have a look at the sidebar).

Heroes I Somehow Missed Out On As a Child

This morning, I watched Toy Story 2 for the first time in my life. And doing so, there were a couple of things I realized.

The first one is: Toy Story is the most awesome animated film (series) I have ever seen - chances are it's the most awesome one ever made, in case there's no totally underrated and unknown independent animated film from some country most people don't even know exists. Which I think is unlikely. 

The next thing I realized was that little kids are really stupid, and sometimes their parents should force them to watch certain movies. When I was a child, we often borrowed videos from the library (remember the times before DVD? so annoying...), and yes, I did walk past the Toy Story tape a couple of times. But I didn't watch it. Why? Well, it can't be there wasn't enough pink or enough girls, because I did watch both Tarzan and The Jungle Book and The Lion King back in the days. 

Maybe the reason was the animation? I think I didn't watch animated films until Finding Nemo in 2003... oh, except you can count Dinosaurs, I think that one was animated too...?

Well, let's just conclude that there was absolutely no good reason for me to not watch Toy Story... and nevertheless, I didn't watch it until a few weeks ago (the first part, I mean). Sadly, no heavenly coincidence made me watch it back in the days and let it become part of my childhood, as was the case with Harry Potter.

But is this necessarily a bad thing? I'm not sure. Maybe the fact that I've seen Toy Story as an almost (officially) grown-up teenager will make me appreciate this movie even more. Because it reminds me of what it was like to be a child, how important toys were to you, how mystical and wonderful they were, while those times still don't feel very long ago. Maybe it will make me see the world through the eyes of a child more often?

Certainly, the film gnaws at my conscience for having sold so many of my old toys... though maybe it's better that way. Most of them were bought by little children or their parents, and I think my Barbies would rather be played with than rot in an old case, won't they? I hope so... I'm sorry, Barbies. And dolls, and horses. If I will ever have the chance to say I'm sorry, I hope it's now.

I think seeing Toy Story now is better than never. It is a fantastic, excellent movie that will forever be dear to me from now on. But thinking about all of this, I guess it will never be as magical and mystical to me as the films I did see when I was a child - Harry Potter, The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo and all the others... It just won't ever be the same, because I won't remember the enchantment of watching the film(s) as a child. 

But remembering the enchantment of watching them as a teenager might be very close to just as good.

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Innocence. Desire. Suicide.

USA, 1999

Directed and written by Sofia Coppola

★ Kirsten Dunst, A.J. Cook, Hanna Hall, Leslie Hayman, Chelse Swain

      

Much has been said about Sofia Coppola's directorial debut, and what I have heard has in particular been full of praise - even love - for The Virgin Suicides. If you want to read some more of that, stay tuned.

Thoughts on: "Tagore Stories on Film"

Biting the bullet: silent, black-and-white, Bengali.

On occasion of the 150th birthday of the acclaimed literature-nobelprice winner from India, Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian government published a filmset consisting of six films concerning the literary legend. This was done with the help of the National Film Development Corporation. 

There have been many filmatizations of the stories and novels that Tagore has written, but the government and NFDC have selected the following for the compilation:

Khudita Pashan (1960) - Tapan Sinha, Bengali

Teen Kanya (1961) - Satyajit Ray, Bengali

Kabuliwala (1961) - Hemen Gupta, Hindi

Ghare-Baire (1984) - Satyajit Ray, Bengali

Char Adhyay (1997) - Kumar Shahani, Hindi

BONUS DVD:

Natir Puja (1932) - Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali

Rabindranath Tagore (1961) - Satyajit Ray, Bengali

I promised you to write about the filmset by the time I'd be finished watching all seven films, so here I am, talking about three things I thought I would never fully be able to appreciate as much as I wanted:

1. Silent films (Natir Puja)
2. Black-and-white films (Natir Puja, Khudita Pashan, Teen Kanya, Rabindranath Tagore)
3. Bengali films (Natir Puja, Khudita Pashan, Teen Kanya, Rabindranath Tagore, Ghare-Baire)

With the exception of the silent film, which I simply cannot truly adjust to, I've grown fonder of the latter two than I had excepted initially - but what am I rambling; let's start to dive deeper into the subject...

MY THOUGHTS ON THE FILMS

(including a few of those essential trying-to-be-objective remarks)

Why is Dil Se my favorite movie? or All the things I love about Dil Se..

"Philosophy is not about finding the answers, it's about asking the questions".

- My philosophy class book.

Dir. Mani Ratnam | India
★ Shah Rukh Khan - Manisha Koirala - Preity Zinta

          

Any great movie could be my favorite one, a thought that made me shiver of fear when I first tried to put together my 100 Favorite Films list. But it happened to not just be any movie, but a movie that had followed me through many years and that has never stopped intriguing me every time I watch it. 

Having finished the list, there was suddenly no other movie I could imagine, that could be my favorite. The thought surprised, even unsettled me - after all, I hadn't actually seen Dil Se.. for about two years. It was time to finally re-watch it with eyes that are quite different from the ones of my 13-year old predecessor. 

I was scared but also excited. And you know what? I feel I admire and love this film even more than I did before. Dil Se.. is not flawless, objectively speaking - so what makes it so special to me?

That's what I want to find out in this post, namely by listing all the things I love about this film. Of course I won't be able to fully understand and explain the greatness of this film, I know that - but it's an attempt that I have to do. And an excuse to make a lot of screencaps.

ALL THE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT DIL SE..

The IMDB Tops: 10 thoughts on... The Shawshank Redemption

Dir. Frank Darabont | USA

★ Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bon Gunton

    

Current IMDB rank - rating - votes

1. Who would have thought that the currently most popular film would be such a softie? I'm not a frequent cineweeper, but the final sequence touched something very deep down - as corny as that sounds.

It was nothing I had expected, not even a few seconds before the tears started falling. It was like somebody had suddenly turned on some magnificent music that you hadn't heard before, but that still sounded familiar (sounds corny again).

2. Speaking of familiar, The Shawshank Redemption is a very good film, but there was something familiar, well-known about each and every scene. It was like all the good "mainstream" films put together, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering its cinematic position. 

Watching this film, I feel, has helped me understand cinema and cinematic taste more, and how hard it is to hit the right notes for the audience in fusion with your own artistic standards... and what an example of that can look like.

You watched Karan Arjun? Whadda joke!

You watched----- REVIEW:
Karan Arjun (1995)

No matter how entertaining he can be in crash-boom-bang masala films like Dabangg, I cannot, and I probably won't ever be able to, take Salman seriously when he tries to "portray" a "serious" character.

In this one, like in many others, it's a mixture between "serious character" and flashing his naked upper body (which though wasn't just as over-pimped as it is today, in my opinion). He does well in dealing out blows, but as it has become a habit of his when playing "serious characters", he uses his "so-low-and-calm-because-this-is-a-serious-character"-voice, that I already mentioned in my review of Baghban. 

Neither has this been one of Shahrukh's better performances, even though he's cute and sympathetic as always. In one of the first episodes of Koffee With Karan, he said that he admired Kajol for only having chosen to act in films that she truly believed in and wanted to do. You can see that in Karan Arjun: while Shahrukh exaggerates a lot, and sometimes seems quite fake, Kajol is wonderful as always, even in this trash-pearl.

In the last (and first) episodes of these new reviews, I wrote about Koyla, coincidentally happening to be directed by Rakesh Roshan as well. Now, Karan Arjun is not as bad as the first-mentioned, but the image of Rakesh, that I used to have in my brain, is slowly bursting... Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai and Koi Mil Gaya are two films that I watched in the start time of my Bollywood-madness, and I love them so much. Even though there are some trashy aspects to especially the first one, I didn't see them as trash-bash-films, but more like... well, "normal" Bollywood films for their respective years. Krrish was also okay. But now, after watching Koyla and Karan Arjun, I don't really know what to think of Rakesh. Is he the king of so-bad-they're-good 90s flicks, instead of mainstream-but-fun 2000+ films? Help!

Okay, last but not least: something that Koyla had, and Karan Arjun didn't... really.... have - good music. Almost every song in Koyla is really good (90s-good), while there was only one song I liked in KA. But that one, on the contrary, was not only good, but really, really good - especially speaking picturization. 

So, here it is, the famous "Jaati Hoon Main" - enjoy!

Rating: 3.4

Thank you for reading, 

Mette M. K.

You watched Koyla? Bloody fool!

You watched----- REVIEW: 

Koyla (1997)

Okay, by calling this a mini-review, I would be seriously exaggerating.

Why didn't I write a real mini-review then?

Well, I'm really exhausted by all those summer tests we need to write at school, and also, this is pretty much all I can say about Koyla.

So that's what it feels like, when you admire a soundtrack for years, and then finally decide to watch the film. You're disappointed (even though you've been warned by the friendly Gaja Gamini).

... Or are you? I feel that, somehow, this film was not disappointing on all levels. At least regarding its incredible hilariousness. Every time (the late) Amrish Puri stepped in front of the camera, I had to go through some serious laughing-attacks. The very best was his Hinglish accent, and that a-w-e-s-o-m-e "Bloody Fool"! Now, that's hard to beat in its funniness. 

I did ask myself: "Was all this meant to be? Or did the makers think they were doing something great, or even just "good"?". Considering the fact that it was made by Rakesh Roshan: Yes, that's my guess. The title has his lucky "K" in it, so, yeah, I think he was very confident about this film.

But honestly: Whatever! That's how the best trash pearls are born, right? 

The true saviors of the film, though, are Madhuri and Shahrukh. Madhuri, because she's sweet, sympathetic and magical as always, and Shahrukh, because he was ... how do I say this... hill-hill... ah, there it is: hilarious. 

What a strike of genius, that they managed to create some song & dance scenes with a mute character. 

While many other 90s-Shahrukh-flicks are unbearable and of the "see-once-because-of-him-then-forget" kind, Koyla does have great potential to become a classic. I mean, a "so-bad-it's-good"-classic, off course. 

Rating: 2.9

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This post is part of The Madhuri Week, hosted by Gaja Gamini from bollywood-ish Blog.

And before I forget: Please check out the trailer for the cannes-featured documentary "Bollywood - The Greatest Love Story Ever Told" and spread the word, if you haven't already. (We fans want to watch!)

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.

All Good Things Come In Threes

Mini-Review of Deepa Mehta's Element Trilogy:

FIRE - EARTH - WATER

This is just my third mini-reviews-post, while the amount of normal-review-posts is 12 at the moment. I could say I'm proud of this, and I am somehow a little bit proud, but let's not forget that there's a certain virtue in writing/ reading mini-reviews, too. As for writing, it's clearly that you 1) don't need to write that much, 2) can write about more than one of your recent views and 3) can combine films that resemble each other in some way or another. 

For this (falling due) post, I chose to present these three films by Deepa Mehta, as they are not only my most recent "Indian" views (I, personally, categorize them as Hindi-Films, and therefore also as Bollywood, but others might not; the language in "Fire" is English, for example), but also three films that will stay with me for quite a while, and that are majestic epics to me (just like the quote on the "Water"-poster says - by the way, just because I call them this, doesn't mean they're my favorite films, but you'll notice what I mean, when reading the reviews). Finally, it doesn't happen very often that I borrow Indian DVDs from my library; they don't have many, and I've seen all of them - so I get really excited, when I find new ones. Actually, they had all three films in a collector's box, so I got even more excited. My weekend was saved (it was last weekend, so this post is a little behind schedule). Okay, I wish you a nice weekend, and hope you enjoy reading.

Fire (1996) फायर

I forgot to mention, that these were my first Deepa Mehta films (except for "Bollywood/ Hollywood", but that one wasn't really mind-blowing) and "Fire" was also my introduction to Nandita Das. 

The eye-catching thing about Deepa's films (except for B/ H) is that sedate, but still rebellious atmosphere, which is also how I think she is in real life (I saw some of the bonus material on the DVDs). The actors are of big importance in this connection, and it doesn't surprise me that she likes working with the same crew, or some of them. It's needless to say that Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das are magnificent, but I'd like to mention Javed Jaffrey as one of the impressive Indian talents we sadly don't hear enough of. 

Though I couldn't identify with the main characters on all levels, - and this is not about being lesbian; I was almost able to identify perfectly with two well-known cowboys - "Fire" is a great film dealing with a dateless problem. Also, it's a perfect match for Deepa-Mehta beginners, for the language is primarily English. As the other two films, it has a length that eases the question of when to watch it.

Rating: 7.3

Earth (1998) अर्थ

Earth is, until now, my favorite Deepa-Mehta-film. Why? Again, it's a matter of the identification; I said I was almost able to identify with those cowboys - but I have felt perfect identification with heterosexual characters in other films, so that's one of the reasons, and as for "Water" - the film made me feel angry, irritable and helpless, and especially the last feeling isn't my favorite thing to feel, so even though it was a great film with a superb screenplay, story, cinematography etc., "Earth" was the one film that'll stay closest to my... soul or heart, or whatever. 

Maybe it's the good old triangle-drama, newly-invented almost each year, which made a new impact on me, maybe it's Nandita, Aamir and Rahul, maybe it's the universality of the context; not everyone is homosexual, not everyone is a widow/ widower - but in every human soul we find, in whatever dimension, weaknesses, desires and brutality. 

Rating: 7.8

Water (2005) वाटर

According to Wikipedia, "Water" is a Canadian film, which brings us back to what I wrote at the beginning: I don't blame anyone for seeing these films as Canadian productions, or whatever else, but for me they are not only Indian films, but because of language and setting: Bollywood. 

One might also notice, that while the characters in "Fire" speak English, and in "Earth" a misc of English and Hindi (not to be confused with Hinglish, though), "Water" was filmed in Hindi, completely. 

As I already mentioned in the foregoing review, "Water" didn't leave me with the most desirable feelings. More clearly: this Gulabi and Madhumati were so freaking annoying, while both Kalyani and Chuyia - and Narayan, for that matter - were so freaking naive, that I really got some exercise, baling my fists or doing other aggressive movements. The subtitles for deaf people were also annoying (though I do speak Hindi, I don't feel secure enough to watch a film entirely without subtitles - what if I miss a word and then don't get the meaning of the whole scene?), but there were no normal subtitles.

But even though the nice A. R. Rahman music was always announced as "happy music", "romantic music", "playful music" etc., and even though it didn't kill me softly (in the pos. way), it was a nice score - but only nice, just as the film was, well, nice. 

One of the best things was the cinematography... Varanasi was captured in an almost poetic way, like a poem, I'd say, without having been there. I don't want to bash the movie, though: many people will probably like, or even love, it - and I can't say why not; the actors are superb, the story is fresh and not boring... but as I've told you now, it just wasn't made for me. So this rating is entirely subjective and not about the objective greatness of the film - because in an objective way, it is great.

Rating: 6.4

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.