Kind of Blue for the Men in Blue

It has been a fascinating World Cup and it is tough to stop celebrating. There were several great moments that made this world cup special from the Indian point of view. Sachin top scoring amongst the batsmen, Yuvraj's man of the series performance, Zaheer's impeccable bowling and Nehra's comeback in the match against Pakistan where he fractured his finger. The most memorable moment of this world cup for me though will remain Dhoni's knock in the final game. Especially the way he finished the innings with a six and twirled the bat in the air. Then he calmly went back, picked up a stump as a memoir and simply smiled back at Yuvraj who was getting ecstatic with the realization that they were indeed the world champions! Dhoni seemed to look back at his team mate in his characteristic cool attitude as if saying "So What?...We had to win it for Sachin...remember?". That calm expression and smile on his face will remain etched in my memory forever. Only one person can probably do justice to this occasion. The Man responsible for the "Birth of the Cool" himself;the legendary Miles Davis. So here is Miles Davis and his team saying what Dhoni quite possibly said to his team mate at that momentous occasion.

Repast

Repast
Meshi
Japan
1951
97 Min
Black and White
1.37:1
Japanese
DIR Mikio Naruse
EXEC Sanezumi Fujimoto
SCR Yasunari Kawabata, Fumiko Hayashi
DP Masao Tamai
CAST Setsuko Hara, Ken Uehara, Yukiko Shimazaki, Yôko Sugi
MUSIC Fumio Hayasaka
My Rating: 5/5

Repast is a remarkable film in Naruse’s brilliant oeuvre. It is unique because of its approach which is largely driven by its visuals rather than dialogue. The dialogue is sparse but the expressions and body language of the actors speak volumes. There are times when even the voice over of Michiyo (Setsuko Hara) appears vain(especially in the end) as the visuals are conveying everything to us.

Repast is the story of a couple Hatsunosuke Okamoto( Ken Uehara) and Michiyo Okamoto who live in Osaka. Hatsunosuke works as a broker in a stock firm and Michiyo plays the traditional housewife. Michiyo and Hatsunosuke had a love marriage but as is the case with married life, the romance between them has died off as they get used to each other’s company and hence take each other for granted. The daily chores of housekeeping are taking their toll on Michiyo as she fondly remembers her life in Tokyo where she was a working woman. Hatsunosuke seems to have got so involved in his daily routine that he forgets to think about his wife. He only seems to remember her during meal times when he always happens to be starving. Michiyo envies the lives of her friends, some of whom are spinsters but strangely they seem to envy Michiyo’s life as a married woman. The grass always appears greener on the other side and Michiyo’s condition seems to emphasise this cliched yet significant fact of life. It is with this background that we are introduced to Satoko (Hatsunosuke’s niece) who pays a visit to her uncle after running away from her home in Tokyo. Satoko represents the modern female; flirtatious and carefree in attitude and doesn’t mind flirting with older men including her uncle. It is Satoko’s behaviour that further depresses Michiyo as she thinks her husband is reciprocating Satoko’s advances(which is actually not the case) and feels that there is no love between the two of them anymore. Michiyo decides to take Satoko with her to Tokyo where she stays at her maternal home. The warmth and rest that she receives, help her recover from the fatigue but she can’t help thinking about how her husband must be managing back home in Osaka. When Michiyo sees one of her friends in Tokyo (a war widow with a young child) struggling to make a living she suddenly realises how much more simpler her life was as a married woman. Eventually Hatsunosuke himself comes to Tokyo on a business trip and asks Michiyo if she is ready to come back home. Michiyo is happy to see her husband after the long gap and in the end seems to realise where her happiness really lies as she accompanies her husband back home to Osaka. As they are travelling back home on the train, Michiyo fondly glances upon her sleeping husband who appears like a grown up baby to her who is so helpless without her whether it is for food, keeping things organized at home, or even regarding important decisions like changing his job. It is probably this very thing that she loves the most about her husband.

Repast is a reflection on the role of a woman as a home maker. Through Michiyo’s character and her eventual realization the film maker seems to point out the significance of a woman’s role in a family. The men in the house are doing their duty of earning a living for the family members and the woman by supporting and taking care of their husbands are helping them to do their duty successfully. It is when we reflect upon the pleasure of working for each other’s happiness that even life’s monotony starts appearing sublime.

The ideas of traditional family values and roles as shown in the film might appear old fashioned for the modern generation but then maybe thats the reason modern families are so vulnerable today.

High on Sweet Melancholy

A collection of my favorite evergreen Bollywood melancholies....

Humoresque

Classical meets Jazz in this astoundingly enjoyable interpretation of Dvorák's classical piece by the one and only Art Tatum. Feel the awesomeness!

Mon Oncle

Mon oncle
France
1958
116 Min
Color
1.37:1
French
DIR Jacques Tati
PROD Louis Dolivet, Jacques Tati
SCR Jacques Tati, Jacques Lagrange, Jean L'Hôte
DP Jean Bourgoin
CAST Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola, Adrienne Servantie, Lucien Frégis, Betty Schneider, J.F. Martial, Dominique Marie, Yvonne Arnaud, Adélaïde Danieli, Alain Becourt, Régis Fontenay
ED Suzanne Baron
MUSIC Alain Romans, Frank Barcellini
SOUND Jacques Carrère
My Rating : 4/5


Mon Oncle is the second Tati film in which his character Mr. Hulot appears. In Mr Hulot's Holiday(the first film) we are introduced to this character but nothing much can be gathered about his background and lifestyle. In this film the Hulot character is further developed.

Mr. Hulot, the gentleman with a peculiar gait appears in the beginning, moving through an old Parisian locality. He happens to displace a brick from a broken wall and is shown placing it back in its original position. Through this scene Tati makes an important distinction between Hulot and some other bumblers like Chaplin's tramp. Mr. Hulot is the type of person who moves around carefully and doesn't want to disturb anyone or anything(even a brick). His measured footsteps and attentive gaze emphasize this nature. Irrespective of all these preparations, Hulot tends to mess up.

Hulot bumbles, not because he is clumsy but because things around him seem to be impractical. The crisscross mosaic tiles in the garden of his sister are difficult for any normal person to walk and Hulot simply emphasizes this. He isn't very fluent with technology and hence creates a mess in the kitchen. But again, the fault appears to be in those machines rather than Hulot. He makes use of the arm chair in the house for sleeping by simply turning it upside down. This causes plenty of ire in his brother in law but one can't help smiling at the resourcefulness or plain naivety of Hulot. All these and several other scenes make the Hulot character an extremely believable one. We can relate with him and his discomfort with the surroundings. In fact, all the other characters who are more comfortable with technology appear to be crazy.

Hulot at the same time is a very human and lovable guy. He loves spending time with his nephew. He takes him to the more rustic neighborhood where the kid gets to play with children of his age. They play mischief on strangers, eat street food, and generally lead a carefree existence. The child hence bonds well with his uncle and finds his own ultra modern house as well his parents disinteresting, much to the chagrin of his own father. Hulot tries a couple of jobs with the help of his brother in law's(childs father)recommendations but all efforts seem to be in vain. Eventually Hulot is sent to the suburbs in the quest of a job.

At the end Hulot goes away but the father seems to learn a thing or two from him. He is shown bonding with his son for the first time and the child is overjoyed even though his Uncle has just left them. The film ends just like it begins with dogs running and playing around in the streets. He seems to tell us that whether it is dogs or humans, we need to enjoy life rather than get trapped in our own creations. The movie does get tedious at times since the humour is subtler and more dynamic but a little bit of patience is recommended as you will end up discovering some of the best moments ever captured on camera.

Pitfall

PITFALL
OTOSHIANA
Japan
1962
97 Min
Black and White
1.33:1
Japanese
DIR Hiroshi Teshigahara
PROD Tadashi Ono
SCR Kôbô Abe
DP Hiroshi Segawa
CAST Hisashi Igawa, Kunie Tanaka, Hideo Kanze, Kazuo Miyahara, Sumie Sasaki, Kanichi Omiya, Kei Satô, Sen Yano, Ton Shimada, Shigeru Matsuo, Kikuo Kaneuchi
ED Fusako Morimichi
SOUND Kenji Mori, Junosuke Okuyama
My Rating : 5/5


This movie is tough to review because it essentially is supposed to be vague and strangely that is the strongest reason for anyone to watch it. Another way to describe this movie is that its a kind of a murder mystery in which the suspense is the motive of the crime and thankfully, it remains unsolved. Then, it is also a comic ghost story where the ghosts want to know why they died? If these plot descriptions aren’t good enough to intrigue you then you are probably dead as well.

The Face of Another

THE FACE OF ANOTHER
TANIN NO KAO
Japan
1966
124 Min
Black and White
1.33:1
Japanese
DIR Hiroshi Teshigahara
SCR Kôbô Abe
DP Hiroshi Segawa
CAST Tatsuya Nakadai, Machiko Kyô, Mikijiro Hira, Kishida, Miki Irie, Eiji Okada, Minoru Chiaki
ED Yoshi Sugihara
MUSIC Tôru Takemitsu
SOUND Junosuke Okuyama
My Rating : 4/5


The movie gave me an impression that too many ideas were being crammed into the two hours and somehow the movie lost its charm towards the end. But nevertheless, the movie has its merits and maybe Teshigahara was the only person who could have attempted to do justice to this complex plot. There are times when you are fascinated by the visuals, the caustic humour, the facial expressions and the intriguing dialogue between the characters but unfortunately all these good points seem to have their limitations in the medium of cinema and you can almost feel that Teshigahara desperately tries to do justice to the story but falls short in the end.