Gaman (Dir. Muzaffar Ali, 1978)

(Reviewed 4/5 in May 2016 on letterboxd.com)

More than twenty five years after Roy's Do Bigha Zameen, Muzaffar Ali revisits the subject of migration from the villages to the cities for making a livelihood. Unfortunately, things haven't changed much. Poverty still remains the main oppressor that people spend their entire lives fighting. Hopes, love and dreams are crushed everyday but there is no time to stop. The loved ones back home, oblivious to the condition in the cities, are still pining for a reunion.

On The Beat (Dir. Ning Ying, 1995)

(Reviewed 4.5/5 in May 2016 on letterboxd.com)

Funny, satirical, humanistic and thought provoking; this film is easily one of the greatest film's on the police force I have seen. When the common man on the street starts making more sense than the beat constable, you know there is something wrong with the system. The Beijing police force in Ning Ying's film, sing song's in praise of Chairman Mao and take pride in their procedures but they don't realize how anachronistic and foolish they are starting to appear to the public. The last resort for them to enforce their rules is to growl at people and if by chance they use force, they get suspended having violated one of their own rules. Under-equipped, under-staffed, over-worked and under-paid, you cannot help feel sympathy for these well meaning yet misunderstood police officers, even as you laugh at them.

A Moment of Innocence (Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 1996)

(Reviewed 4.5/5 in January 2016 on letterboxd.com)
"Isn't there a better way to save mankind than to stab a policeman on duty?", asks the young Makhmalbaf to the old. Maybe, but that's not how the old Makhmalbaf would have it. Neither would the policeman who got stabbed some twenty years ago.
Makhmalbaf's film about a film recreates a comical and emotional event of his younger self when in a moment of rebellion, he supposedly stabbed a policeman by using his cousin sister as a distraction. As irreverant an act that may appear, like the quintessential Wodehousean - stealing the policeman's helmet on boat race night, there is an incredible emotional story behind it as the policeman who is now friends with Makhmalbaf cannot forget this moment in his life. He regrets not being able to give the girl a white flower and Makhmalbaf perhaps regrets having stabbed him. The beautiful finale of this film tries to reconcile with the past when instead of a stabbing, there is a flower pot and a piece of bread that confront each other.

Postman (Dir. He Jianjun, 1995)

(Reviewed 4/5 in April 2016 on letterboxd.com)

The rhythmic sound of the stamps and the postman gingerly feeling envelopes under the pale yellow of incandescent lights stays with you long after this film is over.
"Why is it so that things people find hard to speak out in front of each other come out easily in letters?", asks the postman to his co-worker - a question that remains unanswered in this age of anonymous internet identities.

Francisca (Dir. Manoel de Oliveira, 1981)

(Reviewed 4.5/5 in March 2016 on letterboxd.com)

Oliveira recreates a period of decadence and skepticism in the Portuguese and perhaps the larger European society in the mid 19th century where lofty ideas were inevitably wed with a lack of common sense. A society that was on the threshold of the machine age leading to much confusion and despair with the ways of life that were rapidly changing. Much like the romanticism and nihilism that was characteristic of the music and literature of this period, the emotions are tumultuous but very seldom make sense. I find this film a valuable document of an era almost in the same manner as some of the Ford's or Rossellini's that I admire.

Monologue (Dir. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, 1987)

(Reviewed 4/5 in February 2016 on letterboxd.com)


Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Monologue challenges the conventions of the narrative film structure in that the story is not only non linear but also cannot be trusted. Staying true to its name, the film maintains the essence of a monologue which typically is a one sided point of view interrupted by varying flights of fancy. A style reminiscent of the literary works of Dostoevsky with a schizophrenic narrator.

Rancho Notorious (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1952)

(Reviewed 5/5 in January 2016 on letterboxd.com)

This is the sort of film I can imagine coming out all excited from the theatre humming the title track, however cheesy it may sound to the ears. Impeccably crafted western from Lang with sheer entertainment from start to finish without missing an ounce on complex characterization or visual mastery.