Horace and Pete (TV series, Dir. Louis C.K., 2016)

(Reviewed 4.5/5 on letterboxd in May 2017)

This is a review of a TV series, an exception from the norm for me. After watching this I realized what I am missing out on. I mean, this is clearly the era of the TV series and there are some real gems out there that need to see the light of day.

With Horace and Pete, I also continue my exploration into Louis C.K.'s works. I was very impressed with his debut film and this TV series confirms my belief in the man's talent.

It would be difficult to classify Horace and Pete in any form of a genre. If at all, it is a tragedy or a comedy, depending on the way you look at it. It is definitely nothing close to C.K's subject's in stand up routine. In fact if you dig deeper, this series is a love story between two brothers who own a hundred year old family bar in Brooklyn.

C.K shoots almost the entire series in two locations: the bar and the room they live upstairs. TV series are generally an actor's medium and C.K has a cast of excellent character actors. Although in TV, there is a tendency to shoot close up's and over the shoulder, C.K allows the camera to sit in one location to absorb the the surroundings of the ancient bar, making it one of the character's of this drama. The scene's shift from a group of character's to another seamlessly as we continue to witness the conversations of the customers and the tragedy that keeps unfolding in the lives of the bar owners.

C.K experiment's with his screenplay by going off on tangents until he surprises us by tying it into the main narrative. C.K is not afraid to showcase the racism, homophobia,  transsexuality,  mental illness that is part of society, giving the scenes a brutally honest feel; a trait that I feel comes across in most of C.K's work and interviews. Character's are vulnerable to violence, foul mouthing, sadism, outright meanness and acts of kindness which will simultaneously make you cringe and teary-eyed with joy.

To conclude, don't watch this if you are expecting a laugh out loud comedy. Watch it if you want to see a good tv series with a competent auteur at work. If for nothing else, watch this for Alan Alda and Steve Buscemi. It's rare for actors of their calibre to get roles like these.

Tomorrow Night (Dir. Louis C.K., 1998)

(Reviewed 4/5 on letterboxd in May 2017)


Weirdly titled black comedy with oddball characters, sado-masochistic humor, surrealistic tones and fetishes. Engaging and funny for the most part, Louis C.K. shows the mark of an auteur in the making. Also the choice of faded out black and white cinematography turns out to be very appropriate for the tone of this film.

Silence (Dir. Martin Scorsese, 2016)

(Reviewed 4/5 on letterboxd in April 2017)

Scorsese in his own words called this film as hoping to open up a dialogue about faith beyond the realms of organized religion and to show that doubt is very much a part of faith. This is an extremely rich film with beautifully portrayed characters; especially on the Japanese side, considering the nature of the story.  The last scene which has been subjected to a lot of discussion in previous reviews felt like a "Rosebud" kind of moment in it's enigma. I will definitely need a re-watch to appreciate all it's ideas however it was very helpful to listen to Scorsese share his intent behind making the film right after the screening at MOMI.

Welcome to New York (Dir. Abel Ferrara, 2014)

(Reviewed 4/5 on letterboxd in April 2017)

Feels even more relevant after the U.S. election. A sleazy billionaire in a position of power knows he can get away with pretty much anything. Ferrara makes the audience complicit (Pasolini style) by titillating it with the debauchery and later having the protagonist confess to his daughter that neither could she have made him stop nor did he have any intention to stop; then he looks into the camera and tells people to fuck themselves and ironically this does not come as a shock to us. "The irony is that no one wants to be saved", declares Depardieu's character to his psychiatrist, and you cannot help but agree with him.

Paterson (Dir. Jim Jarmusch, 2016)

(Reviewed 4.5/5 on letterboxd in April 2017)

People usually don't like films about genuinely nice people; I seem to prefer them. Paterson is one of those nice guys who also happens to be a poet. While his colleagues and friends keep complaining about their lives, Paterson can't ask for more. He has a beautiful girl friend who he says "understands him very well". He has his secret notebook in which he writes words that come to his mind. He prefers not to call himself a poet; he is only a bus driver. For his girlfriend though, he is a poet and she keeps entreating him to make copies of his poems lest they get lost. Paterson also shuns technology and refuses to even carry a smartphone. Jarmusch finds great possibility in this basic premise and through his character's keen eyes and ears, finds poetry in the most unlikely places of a mundane New Jersey town with no personality. Therefore there is poetry to be found in laundromats, curtains, bedrooms, bars, streets, matchboxes, water falls, buses and even in the blank pages of a notebook. As one of his character reveals late in the film - "blank pages reveal endless possibilities" and Jarmusch surely knows how to use them.

Miss and the Doctors (Dir. Axelle Ropert, 2013)

(Reviewed 4.5/5 on letterboxd in March 2017)


One of those heartwarming films that make you wish you could inhabit some of the places on screen or could have simply known some of the characters ala a Yasujiro Ozu film.

The Quince Tree Sun (Dir. Victor Erice, 1992)

(Reviewed 4.5/5 on letterboxd in February 2017)


"I too work with intensity. Time is precious. I work non stop now" - Enrique, the painter.

Erice reflects on the vanity of much of human endeavor, especially that of the artistic nature. In this film, the masons and the artist begin their work around the same time. While the masons will finish their task and leave, the artist's painting never gets finished. Somehow this film reminds me of an oft quoted philosophy from the Bhagvad Geeta: "To work is in our hands, attaining the fruits of labor is not". That's pretty much what most characters in this film do, continue to work as they race against their own mortality. Even so, there will always be another spring and new fruits for humanity to attain.