tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9766640.post5967745925360877894..comments2024-03-24T10:29:28.588+05:30Comments on like a feather....: The Lost Arts: Making Meaningful MoviesErotemehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03677513867884448593noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9766640.post-86793255526786236292007-07-31T23:49:00.000+05:302007-07-31T23:49:00.000+05:30No fears of my keeping away from your blog, so lon...No fears of my keeping away from your blog, so long as you write even half as well as you do now, that too on such an eclectic choice of subjects - karumbu thinna kooli thevaiyillai - anyone who enjoys good writing cannot but return here time and again.<BR/><BR/>And as a nonsequitur, this line from Lao Tzu : "The Tao always returns..."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9766640.post-5839043469212552812007-07-30T22:02:00.000+05:302007-07-30T22:02:00.000+05:30Dear K,You raise a valid point and I have no answe...Dear K,<BR/>You raise a valid point and I have no answer. As I mentioned in some earlier post, the quotidian of this generation is the romance of the ones that come. :-)<BR/><BR/>Dear P,<BR/>Triumph is mine when I get you to return often to this blog. Let me not receive any other triumph... ;-)Erotemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03677513867884448593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9766640.post-14352608242702220492007-07-30T21:56:00.000+05:302007-07-30T21:56:00.000+05:30:-D. Not done - throwing statistics at a paavam co...:-D. Not done - throwing statistics at a paavam commenter. <BR/><BR/>Frankly, I truly like like and like in all the years that I have lived on earth, only a handful of movies - each and every one of Satyajit Ray's works (their perfection relaxes me no end), Mudhal Mariyaadhai in Tamizh, Pakeezaah and Guide in Hindi. For the rest, I lower my levels of expectation considerably.<BR/><BR/># There. I have disagreed with you in my first comment, and have agreed with you in the second. So the triumph is yours! Enjoy-----Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9766640.post-9624566692444263872007-07-30T00:07:00.000+05:302007-07-30T00:07:00.000+05:30I am just wondering, if the same 70's and 80's mov...I am just wondering, if the same 70's and 80's movies would have induced that same feeling that you have for the current ones with your great grand father or someone elder at 70-80's?..Just thinking about it!Krishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13353408480135207751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9766640.post-59219578493517174252007-07-29T17:38:00.000+05:302007-07-29T17:38:00.000+05:30Dear P,How quick you are to cut me to size!! :-) U...Dear P,<BR/>How quick you are to cut me to size!! :-) Unfortunately I think you missed the whole point I was making. At the outset I did mention that in Hollywood the matter is less severe. I can point out a few dozen movies which are splendid from there. But in India the problem is quite visible. If you notice, my post is mostly about Indian movies. Life in a Metro is one of the only movies this year (and a whole half year has passed in the most prolific industry) that seemed to catch my attention. Sarkar was ok. <BR/>Yes, I haven't explored European movies, but I am not even addressing them in here! :-) Indian movies, milady, Indian movies. And in Indian movies, song (though not dance) is an integral part of the entire movie. If you take out dialogues and songs from an Indian movie, I would like to know of at least 3 movies which still scored high in your measure. Preferably movies produced in the last 10 years... ;-)<BR/>If you look at AFI's list of top 100 movies there is only one movie in the top 25 which was made after 1985!! 1 in 25!!! That is a measly 4% of the movies made in the last 12-15 years before the list was compiled. Only 14 films in the 100 were from the 1980s and 1990s. Only 8 from the 1990s. Bad score. Making meaningful movies is a dwindling art even in the West, though not yet as drastic as in India. Only 3 movies from India found mention in Time's list of top 100 movies and all of them were made before the 90s began. If you check the list someone has put together here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_top_Bollywood_films<BR/>you will be able to distinctly compare the quality of movies made in the 1990s (even by numbers) and the ones in 80s and 70s or earlier. As in, would you ever compare Taal and any god-forsaken Karan Johar movie with the quality of movies made in the 70s or so? :-o<BR/><BR/>I rest my case... :-)Erotemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03677513867884448593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9766640.post-29865443266760290702007-07-29T16:58:00.000+05:302007-07-29T16:58:00.000+05:30I don't think that making meaningful movies is a l...I don't think that making meaningful movies is a lost art at all - meaningful, enjoyable movies of excellent quality and amorphous but stunning plots are being made even now as were during then. FightClub, Seven, Usual suspects, Shawshank Redemption you name it.See the latest movie of Finchers - Zodiac.<BR/>Woody Allen always delights. Even in hollywood, Martin Scorcese, Bryan Singer, David Fincher are exceptionally talented. <BR/> <BR/>I prefer the european directors to Hollywood ones. My husband and I have discovered RWF - Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who was a prolific film maker who made 41 films before he was 38 and actually died of hard work. His movies are simply amazing, the plot tight, deep, the actors just right, the story interesting and different. Fear eats the soul, Veronica, Martha etc etc are truly truly classic and fulfilling. <BR/><BR/>For the latest in indian films, I liked Sarkar a lot, Life in a Metro is actually good, Cheeni Kum is a bad movie that I enjoyed. Songs and dances and music - hmmm. What can I say? I am ignorant, dont remember any good songs except for the Gangster ones, or from kalyug, or many of Emraan Hashmi's movies.<BR/><BR/>In the good movies of today, there is a darkness, a heaviness that the yester movies lacked methinks. Even Pakeeza (to me a perfect movie)was a simple story as compared to Kalyug even. Todays good movies dare to plumb the unthinkable in man and humanity and since they are good, they do it well; no solutions offered, but they are good.<BR/><BR/>You have written too much about music and lyrics and dance in movies - I think movie making is beyond these and what is left of the movie when you cut off music and dance is THE MOVIE I think. By that token, lots and lots of good movies are being made, whether in bollywood or hollywood or the rest of the world like Iran or Sri Lanka, not to mention good old Europe.<BR/><BR/>You need to explore more, know more, adventure into virgin forests of foreign movies, then you would realise that you dont have any cause to lament about this lost art, since it indeed is not lost at all, but thriving and alive...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com