The 1st High on Films Annual Awards (HOFAA) | 2016: Results
Hello People, After promising to come up with the 1st High on Films Awards Result in early March, we didn’t…
Sing Street [2016]: Finding the voice!
While being a terrific tribute to the late 80s bands that include the likes of Duran-Duran and The Cure, Sing Street is a heart-felt, feel good film that plays all the right cords and glides along beautifully into the sea of emotions that run through your head. The first love, and the first big decision is life have been presented with such delicacy that with all its issues, it still manages to win you over,…
Close-Up [1990] : A Lie to achieve the greater Truth
“When spite comes along, Art dons a veil” This quote by Hossein Sabzian, the protagonist of the film, perfectly defines the subject the film deals with, about an art lover hiding under a veil because he fears he may offend its audience, and how it also defines the everyday suppression of creative freedom in Iranian Cinema. Cinema doesn’t guarantee comforting lies all the time, in fact most great films are about harsh truths but to…
Introduction to The Adult Animated Comedies of the ‘70s and ‘80s
Introduction to The Adult Animated Comedies of the ‘70s and ‘80s: It’s safe to say that a hefty amount of…
The BFG [2016]: Spielberg’s Territory but not Spielberg Enough
There’s no doubt that Steven Spielberg can make wonderful movies. He conquered the history genre with Schindler’s List, frightened a generation with Jaws, and exposed prejudice with The Color Purple; however, I have always found his biggest accomplishment to be his more fantastical films. Take E.T. (my favorite of his filmography): the same man who’s made adults screech in terror was able to make families weep with joy. For that reason, I have been shaking…
The Eel [1997]: A Fascinating Tale of Social Isolation and Redemption
Pimps, prostitutes, pornographers, murderers, criminals, uncompassionate individuals, and other inelegant peripheral members of society are the primary subjects in Japanese master Shohei Imamura’s anthropological exploration of alienated society.
Legendary Japanese filmmaker Shohei Imamura’s “The Eel” aka “Unagi” (117 minutes) is an oddly touching, thought provoking drama about two wounded souls. Despite a predictable narrative, it remains entrancing due to Imamura’s fine juxtaposition of gentle and vicious human nature.
Thithi (2016) Movie Review: A Poignant Tale of Life, Detachment, and Rural Realism
Once, Satyajit Ray’s widely regarded masterpiece ‘Pather Panchali’ met the criticism of “Selling Poverty” to urban audience. Quite a handful of Indians criticised it citing it depicts the poor class of India to cater to sentimentalism of western audience. Even Francois Truffaut wasn’t a taker of neorealism of peasants. However, when the rich was depicted on screen, full of arrogance and debauchery, there was hardly any uproar.
Raman Raghav 2.0 [2016] : Man is the cruelest animal!
There’s a strange smile that appears on your face as you watch Ramanna dismantling his victims in Anurag Kashyap’s Raman Raghav 2.0. Its not because Kashyap somehow magically manages to justify the mystifying murders in his film, nor because he tries to ground you into rooting for his killing machine, but because the film jabs at that side of a human brain which has violence and anarchy all over its surface. He kicks a dark,…