Top 5: Films that I changed my opinion on Re-watch

The other day, Alex published another one of his brilliant lists on ’15 Movies that demand repeat viewings’. After going through his list, I started thinking about movies that would make my list if I made such a list. Anyways I did not have anything specific in mind to write and it has been a while since I stole one of his ideas for a post. But when I actually sat myself down, I realised that despite my dubious re-watch history, I have too many options if I decide to include movies that just get better as you watch them again and again. So I decided to use some filter to contain myself and put my own spin on it. What I came up with is movies that I did not necessarily liked, for various reasons, the first time I saw them or maybe even did not understand, as it did happen in few cases below, but went head over heels the next time I sat my butt down to watch them. It’s funny how that happens sometimes. Here are 5 such occasions:

8½(1963): Technically, I am not sure if this counts because my re-watch was on the very next day. Fellini’s masterpiece gave me a headache first time I saw it. I had no idea why was I supposed to be interested in this guy who is clearly not interested in what he is doing. And top of that, he is being a jerk. Add to it that most of what I was watching on-screen didn’t make a lick of sense to me. Where the hell did that dream sequence come from? What’s that supposed to mean? I was almost ready to give up on it but that final scene made some impression on me. If nothing, it made me think and I kept on thinking for a long time. More I thought about it, whole movie started to make more sense to me. Out of nowhere, I was justifying everything that I thought as senseless few minutes ago. I wrestled with myself quite a lot that day with two polar opposite reactions I was having. One telling me it's too pretentious, it is shooting for the stars but ends up in a roadside ditch; other one saying it's beautiful, it's poetic, you just haven't thought enough on it. Only thing I could do to draw some conclusion from this was to watch it again. I did exactly that the very next day and this time, absolutely loved it from very first scene. It was like I am watching a completely different movie from yesterday. Everything was making sense, his action, intentions; I was even reading between the lines. Everything was there for me to see but somehow I had missed it the day before or chose not to see it. If you ask me now, I will say that 8½ is as great as everyone has made you believe.

The Godfather(1972): Before anyone goes on lamenting my inclusion of 1972 classic which is widely regarded as one of the best films made ever, let me make it very clear that it is one of my Top 10 movies of all time. However it wasn’t always the case. First time I saw The Godfather was sometime in 1999-00. We just had a new PC at home and my older brother bought this on CD. When I put this on short while after, I had no idea what it was about. I had no idea who Mario Puzo was, who Marlon Brando was or for that matter, even who Al Pacino was. My cinefile days were nowhere near the horizon then. I had trouble understanding Brando’s dialogue and to be honest, it really bored me. I don’t think I even made through the opening wedding sequence. Fast forward to 4 years later, 2003 Summer when I was waiting for my college to start and spent most of it reading a bunch of books from a library nearby, 50 to be exact. One of them was Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. Off course, I loved it. How can anyone not? But I still had that first impression of movie somewhere in the back of my mind since I took my time to get back to the movie despite loving the book and knowing we have it in our collection. But when I eventually did, I was just taken by it as much as I was by the book. To this day, along with To Kill a Mockingbird(1962) and Lord of the Rings Trilogy, I site it as one of the best adaptations of book and probably always will.

Fargo(1996): Of all the movies on this list, Fargo is the only one that I did see from start and finish for the first time and didn’t like. There are two that I never finished the first time and other two that I did finish, I re-watched them the very next day and this time, loved them. My impression of Fargo did not change until very recently. So in a way, this is the only legitimate entry and all the other four are cheats. Whatever! It really didn’t work for me the first time though. It was supposed to be one of the best movies of that decade or something and I was having a very cold reaction to it which is kind of ironic, given all the snow in it. I remember talking to many of my friends, online as well as in person, who also thought my indifference strange. About six months ago, one weekend, I saw it again on TV just to make sure if I still hold my ground and once more, my reaction surprised me. This time everything worked like a charm. All the “Oh, Yeah”s which quite frankly are just far too many, all the humour and more importantly underlying creepiness of the whole situation. Everything! Margo Gundersan is the Man!! and Roger Deakins. Wow! I often wonder why I did not like it the first time? what changed? In all the other cases here, I have some clear cut reason for this change of heart and only thing I have come up with is probably I saw it very early in my Coen Brother's education to really understand all the dark humour in it. I am pretty sure I did not even know any of William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi or Pater Stormare then. Better late than never, I guess.

The Discreet Charm of Bourgeoisie(1972): Now my story of Discreet Charm is very similar to that of 8½. I had recently seen my first Bunuel, That Obscure Object of Desire(1977) and though I had certain reservations against it, I liked it enough to seek out some other titles Bunuel did. One that came into discussion quite often was The Discreet Charm of Bourgeoisie. I found it in our college library and gave it a go. One thing I didn’t know about the structure of the movie before watching it, was the episodic nature of it. The first time I saw it, this structure turned out to be a big distraction. For those who haven’t seen it, there is one scene of six main characters walking on a street, casually talking to each other that appears again and again(picture above). What happens between them is one story and we have five or six of such stories. We have same six characters in all the stories but all the individual stories aren’t necessarily connected or are in any sequence and watching it without knowing they aren’t gets really frustrating. That’s exactly what happened to me. I spent most of my time trying to connect them, make sense of characters behaving like they have dementia and that one scene again and again didn’t really help either. But then I read somewhere about this and when I saw it again the next day before returning it to the library, it really hit me. Incisive nature with which Bunuel attacks hypocrite nature of various factions of society is at its peak in Viridiana(1961) but Discreet Charm really isn’t that far behind.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy(2001-03): Yup. Lord of the Rings makes this list. This might come as a shock to many people, especially those who know how passionate I am about them now. Basically, LOTR is the movie I have seen the most; around 20 times and I am not even kidding. On top of that, I never watch one movie; it’s always three movies together and I have never seen theatrical version, it has always been extended version which as a whole clocks at around 11 hours. So if we do the math, I have spent about 9 whole days of my life watching this trilogy. And still the first time I saw it aka only time I saw theatrical version, I didn’t even finish Fellowship; hell, I didn’t even reach Rivendell. It was summer of 2003. I was with some of my friends and we were going to spend a night at Friend's place to leave super early next day for a two day hiking trip. Just like The Godfather, we gave it a go without any of us properly initialized to it, none of us was even particularly interested in it. I remember going as far as Saruman raising his army without any sense of whatever happening on the screen. Then either I dozed off or we turned it off completely and just went to sleep, never to return to it until 2006. 2006 Fall was when I read the book and I still believe that majority of my appreciation for films comes from the immense respect I have for the book. Immediately after, I borrowed extended edition from a friend which if I am not wrong was a pack of 10 CDs. And the love story began…

It really is funny how that happens sometimes, isn't it? How about you? Do you have a movie you hated at first but somehow love it by now? Let me know in the comments.

Wrapping it up: December

Another month worth of movies which brings us to the end of the year 2012. Before all of us, including me, get into the frenzy of the usual stuff that bloggers do around year-end and award buzz that will soon follow it, let us get this out of the way. Movies that I watched in the month of December. Ratings out of 5.

December

12 Angry Men(1957)(Re-watch): It is very rare that when talking about the movies that I use the term "sweeping you off your feet". That term is kept specially for very few movies that literally have done so. Pulp Fiction(1994) was one such movie and so was Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men, one of the reasons why both make into my Top 5. If you want to read me shower some more hyperbolic praise on it, see it here.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy(2001-03)(Re-watch): After watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey(2012) the other night, I had a strong feeling of watching the whole trilogy yet again. After all, I haven't seen this for almost 9 months. I have seen it for almost 25 times by now but still I watch it with the same enthusiasm of the first time and appreciate something else every time. This time because of The Hobbit, I enjoyed all the references to each other in both like Bilbo's story of the trolls, mention of Thorin and Balin in the mines of Moria and fell in love with it all over again.

Amour(2012): Going in for a Haneke film, you are never sure of what to expect. In case of Amour, I had some idea. I knew that it is going to be a hard watch and it is. It maybe even is a little bit too real but to tell you the truth, that's what I loved the most about it. I wouldn't have liked it if it wasn't real. It connected with me as well. As far as I am concerned, this is the best movie I have seen so far in this year. More here.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia(2012): I have seen a lot of movies that are extremely beautiful to look at. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is more special even among them. It makes the things that I never thought of as pretty look so beautiful. Also, looking at the synopsis of the movie and its run-time, I never thought I will like this movie so much. The mere fact that it makes you sit for its entire run-time is astonishing. Me loving this movie as much as I did - Miracle.

Rust and Bone(2012): More than anything, this is the movie that gave me that big, amazing Cotillard performance that I had never seen before this. Last 15-20 minutes of this movie made it a lot better for me as they gave little more gravity to Ali's character as well. More here.

Beasts of the Southern Wild(2012): I had been meaning to check this out for a long time, for Quvenzhane Wallis if nothing else and it turns out that everything anyone said about her is true. It really is one of the best performances I have seen so far this year. I don't know if it is a fiction or reality, I don't know if it is some kind of apocalyptic, futuristic world or set in present day(I don't know who these people are, I don't know where they are from) but to tell you the truth, none of it really mattered because their world kept me engaged since the word go.

Holy Motors(2012): I am sure that anyone who likes this movie completely understands anyone who doesn't. It is a kind of movie that can easily draw very extreme response. After all, it raises more questions than answering them. However to me, there was one very important thing that kept me from hating it - Denis Lavant. He was beyond awesome. There was enough characterization in the brief moments between his appointments, to write him off completely.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower(2012): Around first 20 minutes into the movie, I had a problem with the characters being little too friendly or welcoming but by the end of it, they had won me over completely. So much that I loved every single one of them. Amazing cast, great acting, beautiful story with easily relatable and so many palpable emotions. Yet another movie I saw this month that has a legitimate chance of making into the Top 10 of the year.

To Catch a Thief(1955): It is fairly rare that in a Hitchcock movie, I am more interested in something other than what he has to say but this was one such movie. I was completely focused on Grace Kelly this time. As I watch more movies Grace Kelly did, she is giving Audrey Hepburn a serious run for her money as my favourite actress ever. However, for the first time in this movie I noticed a peculiar accent in her. I ain't complaining, especially since Hitchcock infused so much humour in those verbal spats between her and Cary Grant.

Ai Weiwei. Never Sorry(2012): I think thus far, this is my only documentary of 2012. At least, it was good. Even though I thought that he went a little too far, I really respected his intent and more than anything else, his courage and determination. The fact that he became active again after being in custody made me respect him even more. Regardless of which society we live in, we need such men if we really want to keep getting better.

Life of Pi(2012): I read Yann Martel's novel sometime in Spring of 2011 and was so underwhelmed by it that I never felt a hint of excitement for this movie. For a book tauted as to make you believe in god, an atheist in me had a lot of problems with its spirituality. I eventually checked it out despite my reservations and I will give it to Ang Lee that he made it a visual spectacle. Off course, he can not undo the flaws in original story but at least he didn't make getting through it an exercise.

Corialanus(2011): I swear I wanted to like this more but it just wouldn't let me. And if not for all the performances, I would rated it much lower. They call it modernized version of Shakespeare but it was very lazy adaptation as if they really wanted to modernize it, they could have dome a much better job. Like change that language maybe - God, it was so distracting. And I probably should tell this to Shakespeare but they shouldn't have wasted one whole hour to turn him. There should have been more of his conflict than his decorated arrogance of first half.

Ruby Sparks(2012): I loved its concept of a looser writer creating a female character of his dream and making it a reality. I also loved both the lead characters played by Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan. First half of the movie was really enjoyable, quirky and different and even made me believe that they will probably take a unusual route. But they took the same exact way you would expect it to take and dipped their considerably in my opinion.

Talaash(2012)(Hindi): Despite a lot of good in it like decent acting by all the three leads and story that kept it taut for a long time, it was the ending that let it down. Interesting part is my roommate guessed the end almost 45 minutes earlier in the movie. So, we didn't hate the ending but it still was a letdown. Though I will happily take away both the songs, Muskaane Zhooti Hai and Jiya Lage naa, from this movie and leave everything else.

The Circus(1928): Good Old Chaplin !! He never fails to make me laugh. The Circus actually started off really well, getting quite a few laughs from me even before Tramp actually gets into the circus. But then it kinda slowed down. It was still pretty good, it's Chaplin after all. But maybe not City Lights(1931) or Modern Times(1936) level material for me.

Rango(2011): From the moment I heard about what this is about, and who's doing it with who, I wasn't interested in it. That's why it took me almost two years to see it and only when it was available on Netflix. I didn't go out and seek it. Well, I can say that I am pleasantly surprised. It was silly and exactly like most other Verbinski-Depp movies but it was quite entertaining and funny too.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey(2012): Don't really go by this rating because the first time I watched LOTR movies, I didn't even finish first one and now I have seen them all 27 times. I really liked this movie, especially Martin Freeman as Bilbo was just perfect but my main problem with this is over-indulgence. I think there were many things in it that really had no business being here. Now if Jackson can do something Tolkien didn't to validate them in the next two, my opinion might change. I love middle earth and what Jackson does with it too much to give up so early. 

The Night of the Hunter(1955): I had heard a lot of good things about this movie. In fact, that is why I saw it as the 300th 'New to Me' movie of the year but unfortunately, it didn't turn out that well for me. It works much better on psychological levels - A priest hunting kids down for money. But my main problem was that I did not believe Robert Mitchum's character and his crocodile tears, even for a second and how someone can was pretty unbelievable to me too.

Margot at the Wedding(2007): I have not seen any Noah Baumbach movie before. I am not even sure why I saw this. I only remember hearing something about this vaguely. So, I don't know if it is his thing or not but this was a messed up movie. It was quite good from acting perspective but every single one of the characters in this movie need some kind of mental treatment. The kind of things they do, they talk are so inappropriate, even children. What's wrong with them?

Lincoln(2012): Their are parts of this movie that I loved but there are also many things about it that I didn't care that much about. I loved the last 40 minutes of the movie once they get into the last stages of voting. All the performances were very fine especially Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones but I didn't find anyone extraordinary. It felt too slow and long, especially in the first one and half hour.

 

Trouble with the Curve(2012): I really wanted to like this movie. It has Amy Adams in it, more often than not I do not need much more than that. About half hour left in the movie, I was wondering to myself why didn't people like this. I knew it wouldn't win any awards, it wouldn't be anyone's favourite movie but still it was pretty decent. But then last 20 minutes happened. Off course, Amy Adams was great in it but there are people who think she was better than The Master(2012) here. Nah !!

Pitch Perfect(2012): Will anyone judge me if I said that I wanted to like this movie too? I swear, it was only for Anna Kendrick and as it turned out, she was the only thing worth about it. It goes exactly like thousands of other typical Rom-coms out there, taking every cliched turn and characters in it and ends exactly where you know it would, a minute into the movie. It wasn't really bad, it wasn't any good either.

Duck Soup(1933): My first encounter with Marx Brothers. Can I be blunt here and say that I Really didn't like any of the Marx Brothers onscreen? I loved their writing but watching them on screen was painful. I liked their humour and I liked the way they were exploiting it out of very regular, normal situation but the way they portrayed it really got on my nerve, especially Harpo Marx.

Fahrenheit 451(1966): Francois Truffaut's First and only English movie. I don't know if it was Truffaut's direction and writing or it is Bradbury's novel but nothing seemed right to me. It seemed very superficial and shoddy. Even acting seemed very unnatural or artificial. 10 minutes into the movie, I had a pretty good idea how it is going to play out and it followed it exactly.

Total Count:26. 22 First Time Watches and 4 Re-watches .

2012 YTD Count

Total Count: 328. 306 First Time Watches and 22 Re-watches.

Next two months should be the most exciting time for all the fellow film buffs, trying to finish up the 2012 and getting ready for 2013 and the award season. I did spend most of this month focussing on finishing out 2012 and even though I have seen quite a few of what I wanted to, I still am not finished and expect to be still in 2012 mode for at least the month of January. Right now, I am aiming for mid-February to wrap up the year with the Top 10 list, even though my favourite 'first time watches' of this year should be out next, followed by the usual shenanigans of Oscar coverage and 'Movies I am looking Forward to in 2013'. From January, I am also looking forward to the Blind Spot series which should be up at around the end, every month.

Let us Welcome 2013 with open hands and hearts and hope it brings even better health, happiness and future for everyone. HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS !!

So, how was your month ? Did you see anything interesting ? What do you think of the movies I saw ? Any favorites ?

Apu Trilogy

Satyajit Ray, probably the most well-known Indian director, won numerous awards nationally and internationally for his work in Apu Trilogy consisting of Pather Panchali(1955), Aparajito(1956) and Apur Sansar(1959) including 3 national awards and 7 awards from Cannes, Berlin and Venice film Festivals. Based on novels by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, it is a milestone in Indian cinema and is among the finest works of Parallel Cinema, Indian equivalent of Italian Neo-realism and French New Wave, it is also often considered as one of the greatest film trilogies ever made. I always considered not having seen such an important film as an anomaly in my cinematic life and I am happy that I finally got a chance to go through them and write about them as the 50th post on this blog because, seriously it hardly gets any better than this. This will give Lord of the Rings Trilogy run for his money as my favorite trilogy and might even score over it, just because of massive nostalgia factor that stuck with me like a leech for a longest time. There is hardly any pretense in them at all, they are heart-breakingly realistic and even after 50 years, much more relevant than many films made a year ago. Let me get into into them individually.

Pather Panchali(1955): First film of the trilogy is also a directorial debut of legendary Indian film-maker Satyajit Ray. Just like the family in the movie, Satyajit Ray had to find his way through heap of trouble before finally making this movie. He had to halt the production multiple times over 5 years until finally Government of West Bengal funded this film and everything materialized the way it should. In the first part of trilogy, we see childhood years of the protagonist Apu in his ancestral house in small village. His family is in very poor state, who usually struggle to make the ends meet. Their house is in dilapidated state but they don't have any money to mend it. What we see throughout the movie is their everyday struggle essentially to keep it going. As it becomes difficult for Apu's father to support his family, he eventually leaves to the nearby city in hope of finding a little steadier source of income. It takes a lot more time than anyone in the family anticipated for him to earn respectable money before he can come home. Apu's family goes from bad to worse during this period as even their mother who has been the pillar of the family starts to crumble under the loneliness and helplessness in absence of their father. 

For the reasons I am not entirely sure myself, this movie brought me on the verge of tears multiple times, maybe because even though I grew up in a city, I could easily relate to the every single character as if I know them personally. Even minor character like vendor of sweets brings back the memories of an Ice cream vendor who used to sit around the corner of my house. He used to sell it from a tin cylinder on tree leaves but I am yet to taste such sweetness from any Ben and Jerry's I have had over the years. Satyajit Ray makes his characters painfully real, I could easily see my own grandmother in old aunty Indir leaving in their house, I could see my brother and me fighting over who is getting the dinner table ready when Apu and Durga fight over the silver paper. Not only his characters but their interactions with each other and also the whole environment is created to perfection. Apu and Durga share an ideal relation two siblings can have where they care deeply for each other but just at the same time fight over trivial matters like any other kids of their age. Pather Panchali easily brings you to tears with harsh realities of life but it also portrays simple joys of life triumphantly like viewing pictures from bio-scope and playing outside in the rain(when I was little, it was almost a ritual to go out and play in the very first rain of the year). It should not come as any surprise that it won 'Most Human Document Award' in 1956 Cannes Film Festival.

Rating(out of 5):

Aparajito(1956): Second part of Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy, Aparajito picks up the story where Pather Panchali, first part of the trilogy left and tells us the story of years of Apu's education. Even after being the middle segment of the trilogy, Aparajito stands firmly as a movie on its own. Having watched Pather Panchali before definitely helps you in getting a better feel of it but Aparajito does not rely on first installment - couple of references to Nischindipur, village where Apu was born is all it takes from it. Apu and his parents have moved to Varanasi in hopes of better livelihood. Varanasi being one of the most important holy cities of India and Apu's father being Priest as family occupation, he hopes to earn a decent livelihood. However, even though they have left their village, hardships in life haven't left their side just yet. (SPOILER)After passing of their father, they again move to a small village in West Bengal(SPOILER End) where he starts going back to school and turns out to be very bright student. He even gets a scholarship to continue his schooling in Kolkata but for his mother this unfortunately results to loneliness and deterioration of her health. We follow ups and downs in his life, see him move from Varanasi to small village in West Bengal and then to Kolkata. Aparajito among many others, received Golden Lion for Best Film as well as Critics award in 1957 Venice Film Festival. Even though personally I prefer Pather Panchali over Aparajito, a lot of critics consider this as an improvement over the first installment. In my case, I think Pather Panchali scores a tad more for sheer nostalgic value even though it isn't like Aparajito doesn't have its moments.

Rating(out of 5):

Apur Sansar(1959): In the last installment of Apu's trilogy, Apu is just out of college not because he is done but because he cannot afford it anymore. He is dreaming of becoming a writer one day. But for now, what he needs is a job to make the two ends meet for as he continues to dream of his life as a writer, he doesn't even have enough money to pay his meager rent. However, good jobs are hard to come by and what he can get are too low-profile in his own opinion for an intellect like himself. One fine day, when one of his college friends invites him to a country wedding of his cousin Aparna that might help him inspire something to write, he finds himself getting married to the bride as original bridegroom turns out to be a mental patient. Once bride and groom overcome the initial awkwardness, they share a beautiful relationship as husband and wife as Apu becomes a little more realistic with new responsibility of a family and Aparna, even though coming from a well-off family, adjusts perfectly in his impoverished life. (SPOILER) However, with her death is childbirth, heartbroken Apu almost gives up everything, so much that he does not even see the face of his child and takes up a vagabond lifestyle.(SPOILER End) It takes him a long time and a guilt trip to come back to normalcy. 

I am wondering if there is something special about Bengali Heroes and their response to the broken heart as Apu like another legendary Bengali hero Devdas takes an easy way out. It was also nice to finally see a familiar face in Sharmila Tagore, who later had quite a successful career in Hindi Film Industry as well. Just like Aparajito, one thing I appreciated the most about Apur Sansar is it stands firmly by itself as a movie. There is almost nothing you will not understand if you haven't seen the first two installments. Being a part of a trilogy, you can probably call it a drawback but as long as there is a definite link between all the movies I think it is fine and there is a definite link in all the above movies - Apu. Considering the fact that Satyajit Ray did not plan on making three films - According to IMDb, Ray did not plan to make third movie until Aparajito won big in Venice Film Festival - continuity in his film is even more remarkable. After 3 films and 30 something years in the life of our protagonist, I think it is a great compliment if you still want more by the end.

Rating(out of 5):