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VISIBILITIES & INVISIBILITIES: DIACHRONIC CONSTRUCTONS OF SUBALTERNTIY IN...
Introduction: Can the Subaltern finally speak?Antonio Gramsci used the term ‘subaltern’ (meaning inferior) in his work on hegemony to delineate power relations and as ‘a convenient shorthand for a...
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ANIMA STATE (Hammad Khan, 2013, UK/Pakistan) - Critical Condition
Director Hammad Khan knows his cinema, referencing the works of Godard and Teshigahara.Revival, resurgence, rebirth, a new era are some of the ways in which Pakistani cinema has been described as of...
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THIEF (Michael Mann, 1981, US) - Proletarian Politics
Genre readings of Michael Mann’s debut feature film Thief are relatively inclined to explore both the crime film and neo noir which seem to intersect as a form of postmodern existential hybridity. Mann...
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BIFF 2014 #1: BLUE RUIN (Jeremy Saulnier, 2013, US) - The Outsider
Blue Ruin is the first film I have seen at the BIFF and I hope to see many more in the coming days. I am also determined to post regularly as my blogging habits of late have been pretty terrible....
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BIFF 2014 #2: DOUBLE PLAY (Gabe Klinger, 2013, France/Portugal/US)
Director Gabe Klinger introduced his film, contextualising the work as part of a French series of documentaries on cinema titled ‘Cinéma, de notre temps’. In many ways, Double Play follows in the line...
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BIFF 2014 #3: MANHUNTER (Michael Mann, 1986, US)
Manhunter was Mann’s third feature and followed the critical and commercial failure of The Keep. Given Mann’s current status as a director of considerable pre-eminence, Manhunter continues to grow in...
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BIFF 2014 #4: ZERO NO SHOTEN / ZERO FOCUS (Yoshitaro Nomura, 1961, Japan)
The close up on director Yoshitarô Nomura deserves high praise indeed. Japanese scholar Alexander Jacoby offered an informed intro to the work of Nomura, positioning him as a director who had his fair...
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BULLET RAJA (Tigmanshu Dhulia, 2013, India) - Homoerotic Encounters
Tigmanshu Dhulia is a man of many talents. Over the years Dhulia has written screenplays, acted in supporting roles and most prominently directed a number of genre films. With Bullet Raja, his latest...
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IL SORPASSO / THE EASY LIFE (Dino Risi, 1962, Italy) - The Italian Comedy as...
Criterion’s release of Il Sorpasso is one of the home video releases of the year. Described as the ‘utlimate Italian comedy road movie’ Il Sorpasso has undergone a striking restoration. In previous...
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Reclaiming Mehboob’s ROTI (Bread, 1942) as a key work of 1940’s...
Chandra Mohan as Seth LaxmidasIntroduction: The contexts of RotiIt is not difficult to classify director Mehboob Khan as an auteur but studies of his work and status as an auteur (see Mishra: 2002 and...
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MATRU KI BIJLEE KA MANDOLA (Dir. Vishal Bhardwaj, 2013, India) - Drunken...
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (MKBKM), labelled a ‘Bollywood political satire’, is a googly of a film traversing classical Hindi cinema (particularly agrarian pastoral films like Do Bigha Zamin) and the...
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KING OF NEW YORK (Dir. Abel Ferrara, 1990, US) - Socialist Gangsterism
The pale, anaemic skin tone of Walken’s Frank White bleeds through the chiaroscuro urban nightscapes of New York. We first see Frank, a capitalist vampire, in prison which acts as his tomb, and in...
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FRANCES HA (Noah Baumbach, 2012, US) - New Wave Intertexts
‘I know when to go out. And when to stay in’, sings Bowie on ‘Modern Love’, the opening track to his 1983 album ‘Let’s Dance’. Bowie’s music disputably transcends context but a song like Modern Love...
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AN OPEN LETTER TO SPECIALIST DVD LABELS ON INDIAN FILM TITLES
Specialist DVD LabelsThe Criterion Collection (Janus) Masters of Cinema (Eureka! Entertainment) Second Run BFI Artificial Eye Mr Bongo A word of warning before you read on: This letter is in no way...
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MISS LOVELY (Dir. Ashim Ahluwalia, 2012, India) - Tales of Desperation...
Defying categorisation certainly testifies to the originality of director Ashim Ahluwalia’s latest feature Miss Lovely. Most of the reviews to the film particularly the ones from America and Europe...
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ANKHON DEKHI / THROUGH MY OWN EYES (Rajat Kapoor, 2014, India)
The ascent of Hindie cinema, a funky way of saying Indian Independent Cinema, is not a fresh occurrence. It is appealing to write about Hindie cinema in terms of the ways in which funding has opened up...
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BIOSCOPE (Dir. K. M. Madhusudhanan, 2008, India) - Phantasmagoria
The Bioscope, an early film projector, created by Charles Urban in 1897, is the magical invention that forms the basis for Keralan director K. M. Madhusudhanan’s visually imposing feature. Bioscope...
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CITY LIGHTS (Dir. Hansal Mehta, 2014, India)
Shahid announced Mehta as a filmmaker who has certainly evolved quite dramatically over the years. His early career as a director is best forgotten, producing some unforgettable run of the mill films....
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FILMISTAAN (Dir. Nitin Kakkar, 2012, India) - Bollywood Borders
There is a moment in Filmistaan that finds Bollywood film buff Sunny held captive by a Taliban inspired terrorist group in a Pakistani border village. It is Bollywood night in the village and local...
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NEW WAVES: THE STORY OF 'HINDIE' CINEMA
The history of independent cinema in India has in the past been an intermittent one, beset by a dearth of funding, insufficient distribution and disinclination by critics to take directors seriously....
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