'Every film is a work of art'
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Director Kavitha Lankesh talks about her upcoming Tananam Tananam.
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Okay, a few days ago I wrote a review of the Diving Bell and the Butterfly saying it could be the best picture of 2007, but even so you might want to skip it because the truth it reveals might be something you don't want to look at. It's a fine picture, but a tough one. Another wonderful but tough picture is No Country for Old Men. It's one of those movies that leaves so much unresolved that you walk out of the theater not sure which foot goes in front of the other. On a second viewing it makes much more sense. The world isn't necessarily as crazy as it at first seemed. But there's a movie that is also incredibly well crafted, and gets better every time you think about it -- Juno. I didn't realize how much I liked it until I heard someone compare it to Little Miss Sunshine, a movie that I did not enjoy, unlike everyone else it seems. I loved Juno because it organizes its sweetness into love for one person, the star of the movie, Juno. But everyone, no matter how dorky or clueless (and some of the adults are truly dorky and clueless) shares the love. The movie has a wholeness, an unqualified goodness, you not only walk out of the theater in love with Juno and everyone else in the movie, but your heart is warmed for everyone, including yourself. It's that good.  All three remind how good movies can be. And there were some not-too-bad movies at the end of 2007, for example, Atonement, which some didn't like, but I did. 3:10 to Yuma is a well-crafted genre picture. Michael Clayton was a perfect showcase for the talents of George Clooney. Great acting and a simple story in The Savages.  Which one was the best? I'd hate to have to choose!
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Michael Apted's landmark  films documenting the lives of a disparate group of Brits in  seven-year intervals have always been fascinating from a  sociological perspective. But the latest installment proves  that they are undeniably brilliant cinematically as well.
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The victory of âThe Departedâ serves as an acknowledgment that stars not only make movies, they make the movie.
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One film that caught the fancy of just about everyone at the recently
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Mr. Nykvist was one of the worldÂs foremost cinematographers whose poetic use of light illuminated many of Ingmar BergmanÂs greatest films.
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I met an old friend for coffee in San Francisco yesterday afternoon, and had a few hours to kill before stopping in at the Wired reunion party. I didn't want to drive back to Berkeley because the weather was so crummy, and I was just across teh street from a movie theater and was just in time for the start of a movie that lots of people had been telling me to see. So I went. The movie -- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, I had no idea what it was about until the movie started, then I remembered hearing a Fresh Air show about it and finding it too painful to listen to. Now here I was in the theater, not just being asked to listen to it, but being asked to live it. Through some very wonderful film-making, you feel as if what is happening to the main character is happening to you. Or more accurately, probably, you get the slightest hint of what it's like to be this person. My immediate impulse, one which I gave serious consideration to, was to pack up my things and leave. Anything would be better than spending three hours living this guy's life.  Two things happen over time: 1. You get over it. 2. They change perspective, and instead of being inside his body, you move outside it.  I think those two things are the story we all live as we mature and learn to live inside our own bodies, with their limits. You learn to step outside and see the humor in your predicament. The main character says he lives in a diving bell because it's as hard for him to communicate with other people as it would be at the bottom of the ocean inside a diving bell. The movie teaches that it's not much easier for the rest of us, even though we can manipulate symbols better. On the other hand, of course it is. The film develops a relationship between the hero and his father, between the hero and his own children, his ex-wife, his lover.  We strive for deeper understanding of ourselves and each other. But it may be ridiculously easy to find the only meaning that exists, without language, without intellect, by just being. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly should probably be the picture of the year for 2007, it's that good. But like all great art it shows you something truthful about yourself, and you may or may not want to see it.
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The soundtrack to Subhash Ghai's epic film is enchanting.
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Robert Altman thrived on the shapelessness and confusion of experience, and he came closer than any other American filmmaker to replicating it without allowing his films to succumb to chaos.
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Martin McDonaghâs plays have won wide acclaim, but he had filmmaking in mind all along.
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Ontari is meant for all sections of audience, despite being an action film.
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Richard Corliss makes his picks in every single category, from Best Picture to Sound Editing. He even saw all the shorts!
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Jessica Yu's excellent documentary explores the life and work of Henry Darger, one of the world's best-known outside artists.
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Obviously, that can and does happen. The more pertinent question is, should that much time, energy and money be spent on a movie when it aspires to nothing more than visual coolness?
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âChuck Close,â about the painter, photographer and printmaker by the documentary filmmaker Marion Cajori, truly excels is in its depiction of the physical process of making art.
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A film about love and art, about passing time and time passing, âAvenue Montaigneâ is a humble pleasure.
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Martin Scorsese won the Academy Award for best director on Sunday.